Radio Sales Café

After all these years I still struggle every week responding to Agency Avail Requests asking for GRPs, requesting specific CCPs, etc, because, while broadcasting in a rated market, we are not ratings service subscribers. I'd really be grateful for any feedback on how others have successfully dealt with the situation. What's the best approach in the reply? How have others effectively handled similar requests? Any and all feedback is welcomed!

A strong station presentation coupled with advertiser testimonials can be an effective sales tool - much more practical than ratings (though it requires the person on the other end to be thinking, not merely crunching numbers that are usually less meaningful than they're made out to be). Many times in my career as a radio ad salesman, I've not had the benefit of "numbers" - but more often than not, this hasn't prevented me from being able to participate in an agency buy. Back in March I posted on my blog a presentation I put together many years ago. It's longer than I'd make it were I doing one today, but still may be worth a listen. Here's the link.

Bill, I sold for years very successfully in a rated market with no access to ratings information. When an agency called and asked for all of the information I simply told them I did not have access to that inforamation and they just needed to tell me what rate they needed and I'd be happy to tell them if we could work with them or not.

One agency in New York asked "how could I possibly sell radio without the ratings?" I told her that we were number one with our current listeners. It took here awhile to figure that one out.

Why should and agency get a better deal than a local direct client who has been on for years? They shouldn't.

Hi Bill,
Most agencies have the arbitron book in front of them. We have had a nice relationship with most agencies that will give us some guidance on our rates, especially when we tell them we're locally owned, and don't feel we paying $40k a year for 2 arbitron books is a good investment. Our stations are probably 80-85% local business and the community is our sounding board. We host more community and charitable events than all of the other stations in our market. Most of their clients are looking for added value and community events are GREAT! If you believe in your product, you can make the agency a believer. Send photos of events, send a station profile of what the station sounds like, let them even listen LIVE if you're streaming. Keep the positive talks and you will win them over eventually!
Good Luck,
Mike

Agencies are basically lazy. They want rankers and CPPs because it tells them what to buy without their having to do their own homework.
You could run a thousand cycle test tone all day and if you have the numbers you'll get the buy.
That being said, avails are easy
"I have 5 spots per day, Monday Tuesday and Wednesday, plus three more on Thursday. Take em or leave em.
If you have them up to the point of asking what's available everything after that is a presumed close.
Good Luck.

We broke up with Arb last year. We talk about how we're committed to our brand, our listeners and the community, not ratings. Most of the agencies have the data -- I've always felt like they were calling to have me do a sched or ranker because they didn't have the time. Also created a doc that shows what we do to reinforce our listenership -- listing all of the events that we create and events that we attend to grow our listenership. It's a long list!

Thanks for all the words of wisdom...it's much appreciated. What you have all said is basically how we've handled the situation...good to know that we're on the right track. Thanks, again!