Happy Friday, everyone!
This week's poll question comes from RSC member Rebecca Lambert of Auburn, Washington:
Does anyone work for a radio group that hires reps for each individual station? Or do their reps usually rep all stations in the group?
Rebecca adds, "Thanks for any insight you can give me into this topic."
Looking forward to reading your replies!
Hi Rebecca
I work for a Radio Group in the UK called UKRD. We have 16 stations in our portfolio, all our stations hire reps for individual stations however whilst the primary station I represent is Minster FM in York, I still offer and can sell onto all other stations in the group and can gain additional export commission for doing so.
Does that help?
Cheers
Sally
Currently, we have 4 people in the sales department selling 3 stations. One manager deals with agencies only, the local sales manager deals with agency and some local, and two sales reps sell local. Our stations are comprised of an AM talk, news and sports, and two FM stations; adult alternative and classic rock & roll.
Rebecca,
We have four smaller market properties, some with two or more stations, spread out through Northwest Iowa and Eastern South Dakota. Geography forces the hand in this one. Each of the stations have their own sales force, while on rare occasions some crossover sales may occur.
-Mark Buss
We have individual sales teams for each of our 5 stations. When we present our sister stations, we team up with a rep from that station.
With a group of four stations in the same market, each of us in the sales team represent all of the stations. My customers build a relationship with me to use all of our stations. They are not being hit from multiple reps from the same company. This also allows for more collaboration, rather than competition, within the sales team. Our competitors are outside our company, our allies are within.
This is the same setup I had working in as a sales manager in a micro-market duo in Eastern Montana.
We have 5 radio stations, a TV station, 4 websites and a social media product all within 35 miles. All sales people sell all properties.
The upside is you can present a comprehensive proposal for multiple properties. The downside is the buyer sometimes looks at you as one seller for one property.
We have a sales team of 6 that represent 2 FM and 2 AM Christian stations in Omaha. We can offer any of our stations, web, mailers or concert sponsorships to any of our clients. However, 1 station is Spanish Christian, so it is rare that I sell it since I do not speak Spanish.
It's easy for me. There are only two stations in our "group". But it depends on the client I am calling on. Sometimes I tell them I am from the "Broadcast Group" and some times I tell them I am from "the local station." it depends on what I think will impress them the most.
