It used to be you always have the client who says "Business is bad." But lately, with job losses in our region, it's almost a constant with most any type of business I visit. It really has me worried because even the grocery stores are noticing a slowdown and when people cut back on necessities, then they certainly aren't eating at restaurants, going to a show, etc. And we all know what gets cut from the budget first. I wonder if anyone else is noticing this in their neck of the woods. It's kinda scary here.
David:
I hear you. I have heard some of the same things in a lot of smaller markets outside metro areas. I THINK what we are seeing is the lay of the land changing. If you want to get an idea of what is happening to the retail merchants, sound the Fedex Trucks in the market. "Local Pride" is fine and "shop local" campaigns are great. But when it comes right down to it people want convenience and good price and that is why Amazon and Walmart are flourishing.
What do you do? For my part I did two things:
1) Once a week Cold Calling of every business license in my area. Yeah I know how much everyone LOVES to cold call and you'll have people on your staff threaten to walk out. But when things get slow there is nothing else to do but drill new wells.
2) Train your people on new areas. I went to Google Maps and put in Johnstown, PA DDS. Holy crud do you have a LOT of dentists!!! It also appears you have 24 accountants. Imagine this for a second: Imagine you were able to get a CNA appoinment with 24 of these accounting places. Imagine that only 75% of them actually DID the CNA. Of those 18, imagine your staff presented an annual schedule to each of just $500 per month ($6000 annually). 33% of those will probably buy which is six new customers for $6000 each or $36,000 more on the books. Where di I get these numbers? I have done just what I am talking about in my market and a few other places I work with.
Okay on to the HOW of it all: Do you agree sales is a numbers game? Good. Then if you are going to be in a numbers game you had better have good records. The BEST way to get new records is start running your business on a CRM (yeah but they cost money!). The best CRM in the Radio business is Influencefm.com and it is 100% FREE... forever...
Check into it. Then if you'd like go to radioSalesSchool.com for a FREE basic radio sales traing course. NOT THAT YOU NEED ONE!!! But there is a section in there about using google to do your prospecting and some ROI stuff that helps when you step out of traditional radio categories and start going after what the Yellow Pges has left after its demise.
