I suppose I’m an oddball salesman. I bristle at the usual don’t take no for an answer and the take no prisoner attitudes of aggressive stations. I don’t even go there. I’d rather win because they like me and because I understand the client. It might be a slower road but when I get them, they stay. I’m not pushy.
I applied for a job in the early 1990s and the guy took my resume and other material and set it on his desk without even looking at it. He proceeded to tell me about the station and about him. He talked about the staff, what his goals were and what he needed to happen to reach those goals.
Then he asked me about what made me get in radio and describe what I liked and didn’t like. He cleverly got me talking about radio sales and where my comfort zone was in sales. Then he asked if I wanted the job.
I walked away with a new job with a boss I understood and my boss understood me. He knew what I could do and how I did it. He felt we were a good fit. I think we were. I worked for him the rest of his life, over two decades.
That got me thinking about sales. People buy when they like you and trust you. This is especially true in small market radio where I find myself loving every minute of it.
I take a very different approach. I like to tell people I am looking for a job but I don’t want to go on payroll. I say I’m a marketing person and I help businesses to continue and hopefully grow their success because that is how I succeed. I explain I represent a radio station but I work for the client.
I tell them I’ve always loved radio. I tell them I would sit in my room on a rainy day and announce records to a pencil pretending to be on the radio. I say I had a little radio station that went a block or two by the time I was in 6th grade. I explain I was on the air and in programming my first 10 years before being put in sales against my will but grew to love working for my client’s success.
Finally I say I selected them to visit because I saw something unique about them; something that impressed me. I tell them what that is and it’s typically their idea.
In closing I say if I knew what they knew about X category of business, I’d be running such a business and if they knew what I knew about marketing with radio, they’d be doing what I do. I suggest we entertain the idea of working together for our mutual benefit…I work for their continued success and by doing so, my success follows.
Once we get to talking radio, sometimes on a second visit, I say I selected the station I represent because of the product it offers. I explain I go see my clients and being accountable on results is important to me. I want a great product that assures great results. I explain I have to know the market, how it reacts and I have to understand the product I offer to understand how those listeners are best reached.
I craft individual plans for businesses because every business is different. Then I sum up by saying my job is to use a dollar amount you are comfortable spending and try to achieve your goals with those dollars.
I ask for annual contracts with “No Penalty Cancellation” written on the contract. Some say I just want to try you a few months. I say sign the annual and we’ll re-evaluate in a few months. I say I believe so strongly that you’ll not want to stop in a few months, I want you to have an annual plan where you get the best rate on day one not a few months down the road when you find we do produce the results you want.
I center more on the relationship than the sale. I work on building trust. I position myself as having value because your relationship is changed. I stress I need to learn about their business to tap my knowledge and create a successful plan.
I show up. The client sees me every 2 or 3 weeks at the least. Most other media options blow through town every few months for a week or so. So the advantage is I know you and you know me. I know what you need and they don’t.
I do represent an amazing station. We have a huge audience and the number of all day listeners is incredible. In 35+ we have 38% of the audience. That’s important but not as important as the relationship.
To cite an example of how I work: because I’m on the street daily, I have a clue about what is going on. I talk to people. I hear stuff. When I heard Walmart was redoing their grocery aisles and reworking most registers to self-check, I was hearing what a nightmare it was. My grocery store was just down the road with a 60+ year history in town. I told my grocery store client I wanted to sell their advantages in a commercial targeting Walmart grocery customers and the big chain grocery. Amazingly the big chain grocery store resurfaced their entire parking lot after Walmart finished their remodel.
“If shopping for groceries down the street has become stressful, rediscover X Grocery. By the door parking. Easy in and out. No self-check counters. Low Prices. Friendly faces and carry-out to your car.”
I asked how that worked. Same week sales up $21,000 over the prior year.
My grocery client admits they never thought about doing this mainly because they had other things like running a grocery store to occupy their mind,
I don’t care if you’re Google, Facebook, that Billboard company, local paper, the shopper and the cable salesperson, you’re not doing what I do. Some could but mostly it’s a lack of training or passion on their end.
I’m sure no expert. I’m no sales guru. I have just seen a whole bunch and because I was interested, I made notes. I can point to tons of other people that can walk circles around me. I just center on building relationships and keeping them.
The beautiful thing is a few clients have told me wonderful words: “you’ve lasted longer than anybody I have ever seen from the radio station” and “you work harder than anybody we’ve seen with the station” (really not harder, just that I show up more frequently).
If I can close with a tip: talk to everyone in places you go and treat all with respect. A funny thing happens. You get inside tips and information that can be useful. And if that person is hard to nail down for a visit, they might help you get in the door.
In summary, sales is like football. In a football game the objective is getting a touchdown. Each team has a different gameplan to get the touchdown. I have simply explained my gameplan that works best for my personality. I’m not special, just a guy doing sales in a way that works for me. If any of this resonates with you, give it a shot. Just keep your eye on the goalpost.
