Radio Sales Café

Last Friday we asked RSC members to share the single most valuable piece of sales advice they ever received -- and we got some great answers!  (You can read them here.)

Now we'd like to shift our focus from learning from others to learning by experience (good or bad).  So this week's Friday poll question is:

What single event in your career comes to mind as having had a profound impact on your success?

Looking forward to reading your replies!

The moment I realized that success in business is WAY more about relationships and less about technical skill. Regardless your position, excelling at mechanics will always be trumped by excelling at relationships.

Yes, it goes back to "it's not what ya know... it's who ya know."

And, more importantly, how much they like you.

The time I thought only of me and not my client.

I lost him as a client forever. The lesson for me was always work for the client's success and not the commission you receive. After that, I was the number one salesperson at my station, and at the time, the top salesperson in the city.

Alan Rock
Orlando, FL

Rule numero uno....a single and daily event...showing up every day

I remember trying to sell a Honda Motorcycle dealer a Honda Open house promotion. I had seen it in other markets, I knew it would work, If he would just listen to me, I could make a big sale. I pushed that open house at him for two or three weeks and tried every close I could thing of. After completely failing at selling what I wanted to sell, I began the process of finding out what he wanted to buy. He told me that he sold horse trailers as a sideline. He used to sponsor Paul Harvey every day all year and when hunting season rolled around he would sell all his horse trailers. After he stopped his Paul Harvey sponsorship, he alway had trailers left over at the end of the season. He wanted to know if I could sell him an annual contract to sponsor Paul Harvey. It took me about three questions to find that out. Learned the hard way that telling isn't selling. Ask your way to the sale.

My first commission check.

It was the very early 80's and I was an announcer, but had started selling part time after my on air and production shift. Sold a schedule in January that started in February. They paid in March and I got my first commission check in April (talk about Instant gratification... this is why I pay my reps on sales). From that first commission check... Free Money... I think it was about $90 or so... I was hooked.

Ditto Dawson's thoughts..."its not what ya know, its WHO ya know"...plus the day Jeffrey Gitomers book "The Sales Bible" was put into my hands, that single book motivated me like crazy, its not a book you read once and put down, I carry it with me everywhere and read and practice what it says...

Sounds trite but getting married and starting a family. I realized that mly success or failure affected more than just me. It moved me out of any comfort zone I might have had and made me realize that I owed it to my family as well as my colleagues to do the job right and do it well.