Radio Sales Café

I know we all have to prospect - its the sheer nature of this business.

Here is some training I put together to help you with the beginning stages of finding your next best client.

OPEN THE CALL TRAINING

Prospecting Preparation:

In order to prepare for a successful “Open the Call” with a prospect you need to:

QUALIFY the Business – based on NEED, DESIRE, BUDGET
On a scale of 1 to 10, honestly answer these questions.

1) NEED

A. How badly does the prospect NEED your product?

B. Do we have demonstrable success in the prospect’s business category?

2) DESIRE

A. How much desire does the prospect have for your product?

Lots of businesses have a high degree of need in our eyes but a low desire to do anything about it. Obviously a better prospect to spend your time with is the one who wants to do something about their need.

3) BUDGET

A. Do they have the resources to do anything about their need?
Determine if there is a budget and if so, what size.



RESEARCH THE BUSINESS – know before you go!

Business owners and managers days are filled with interruptions. If you come in to
Speak with them and you are asking them questions that you could find the answer to
on your own – you are IRRELEVANT. If they know that you are interested enough
do your homework they are much more likely to give you information about their
business and set an appointment with you.

Questions to ask yourself before you go.

1) Does the business have a website.

2) Do they do any form of marketing currently? If so, what?

3) Learn about their business/industry. Have you researched their business category on RAB’s Instant Background? The more you know about their business before you walk in the door the more RELEVANT you are.

4) Have you inquired to find out who the “decision maker” is?
You can do this easily by phoning the business before you attempt to open the call. A sample of your dialogue should look something like this.

My Name is _____. I was wondering if you could help me? I’m updating my records here at XYZ Company. Can you tell me, is your mailing address 123 Main Street?...Can you tell me the name of the person who handles the advertising for the business?


If asked “in regards to”

I’ll be sending them some educational information (seeding) through the mail and I want to make sure it gets to the right person.


SEEDING

Seeding is customer focused activities done to prepare a prospect for a sales visit to benefit both the salesperson and the client. Once you have the name of your contact at the business you should begin the seeding process.

1. Have you sent them any seeding material?
The more information you put in their hands before you open the call the more likely you are to get the appointment.

2. This material can be general marketing information, trade information,
business reports. They can also be articles dealing with profitability, store traffic, return on investment, productivity, and etc.


OPEN THE CALL

Be brief - your open the call should only take about three minutes at the most.

Its a good idea to pre-script your call so you know exactly what you want to get across to the prospect in that short amount of time. Never try to "wing it". Develop a script in words that are natural to you so you feel comfortable saying them.

You need to tell them who you are and who you represent. You should let the prospect know that you have developed successful marketing plans for businesses like theirs and you would like to see if there is an opportunity to do the same for them. Be prepared to give examples of clients that are well branded with your stations. Don't forget to ask for the appointment and don't be shocked if they say no. You are probably not the first person to ask for their time. Be prepared with a response to the typical objections prospects use to get you to back out the door.

OBJECTIONS:

What are some of the objections your prospects have to making the appointment?


1) INTEREST

2) TIME

3) MONEY

How do we deal with those objections?

1) I understand you might not be interested right now. If fact – I would be surprised if you were – otherwise you would have called me. I bet you are interested in good ideas though aren’t you? If I had a specific idea for your business would you be open to me dropping by to share that with you. Great – are you normally here on Tuesday afternoons? I will come by at that time with any ideas I have that would be appropriate for your business because I know we could help your business. I look forward to the opportunity – I will see you on Tuesday.

2) I understand there just are not enough hours in the day. How about if I make you this promise? When we meet it will be brief, 30 minutes or less. All I will do is ask you some questions about your business that will allow me to determine if it would be a good idea for us to work together. If at the end of that appointment you don’t believe it was time well spent I will not call you again. If you do believe it was worth your time we can proceed from there. How about Thursday morning at 10:15am or next Monday at 3:30pm?

3) I understand – its tough stuff to hang onto these days. However we have many clients working with our station that did not believe they could afford to advertise either and were very surprised with what we had to show them. I believe that every dollar you spend has to work hard for your business because it’s YOUR MONEY. What if I could show you a way to get a three time return on your advertising investment - that’s TRIPLE the money you spend? Would you be interested in at least taking a look at that? Can you meet with me Tuesday afternoon at 2:45pm or Wednesday Morning at 9:30am?

Jenna, thanks for posting this!

Well done, Jenna! Thanks for taking the time to share your prospecting philosophy and technique. Appreciate your attention to detail, organization, and clarity. This one's a keeper!

Great Tips Jenna...thanks for posting

Jenna,

Thank you for sharing this, as I will certainly be making use of it as a refresher for my team!

Sarah

This is to Ashley---but the site is not letting me respond down there-Specifically--how would you call and "state your name casually and ask for them as if you are a friend or client". I've felt that if I am too vague they will ask "in regards to", "what company are you with" type questions. I'll call and say "this is Julie Irving for blah blah" like I know them...and it works sometimes, but many times they will ask where I'm calling from, what it is regarding blah blah...

Jenna,

 

Great advice and some real key points that stress the #1 objective of our sellers, servicing their customers, and that starts with LISTENING to business owners' challenges.

 

Great stuff, thanks for sharing!

Thank you for posting this, this is really very helpful and informative especially to beginners at this like me, I have been wanting to put up my own business but i am still having second thoughts because i have no prior experience but then when i joined this forum i do learn a lot and i think i can pretty much handle it now on my own

Hi Jenna, thank you for this information. I just started in Radio Sales today and was searching for some presentation/approach etc. to use in my initial contact with my prospects. I also like the part regarding handling of objections. Thanks again!

Sherna