Radio Sales Café

Ive been working on getting Rick Ball Auto Mall on our station KZZT, for almost 3 months now.  I pitch him everything we got every chance i get (atleast once a week).  Yesterday when he told me no, I got very blunt with him and said, "look we really would like to do business with Rick Ball Auto Mall, whats it gunna take?"  His reply was that he normally runs month to month on other stations 2 to 3 weeks per month depending on the station, and he runs 60 second spots at $10.00 per ad.  He had said if we put together something inticing enough he would run on our station.  So i aparently didnt get him excited enough.  We've offered to match that rate, give him a website banner on our website, and post messages to all of our face book friends and myspace friends all at no addational charge.  Still wont buy.  Any ideas on a good proposal?

Thanks for the tip!

Couldn't have said it better myself !

Have you noticed how so many (I'd go so far as to say most) car dealer commercials on radio (and TV for that matter) sound alike? High-energy, hard-sell spots filled with shouting, cliches, and hype ("Never before, and never again will you see prices this low!") Event-driven, expiration-dated, and altogether forgettable. It's a shame, because radio is capable of delivering so much more! I just looked at Rick Ball's website. The language under "Why Choose Rick Ball Auto Mall" isn't particularly customer-focused (even though they say they're a customer-focused dealership). It's mainly a bunch of chest-thumping, intended to cause them to rank higher on Google, Yahoo, etc. by repeating certain key words and phrases over and over again. I suppose they're not banking on locals spending much time at their website. (Sigh.) Right now you're not very important to this guy. He's demonstrated that by reducing you and your station to commodity status, dictating the price you have to beat. And then he still refuses to buy from you. I don't think you'll have much luck establishing a value for yourself or your station by playing that game with him. You might be much better off coming to him with ideas (copy ideas, campaign ideas) that solve problems or address opportunities that you've identified on the basis of research and think-time. Does your station have a subscription to Automotive News? It is to car dealers what Advertising Age is to ad agencies and media. In fact, both magazines are published by the same outfit. Reading Automotive News will help you see the dealer's world from a different perspective (his) and will provide you with information on things like current factory-to-consumer and factory-to-dealer incentives, that can help you put together more timely and focused promotions. The Radio Advertising Bureau looks at Auto News and frequently posts stories of interest at their website and in their daily email Radio Sales Today (to which you can subscribe for free, whether or not your station is a RAB member). Are you RAB members, either as a station or as an individual? RAB's website offers a wealth of useful information for research. You might even want to talk to successful dealers in other parts of the country, to ask about their most successful promotions, how they use radio, etc. You'd be surprised how willing many folks are to talk about their successes with someone from out of the area doing research. What have you to lose? If you can come up with a strong slogan or compelling call to action, and your station has suitable inventory, you might try pitching a campaign built around short ads. Don't give up! Look for opportunities that others (who aren't paying attention) are missing. Stay in touch - let us know how you fare.

Great advice from all replies. I only have a couple more things to add. 1. Ask him why he is using the other stations he mentioned and what his advertising there has done for him. Does he personally like their format? Is that where he "thinks" his customers are listening? Has he done a car radio survey in his service department? Or has he just been running with them out of habit? 2. Maybe he's looking for something besides the "standard" :60 commercial. Does your station do live call ins? I have an auto client who calls these his "gold"! In fact, he likes them so much that we had to put together a time sheet for him to remember when we are going to call him from each of our 5 stations he is on. Gives him the chance to personally reach out to his customers and tell them about the new trade in he got yesterday or the new incentives that just came out. Just some thoughts! Good luck and Happy Selling!

I'm betting his 2 weeks are the last 2 of the month. Here's 2 ideas.
1. Overnights. Saturate the late night audience at a very cheap rate. If you can take $10 for daytime, can you give him two or three for Midnite to five?
2. Toss in a free remote. Make sure that the client is prepared to pay an extra couple of hundred in talent fee for the jock and get some hot prizes. Can you trade for iPods or big screens to give away? Make a production out of it. Also, it's old but if the circus or someone is coming to town maybe you can give tickets for test drives.

Remember! We are radio. We are showbiz.

Send him bonafide sales leads . . . he'll advertise with you. www.WheelandDealUSA.com, it works.

Great suggestions from everyone. Here's a different idea though. Rather than 30 or 60 second spots, try a different take. I have a Dodge dealership here. Every morning at 745 they do a live call in featuring a "Deal of the Day." Sometimes its a new car, sometimes its used.. but its ALWAYS a great deal. They cover the features of the vehicle, what Kelly Blue Book is and what they are offering. They have been doing this for YEARS.. so the listeners are accustomed to listening for it. 3 out of the 5 days a week, they sell the deal of the day. The general manager has often told me that while they may not always sell the car.. it brings people in and more often then not they end up buying a car. Needless to say.. this has been thier most effective form of advertising.. without the high pressure gimmicks or cliche's.

Maybe by offering him something completly different then what he is used to.. giving him an idea will help the sale. Good luck!

I spent 9 years as sales manager at a GM franchised auto dealership. I don't know why it always seemed to be Tuesday, but every radio sales rep and newspaper rep in within 100 miles seemed to stop by. And everyone had a really cool package to pitch me. They were all loaded with free remotes and bottom dollar ads. If I wasn't on their station, they wanted to know why I was on the other stations. And eventually they all asked me "what was it going to take". It would have been nice if someone like Jane K. Smith had called on me and actually asked me what I was trying to accomplish. Maybe asked what my goals were. I had been in radio sales for 17 years when I took the job at the car dealership and I couldn't believe how hard it was to find partners that were interested in making me a success.

Jessica, 

I just love all of your ideas. Would you mind sending me your information/proposal outline for both this and the 12 days of Christmas? I love them both and think I will start using them.

 

 

LaciMarie11@gmail.com

Give him 1 free message...next meeting, call the radio station on your cell phone right then and there. Do a 1 minute report about something interesting you see...NOT what he wants you to say. Describe what it feels like to drive a particular car you see on the lot...ONLY ONE car. Make it a really nice red one or something...something your listeners are going to be intrigued about...and interested. Make it the most fascinating, interesting observation about why people should go there.

 

"Hey folks...you know what? I'm at Rick Ball Auto Mall and I just found out something interesting you should know. There's a red car in the back of the lot here that for some reason just stuck out. Now, I drive the exact same model as this red car...it's a VW GTI and I'm telling you as an owner myself...that these things are just...plain...fun to drive. Six speed...yes, a six speed turbo charged zippy growler. You should hear the growl this thing makes on the on-ramps...I almost WANT to get on the interstate...so anyway, I saw this red VW GTI...it's a 2008 and I'm almost ready to trade my old flat grey one in and get this. But I'm not a car buyer right now...so I pulled over and I'm doing this report just in case anyone is looking for a hard to find VW GTI...because you don't see these very often...there's one in the back of the lot at Rick Ball Auto Mall...if nothing else, you should see that red. Anyway, this is Doug Palmer for WXYZ radio."

 

Something like that. Do this only once and only air it one time. Don't worry about time of day, daypart, anything...just do it.

 

If you have to record it, do it from your phone and air it within 15 minutes. If you're in a cluster of stations, put it on the smallest or lowest rated station. Don't tell him what station it's airing on. Don't worry about the PD...he'd love you for it if all the reps did something like that because it sounds like his station is everywhere people want to be...

 

After you've recorded it...tell him you will be airing a "report" about his dealership soon and you'll come back in 3 days and then "we'll talk..."

 

Go back in 3 days. Sign an annual with him.