Radio Sales Café

Poll: What monthly incentives are offered to your sales staff? i.e., most new accounts; 90% of goal by 1st of the month, hitting budget, highest rate, etcetera. And what are the rewards . . . cash, trade, or . . . ?

Upon reaching a goal, do sales people receive their reward per instant gratification, or do they have to wait?

Determine first what sales activities or results are most important. You can reward "Sales Performance Leader" of the month, A traveling trophy...a dinner certificate at a nice restaurant. $50-$100 depends on market. This also allows you to use various criteria vs. "top biller" which sadly most of the time equates to the person with biggest list. Since "new" business is a necessity in all business... reward a smaller version of the gift certificate on a monthly basis. Cash is king...However it doesn't flow as easy as in past years. We have used, Rounds of Golf, Movie passes, Amusement Park tickets (those are not cheap!) ect.... Mostly least we forget salespeople love recognition...Oh they may say otherwise...But engrave their name on any desk top item ie clock, business card holder and it will be displayed for years

Fran
Here at WTYJ/WMIS we are very short of sales people. We play gospel in the "am" and blues from 12 noon to
3am and then back to gospel. This is a divided community still living out the old south and find white employees
is hard. The both stations are very strong in listeners and we are the voice & ears of the black community.
again finding sales people (white or black) is not easy. One of the reasons I'm here is to help my sister who
owns both stations and I also have a office to take care of my production company. Sales meeting & goals
are most important and rewarding the people ect is even more import ant. Finding sales people or anyone to
work is real hard to find.
Thanks
Bob

in all my experience two items are most important to top sellers...money and time off; they should be rewarded based on the behavior you want from them ; could be different by AE; seniors may need to increase their new business; new sellers may need to hit a number of in person calls per day; 1st day of month following is the best time to reward the top acheivers....

hope this helps

I am sales manager of a Christian Radio station that plays Southern Gospel Music. We have alot of issues with advertising and getting good sales people. There are just 2 of us in sales and we work very hard to get advertising. However, it is next to impossible to get people on commission only because it takes so long to go from first ccontact to the sale and the money in the bank to a commission check. I would suggest that you find a retired person who loves your station and can afford to do it on comission only OR find a really great salesperson from another station that really likes your station and PAY THEM even if you have to borrow the money. Good sales people are hard to find but they are worth it!

. . . money and time off. . . The money part, that I got, but Time off. . . that is certainly interesting! I guess we could offer a choice. . . add a day to their vacation, or the one I am leaning toward is a "a three day weekend," i.e., take a Friday off. Perhaps better yet, add a day to an existing three day weekend. Thanks for the tip. As an FYI. . . when the station makes goal, we do a sales luncheon (with beverages) and after lunch they can take off the rest of the day. . . even if they didn’t hit their personal goal. Surprisingly, most go back to work.

Found in today's SalesDog newsletter: "The Sales Contest That Never Fails" from John Boe International. Write-up from the website: The Sales Contest That Never Fails! Attention sales managers: When times are tough and prospects seem to be holding on to every dollar, your job as a sales manager is more important than ever before. Now is the time to get your sales force excited and roll out a contest to boost sales and morale! What if you had a contest for your sales reps that was... 1. Self-funding. The cost of the contest is paid out of the increased production generated. 2. Easy to understand. 3. Practical to administer. 4. Able to tap into "peer pressure" to motivate low producers to compete. 5. Designed to celebrate individual production achievement on a monthly basis. 6. Geared to promote long-term, consistent production. 7. Able to put more money into the hands of your most productive salespeople. 8. Beneficial in building team pride and office morale. 9. Guaranteed to increase production within 90-days or less. Download the instructions for this contest HERE.

At my station, we borrowed a help tool I learned from the Auto Industry- We implemented a BDC. For those unfamiliar with the term it means Business Developement Center. I have ladies who call local businesses and ask for the opportunity to send a sales person over to show them our "new media kit" and leave behind info on our station. We promise not to come in pitching on the first meeting since we are there to learn about the prospects business and simply tell you about ours. The ladies set appointments- no in person calls and are trained to never quote prices or just fax a kit over to a prospect. They are trained to SELL THE APPOINTMENT and fill out a form on how hot the lead is and what the prospect would like to know about the station in the meeting...
My reward for sales performance is handing the best appointments to those who will follow up and turn it into an order.
Lets face it, some prospects tell you over the phone that they have been listening to your station and just cancelled their $10,000 a month newspaper buy and have been looking at YOUR station as a good alternative for marketing.
A "lay down" lead is just another way to help top performers stay right there- on top.
Handing out firmly set BDC appointments also helps with accountability of time and helps with one of the things sales associates hate- - cold calling! If you make the "free info packet" on your station, promotions and NTR sound good- people WILL keep the appointment to see what you have.

We have used something that we call a "hall pass" with a lot of success. Basically, it's a pass to come in two hours late or leave two hours early with no notice. It's time off without giving full days, and works well for both sellers and management. Often, we'll have a contest where salespeople can choose between, say, dinner for two or a two hour hall pass if they achieve the objective. Mostly they pick the hall pass.

Thanks. Seems like “time off,” is a favorite of the café. It would be a great add-on. . . “go into the month” at 90% and get the money. . . . 95%, win money and an “all month Tuesday” hall pass. . . . thanks again!