Radio Sales Café

Happy Friday, everyone!

Here's this week's poll question:

Do you ever invite your clients to speak at your sales meetings?  If so, who and when?

Looking forward to reading your answers.

I have clients specifically discuss their industry. Gives my teams a leg up on the competition when they truly learn that industry and can ask intellligent business related questions in a CNA. We then open the floor for q &a.  Additionally, clients provide insight as to what they like to see in an AE.

What an interesting idea...I think I'll suggest this to my boss.

Once a month we invited a local agency for an early morning breakfast at the station.  They spoke and took questions for twenty minutes.  It was usually informative.  After a year and a half we ran out of agencies!  Tip: Before the meeting load up with plenty of breakfast goodies from Starbucks and Panera.

Our stations don't do this, yet, but, I did hear of a station which does something similiar.  They call it their 'Think Tank'.  The station invites a client to come in to the station.  They get as many station personnel as they can to sit in on the meeting (sales, production, copywriting) for a brainstorming session between the station employees and client.  The clients love the fact that the station devotes so much time and staff to their business and a lot of great ideas have come out of these 'think tanks'

Our stations have not done this. But is a very interesting idea.

We have not done this here yet...but I love the idea and we will be doing this soon  The Industry spotlight and Agency Q and A are great!

We've had clients in a number of times.  My favorite are the Auto Dealers.  They normally have very big personality and love to speak in public  They have great information for anyone dealing with new and used cars dealerships.

My station does not do this mainly because right now our sales department consists of Me...Party of One!  It is a great idea.  I do attend our local chamber of commerce meetings a couple of times a month in order to keep up with what is going on locally. 

 

Julie M. Slanaker

KFMJ 99.9 FM

 

Yes i do, we organise workshops  for this,we are brand believers and the more we learn about the brand the more we develop better marketing strategies , in addition radio is a heart to heart bussiness therefore we sieze any opportunity that will make us get closer to the client. Finally, clients are also marketers and salesmen , we share experiences.

A GREAT Idea....I am thinking of the first invitee.   IT will be helpful to do this.

Have not done that, but i like the idea.  Think i will discuss with my GM and see if we can start this.

This has been discussed but we haven't taken it on yet.  Our obvious major targets are the medical, attorney and agriculture industries.  Incorporating the visit into a weekly meeting that's already established and highlighting a different business, possibly once a month, has been an idea.  I look forward to hearing how this has worked for other sales departments.

We sometimes bring in key business people to discuss leadership, time management, and what they are and are not looking for in a presentation.  

At this time we do not invite clients, to sales meetings as I am the sales crew.  However, I belong to several Chamber of Commerce leads groups where we give presentations several times a year.  I usually have several clients who give testimonials for me at these meetings.  This has been a great help.  I can see how this could help sales staff get first hand ideas from clients on service and commercial needs.

Having justs returned to Small Market Radio after a "brief" 30 years away, I have not had the chance to do anything recently.

However, we used to invite a client every month or so to come to our Sales Meetings.  We started out inviting our best clients, thinking that since they used the station a lot, they would have good input as to what we do right and why they like our station. They were always great sessions, we ate a lot of donuts and patted ourselves on the back for the wonderful job we were obviousl doing.  Jim Williams, late of the famous/infamous The Welsh Company) suggested we get out of our comfort zone and invite the people who were most against using our station. The thinking was they would tell us the truth, and that truth might be painful.  But those ended up being our best sessions because usually the client would give us a laundry list of the things he felt we were doing to keep him from using our station.  Afterwards we would take all out notes, figure out what he was saying and then turn around and use those notes to sell the client. It is amazing how many of them became good clients and when we asked them about why they changed their minds we were usually told that for the first time the client felt we were Listening insted of Telling.  I believe that  benefit is just as appropriate today as it was in the dinosaur driven 1980's.

David, 

I think you are soooooo right!  I am learning more and more that listening is the key.  Sometimes, listening to what we are not giving the client is hard to take, but in the long run, makes them a much better, more dedicated client.!

Joel,

We did this when I worked in Winona back in the late 70's and I thought it quite instructive.  We weren't permitted to pitch or argue with guest speakers (for obvious reasons), word of which got around over coffee and what-not, and it was a good thing.  Don't know if the station is still doing it, but what a great idea.

"I thought it was very worthwhile, so I stopped doing it?"  We could probably apply the same test to using spec spots regularly, too...  ;>)

Have a super weekend!

-Rod

Hazel,

Just a thought: why not invite on-air, production, and other personnel to such a meeting?  Theoretically, every member of the station team is, at the very least, part of a sales-support network.  You'd personally derive more of a direct benefit, but it would almost certainly make the client feel good about your station and all the people associated with it.  Good spinoff of your Chamber experience, too.

-Rod