I think the toughest part of radio ad sales right now is finding new business. It was difficult enough last year. Now, we really have some roadblocks!
How do you meet new clients who are not in the office and you do not have their contact info? How do you learn about what they need when you cannot find any information about them online?
The objections are many to cold calling right now. So, let’s look for new business and get some help doing it. We don’t have to do this alone and every single salesperson in your cluster is in the same boat. You don’t have to just smile and dial strangers. We have a lot more than that right at our disposal.
Here are five things you can do to generate new business. I promise, none of them involve the words “cold calls”.
WORK WITH YOUR OTHER SALES REPS IN THE CLUSTER
How many times have you worked with your fellow salespeople on accounts? You know, grab the Urban or Country rep and scheme plans that make sense for an advertiser. For example, most sports radio stations have car dealers, plumbers, restaurants and recruitment advertisers on the air fairly consistently.
Do any of those clients buy from the competing Country or Urban stations in town? Can you develop a co-promotion with YOUR Urban or Country station and discuss it with your client? And vice versa, how can your sports radio station help more female targeted stations get men in the door?
TALK TO PEOPLE IN YOUR BUILDING ABOUT THEIR SPECIAL KNOWLEDGE
Grab the former car salesperson to discuss how to get more money from your car dealer. Let the salesperson who is married to a DIY store GM talk to you about how to get the local Ace Hardware on the air. EVERY salesperson has hidden primal product knowledge of another industry or knows somebody well that does.
To me, if we have a former spa salesman or men’s clothing rep, they should be calling on all business in that category or related categories cluster wide. And, ask the business manager who WE spend the most money with and go see them asap. They won’t turn you away, you are a client for gods sake!
ADOPT AN ORPHAN
Go back through the historical billing of all the stations in your building. Accounts change ownership, decision makers, etc. and nobody is calling on them! See who spent what coming up in the next holiday or quarter and approach them with a new idea. A cold prospect can be thawed.
DON’T FORGET FORMER ALLIES
Were you friends or at least neutral with any sales reps who are no longer with your group? Call ‘em and ask them where they are now or get some referrals from them. If they left on decent terms, they could help you with the company they are now at or refer you to people they know who could use radio advertising. You can help them as well.
SCRATCH A BACK, GET A BACK SCRATCH
Approach a sales rep in the building you know well. Agree to swap 5 accounts that you are willing to give up in exchange for 5 that offer more potential for you. Just think about the strengths and weakness of the account and match it up with you or another rep in your cluster. They aren’t going to call in and give you an order. Just do it.
Jeff Caves is a sales columnist for BSM working in radio and digital sales for Cumulus Media in Dallas, Texas and Boise, Idaho. He is credited with helping launch, build, and develop Sports Radio The Ticket in Boise, into the market’s top sports radio station. During his 26 year stay at KTIK, Caves hosted drive time, programmed the station, and excelled as a top seller. You can reach him by email at jeffcaves54@gmail.com or find him on LinkedIn.
