We cannot spend enough time discussing ways to improve our prospecting for new sports radio business. We all realize how much tougher it is right now. My hope is to inspire you to go out with a new enthusiasm for more business from your current clients and new business from clients you do not know yet. The CEO of Sapper Consulting Jeff Winters recently wrote a piece in the Harvard Business Review about B2B selling during a pandemic. He makes some great points about prospecting.
But first, let us set a plan on how we can gain new business the last 6 weeks of 2020.
We have 3 weeks of sales activity to generate new business for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and end of year New Year’s sales. If you put a plan together by 10/19, you would have 15 business days to prospect, present, close and execute on new business by 11/6. You will need some lead time to get those avails reserved between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Tell prospects what you are doing.
You are looking for clients who want to impact their bottom line the last 6 weeks of the year. You will need to present to as many clients as possible to get this done. That means more time prospecting. As Winters points out, nobody has sold in a pandemic before, sales are remote, not in person, so give yourself some slack and room for trial and error. Be honest and tell prospects you are trying to end the year with a bang, and you want to know if they want to feel the same way. The NFL and your local college football team are in playoff/conference title chases and the bowl season will be in play. Your audience is looking for your sports conversation about the most important time of the year.
Playoffs, bowls, Christmas, and New Year’s! Oh my!
Give yourself a goal of activity for those first 2 weeks. Say 2 prospecting activities and 2 new presenting opportunities a day for 2 weeks. The moment a prospect wants to see the proposal, do it asap. If they say yes to the proposal, book it and execute asap. Then, move on to the next one. Just leave 4 thirty-minute blocks a day open. Fill them with prospecting or presenting for the 6-week sale. You have a deadline of 11/6 and first in the boat will get the opportunity.
The most important part of the new business process is identifying qualified prospects. Winters has good advice. Think about which clients can buy NOW vs later. 50% of our advertisers are cutting back or eliminating advertising spending especially in travel, event promotion, bars, and restaurants. But if your prospect list is heavy on home services clients, technology, or e-commerce they are looking to advertise and expand.
And, if you are a S.T.P. seller, you better read this.
Plenty of AE’s rely on the power of their persuasion in person when it comes time to prospecting, presenting, servicing, schmoozing, and closing. It is how they maintain a relationship.
See The People sellers will need to up their remote prospecting game. They will need to continue to monitor clients/prospects social media posts, thank them with handwritten notes and offer unique gifts. And also increase email marketing, texting and social media posts in reply or original thought.
Winters also reminds us to consider our prospect’s customer’s financial health. If we understand how our prospects’ customers have been affected by the pandemic, we will know if they are a great prospect for the last 6 weeks of the year. In other words, if you are selling a promotion to the local minor league hockey team, who wasn’t letting in many fans for games, you may not get a sale by 12/31/20. You could wait on pitching that deal. But, if you were talking to a home office furnishings company, they may be ready to close out their 2020 inventory for Xmas gifts and 2021 home office set ups for white collar stay-at-home workers. Sports Radio reaches plenty of that demo and you need to load up on those prospects.
Winters also suggests we have end of year spot price discounts, flexible payment options or buy an on-air schedule and get a digital promo for free type offer. If our offer corresponds to the needs of the buyer, they will do it!
Winters reports it is what 69% of buyers want now.
We also need to show ROI. When we do our CNA make sure we know how much profit can be generated by selling x amount of home office systems for example. Also, if you are taking ad budget from a higher priced radio competitor, tv station or digital platform, tell them how much money they will be saving to move the same or more amount of goods in 6 weeks. The person who makes that decision may need to tell others involved the cold hard ROI facts.
We have time. Let’s sell the hell out of the last 6 weeks of the year!
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.
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