While I was researching one of my most recent articles, legendary radio sales consultant Chris Lytle was listing off all the sales trainers that he followed. I was impressed that, even though Lytle had 40 years in consulting, he still was digging through YouTube, Twitter and websites for other inspiring sales trainers.
He mentioned John Barrows. Barrows puts out great bite size pods and on demand videos. He was an inside sales rep who made 400 cold calls a week and a VP of Sales who sold his company to Staples and then got fired. He started consulting in 2013. He is real, to the point and can help you sell more radio campaigns.
Recently, he wrote a great piece on assessing the risk of any situation. His situation was weighing the risk of going against his CEO’s wishes and asking a Staples exec why he didn’t like Barrows and ordered his firing. He didn’t have the conversation with the Staples exec until he was fired and regretted not doing it earlier because it could have saved his job. He called it one of the best lessons in his career.
Which brings me to you. Have you taken enough risks lately?
If you want to climb the ladder at your station or group and want to know what it is going to take, why not ask? If it’s a manager you want to meet with, send them an email and tell them you have some questions they could answer for you that is for your own personal and professional development. If it’s a client that you haven’t been able to get on the air, do the same. Be sure to tell the client that you promise not to use their words against them. This isnt a trap to find out what it is going to take to sell them. I think you will find out most will be accommodating and open to meet with you.
One of the biggest lessons Barrows got from this exercise was that his Staples boss told him that he should have come to him while he was still employed.
He asked Barrows – “what’s the risk?”
Let’s apply this to you wanting to find out why your client won’t buy your station. The risk of asking the client to answer your questions is they could become uncomfortable, clam up and not take your calls or meetings anymore. So, either way, you are still in a losing relationship. Maybe, you are wasting your time on a client who won’t tell you what’s really going on or just doesn’t want to tell you why they don’t like you or your station. If that’s the case, you can trade the client to another rep and get something workable in return. Or the client reacts well to your efforts and you can solve the problem they have with not doing more business with you and things change immediately or very soon.
So, what’s the risk?
Start assessing the risk of being true to yourself and speaking up. The next time you have a choice to make about speaking up or not, ask yourself – what’s the risk? Barrows says that if your intent is genuine and focused on doing the right thing, then the risk is limited from a big picture standpoint.
So, the next time you want to go past the agency buyer to the account manager or go over your GM’s head to the VP or ask a client why they aren’t spending the right amount of money with you. Do it. Just ask yourself- what’s the risk?
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.
