Ben Franklin was a writer, printer, political philosopher, politician, Freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, humorist, civic activist, statesman and diplomat. And, a great quote for radio account executives as well.
At some point in your radio sales career, you will have to deal with the bargain hunter: Low Ball Lenny. Ad buyers who say station KCHP is selling their spots for $50, why should I pay you, KBST, $75 for yours?
There are several approaches to how to deal with these buyers and not one is right or wrong, just maybe one is right for THAT buyer and situation. One answer is to explain that “we here at KBST price our inventory based on supply and demand. And right now, we have a lot of demand for our spots.”
HUH?
Low Ball Lenny could be thinking, “I don’t care what other people do. And how do I know you didn’t let your inventory go for too little with cheap annual deals or 1st quarter sales promotions? “Also, some price motivated buyers are stuck on efficiencies. They will hold you to a cost per point or thousand price that doesn’t allow for differences in format or qualitative measurements.
Its frustrating. But if we plan and rehearse our solution at least we can offer some alternatives to the price motivated buyer. Ben Franklin said “the bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.”
Well Ben, I think that is only true if you are the only station being bought. If the buyer is purchasing stations from different groups, how will they know your $75 ads were higher quality? So, I think you must read the situation and react accordingly. In general, be sure to have some of these items ready to show the price-controlled buyer:
- Offer them a long-term deal. The longer term they can commit, the more aggressive you can price.
- Build in discounted spots the first 10 days of a month when demand is lower, and inventory is plentiful. Great time to run branding commercials.
- Take advantage of other non-peak times like the week between Xmas and new year’s, weekends Sat-Sun 10-5p, and play by play that runs 7pm-12mid.
- Run ads from M-F 5am-6am and 7pm-8pm during early/late drive time.
- If they are only about rate, sell them a 75% ROS schedule M-S 6am-12m and 25% M-F 6am-7pm. Average the rate i.e. 3 x $25 1 x $75= 4 ads for $150 or $37.50 per ad and lets face it those Monday-Tuesday ads have a decent show of falling into 6am-7pm.
Remember, even Low-Ball Lenny deserves love. And remember what Ben also said about radio sales. If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. Start planning for the Low Ball Lennys.
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.
