The Call in. Or, in today’s times, the in-box lead. Hell, now that I think about it, do new clients even bother with reaching out to a station or do they just search “how to buy radio advertising without a salesperson?” Whatevs. Let’s just say when a new client reaches out to the station that they want to buy advertising it is a “call in”.
What do we do with it?
If you are a sales manager, my money is on you giving all call ins “to the new person.” And, if you have a few new account executives, you probably rotate them. I should have added a section about call ins in my letter to young sellers . I would tell them to discuss call ins with their manager and discuss the types of clients that are just perfect for their style.
Of the 4 types of clients a salesperson will deal with, 1 of them will hate the rep, 1 of them will love them, and the other 2 are up for grabs. By communicating up front, you will hopefully eliminate the 25% of clients who you will never really click with and should have never been assigned to you in the first place. Now, let’s get back to you sales managers and how to better deal with clients who reach out to be sold. Brian Carroll has a lead generation company called Markempa. He had some great tips for handling inbound sales leads. I adapted for sports radio.
#1 SET UP EXPECTATIONS
Establish how long you have to assign the lead and how long the seller will have until contacting the advertiser. How and when will the seller get back to you to brief you on what they learned?
#2 QUALIFY THE LEAD
Make sure you contact the client yourself first. What could be more important in your job than meeting a new client? Make sure they are “sales ready”. Did they really need a salesperson or are they just fishing for something else? Your experienced q and a will set up the direction the seller should go with a prospect as well as anybody.
#3 GIVE DIRECTION
After you vet the call in, give the seller a strategy. Should they email the client, call them or drop by? You can be a big help to your sellers by offering a strategy they don’t have to think about. Keep their mind clear for the actual SALE.
You could even prepare a few ways to deal with call ins in advance. Do they need a CNA? Are they looking at other station groups in the market? Do they need help with why they should advertise? Could the sales assistant handle the initial CNA over the phone and then assign a rep?
#4 DISTRIBUTE WISELY
Give baseball fan clients to baseball fan sellers. Allow sellers who do a lot of business downtown with white collar professionals to take the leads that call in from downtown corporate types. Send potential long-term clients to experienced sellers. Send short term promotional flight clients that don’t need much servicing to newer reps.
Now let’s start answering the phone, what if it’s a new client?!
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.
