Look at your current client list. Who do you have on the air? Why are they on the air? Which industry do they represent, and are you heavy in car dealers, legal, healthcare, or home improvement? It would be best to get more of those types of clients, but you could always look for what you don’t have. Wouldn’t it be easier, though, to go vertical into a customer profile you have had success with and tell that story?
Breaking into a new category that isn’t advertising on the air with you is much more difficult for me. There is safety in numbers, and I believe clients follow other clients. We need to carve out a unique idea or place on the station they can own. Sell vertical, young person. And that’s not just me speaking but Bernie Weiss, the iHeartMedia President for New York.
Weiss has written a new book, “Ace it-How sales champions win new business.” The book is written for sales veterans going into a new quarter or year and wanting new motivation. According to Weiss, it’s also suitable for college grads or managers training new sales reps and is available Sept 7. You can pre-order it now right here.
Weiss has an exciting story and uses straightforward, real-life stories from the streets of New York. Follow along as Weiss works with a fictional prospect throughout the whole book and leaves you with stories, scripts, and analogies to use for prospecting, proposals, creativity, and presenting.
Once you are in the door of a vertical prospect, the rest is easy. You are a valuable resource who speaks their language and has case studies of success in their field. You sell with more confidence, and you are doing somebody a service. One of the most complex parts of your job is knowing so much about so many different industries. Everybody is a specialist at something. Find out what you are good at and multiply that!
Weiss reminds us that we should speak the language of that industry, read the same trade journals, and ideally have a passion for it. Weiss also reminds us that when we sell, we should behave like an orchestra conductor. Until we are up to speed on all the different platforms we can sell, bring in the experts. Like I did here with selling digital. Most of us have live events, digital, social, and creative employees. Just make sure you don’t bring too many at one time and overwhelm a client; as Weiss said, iHeartMedia learned a few years ago and turned six on one in-person selling situation to zoom calls.
Be smart and focus on what you know and where you have had success. Sell vertical!
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.
