Recently, after 20+ years of management, sales, and radio broadcast operations experience, Dave Greene moved on from his job as GSM at Audacy in St. Louis. He said Audacy was going in a different direction on LinkedIn, and he didn’t like it. You can connect with Dave here.
During his radio career, Greene held various positions. Owner, Market President/CRO, VP/Market Manager, and GSM. He co-owned KFNS in St Louis and worked for Townsquare Media, Cumulus, and Audacy. He also handled St. Louis Cardinals baseball sales and wrote for Barrett Sports Media about sports radio sales.
Dave is excited to be his own man and is now the President & Director of Sales for the Podcast Heat Network, a new venture for pro wrestling fans. I asked Dave a series of questions about the future of radio sales and what advice he would give to those of us still in the business primarily working for large corporate entities.
JEFF CAVES: What advice would you give new and experienced sports sellers?
DAVE GREENE: Advice for new sellers is to find the highest-earning seller in your office who is willing to spend time with you (so likely the third best-seller in the group, the top two have no time for you). Watch them, ask to ride with them, ask to watch them put a proposal together, ask to go to meetings with them. Soak it all up; they have done something or some things right, follow their lead.
For experienced sellers, it’s the same thing I always say, DO THE JOB, the whole job. The day you think you have reached a point where you can skip steps in the sales process is the day your income starts to decline.
JC: What’s one thing salespeople don’t do that they should?
DG: Be better listeners and sell someone what they need to solve their problems, not what you or your manager or company wants to sell them.
JC: How can a cluster seller thrive, not die?
DG: In my career, I have seen clusters run both ways. Either the team sells everything or are divided by station(s). While both have advantages and flaws, I absolutely despise having multiple sellers from one company selling to the same client. If you are worried that someone isn’t a strong enough seller to sell your cluster, GET RID OF THAT SELLER!
If you are a cluster seller or sell specific stations in your cluster, the advice is the same – get to know the talent! Take them out for food and drinks and get to know them, what they do, and what they need. Show interest in helping them make money through endorsements, play to their ego and see how much it helps you down the road!
JC: What’s the best way to get noticed to be promoted to a manager position at a large corporate company?
DG: First of all, make sure you want to be a manager. Outstanding salespeople will have to take a pay cut, and your schedule will not belong to you. More of your time will be taken up with garbage meetings than you can imagine.
However, if management is really where you want to be, get ready to pucker up and drink some serious Kool-Aid. The hardest part of being a manager is that you have to suppress all of your emotions and always put on a positive face; as a whole, media sellers are a very negative, nervous bunch. Are you someone who can be positive while others complain incessantly? Then management might be for you.
JC: What’s the biggest myth about selling radio for a chain?
DG: Selling any format for a big chain is challenging because you don’t know what stupid initiative is coming down from above next. To thrive in the big corporate radio world, you have to tune out the nonsense – and there is a lot of nonsense. Especially in Q4, when you go through the circus of budgets for next year, you are given some ridiculous quota based on what the company needs to hit and not what is doable (read this on budgets). Excellent sellers realize this same circus comes to town every year at this time, so buckle up and get ready for the ride…but guess what? Your job doesn’t change. Do the job and push through.
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.
