One of the biggest tasks in radio sales today is dealing with all the ‘paperwork’ we need to do before and after the sale. I will use the word ‘paperwork’, but I realize it is primarily paperless and done on PC.
And paperwork includes form filling, documentation, correspondence, and, yes, sometimes email. And not doing your paperwork will hold you back. This is one of the biggest hurdles to making good salespeople great.
I have avoided selling specific sales packages because the time or frustration of doing the paperwork brought on wasn’t worth the commission offered. Officially, paperwork is routine and a secondary part of our jobs, but unofficially it is the silent killer in many sales departments. It is an energy suck. If we don’t have the proper systems and attitude toward tackling it promptly and effectively, we will hold ourselves back from scaling our business to new heights.
Listen to how Kelly Hannah supports her sales staff in St. Louis by letting paperwork suck their energy from spending time with clients. But, for many account executives who are in larger companies, the decentralization of traffic, billing, collections, HR, and more has put more and more paperwork burden on the AE.
According to The Center for Sales Strategy 2021 Media Sales Report, more than 1/3 of AE’s spend 17-35% of their time on in-house meetings, training, or paperwork. Some of those meetings and training are about a new system of handling paperwork for a/r, traffic, or digital sales, I bet.
So, how can we improve our attitude towards inputting digital, production, and spot insertion orders? How can we put a crown on our frown over sales projections, account activity diaries, proposals, and in-house emails?
It would be best if you found your flow.
It must be done, and sometimes you can do it on your own schedule. That means early morning, late afternoon, Friday starting at noon, nights, and weekends are the best times for me.
Let’s set aside time for that single purpose: paperwork. No other distractions should be allowed. Find a quiet space, get high on caffeine, or light a candle. Whatever it takes for you be paperwork productive. Try to work as far ahead as possible so you can handle the return of any of your paperwork that isnt filled out right or needs more clarity. Find allies for yourself in the station who may help you with any part of your paperwork load. Kill those people with gratitude, kindness, gifts, and money.
If you are considering moving to a different broadcast company, ensure you understand their paperwork requirements or support system. Or lack of one. If you are an AE on the verge of taking it to the next level, look into hiring a virtual sales assistant. They average about $20 an hour here in the USA, and maybe you can hire one for 2 hours a week to update your CRM, send cold emails or do proposals using fill-in-the-blank software.
Take your sales to the next level by minimizing the energy suck of paperwork!
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.
