Beasley Media Group Boston Director of Sales Brian Schneekloth did not think going back to local media was in his future almost eight years ago. Schneekloth was with Katz Media Group at the time and was managing the national sales office in Boston for Entercom and CBS. Prior to that he had been in local radio at CBS Radio and Entercom.
In 2016, Beasley Media Group Boston Vice President and Market Manager Mary Menna called and asked if he might be interested in joining her management team. “I wasn’t that interested in making a move. Then, I went and had lunch with her and next thing you know I signed a deal to run sales at Magic 106.7.”
Later on, something truly magical happened. As Schneekloth describes it, “And then probably the greatest day of my career was the day I was told we were trading Magic for 98.5 The Sports Hub and the Beasley’s wanted me to run The Sports Hub and the rest has been history.” And it has been a successful history. 98.5 The Sports Hub is not only recognized as one of the top sports radio stations for content, in 2022 BIA published the over-the-air revenue of the top 10 radio stations in the country and The Sports Hub came in at number four with over $34 million in annual revenue and ranks as the No. 1 station in the sports format.
Schneekloth said he was a big fan and listener of the station prior to Beasley acquiring it and said he really liked that it wasn’t just a couple of sportswriters sitting around talking about sports, but rather had a more upbeat, almost rock-station vibe to it. He did also say there were some sellers in the cluster who didn’t like the change and couldn’t figure out how to pivot to a new way of selling – creatively.
“What I think is really impactful about sports is the ability to get creative, to find fun and interesting ways to align clients with content.,” he said.
Schneekloth talked about the talent he works with at The Sports Hub and said, “The people who work here are good people, they want to win, they are competitive, so they’re willing to help us in any way we need it.”
As for how sales and programming work together, he said, “We try not to bring them ideas that don’t make sense. If the ideas pass the sniff test with me and my management team, then we will bring it to the talent or the Program Director…Nine times out of 10 they are on board, but I think that trust has been built up over the past few years.”
Schneekloth mentioned a recent opportunity with a local software company which does internet defense and threat detection. He said afternoon drive host Tony Massarotti was presented with an idea for his baseball show where he would identify the biggest threat to the Red Sox in a particular series.
“That makes sense from a programming standpoint,” Schneekloth said. “Our listeners wouldn’t be turned off by that. It also allows the client to be a part of that discussion and it’s a lot more impactful for the client rather than just selling them spots. We are selling them spots, digital and all these other activations but there is also this piece that weaves into the discussions that are happening live on the air.”
This is what Schneekloth loves to do, partner up clients with ideas that get them excited. “I think creativity is king. That’s the currency that we have is the ability to be creative. Every client has so many media options nowadays. When we can get creative, we win. Nine times out of ten. The format allows us for that creativity.”
Of course, it also takes talented sales reps to have out in the field pitching these creative ideas. Asked what the most important traits of his top sellers are, Schneekloth said, “Great sellers have to be persistent, have to be good listeners and they need to be creative. I think if you have those three attributes you can do really well in this business. You have to have an unwavering commitment to making those calls and your outbound effort. You can’t be thin-skinned because you will get a lot of ‘no’s’ but if you’re relentless in your pursuit of getting meetings with people who have money to spend and then you’re creative – you’re doing pretty good, and you should be able to make a lot of money.”
As for finding new sellers to join his team, he said, “Recruitment is very hard in today’s day and age.” Schneekloth said when he first started in management they would hire 15 kids in a year, and one would end up making it. “…Now, we don’t have those budgets to just churn and burn 15 reps throughout the year without an account list. We need to fund our own bench.”
Schneekloth said one thing they have done which has helped, is a unique way of looking at their sales assistant positions. “To me, I think it’s best to recruit people into support roles that have the ability to ascend into a sales position. And it’s a lot easier to recruit into a sales support role when there’s a path and a pipeline to success for them. I think that’s something we don’t do a good enough job of as an industry, and we need to do a better job.”
Schneekloth said he currently has two sales assistants who make cold calls and send cold emails each week “in preparation for their future. If you want to be successful in this business, you have to be willing to do what the sales reps are doing each day. If I can show them a path to that, they’re more likely to stay here longer…I can sell the hope and the opportunity to kids right out of college to get the brightest and the best, in order to do that it can’t be a dead-end job, there has to be a path to success. My commitment to them is if you work hard and do what I ask you to do, if you decide one day you don’t like the path, I’ll help you find another path, in or outside of this business or building. I think that resonates with people coming out of college.” He also noted both assistants have closed business.
Something else Schneekloth said his team does that is not done very many places any longer is posting sales numbers for the whole team to see. “I know historically people don’t want you to post the numbers on the wall for fear you might offend someone. To me, I embrace that. Our numbers go up in the sales meeting every single week. If you are on the bottom of that list, there’s one thing you can do to change that and that is to close more business.”
Schneekloth says he often has reps who fall near the bottom of the lists coming to talk with him after the numbers are posted saying they know what they need to do and are motivated to move up. “I think it’s a very strong way to motivate people, we are very transparent,” he said. “It has helped, and it creates that culture of competition, but a healthy competition. You want your team to compete with each other but also be happy for each other when they win.”
Winning is something Brian Schneekloth and his sales team are getting used to at Beasley Media Group in Boston.
If you know somebody in sports media sales I should have a conversation with, email me at davegreene34@gmail.com
Dave Greene is the Chief Media Officer for Barrett Media. His background includes over 25 years in media and content creation. A former sports talk host and play-by-play broadcaster, Dave transitioned to station and sales management, co-founded and created a monthly sports publication and led an ownership group as the operating partner. He has managed stations and sales teams for Townsquare Media, Cumulus Media and Audacy. Upon leaving broadcast media he co-founded Podcast Heat, a sports and entertainment podcasting network specializing in pro wrestling nostalgia. To interact, find him on Twitter @mr_podcasting. You can also reach him by email at Dave@BarrettMedia.com.
