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Welcome to our first sales meeting of November. Which is hard to even say, what happened to October? Stuff flies at this time of the year for everyone, until, of course, suddenly it all stops. It’s go, go, go and then it’s no, no, no, call me after the first of the year.
Now, assuming you have been doing this job for a few years, you should know your clients and their timing. You should also have a pretty good idea of timing by industry. Which businesses like to have everything wrapped up by the end of the year and which ones will linger into early next year.
Paying attention to important details such as when your clients like to shut it down for the year is important. Hopefully you have been prepared and you were able to review your old notes when 3rd quarter flipped to 4th quarter to get the information you needed. The history in your notes should be able to predict the future. When is that particular client ready to talk about 2025?
Time is money so staying ahead of the curve is important. You also have to prioritize. There are certain pieces of beach front property at your stations which some of your clients have sponsorships of. Those are the easy ones in the sense of finding out if they want that key inventory or not. Not only do you want to get this year’s client renewed but you always want to know early if there is any sort of hesitation. Should you find a hot sponsorship is going to come open, you want to be thinking about who on your list can replace the other sponsor, before everyone else finds out.
As we like to say in sales, a no is a lot better than a maybe. At least you know what you have to do next.
Make sure as you set up these appointments for 2025 business, you have some homework prepared before you meet. Put the time in to make some recap slides and review anything and everything that was done. Hopefully you have some good data compiled but even if it is simply recapping what ran and when, don’t give the client the indication you are taking the business for granted and no longer need to ‘sell’ them.
Ask about any changes they are anticipating in their business or industry, and you should be prepared to talk about the same. Remember you are their marketing expert, so make sure you are always keeping them up to date on the latest trends and industry news as well.
Bring ideas for 2025. Take what you know about the client, what they have done in the past, and put together something that will get them excited. You know your stations better than they do, better than anyone, so think about what resonates the best with the audience and find a way to piggyback off that for your client’s benefit.
As it relates to new business this time of year, you know the drill, or at least you should. It is out there, but it is limited in terms of industries where they save money until late in the year for the holiday push. Typically, these businesses like to have these plans done in advance of Q4, but perhaps you can still get lucky, the only way to find out is to make those connections.
As you start to lay out your 2025 in full, look back on 2024 and make notes you want to remember this time next year, or things you want to track. Also look back the year before and the years before that, what can you see that might tell you something about next year?
No matter what, you know 2025 will be filled with a lot of prospecting and making connections, setting up needs analysis meetings and pitching deals, trying to close business while servicing the clients that you already have. Nothing major will change unless you do.
And remember that if you want to predict the future, just look at the past. Learn from it, set goals based on some of it and use it to your advantage however possible.
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.
