Happy New Year everyone and welcome to our first sales meeting of 2025. Hope your time off was enjoyable and I know most of you sellers on Monday had your head spinning. Last week it was hard to know what day it was, this week it was trying to remember how to do your job!
It is never long enough, but for me it was time to get back to work. I already told you I’m a bit of a scrooge. But I enjoyed the holidays this year and it came at a perfect time as I was starting to lose my mind a bit. The rest and relaxation and the cookies did me some good. Until I ate entirely too many cookies.
When we last met, our topic was the first part of the sales process, the prospecting for the right clients and what you can do to help yourself in that department. There is no foolproof way to know that someone is a perfect candidate, but if you do your homework, you can have a much better batting average than someone who puts no effort into it.
This week we are going to move on to the second step and that is setting an appointment with a decision maker. We used to call this step simply the cold call, but it’s 2025 and we have to use all of the weapons at our disposal. Whatever is needed to get to a face-to-face meeting with the right person or people is what we are looking for here.
We all know the best leads come from referrals where you can site someone’s name who told you to call as they thought what you do would be of service to whomever you’re calling. Generally, we get referrals in our business when we ask for them. Like many things in sales, the answer lies in just doing it. We all know Wayne Gretzky’s saying about missing 100% of the shots we don’t take. Ask for referrals!
The other easiest way for sellers to set an appointment with a decision maker is to get introduced to them in another setting and make the ask yourself. In order to do this, you have to put yourself in situations where decision makers might be. Ask yourself, what boards are you on? What networking groups do you belong to? Do you belong to a social club? Do you go to big events during the year where heavy hitters in the advertising space might be? What are you doing besides emailing people and sending direct messages into the black hole of LinkedIn?
I had a salesperson once who was great at targeting certain prospects and finding a way to meet that person. She would even go as far as posting on her social media things like, ‘Do any of my connections have a connection with (company executive)?’ Often times, she would find a way to get an introduction to that person or find an event they would be at and make sure they met. She worked it and didn’t just rely on reaching out to people cold and hoping for a response.
I know all sellers have heard the dreaded term ‘elevator pitch’ many times in your sales career. Do you have one? If I pulled you in my office right now and said give me the 60-90 second pitch in order to get a meeting with me, what would you say? Do you ever practice that elevator pitch? Fine tune it? Ever asked one of your colleagues to give you their elevator pitch and hear it delivered in a different way?
Elevator pitches are fairly simple, think of it this way – WHAT IS THE BENEFIT FOR THE CLIENT?!?
As we know, many people fail at this step because all they want to talk about is what they have, how great their radio station is or how they are No. 2 in the market with left-handed women from 10a-1p. None of that matters. The only thing that matters is what challenges the business owner you are wanting to talk to has and how you can help solve them. That’s it.
The only other thing sellers can say that will resonate with a business owner is proven results from another, similar, client. If you can’t get a direct referral, use an indirect one. We have talked about this before but have a video you can show from a client about how you and your properties have helped increase their business.
Another key mistake some sellers will make when getting a decision maker on the phone or meeting them in person, is not asking for the meeting. I am sure you have all been through some sort of training on how to put that out there, but however you have learned to do it, make sure you do it. As many details as can be worked out right then and there as possible, what day, what time, where will it take place, who else should or will be there. Don’t make the mistake of having a great initial conversation and then have to fight like heck to get back in touch because you didn’t ask for the meeting.
Unfortunately, there are no magic answers when it comes to how best to book appointments with decision makers for advertising. There is only the reality that unless someone sees the direct benefits to their business, they are not likely to spend their time talking to you.
If you have properly vetted the client in the prospecting stage, and you have made a real effort to connect with the decision maker, using any means possible and not just relying on what is easiest to do.
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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.
