So, you might have read that I am taking on a new project. I will still be writing for the site and hope to for a long time, however, I have decided to get back into something that is one of my biggest passions in life – St. Louis sports.
Yep, I know you just laughed and said, ‘What St. Louis sports?!?” Things are bleak right now, but pal I’ve been alive for 3 World Series wins, a Super Bowl win and a Stanley Cup. Should the Missouri Tigers basketball team ever make it to a Final Four I will be able to die a very happy sports fan.
After we made the announcement, as you can imagine, my phone, texts, DMs and email lit up. In some ways, this is what we wanted. When we made the decision to do this, we decided to only hire a certain number of people to start and then wait and see who else reached out.
So far, the plan has worked, and a couple people have reached out that are really intriguing possibilities. However, I am not here to write about those, I am here to write about the ‘other’ people who reached out. And, as always, I have examples that will make this easy to understand.
I want to tell you about two specific people who reached out. One is someone who has been out of the business for a couple of years. He is not somebody I know but is someone who many people around me do know and speak pretty highly of.
In his email, he congratulated me, he let me know he had been paying attention to what was going on and was very impressed with the group that we had put together. He then asked me if I would be interested in talking with someone who had some content ideas but would also be willing to go out and sell the content ideas if that was something we allow. (ALLOW!?!)
I told him that I was glad he reached out and that he should reach out to me at the end of next week when I anticipate being able to breathe again. He was very respectful of my time and asked if I wanted to just let him know when it was convenient, and I said it would be best to set up an exact time and then (after I change it a few times) we will connect.
The next morning, I woke up to an email from him, thanking me for getting back to him. He then said that he couldn’t stop thinking about our conversation and had to put everything he was thinking down on paper. He attached it, but said we would just discuss when my schedule allowed. Fortunately for him, I was already on ‘the throne’ for the first time that day and was able to glance at what he had sent.
Let’s just say, this guy gets it. There was thought, there was creativity, there were sellable elements.
Now, on to what was behind door number two. Another fella who has been out of the business did what the kids all talk about and ‘slid into my DMs.’ Even though I couldn’t remember the last time I had talked to this person (we are talking more than two decades), the greeting was like we were best friends, and it was normal to hear from him.
Told me he wanted to ‘jump in.’ He was ready. He’s been looking to get back in. Been thinking about it.
“Let me know,” is how the DM ended.
Let you know, what? What is it you are ready to “jump in” on?
Sell me!
Sell me you!
How on Earth am I supposed to sell you if you can’t sell you?
I was trying to think of what the equivalent of “I am ready to jump back in, let me know” would be on a sales call. I guess it would sound something like, “Hey, Mr. Customer, figured you’d wanna advertise again, you in?”
No, I won’t be ‘letting you know’ anything except for how to lose my contact information. However, I will give you some advice.
And that advice is to put some thought into things when you reach out and want to be a part of something. Put some creativity into it. Let the person on the other side know the WHY. What is you are going to bring to the table? Why can my company not live without you? And what is it that you have done recently for another company that can give me an example of what it is you do.
This is a sales business. Even our content creators are selling every single time they create something. There is a purpose and there is an audience and there is a way to deliver that audience to clients.
If anyone is going to work for me in any capacity, I need to be sold they can sell. And again, hear me when I say that may not mean pitching business to a client to buy advertising. But I still have to believe that they can sell the product in some way, shape or form.
If your selling technique is ‘Holla at me’ you may very well have a long, successful career ‘selling’, but it will most likely be from behind a counter asking customers if they are “going to be using their mobile app today?”
_________________________________________________________________________________
The Best/Worst Thing I’ve Heard/Watched/Read Recently
I’ve been going down the Howard Stern interviews rabbit hole a lot lately. I usually let some months pass and then I’ll catch up on any that I have missed that I want to listen to. Recently he has had some more sports guests than usual with Stephen A. Smith and Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo appearing together and after the Super Bowl, Saquan Barkley was on.
Stern is always incredibly well prepared for interviews. I know there is a lot of staff that helps with that, but I have given reading material to talent for years and seen them ignore plenty of it. Stern does a deep dive on the person. He does it so that he can have a conversation with the person rather than worrying about what he is going to ask.
You always get the feeling Howard has 30 pages of notes he never even got to about the person because he does such a good job of listening to what is said and takes it from there. Every radio host who does interviews should be forced to listen to Howard do it before they ever get to do it themselves.
_________________________________________________________________________________
In Case You Missed It
I always enjoy Andy Masur’s pieces on the Anatomy of a Broadcaster or Analyst. Last week we ran his feature on Tom Brady the analyst before he called Super Bowl LIX. Andy breaks it all down in the story and says, overall, he believes Brady is getting better and that while there are things that stand in the way, he is on track to be pretty good at being an analyst.
Masur concluded his article with, “Hopefully Brady continues to show signs of improvement, and he sticks with it. The name, work ethic and credentials, can eventually make him one of the better analysts in the game.”
Loved the feature, disagree with the last statement. To me, Tom Brady is missing something he will never get – a good voice. There are some great analysts who do not have the pipes of James Earl Jones, but to me Brady’s ‘whiny’ voice (not a criticism, just the only way I can think to describe it) will always get in the way.
You can read the full feature by clicking here.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
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.
