Welcome to this week’s sales meeting. As some of you may have read recently, I’ll be stepping away from writing for the site after my column tomorrow. Over the last few months, I’ve launched an all-digital sports network for St. Louis, purchased a radio station, and begun working on several other projects. It’s time for me to focus solely on sales within those ventures.
In this final sales column, I want to emphasize what I believe is most important for media salespeople to understand: sales is a numbers game, and there is a formula for success.
I’ve written extensively about what I call the six steps in the media sales process. If you focus on getting better at each step, there’s no way you’ll fail. But if you cut corners, you’ll likely come up short of your financial goals.
And let’s be honest—that’s what this should be about: your financial goals.
If you’ve been in media sales for a few years and you’re not making really good money, it might be time to find something else to do. These are tough jobs, and there are much easier ways to make average money.
But if you want to maximize your financial potential, follow these six steps:
Step 1: Prospect the right clients. Don’t set yourself up for failure right out of the gate. Some sellers see a business and automatically think it’s worth pursuing. But there are plenty of ways to at least try to qualify a business first. If you’re not willing to do a little “presearch,” you’ll waste a lot of time chasing unqualified leads.
Step 2: Get a meeting with a decision-maker. This is what separates good sellers from great ones. As I’ve said many times, this is the hardest part of the job—and your manager can’t do it for you. If a manager has to set your meetings, they don’t need you. And if you think you can do this job from behind a desk, you’re sorely mistaken. You need to network, get out, and make connections. LinkedIn messages and emails alone won’t get it done.
Step 3: Conduct a great client needs analysis. Ask good questions. Listen to the answers.
Step 4: Make a great presentation. It should be entirely based on the information you gathered during the CNA. If you asked the right questions and truly listened, the client gave you everything you need. Remind them what they told you their challenges are, and show them how your offering addresses those exact issues.
Step 5: Close the deal. If you did everything right, this should be straightforward. But this, too, separates the good from the great. Can you turn a “no” into a “yes”? Can you handle objections quickly and confidently? It’s easy when it’s easy—but when it gets tough, do you crater, or do you sell?
Step 6: Service the client. Never be the rep who thinks the job ends when the deal is signed. That’s when the real work begins. From that point on, your focus is the renewal. How do you get it? You stay on top of your clients. You write strong copy, offer fresh ideas, check in, entertain, and build relationships.
These six steps—and the math that supports them—are the formula. The more you ask for, the more you’re going to sell. None of this is easy, but it should at least be simple to understand.
Evaluate yourself. Look at these six steps and identify where you need to improve. Like anything else, the only way to get better is to keep doing it—and to stay committed to getting better at it.
If you’re not willing to commit to every part of the process and truly put in the work, then you’re in the wrong career. And nothing I’ve written in this space will really matter to you.
All the best—and happy selling!
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Dave Greene is a former Editor and Columnist 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 will be missed here Dave- we need sales mojo as much as pos. Go get em