Happy Hump Day everyone. Welcome into our sales meeting for this week. Where I live, just went from snow and ice to high 60’s. That means spring is around the corner, baseball is getting ready to start, and my sinuses are a mess. Today’s topic is great ideas. Is there anything media salespeople like more than selling something you have so much belief in you want to come out of your skin?
One of my first as it relates to our business came in March of 2004 after Mizzou student Mike Hall won ESPN’s Dream Job contest. What a great idea by ESPN to have a contest that was wildly popular. It had the added benefit of thousands of wannabe anchors sending their stuff in and letting ESPN talent scouts see what was out there.
You see, here was the real kicker to the idea – it sounded HUGE! Win a freakin job at the Worldwide Leader in Sports?!? Where do I sign up? Other than, ‘win a spot playing for the (insert your favorite sports team)’, I can’t think of something bigger a sports fan would have wanted, killer idea. Yet, ESPN had so many anchor hours to fill in those days with all of their networks doing studio shows. They weren’t so much having a contest as they were looking to fill man hours!
At that same time, after it ended as this big national contest, I had been hired to run 1380 ESPN in St. Louis. It was a brand-new station you couldn’t hear clearly across the street. The station had been so many different formats through the years nobody knew what it was anymore. The sports program that was airing when we took over was below-average at best. Essentially, we launched a completely new station on a bad signal.
But I had a great idea. If ‘Dream Job’ could work on a national level, why couldn’t it work on a local level? I needed staff help and could use an extra host. All I had to do was find a sponsor. So naturally I went to one of the biggest ones in the market.
Whatever made me think I should pitch this idea first to the ad agency for McDonald’s is beyond me. But we did. I had so much confidence in this idea and the attention it would get I don’t think I cared if anyone said no. I was selling this to a big sponsor no matter what. Someone was going to say ‘Yes!’.
And you know what the funny thing was, as much as the McDonald’s guy kind of knew our station was a big risk and this could be so much better with a ‘good’ station – he didn’t let us get out of his office without him committing to at least pitching it to the marketing committee. The idea was that good and they ended up buying the title sponsorship.
Fast forward now to last week. I had one of those ideas again. It came as I was looking for a way to get in to see a particular company and I knew it wasn’t going to come just from my good looks and charm. I either needed a content tie-in or something that would make the person on the other end of the phone, email or text go, ‘Wow! Let’s talk.’
It was one of those literal middle-of-the-night thoughts based off a conversation I had earlier that day with someone about another subject altogether. But it hit me that this could be something this particular company I wanted to talk to would really like. It has sizzle, it’s different, and to the right client – this client – it would be a home run.
I couldn’t just lay in bed and think about it. It was 3:15 in the morning and there I was typing at my computer, trying to get it all out of my head and written down.
The next morning, I woke up and decided I would reach out to my contact no earlier than 8:30 am, but man it was hard to wait that long. At 8:31 am I sent a text, and it took everything I had not to put it all in the message, but I held back and simply said this:
“I was going to reach out to you today to see if we can set up a time to talk in the next week or so, but I HAVE THE BEST IDEA FOR YOU GUYS AND IT CANNOT WAIT! Do you have time for a quick call/zoom today?”
Now, I am not suggesting you do that to everyone and certainly don’t do it if you don’t really have a great idea. But c’mon – there was no way he wasn’t getting back to me with at least some curiosity. And he did, quickly. We were on the phone within two hours.
For context, I have not spoken to this person in two years. This wasn’t someone I knew well. I just had the confidence in the idea. It’s that good.
When we talked, he shared my excitement. At one point in the conversation, he stopped and said this, “Let me tell you, the best part of this is that you brought the idea to me and are willing to help execute it. We never get ideas and certainly never ones that are really good, mostly about us and doesn’t involve us doing all the work.”
Guys and gals, this is what this whole column comes down to. Ideas win. Ideas sell. Having good ideas gives you more confidence as a seller than you can get from just about anything else. Confidence makes selling EASIER and there aren’t many things that actually make sales easier.
Want to be different? Do you want to be better than other salespeople? Want to make a lot of money?
Come up with better ideas than anyone else.
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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.
