How do you handle layoffs at your station with your clients, or worse, the rumor of layoffs? If you were the sales staff at 1250 The Fan in Milwaukee, I doubt you had much of a heads up before the cuts were made. I have worked through local programming cuts and two bankruptcies with a station group. Looking back on it, I should have been more plugged into the bigger picture of my company.
I could have considered moving to a company that was adding resources for local sales, not eliminating them. We all have the option, and I am sure there are salespeople now considering their futures. And that is a good thing.
Local layoffs, though, are not a good thing. I have handled them myself. Usually poorly. The employees laid off pay the ultimate price, but the salespeople who are charged with representing these companies and their moves have a tough job. So, how do you push your station forward with clients when the company cuts it back? I bet the sales people at Audacy could tell us, having faced this situation two times in the last 28 months.
Former Audacy sales manager Dave Greene gave some advice to salespeople about working in big corporate radio when he departed about a year ago.
When dealing with layoffs, here is my advice. It has been my experience that my best clients were more interested in if I was staying, not in whoever was being let go on air. Keep that in mind. A proactive approach with clients who want to be in the know, agencies who hear all the gossip, or specific clients who like the laid off on air person should be taken.
#1 Don’t tell who doesn’t care. Why be the bearer of bad news to clients who don’t listen or care? You know who they are. Be prepared for a response if they ask, but I don’t think running around to every client with a story will produce much more than a bunch of other rumors about you, your station, and your company.
#2 Bring out the Big Gun. Ask your GM or Regional manager to make calls with you with any high-maintenance client regarding a touchy layoff. Let them face the music and take full responsibility for their actions. The client will feel valued and impressed they had direct access to the decision maker for the explanation.
#3 Use soft hands. If you have a client who is very sympathetic to the laid-off employees, tell them how the person was treated. Some clients care about how others are treated if they have listened to them on the air and feel like they know them well. Severance deals, other company employment offers, or maybe even re-employment at the same station could all be communicated.
#4 Give them the corporate scoop. Tell them why the layoffs happened. Was it to expand into podcasting more aggressively? Were they trying to manage costs JUST LIKE YOUR CLIENT? If we blame it on the economy, we miss a chance to relate to our clients differently. This approach works well with small business owners specifically. We want them to tell what just happened on a personal level. Ask them if they have had to do that in their career. The idea is to make them care MORE, not less.
#5 Don’t be slow and generic. You owe yourself and your family to be intelligent, strategic, and swift. You owe it to the people who were cut to be specific, open, and sympathetic.
If you find yourself in this situation, please be proactive and take control of the narrative with your clients. If you don’t, your competitors will.
