They say all good things must come to an end. Well, for me, this is the end in this particular space. My swan song if you will. I am moving next month and will be working for Entercom in my home market of St. Louis.
It’s been a great two plus years in Kansas City and I’ll miss the great crew there. I even learned quite a bit from a few of them! So, with that change I’m going to step back from some other commitments to focus even more on the new challenges.
By my count this is my 89th column and I hope those that took the time to read any of them, learned a thing or two. If nothing else, I hope you’ve enjoyed some of the stories that I’ve shared from my twenty-five years (and counting) in the business.
I went back and read my first column this morning, which was mostly about my passion for what we do and how much I love the creative freedom the sports format allows us. And now, with digital, there’s even more ways to share that creativity and get that content to your listeners.
Our jobs are very challenging and there’s no shortage of disruptions aimed at radio. However, in most cities there are only one or two places where you can count on hearing consistent sports talk about your local teams, and for our customers, where you can target the engaged sports fan.
We have a huge advantage and have to continue taking advantage of. I pointed this out in another column, that sports radio was the original target marketing that everyone is high on today because of digital. It’s just now come full circle that it’s about finding a niche or target market and find a way to own them and beat them over the head with your message and the value to them.
When it comes to managing and my philosophy on selling sports radio, I’m fairly simple. When it all boils down, there’s six main responsibilities as I’ve talked about several times: Prospecting, Setting an Appointment with the Decision Maker, doing a Client Needs Analysis, Presenting solutions to their key marketing challenges, Closing the sale and Servicing the sale. So, my expectation is that you’ll do the job. You can’t work at McDonald’s as a cook and say you’ll cook everything but the fries. It doesn’t work that way. You do the whole job, or someone else does.
If you’re actively doing all six responsibilities, it’s really hard to fail in our business. Do them all well and you’ll be making a lot of money. But, as we all know, lots of people get into our business because they think it’ll be fun, and it is, but it’s also hard. If anyone isn’t willing to do all six steps with passion and strong knowledge, they’re dead before they start.
I’ve also often referred to the sign that hangs in my office. Quotes I’ve adopted as my own, taken from training sessions with Dave Gifford back in the day:
- There’s not a sales problem that cannot be fixed by making more presentations to decision makers
- Business goes where it’s invited (works for both us and our clients)
- You are not in sales, you are a marketing consultant who sells ideas and solutions
I hang this in my office so sellers see it each time they walk out of the office. The key one, of course, being that if they’re in a slump, or sad, or mad, or having personal issues, or had a big cancellation, or something didn’t come through they were counting on, whatever the problem may be – the only answer is to go pitch more business to a decision maker. The more you do, the more you’ll sell. Period.
Thank you again to anyone who is reading this or has read any of the things I’ve written. Thank you to Jason Barrett and Demetri Ravanos who are not only great to work with, but also great advocates for sports radio.
Hope all your future days are profitable ones!
