Each week as I write, I typically focus on what I believe are some of the right things to do in certain situations. This week, I want to change gears and talk about what NOT to do. Here are five of the top things I believe someone in sports media sales should not do:
“Throw Up On The Desk”
This phrase refers to the act of a media salesperson who walks in to a meeting with a prospect and proceeds to talk only about how great their radio station or cluster is, sites some ratings information to try and back that up, and then presents a pre-packaged offer. Most of the time, this is done after asking very few, if any, questions of the client or getting any sort of information before deciding what the solution should be. If you aren’t asking a lot of good questions and then listening carefully to the answers, you are doing it wrong.
Be late for a sales appointment.
There aren’t many worse ways to start a relationship than by setting a meeting time with a prospective client and showing up late. You probably worked really hard to get the meeting, and now after they agreed to it, you disrespect their valuable time? If I were the decision maker, when you arrived, I’d thank you for coming and kindly show you the exit. If you want someone’s money and trust in you as a marketing consultant, you have to do everything you can to show that person how well you are going to operate in this capacity. Showing up on time should be the very least you do and if you can’t do that, why should the business owner put their faith in you?
Only see clients when it’s renewal time.
I often talk about the six steps of our jobs and the last step is servicing the account. This encompasses everything from writing copy to making sure billing is correct and several other things, and it also includes establishing a relationship with that client. Building a reputation as a seller who only comes around when it’s time to sell something will eventually catch up with you. This is what the station trade is for, people! Get your client out to lunch, stop by to say hello when you’re in the area, drop off some tickets or even become a client of theirs where it’s applicable, just do something. A week shouldn’t go by where you haven’t touched at least one of your clients in some way that doesn’t involve selling them something.
Cave on all negotiations.
This drives me nuts. A certain percentage of our time is undoubtedly going to be spent on going back and forth on rates and various other items as it comes to finalizing a deal. But, these are negotiations, and the very nature of negotiation is that you give to get. I see a lot of reps forget this when talking to clients near the finish line of a deal. A client will come back with a few more requests at the last minute (they always do) and immediately the rep wants to cave to the demands and not push back. You have to remember that you’re hoping to be partners with this person or company for a long time, so if you’re quick to give in the first time around you’ll be paying for that sin throughout the entire relationship.
Lie.
Some call it “over-promising and under-delivering,” but that’s really just a different way of saying you lied. You gave your word something would happen and didn’t deliver on it. That’s lying. Nobody wants to work with people who they feel they can’t trust. Additionally, when we do this, we sour the client on not just the particular station or stations we represent, but we risk it becoming the whole industry and the client becoming someone who “tried radio and it doesn’t work.” We all know each client is too important to not super-serve them and always strive to not just deliver but to over deliver.
The popularity of the NFL Draft has increased throughout the years. ESPN played an integral role, broadcasting the draft exclusively from 1980-2005, turning it into a must-see event. The NFL Network joined the party in 2006, giving the league expanded coverage, and an even bigger feel to one of its most important off the field events.
But the future of the NFL’s offseason spectacular is likely to have a different look. FOX has been given the green light by the league to create on-air programming for the NFL Draft, and according to Michael McCarthy of the Sporting News, NBC and CBS could televise the event in coming years.
McCarthy says the league’s contracts with FOX and ESPN don’t promise exclusivity on coverage. Last year’s first night of the draft was seen by 6.7 million viewers on ESPN and another 2.5 million on NFL Network, according to the New York Times. With six quarterbacks potentially being chosen in the first round this year, and both New York football teams selecting in the top 3, expectations are that the audience will be even stronger for the 2018 NFL Draft.
Some league executives are hopeful of the draft becoming the sports version of the U.S. presidential election. That event is carried by most national networks, and although the 2018 Draft will be broadcast on six TV channels (FOX, ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and NFL Network), it’s clear the NFL wants more.
The league has shown that it’s willing to change things up to grow its ratings and revenue. In recent years the three-day affair was moved away from Radio City Music Hall in New York. Cities can now bid for the right to host the draft, similar to what they must go thru to gain the rights to the Super Bowl, WrestleMania and the Olympics. Over 70,000 fans attended last year’s draft in Philadelphia, and more than 100,000 are expected this year in Arlington, Texas.
The race for afternoon ratings supremacy in New York City tightened in 2017 between Mike Francesa and The Michael Kay Show. But despite a few close calls, Francesa stayed in front until signing off for the final time this past December.
Fast forward to 2018, and the picture has certainly changed. The Fan now finds itself in unfamiliar territory, looking up at its competitor in the afternoon drive ratings.
For the first time ever since moving into afternoons 13 years ago, The Michael Kay Show on 98.7 FM ESPN NY defeated The Fan head to head in afternoons. Michael Kay, Don LaGreca and Peter Rosenberg delivered a 4.4, which was two tenths higher than The Fan’s “CMB” which features Chris Carlin, Maggie Gray and Bart Scott. The news was first reported by Neil Best of Newsday.
The feat is a major accomplishment for Kay and his partners. The show has improved on the air and gained strong momentum since adding Rosenberg to the mix, and although critics will point out that the show didn’t defeat Francesa and narrowly slipped past CMB, a win is a win anyway you slice it.
Victory aside, both stations were down compared to the fall book. Kay’s show finished tied for 8th, six tenths of a point behind its fall performance. The Fan was 10th and a stunning 2.2 points lower than its fall showing.
The one saving grace for The Fan’s afternoon trio was that they won the head to head battle for their full show. “CMB” was 9th with a 4.3 between the hours of 2p-6:30p. 98.7 FM ESPN NY was 11th with a 3.9 during that four and a half hour period.
ESPN New York Senior VP and General Manager Tim McCarthy told Newsday, “I’m really happy for Michael, Don and Peter. They’ve been doing this for a long time, and the good news is the ratings over the last year have continued to grow in the right direction.”
Mark Chernoff, WFAN’s Vice President of Programming told Best he was pleased with how the ratings were trending in March and is very optimistic about more growth in the spring.
A few items worth pointing out regarding the New York race.
Michael Kay’s show doesn’t receive the local boost from morning drive that The Fan does.
98.7 FM ESPN NY operates on one signal. The Fan broadcasts on both FM and a powerful AM signal.
The Michael Kay Show receives additional exposure due to a TV simulcast on the YES Network.
WFAN is the flagship station for the New York Yankees. With the Bronx Bombers back in action, their presence on the radio station should provide an added cume boost for The Fan in the spring/summer/fall books. That should help lift the station’s numbers, but won’t necessarily tell us whether New York sports radio fans have flocked to the station’s new afternoon show. ESPN NY meanwhile doesn’t have the benefit of carrying local baseball play by play.
“CMB” are only 4 months into their program. Shows usually need time to hit their stride and develop a loyal following.
The Fan remained ahead in mornings with Boomer Esiason and Gregg Giannotti placing 7th with a 5.1 compared to ESPN New York’s airing of the national show “Wingo and Golic” which was 14th with a 3.0. “Boomer and Gio” though were down significantly from the fall when the station came in 1st with a 7.7.
Not to be forgotten, The Fan’s midday show led by Joe Beningo and Evan Roberts produced a 6th place finish. The show delivered a 4.8, down from the fall when they turned in a 5.5. During the 10a-2p hours they were comfortably ahead of 98.7 ESPN NY which was far back in 16th with a 2.4.
The #1 rated station with Men 25-54 in New York for the fall book according to Nielsen Audio was 106.7 Lite FM which reeled in an impressive 8.2 share.
An old newspaper reporter and I used to have arguments about what success was defined as when it comes to radio. He believed success in radio had multiple factors while I believed it had one – profitability.
I said to him and have said many times that the programming can be the best programming ever heard, but if you can’t sell it, it doesn’t matter. Undoubtedly, the better the programming, the more beneficial it is to sales, however, everything will ultimately come down to the dollars and cents. So, a well programmed station that isn’t making money versus an OK programmed station that makes money, which one is more successful? Which one is “winning?”
The fact is, success means different things to different people in most instances. In media sales, the success has everything to do with the numbers – the revenue brought in and the profit after expenses. This makes success in our business easy to define, and sellers should know that hitting and exceeding budgets is the one and only true measure of success.
If you’re in sales and don’t know what success looks like, chances are you aren’t being given, or setting for yourself, quantifiable goals. Everything we do comes down to math and the equation should start from the end by answering the simple question, “How much money do you want to make this year?”
Let’s say that number is $100,000. Let’s also make the assumption that when it’s all said and done, you will make 10% of what you sell, therefore you need to sell $1,000,000 in advertising or a rough average of $84,000 per month, to hit your stated financial goal.
If you track everything, and you should, you should be able to use your closing ratio to go further with the math. For the sake of this exercise, I’m going to assume you’re a solid seller and you can close 4 out of every 10 deals you legitimately pitch to a decision maker after a strong CNA, so a 40% closing ratio. This means you need to pitch about $50,000 each week or $2,600,000 per year. Now you have a measurable figure to point at each week and you can grade yourself against that number.
To take it to another level, if you know what your average ask is, now you can bring the number down to exactly how many face to face appointments you need to average on a weekly basis to ask for that amount or money. Now you have a second number that you can use to track progress on a weekly basis.
If you’re really looking to track progress, work on calculating how many dials it takes you to get that number of appointments you need on a weekly basis (always accounting for the inevitable no-shows and reschedules!). You have now taken it down to the bare bones and have a measurable number for just about every step to track your progress towards your financial goal.
With this information, on a weekly basis, you can determine if the week was a success. Did I make the right number of dials to get the right number of appointments to pitch the right number of asks at the right dollar amount to achieve my goals? If not, which part of the plan got in the way?
The black and white of our business makes a hard job easy to measure for achievement. Know your numbers and your goals so that success is always easy for you to define.
Andy Bloom is heading home. The veteran programmer who last oversaw operations for CBS Philadelphia, including Sports Radio WIP, has agreed to join Entercom Minneapolis where he’ll oversee the company’s Country and Adult Hits brands, and popular News/Talk station WCCO.
“Andy has a successful track record programming radio stations and we are looking forward to having him join our Twin Cities team,” said SVP/Market Manager Shannon Knoepke. “He has a clear understanding of our operational vision and is skilled at implementing winning business strategies.”
“Paul Bunyan, Purple People Eaters, Prince, the ‘87 & ‘91 Twins, and WCCO Radio. These are the Minnesota legends I grew up with,” said Bloom. “I am excited to go home to the Twin Cities and honored by the opportunity Shannon Knoepke, Chris Oliviero, and David Field have given me to lead WCCO, Buz’N-FM and Jack-FM.”
With the goal of turning Thursday Night Football into a must watch event, plan A for FOX included Troy Aikman hosting its pregame show. With Aikman most likely unavailable, FOX has turned to Michael Strahan for the role.
After failed attempts to lure Peyton Manning into the broadcast booth, FOX now hopes their No. 1 team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman will do the game, according to a report by Andrew Marchand. Aikman providing color analysis for TNF means the pregame show still has a void.
According to SI.com, FOX is working to put together a version of its Sunday NFL pregame show which will not include Curt Menefee and will instead feature Michael Strahan as host. Howie Long and Terry Bradshaw will join Strahan for TNF, Menefee and Jimmy Johnson will continue as part of the group’s Sunday show.
The Fox NFL Sunday show broadcasts from the network’s L.A. studio, the TNF pregame show will take place in New York. Strahan’s Good Morning America responsibilities from New York Monday through Friday would make it impossible for him to take part in the TNF telecast if Fox chose to keep the pregame show in Los Angeles.
Brandon Contes is a freelance writer for BSM. He can be found on Twitter @BrandonContes. To reach him by email click here.
ESPN announced its premiere plans for Kobe Bryant’s Detail, an exclusive series on ESPN+. Detail will debut on the network’s new direct to consumer streaming platform, with its first episode on Thursday, April 12th.
Written, produced and hosted by Kobe Bryant, Detail will the let the viewer experience how the future Hall-of-Famer analyzes, observes and studies game film. Detail will be a 15 episode series, with the premiere featuring game 6 of the 2009 Western Conference Finals between the Lakers and Nuggets.
“Studying game film is how the best get better. It’s the university for a master’s degree in basketball,” Bryant said. “I learned how to study film from the best coaches of all time—Phil Jackson and Tex Winter. Detail provides an opportunity to teach that skill to the next generation on large platform with ESPN.”
In addition to offering over 10,000 live sporting events, the new ESPN streaming service will also offer original produced content. Detail is the first original docuseries to be released by ESPN+. Other plans include an eight episode docuseries following NBA rookies from last year’s draft class, as well as the recently announced30 for 30 film detailing Bob Knight’s departure from IU.
Brandon Contes is a freelance writer for BSM. He can be found on Twitter @BrandonContes. To reach him by email click here.
Bonneville Phoenix has announced that acclaimed local sports columnist Dan Bickley has agreed to a deal to bring his columns and all written content to ArizonaSports.com starting April 23rd. Bickley has covered the local sports scene for 20 years as the lead sports columnist at the Arizona Republic and AZCentral Sports.
In addition, the award winning columnist will also expand his highly rated radio program with Vince Marotta to four hours per day. “Bickley and Marotta” have aired on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station weekdays from 12p-3p, but will soon move to 10a-2p.
“I’m ecstatic to join a team as talented and powerful as Arizona Sports,” said Bickley. “It’s a blessing to have an on-air partner like Vince Marotta; to work alongside the most engaging personalities in Arizona; and to bring my column to one of the fastest growing platforms in the country.”
“This is a win-win for sports fans in the Valley,” said Scott Sutherland, Bonneville Phoenix Vice-President/Market Manager. “Dan’s readers will now be able to access his content in a clean, easy to use, subscription free format on ArizonaSports.com. And his radio audience will have twice as much time to listen to Dan’s unique and entertaining perspective on radio.”
The only downside of making the move to expand Bickley’s presence is that it meant having to make additional changes to the radio station’s lineup. VP of Content and Operations Ryan Hatch confirmed that the station has parted ways with midday hosts Bertrand Berry and Mike Jurecki, adding they’ve been great teammates and he wishes them the absolute best moving forward.
If you work in a sports radio programming department, chances are you haven’t heard of Borrell Associates. They’re a local media research outfit fronted by Gordon Borrell. Gordon’s resume includes VP of new media for Landmark Communications, helping to establish the first TV, newspaper, cable and network TV websites which he later split up and sold to Earthlink and the Gannett Company, and being a sought-after speaker and media industry analyst, often quoted in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Ad Age, Forbes, etc.
I’ve never met Gordon but have read a number of his thoughts on our industry and find them fascinating. Many are similar to my own. If you haven’t had a chance to read his interview with Forbes, I strongly urge you to do so. It hit many of the notes that I just touched on in Chicago when speaking to a room full of sports radio programmers.
Among the highlights that grabbed my attention were his comments on the industry needing to find a clear vision for the “new” industry that it’s looking to create. Borrell says that vision should involve being part of a bigger business than terrestrial radio and creating a marketing powerhouse.
Included in that analysis was radio’s inability to sell the right products. He said the industry is heavily reliant on website banner ads and spots in their streaming, neither of which is in high demand by advertisers. To produce solid digital revenue the radio industry must offer other digital services that more directly complement radio campaigns.
What I love about those comments is that I just stood before some of the brightest minds in the format and when I asked which brands were selling merchandise, none were doing so. I informed the group that Clay Travis, Craig Carton, and Crossing Broad were all selling products on their websites. The WWE makes merchandising a critical part of their business strategy. Bleacher Report partners with StubHub to sell tickets. Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini says merchandise represents a third of their business, and if sports gambling gets legalized, it’s likely that sports betting brands will accept bets thru their apps, websites and phone lines.
Speaking of Barstool, they provided my favorite example. If a New York sports radio fan wants to show off their admiration for Mike Francesa, guess where they purchase a ‘Numbah One’ or ‘Can’t Spell Francesa without FAN’ t-shirt? Barstool’s website. WFAN? Sorry, they’re not available.
RedBubble also sells a Francesa ‘Mount Rushmore’ shirt. In fact, I went on The Fan’s website last night and guess which ad showed up at the top of their page? RedBubble’s did. The company is promoting the Francesa shirt and reaching its most likely customer (The WFAN listener) by buying banner ads which appear on The Fan’s website. That’s a smart move by RedBubble, but it also highlights a missed opportunity for The Fan.
One brand I observed recently which did a nice job and was on the right track but still missed out on larger opportunities was KFAN in Minneapolis. The Minnesota sports station sold custom t-shirts at the Minneapolis State Fair and from all indications they were popular. KFAN has sold shirts at the state fair for a number of years now. Except when the fair was over, they didn’t continue making those products available for purchase on their website.
What’s the downside to allowing people who didn’t attend the fair to continue purchasing your product? If the demand is strong, why not sell them all the time? In addition to generating additional revenue, the brand also receives free marketing. Isn’t that the point?
Ask yourself this, why are your radio station’s airwaves valuable enough for advertisers to purchase time on to sell products but not good enough to sell your own? You sell content every time your hosts speak. You sell podcasts, social media pages, events, games, etc. All of these items are given promotional time because they’re seen as a benefit to the audience. Why we wouldn’t capitalize on merchandise too is beyond my level of comprehension.
And before you get defensive and tell me “it costs money to create shirts, cups, hats, etc.” let me remind you that there are local and national services available where you only pay for products once they’re ordered. You also have digital and marketing people inside your buildings creating website and social media images and powerpoint presentations to help your sellers look good on client pitches. There’s no reason logos, slogans, catchphrases and on-air incidents can’t be turned into slick looking products sold on your platforms.
It’s pretty simple, if there’s no demand, you don’t place an order. But having them readily available and promoting them across your brand’s platforms should be a no-brainer. The last time I checked, radio was looking behind every door to find new money. Whether you make 25K or 250K thru merchandising, I don’t think we can afford to not take advantage of it.
Borrell also mentioned digital advertising and that’s a hot button issue for me. I see stations bombard their websites with banner ads, creating bad user experiences and nothing productive for the client. It’s happening on social media too. Scroll thru a station’s Facebook or Twitter page and look at how they promote a sponsor. It’s often an image of the client, a few sentences of text talking about something that has zero value to the person following the brand, and do you know what it produces? Minimal likes, shares and engagement.
Now put yourself in the advertiser’s shoes. The rep walks in touting their ratings, personalities and social media following, looking for you to renew. Except when you review the five social posts that went up promoting your company, you discover that the audience didn’t like you enough to respond, share or even press the thumbs up button. That not only makes you question the page’s value, but it can be embarrassing too. I’d be asking “is my brand that big of a turnoff to your listeners?”
What should you be doing? Creating branded content. Involving your talent in unique ways to make the client look good. Check out this example of Patrick “Seton” O’Connor of the Dan Patrick Show. Or this one from Barstool Sports. There’s also this one by Cricket Wireless which was a massive hit.
The bottom line, if you think recording a video endorsement or putting an ad on a social page is going to entice people, good luck. You’ve got to be creative. Try that approach with a tire dealer who’s looking to offer a discount on a new set of tires and nobody will care. Involve your talent in a video where they’re changing tires, competing against one another and having fun busting the chops of the mechanics inside of the garage and people remain interested. That interest becomes conversation which inspires the client to continue buying your brand.
The next piece of feedback that Borrell offered was radio needing to understand that its role isn’t to sell spots but to leverage all the marketing tools at its disposal–spots, events, digital advertising, and marketing services — to help its customers sell products and services. If the industry doesn’t adjust Borrell warns that it won’t be able to grow and thrive.
I don’t disagree one bit. One of my biggest concerns is radio’s failure to adapt in a rapidly changing environment. This is often due to the industry’s ‘proceeding with caution’ mentality and fear of not hitting the bottom line.
Think about it, how long did it take before your operation started hiring digital and social media content creators? Some of you may still have only one person trying to tackle the work for 3-4 brands. If you talk to sports teams, digital businesses or other media operators, there are groups dedicating 5-10 people just on the social/digital experience alone. That’s what it takes to excel and position yourself for future success.
When was the last time you created and monetized a huge ticketed event? Wing Bowl and Ticket Stock are two great examples of stations spending money to make money, but most brands don’t roll the dice that way. Do you think ESPN barters everything to execute the ESPYS? If you want to create impact and non-traditional revenue from buzzworthy events then you have to invest dollars in making those events worthy of buzz.
The final part of Borrell’s interview which I want to weigh in on were his points on radio’s biggest threat being myopic leadership. He said the business is in a period of remarkable growth and opportunity, yet so many leaders believe their job is to defend “radio.” Rather than investing time worrying about the industry’s defense, a better approach would be to spend more time and energy pursuing growth opportunities.
Those opportunities include dashboards, podcasts, and smart speakers, which some industry folks have considered to be threats. Borrell doesn’t believe they are. He continued by noting that industry leaders spend too much energy trying to hold onto their hairy-eared listeners and not enough time trying to figure out how to reach the pink-eared ones.
From where I sit, there’s never been a better time to be in the audio business. People are listening to millions of pieces of content each day. Whether it’s consumed live or on-demand thru a phone, computer, tablet, smart speaker or car stereo is besides the point. It’s the industry’s problem to figure out how to measure it but the enthusiasm for the content is there. I’d much rather walk into a client’s office with a huge splintered audience across multiple platforms than without one.
However, Borrell is exactly right about smart speakers, podcasts and digital dashboards being opportunities, not threats. The reason they’re not warmly embraced is because we tend to ease into things rather than leading the charge. I’m sure NBC, FOX, the NFL and YouTube would’ve preferred sticking to their prior ad models but when audience consumption patterns change, brands must respond.
That requires more training, recruiting, experimenting, and strategic adjusting. It can also mean a financial setback in the short-term to maximize long-term growth. You can get upset by the way the world’s changing, but if you want to avoid becoming Blockbuster Video, a Taxi company, the Newspaper or the next “going out of business” retail outlet, you better read the signs and take action or you’ll pay for it.
Here’s a good lesson. Take a few minutes today and use your smart speaker to listen to a few sports stations. Ask for the host/show names, specific content or even the brand name itself. You’d be surprised by how many stations don’t even come up by their actual name. I’ve been using a smart speaker for the past year and you’d be stunned by how how hard it is to even locate some brands, not to mention, the amount of times where I’m led to listen to stations via TuneIn or iHeartradio instead of the station’s app.
What if your brand uses the moniker The Fan, The Game, ESPN Radio or FOX Sports Radio in its branding. Do you know how many stations exist with those names? What do you think is going to happen when the listener says “Alexa, play The Fan”? They’re going to be sent to whichever station Alexa recognizes first. It’s no different than a Google search. You don’t want to appear on Page 3. The more complicated it becomes (trying to find stations by call letters, cities, website addresses, etc.) to find you, the quicker the audience moves on to something else.
As far as myopic leadership is concerned, I think it’s unfair to place all managers and companies under one umbrella because they’re not all the same. I’ve been fortunate to work with some outstanding leaders and groups, and I’ve encountered a few bad apples too, especially since launching BSM two and a half years ago.
I do become puzzled when I interact with an executive or market manager and they ask for a favor or information, and I reach out afterwards and they can’t even take a few minutes to respond to an email or call. That’s even more likely to occur if the mere mention of doing business together comes up. In this small world of radio where relationships matter, people talk, and your reputation is everything, I think that’s a bad way of operating. Guess what happens when they reach out again asking me for another favor? I stop helping.
One of our industry’s biggest challenges is failing to adjust our viewpoints. Many are consumed by numbers, set in their ways, and see the world thru the inside of their hallways rather than from the outside looking in. They reject the social space because it’s a tougher sell, even though it’s where their audience lives. They turn a blind eye towards diversity and youth development because it requires doing things differently. Mention the idea of charging for digital content and you’re hit with the old school response “people expect radio to be free.”
Because of that logic, 13% of M-F hosting roles in top 20 markets are occupied by minority voices. We ignore the fact that 38% of those cities are populated by minority people, and when you look at the makeup of listening (92% ‘Other’/White and 8% Black/Hispanic) you can see where the growth opportunities lie.
Let me share one of my favorite examples. If you ask an executive what I do, they’ll say “he’s a consultant.” Ask them what that entails and they’ll list off the same description of what consultants did 10-20 years ago. Their impression is that I sit in my office, listen to the radio, analyze the ratings and give advice on content and how to increase numbers.
That’s certainly part of the job, but there’s much more to it than that. I’m a mentor, influencer, connector, teacher, analyst, creator and researcher. If you asked the room of people who spent time with me last week in Chicago, they’d tell you I explored a lot more than just clocks, content and ratings. I traveled to visit with a client this past September for 2-3 days and that entire trip had zero to do with their brand’s on-air execution and everything to do with digital/social analysis and strategy.
My point is that it’s a different world and it requires expanding your horizons.
Along those lines, the idea of charging for digital content may feel awkward because we’re so conditioned to giving it all away, but that shouldn’t deter you from considering it, especially if the audience demand is high for your programming. Good Karma in Cleveland wasn’t afraid to take the risk. Neither was The Athletic. Or ESPN. Or Barstool. Or Bleacher Report. Or the multiple TV and print outlets calling on their fans to help fund their efforts.
I don’t know about you, but I pay $10 per month for the WWE Network and never have buyer’s remorse. I feel the same way about subscribing to The Athletic and Radio Ink. My fiance pays for Netflix and Amazon Prime and is more than satisfied with what she receives each month.
When you add up the amount of hours and resources put into creating digital content and the return on investment associated with it, most brands struggle to turn a profit. It’s why we’re living with an antiquated system of airing 14-20 minutes of commercials per hour on our stations. We’d rather have 100,000 listeners paying zero instead of 10,000 listeners paying $5-$10 per month.
But is that audience truly valuable if it isn’t monetized? We can blame the sales team for not selling it but if demand for your content is high, why wouldn’t you charge for it? What’s better, 10,000 paying supporters or 100,000 free ones that provide no financial impact?
The world is constantly evolving. The user is in control and willing to pay for premium content and experiences. They’ll buy your podcast if it’s unique. They’ll purchase your merchandise and market your brand without needing to be asked. They’ll buy tickets to your events if you make them worthwhile. They’ll also reject your attempts to push things at them in an intrusive way.
Between Gordon Borrell and myself, you’ve been given plenty to think about. I should be taking my own advice and charging you just for reading this. But since I’m a nice guy, I’ll just wait for that follow up call or email that I’m sure you’ve been working on. Since the likelihood of that happening though isn’t very high, I’ll just settle for a free t-shirt or podcast subscription.
A question for the managers out there – are you a pusher or a puller?
You’ve most likely heard the saying, “managers push from behind, while leaders pull from the front.” As it relates to media sales management in today’s world, all of us should be pulling from the front.
If being in management has taught me anything, it’s that the team takes all its cues from you. The atmosphere and vibe of your direct reports is generally a strong reflection of your management style and tone. If you sit back and push the others from behind, without setting the example of being out front and willing to do whatever it takes, it shouldn’t surprise you when you eventually get resentment and low work ethic.
Pulling from the front also means remaining positive. You’re the leader, a position which is challenging enough, being “Negative Nancy” around co-workers can rub off quickly. We all know there’s plenty of people out there who are always looking for an opportunity to be negative. Our responsibility is to minimize those opportunities and we should never be the ones to feed that beast.
Prioritization comes in to play for the leader who is going to be active and pull from the front. The to-do lists can be long, and some days we start with a lot of items on that list and by the end of the day it has only grown. But, our priority is to help develop business and relationships and to help develop people. Those items have to always come first. The manager who pushes from behind has plenty of time to handle the bottom third of the list, but the out front, in-the-trenches leader must really keep a handle on time management to both make the time to do the leading as well as handle other responsibilities that may not directly impact revenue, but still have to get done.
As a young manager, I was taught a valuable lesson of always taking a little time at the end of the day to ask myself questions. Did I lead out front today? What did I do to develop business or to develop people today? Did I take care of the most important items today – the ones that directly reflect revenue?
Another characteristic of a true leader is a willingness to be flexible. New managers can sometimes struggle with the concept that people can’t all be managed the same way. There has to be some flexibility in the way different people are treated or managed based on several factors. One of those, is obviously based on performance. I heard a great story once about an NFL coach who threw an undrafted rookie off the team, on the spot, for falling asleep in a meeting. Later, the same coach saw a star player sleeping in a meeting and he went up and put a pillow under his head. This is a results oriented business and those that consistently get the results deserve special treatment.
A lot of us struggle sometimes with the idea that there are people out there who have good ideas, besides ourselves. Leaders take input from the team and every now and then, they get to be the smartest person in the room. Part of what we do as managers is getting “buy-in” and if those around us feel they were a part of how something came together, they are much more likely to go the extra mile to help execute.
Being in management is hard work. It’s even harder to be successful if you are trying to push the group forward from all the way in the back.
