By Laurie Kahn
We continually hear about the need for more qualified leads when hiring new sellers. This is a major conversation at all conferences and not just in radio. It is hard to find, hire, and retain the talent you need. It is extremely competitive to hire once they are found.
When we are working with clients who are having issues in hiring sellers, one of the first things we do is talk about how they are branding themselves to future hires. The game has changed and where it used to be “Why should I hire you?” in an interview, it is now much more about “This is why you should consider a career with us.”
To make your life easier and to start attracting a better quality of potential hires, think about how you brand your station as an employer. Stations all have marketing budgets and many have a dedicated employee to do nothing but market, but those messages are primarily directed at building listeners. Now it is crucial to market to your community to drive desire to be known as a company where people want to work.
A great way to do this is to be sure to toot your own horn about the community service you do and how you make a difference in your community. Two great television campaigns are GE and Walmart. GE started last summer with a nerdy guy getting a job at GE and while he was so excited, his friends and family didn’t get it – the job wasn’t sexy enough or man enough, but what a great job they did letting people know about all that GE did and how this one guy was so excited to make a difference. Now they have moved on to him actually working at GE and having to deal with friends who want to work there, even though he is not involved with hiring. The campaign has shown GE as a really cool place to work and where the company helps others around the world.
Walmart came out with a new campaign recently where they are tying in to donating food to help make sure no one in America goes hungry. What a feel-good campaign! Don’t you think they are making a statement showing how much they care? This is huge with Millennials who are all about giving back.
Community service is something broadcasters have been required to do to maintain their licenses, but it can now be used as a wonderful recruiting tool.
Create programs where you may need volunteers and promote it. Tie in a sponsor to help feed or hydrate them while doing community work. Get press coverage and talk it up on air and on your website. At the event, have your staff there ready to talk with volunteers, and as they have signed up, you should have emails and contact info. Reach out to them after the event to thank them and remind them of what a good employer you are and how much you give back. Keep reminding your community of all you do for it to be a better place to live.
Don’t stop there. Use your air and website to talk about your company, the support, the training, benefits, opportunity for growth and more. Make a big deal about your wins and share it with the community.
Have your marketing serve dual purposes – bring in new listeners and potential employees. Hiring good people is a long-term issue and needs to be dealt with in an ongoing plan.
Laurie Kahn is President of Media Staffing Network (www.mediastaffingnetwork.com) and can be reached at 480 306 8930
Touting “good works” all over the place seems like a form of public masturbation – writ large – to me.
Plan B:
Treat the existing sales staff with respect and dignity.
Introduce a fair, equitable, dependable and motivating compensation plan.
Train them to a degree of competence.
Provide them with worthwhile products (“spawts”) to take to the street.
Ask them to assist in recruiting.
Note: This is not a new plan. Just rare.