(By Bob McCurdy) There’s a plethora of examples in American business and the radio industry of conventional wisdom being right until it was wrong. What was thought to be not possible suddenly became possible when someone stepped up and challenged that “ conventional wisdom.” An oft-quoted example of conventional wisdom being right and then wrong, deals with the sub-four minute mile. Track “experts” for years maintained that the human body was not capable of this feat saying “it wasn’t just dangerous but impossible.” They were proven wrong in May 1954 when Roger Bannister did the “impossible” which ended up ultimately being- quite possible. And what happened next? Others began running sub-four minute miles because it was now proven “possible.”
It usually turns out that the reason conventional wisdom was initially correct is due to unchallenged traditional group-think, comfort, desire to retain the status quo, lack of creativity, or the courage to view areas of responsibility through a new, different, and challenging lens. And then the most important part, acting upon what was “seen.”
Those who resist checking out a different lens are likely members of what I have referred to as a “discouragement fraternity” — those married to inertia, attempting to hang on to the way things have been done, while attempting to hold back others from pursuing the untried and unproven in search of a better way. After all, if what’s accomplished is what they assert to be impossible, it not only diminishes them in the eyes of others but their self-esteem. It’s this naysayer fraternity that specializes in providing all of the reasons why new thinking and different approaches can’t be done or won’t succeed. My advice: find ear lids.
The following quote is certainly not dripping with foresight but serves as a good example of limited imaginations and limited vision that hits close to home:
“The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message to be sent to no one in particular?”—Associates of David Sarnoff responding to the latter’s call for investment in radio in 1921.
Thankfully Mr. Sarnoff ignored his associate’s advice and went on to manufacture radios and become Radio Corporation of America’s (RCA) president, but he was likely subjected to the “ROSE” treatment that those anchored to conventional wisdom often employ (ridicule, opposition, and self-evidence). Some more recent examples of conventional wisdom being right before it was wrong are:
– All morning shows need to be local. Stern debunked this.
– Sports radio will never work. Jeff Smulyan/Emmis disproved this.
– People use social websites to socialize and not to purchase. Facebook and Instagram’s Q2 2019 revenue was over $16 billion. About what the radio industry generates in a full year.
– No one will pay $10/month for an audio subscription. Clearly no longer true.
– Each radio station needs a dedicated GM and PD. How crazy does this sound in 2019?
– Radio salespeople will never be able to effectively sell more than one or two stations — one AM and one FM. Deregulation proved they could quite nicely.
Over the years this “fraternity” has told me that:
– Buyers don’t care about qualitative data. This was true until this information began to be consistently presented and discussed intelligently.
– Buyers don’t care about trends. This was crazy. Why are trends important when buying stock and not when investing advertising dollars?
– Buyers are numbers buyers, buying exclusively off the ratings. Again true until they were given other credible data/reasons to guide their buying decisions.
– Buyers don’t care about pre-sell. They care if what you say is thoughtfully prepared and accurate.
– Buyers don’t want to see reps. They see reps who are worth seeing and make their job easier.
– You can’t sell nationally the way you do locally. You can if you make the effort.
– Don’t focus on research, it’s more about the relationship. It’s about both, the relationship and the story and research/data helps create and mold that story.
– Why get into the office so early? If what you do is what you love doing, and it gives you a head start on the competition, why wouldn’t you?
– The industry has changed. What worked then doesn’t work now. Bull. It has changed but good selling is still appreciated, respected, and rewarded by those buying.
Those who live and die by conventional wisdom, while usually persuasive, are rarely in doubt but often wrong. Minimize their influence as you attempt to view your job through a different lens, experimenting with what’s not been done to become a more valued partner to your clients.
Think about the way you approach your account list/job. Is there any conventional wisdom that’s in need of getting the heave-ho as 2020 approaches? I bet if you look hard enough you’ll find some. Just remember after the initial “ridicule” and “opposition,” “self-evidence” follows and then surprise — the bandwagon suddenly gets crowded. As you push the envelope pursuing the untried and unproven, remember naysayers will always be right before you’ve proven them wrong, but good things always come to those who never stop attempting to achieve the possible!
Bob, although I highly doubt that it would, don’t let the absence of comments on this article discourage you from continuing to call a spade a spade, while concurrently exhorting us all to do better. Without throwing flowers here, your direct approach is greatly – and always – appreciated.
Defying conventional wisdom, in identifying quantified, unique and compelling solutions, wins the day. The pre-emptive approach that gets rid of those thorny ROSEs, is in prioritizing the delivery of 52 weeks of advertiser sales results that advertisers can measure to the penny, and fully attribute to our stations.
That’s the irrefutable evidence that silences naysayers; making advertiser and media seller more money per hour of preparation, prospecting, presenting, closing and servicing.
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