According to a just-released study of 334 radio managers and salespeople conducted by Media Staffing Network and Radio Ink, 43% of those surveyed said the average radio salesperson is making between $40,000 and $59,000 a year. Another 24.3% responded that sellers are making between $60,000 and $79,000. And 17.4% say salespeople are taking home between $80,000 and $110,000.
This new survey will be conducted every year by MSN and Radio Ink.
Radio Ink Publisher Deborah Parenti said it’s imperative radio understands how to remain competitive in today’s low unemployment landscape and combat the attraction of digital media for younger demos that are just entering the workforce. “We partnered with MSN on this valuable study to help radio understand and respond to the current employment marketplace.”
MSN CEO Laurie Kahn added, “Recruiting and hiring the best candidates is crucial to generating revenue success. It all starts with the recruitment process and culminates in offering compensation packages that compete successfully in the current marketplace. With relocation extremely difficult, stations need to recruit more in their markets, often out of radio. We’re grateful to Radio Ink for their support in delivering this important study to radio. I look forward to partnering again next year so we can track changes in the compensation of sellers going forward.”
The entire 2019 Radio Sales Compensation Study can be downloaded for free here.
Over a three-week period, The Radio Sales Compensation Study surveyed 334 respondents of which 72.5% were managers and 27.5% were sellers. Representing a wide range of market sizes from across the country, 29.3% were from Top 20 markets, 15.9% from markets 21-50, 6.3% from markets 51-70, and the largest number, 48.5%, came from markets 75+. All survey participants were entered in a random drawing to win one of three licenses to MSN’s Local Sales Recruitment Online Learning Program. Each license is valued at $999 and is good for one year for up to three users at one station. Winners were notified by MSN in early August.
Let’s agree. There’s no single panacea…but several areas for improvement. We could all create and sell more digital assets. The NAB Radio Show drove that home regarding podcasts, texting, streaming, etc. However, radio is not analog. The digital chain is complete. Let’s tout the sexy multi-dimensional nature of the “interactive creative communications business”. Ultimately, there aren’t too many problems that more revenue won’t solve. We need to train constantly; improve our products; produce better commercials; spread out the commercial load with shorter pods; sell more on-air, online, and event marketing; and express sincere appreciation for every employee.
Ronald T..I bet you never sold anything in your life!!!
Mr. Ortelli reveals a cliched, superficial and all too prevalent position.
For the most part, local AE’s are given a tattered carpet bag of shabby advertising relics and artifiacts to present to their potential advertisers.
Meanwhile, I am surprised he didn’t also include the admonition: “You can only eat what you kill,”
Written by a True Novice. and probably a PC liberal….Salespeople Earn Money they dont make it….So they deserve whatever they do or dont earn..Pretty Simple!!!
The pervasive attitude that “the pie is only so big” while a notion worthy of immediate ridicule, still has to be reluctantly acknowledged. It is a widely-held statement of an accepted, but still distorted reality.
The immediate solution:
Make much better pies, the aroma alone of which will be enough to motivate otherwise indifferent or dissatisfied audiences and advertisers all the way up to the counter with requests of “Ill have some of that!”
The pie is only so big…and with revenue flat for the past 10-15 years 20% commissions are worth less each year. And with the proliferation of radio signals, few stations can push rate. One solution we’ve tried in a couple of markets is recruiting semi-retired adults who want to be active and involved but don’t need to make a living salary. It comes with other issues of course, but these are more mature people who often carry less baggage. It’s not a viable long term solution, but it works for the time being. And when I struggle with how to recruit, I am glad to not be in the newspaper business!
The article focuses only on income reports from the radio industry, prompting comments that suggest only radio has personnel problems these days. Far from the case. ALL businesses are having trouble recruiting and retaining good people. Radio seemed to have these problems sooner than many businesses because:
a. we’re fussy about who we hire..or
b. new media is getting all the attention
Regardless, if digital salespeople make a lot more money than radio sales reps, they must be bringing in a lot more business to justify the bigger salaries. So, how do we greatly increase the revenue radio salespeople bring in? Please don’t suggest fewer ads or better sounding spots. Direct mail outbills everyone with lots of ads, none of which would win an award
WOW! Thanks to Radio Ink for supporting this study. Seeing the comments since I’ve been out of Management for almost 20 years shocked me. Radio is not competitive with other industries . It would be great to see how sales management fares against other industries also. And we wonder why the talented people jump ship for better compensation packages.
I billed on average 1million a year for a group for 11 years. They kept monkeying with commission structure every year. Yet we covered our own gas and expenses. The final stray was when the CEO/President came to town. In 11 years realize I had billed 12 million plus for him. The man didn’t even stop by our cubicles and say thank you. That’s ok he is still out of touch. I left started my own firm and have been very successful. It’s reasons like this people leave a radio company. A simple, Thank you for selling 12 million for me. Btw he could have looked at some notes on his private jet.
I recently heard a sales manger say that 15% was the industry standard for radio sales,. It may well be, but it’s a clear illustration of how out of touch the industry has become.
Where is it 15%??
Not at I Heart Media.
“Among other things.”
Indeed.
And, uhhhh… what are the chances?
IT IS FANTASTIC that this survey was done. Congratulations. I ran a digital advertising company for five years and recruited sales people. I learned a few things
1. Many top digital sellers would never consider selling radio because they viewed the medium with disdain. Hate!
2. On average, radio paid at least 50k less for every stage of a seller’s career.
3. Many stations offer a hostile, ugly physical environment for a seller. Ugly lobbies, open in-the-hall desks, nothing cool anywhere. There are exceptions.
Would love to see these survey numbers against numbers from other industries. Bravo for doing this work. Terrific!
Every industry has it’s “cost-of-sales” benchmark, and radio has operated on an 18-20% figure for years, including commission, taxes, health insurance and other assorted overhead.
If a quality sales rep needs to make, say, $90,000 a year for radio to attract good people in a competitive marketplace, they would need to bill about $50,000 a month, minimum, to remain in the company’s affordability.
So, the task is not what can we cut to pay salespeople more (if radio’s revenues are flat, which, indeed they are); it’s how can we create a product and it’s support structure to cause typical salespeople to bill $50,000 a month, on average? A few very successful companies have figured this out, but they aren’t talking.
Nowhere near enough. Digital companies including Google pay their salespeople anywhere between $100,000’and $200,000 per year, plus a ton of perks (like free food and gym memberships) that radio does not offer. But what top millennial is going to take $50.000′(or more) less per year, and no perks, to switch from the current digital world to an old analog product? Not going to happen.
If radio stations want to survive long term, they need to step up their sales comp. Among other things.