(By Loyd Ford) What can you get of value about sales from a radio programming consultant? How about the fun danger of creative thinking applied to that sales job you have today?
Sales is one of the toughest jobs in the world. People think it’s just talking, but you know it isn’t. Still, I want us to think about the production of revenue in a different way. Ready?
You and I are going to talk about concepts and opportunities, ideas and how to knock down problems and challenges for our local radio clusters and local radio brands and our clients.
Most sellers think of themselves in the sales business.
You know, “Someone gets sold. You or them. Who’s it going to be on every sales call?”
Being The Detective Now
Forget cold calls.
They don’t exist. Not today.
Gone is your job as salesperson.
Welcome to your new life being the detective.
Does a detective get his man at every interrogation? Of course not. Do people try to evade the detective? You know the answer.
Instead of thinking, “I have to sell this,” don’t do that. Think: “I need to ask questions to discover how we can help people and discover what causes this individual to buy.”
How It Doesn’t Work
Don’t put so much pressure on yourself to sell every time you see a client. You can’t become part of their team by always giving them only numbers or sharing just shiny temporary things.
The Best Job
Your best job now is just to visit with potential clients and see how they are really doing and what they really care about now. Your job is to bring them creative opportunities, not just “our station is great.” Here’s a secret: They don’t care about your station (sorry). They care about getting an unfair advantage and buying is emotional.
We need to discover what makes each individual buy and we also need to consistently bring innovative ideas and creative opportunities to them.
You know how I say, “ratings are not real. They are symptoms of behavior?”
Well, sales are not real. You don’t sell. People buy. What do they buy? Consistent behaviors that deliver results. By the way, once you get them “on it,” it’s hard to get them to STOP buying.
The Truth
Where do behaviors come from? They come from consistently getting in front of people, asking questions, discovering needs and exposing potential clients to ideas where they can become emotional about the value of the idea and being associated with it.
Using Our Sales Effort To Explode Our Brand & The Brands Of Local Advertisers
People never give a crap about cost if they see selfishly the value is more than what they are spending.
Our job is to share ideas that expose the emotion of the buyer.
You can do this. We are in the sharpest, fastest and most effective part of the advertising business: Local radio.
Now go share the gospel of success with your potential new clients.
Loyd Ford is president and chief strategic officer at Rainmaker Pathway Consulting Works (RPC). Reach Loyd at 864.448.4169 or [email protected].
