Since the pandemic, there has been a growing ideology among local salespeople that sellers can accomplish just as much with email and phone calls as they can with in-person visits.
If you want to be wildly successful selling advertising, know this: It’s a lie.
All salespeople lie to themselves when they take a shortcut. It feels easier, but shortcuts create a longer road with a lesser view.
That is the truth.
We face so many situations in radio sales where someone who is an expert at their business feels that Facebook, Instagram, and other social platforms give them the freedom to be successful when they are often doomed to fail because they don’t know how to market their business.
There is an expert in every marketing conversation. Better not let it be your client. They are an expert in their field. Your job is to show your value to them by being a true expert in yours.
How It Always Starts
The beginning of showing your value to customers is to know more about them, their business, and their industry than they think you should know. Never appear unprepared or without a plan and a narrative that leads to their success.
Showing Your Value To Radio
Your actual value to your local radio cluster, your boss, and your company is increasing your local direct business. That isn’t to say that should be 100% of your business, but it should be your goal to elevate your local game every day. Bosses love attached revenue.
The Biggest Truth
“If you are not spending a significant amount of time with your actual face in front of the faces of your local customers and potential customers in person today, you are making a classic sales mistake that will be fatal.”
The Universal Problem You Better Not Get Wrong
“Business owners have a choice. One choice. To sell their business and go to work for someone else, or to bring more customers to their business and get their best customers to come back and spend more often. If they choose to keep their business, they must then understand the great divide and who is on their side.”
There is a divide in this business community now. To make it simple, let’s call it:
Amazon/Walmart/Facebook/Google Vs. Local businesses
You are the person who represents the local businesses. If they can be made to understand that they’re part of the pie is on the right side of that simple identity, and they need a propellant that is in the very real world (not the internet) to bring more customers to them, that is YOU. That is RADIO. That is their opportunity NOW.
Your opportunity starts by doing more prep than others and sharing solutions with potential clients that they have not seen before. You can’t do that without capturing their attention first. That means you want to encourage yourself to consistently brainstorm ideas on gaining access to their complete and full attention.
