7-9-13
The year was 1998 and our Publisher Eric Rhoads pointed to the telephone on the conference room table and said that call is for you. On the line was the unmistakable boisterous voice of the famous Dave Gifford. "How Can I Help You?" Here was a man, who along with Chris Lytle, Chuck Mefford, Norm Goldsmith, Sean Luce and a few others, who was the main reason I would pay my own way to travel to RAB conferences to learn the trade of selling radio. The man who had already helped me succeed with his violent chart flipping, tough-love teaching and sales management school was now asking how he could help me at my new job as Editor of Radio Ink.
That call lead to a long friendship with one of radio's top sales trainers who was also a long-time writer for Radio
Ink Magazine. After years of saying he needed to get off the road, Giff has finally made the decision to cancel his membership with the Delta Sky Club, pull out his rusty golf clubs and work on the novel he always wanted to write. With over 25 years of training sellers and managers, Giff has racked up many friends who say his work has helped them generate a lot more money.
Radio Ink Publisher Eric Rhoads: "I can't think of any single person responsible for changing the industry as much as Gifford. He trained most of the sellers in the industry for decades and his sales systems for sales managers are legendary."
"Dave Gifford has no room in his world for lightweights. It is all black and white. Either you are, or you are not a great sales person. He didn't suffer fools gladly and those who listened and practiced his creed and worked their craft became gifted professionals. Though he is retiring from our industry his words and concepts will linger."
Ed Christian
CEO
Saga Communications
"Giff is the most effective sales and management legend I've ever worked with and we've worked together for decades. What's made him different is his remarkable ability to change people's behaviors, to inspire them - especially sales people - to take action following his system that actually works. If you know Giff at all, you'll know about his style. He's candid; he never sugar coats the truth, and both as a friend and as a colleague this quality has distinguished him from the hundreds of 'pleasers' in the business. I am honored to call him a mentor, a close friend and someone who has deeply inspired my personal and business career and still does."
Ivan Braiker
CEO
Hipcricket
"It would be very difficult to compute the multiple successes Giff has arranged for each of his sponsors ? and you can count me, as well as my son Lawrence, among that group. His insight and his facts and his detailed presentations combined to help us reach and even exceed our expectations. During my 65 years in radio broadcasting, in particular, he was another but very different Kevin Sweeney with whom I toiled with for 35 stressful, informative, exciting and fully successful years. Giff?s separate, but also effective in providing counseling and needed that look-ahead leadership that provides long-term success."
Joe Amaturo
Just one of the best "men" I've ever been around. Always a stand up guy with strong character and I never wanted to follow him somewhere. How could you compare to Giff? You just couldn't. Giff always gave me the straight up advise on a personal level. He sat me down several times to help guide me in sales training. His presence in a room...that's probably what I took away the most from Giff. He worked a room like nobody's business...he owned the room! That's what good trainers and speakers do-they own it.
Sean Luce
Saga has the upmost respect for Dave Gifford, and he has successfully trained a number of salespeople and sales managers in our radio stations over the past 20+ years. My best Dave Gifford story goes back to 1992 when we hired him in Springfield, MA to help us train a relatively new sales department. Toward the end of the first day, I sensed Giff was not ?on his game? and realized that there was something physically wrong with him. During a break, I took him aside and asked if he was okay. I already knew the answer to the question, because his head was visibly beginning to ?grow? in size, an allergic reaction of some kind. I pleaded with him to go to ER, but he refused and continued on until his sales workshop ended around 6PM. Only then would he allow me to take him for medical care?a true professional! The next day, the antibiotics kicked in, Giff never missed a beat, and concluded another full day of successful sales training before jumping on a plane to head home. Giff has left his mark on hundreds of broadcast sellers who still propose Gold, Silver and Bronze presentations and ?Ask, and you?ll get- don?t and you won?t. We wish him ALL the best."
Warren Lada
Executove Vice President
Saga Communications
What can I say about Giff? Well I certainly wouldn't be where I am now without him. I was fortunate enough to attend many of his seminars whilst working for the GWR Group in Bristol, England in the early '90's. Before I got to meet him I'd been given a cassette tape of him speaking and I used to play it in my car on the way to all my meetings...he had so many one-liners and I used them all, I wouldn't take no for an answer, my favourite line being "you are open to ideas aren't you!?"
Amazingly I can still remember pretty much everything he said and that's 20 years after I first met him...those flipcharts obviously worked! Giff's still a great friend and we always try and get a round of golf in whenever he's in the UK. If I'm ever in Santa Fe I'll be sure to call by!
Michael Charnley-Heaton
Founder & Group CEO
RadioWorks Ltd
"Giff revealed that there is structure and process to Radio sales. He stressed that a thorough understanding of a client's market, his opportunities, threats and competition would lead to effective campaign ideas and repeat business for the Account Executive who presented them. Hard facts, piercing honesty and an AE's willingness to methodically present ENOUGH presentations made the difference for clients and the stations that supported this approach. Simple truths were the the strongest truths for Giff: "Repetition builds Reputation", "Ask and you get; don't and you won't. Traditional glad handing of clients was a false and unproductive science to Giff, and tough economic times proved him right. He preached "tough love" instead; presenting information to clients that they'd sometime wince at hearing but later thank the sender for having provided."
Lawrence Amaturo
"Giff?s bravado was first introduced to me in the pages of Radio INK, and then as a young sales manager attending my first RAB Conference in the 1990?s. His style isn?t for everyone -- Giff?s material doesn?t appeal to those who don?t appreciate the unvarnished truth ? but I was fascinated by his quick style, his voluminous how-to materials, and his wave after wave of meticulously hand-drawn FLIP CHARTS used during his presentations. (Good God, Gifford, buy a computer, why don?t you?) I attended one of his Sales Bootcamps for a few days of intense instruction, and instantly saw how much I had to learn. As a small market sales manager, I think that?s what appealed to me the most; Giff was always about results for advertisers, and never about the numbers, which we never had as a Radio station to begin with. The volumes of information I learned from him! The LISTS! Enough with the LISTS, already."
"Through the years, we continued to stay in touch, and even as I left the industry, we had lots to share when we would catch up with each other. It wasn?t about cultivating the opportunity of our relationship, because Giff certainly didn?t get rich from knowing me and the stations I worked for; it was about choosing to connect with others he respected. I feel very fortunate to have been one of those individuals."
"There are many business owners in our small community that are more wealthy from what I was able to help them do because of what Giff taught me. Multiply that by several dozen communities large and small, and you begin to see the impact of a single courageous teacher, the Energizer bunny of the Radio industry who never knew when to quit, especially when he pissed off a few people along the way. The industry will miss you, Giff, but not half as much as I will. Thanks for a career of sharing and caring for the benefit of many."
Bill Guertin, former SM
STARadio Corp. / Kankakee, IL (WKAN-AM/WYKT-FM)
CEO, The 800-Pound Gorilla Inc.
"I've known David "Giff" Gifford since I attended my first RAB convention in the 90's. Giff was conducting a short session on sales. I was mesmerized by his topic and delivery. Everyone laughed when he spoke of his days selling radio and television advertising especially when he talked about selling ads for the television show, Sea Hunt. At the end, I quickly introduced myself and bought the cassette tape of the talk so that I could listen over and over again. I was hooked. Through the years, I have had the pleasure of attending many of Giff's training sessions and his sales management courses. In 2005, when I was named the Radio Ink Magazine "Streetfighter of the Year," I gave Giff much-deserved credit for his training, mentoring, and friendship. Giff begins every talk with a question, "How the Hell are you? The audience (and Giff) utter the correct response in unison, "damn near perfect." As a speaker, trainer, and mentor, Giff is damn near perfect."
Charles R. Wallace
Marketing Strategist
Rubber City Radio Group
WAKR-AM WONE-FM AkronNewsNow.com
Dave Gifford International launched on July 1, 1988.
Giff worked in 49 states and traveled to 18 countries.
Reach out to Dave Gifford directly at giff@talkgiff.com or leave your comments about Giff below.
(7/9/2013 6:14:36 PM)
Giff was...is...one of the greats.
Echoing Chris Rolando, Giff's mantra is one of those rare earworms that bears endless repetition: "What you say times how many times you say it is the only thing working in advertising today."
Best wishes as you embark on the next chapter of your life's book, Giff.
(7/9/2013 5:23:26 PM)
I will never be able to thank Giff enough. Or forget 1-800-ASKGIFF . . . and he answered the call personally!
Let us know if you get to the Carolinas and we'll chase the white ball together!
Congrats!
(7/9/2013 10:47:00 AM)
"What you say times how many times you say it...." Who of us can hear that and not think of Giff? Dave... thanks for the mentoring. Thanks for the training. Thanks for proctoring my CRMC exam. Thanks for changing the neurons in my brain to fire correctly at the right time. I believe that this INDUSTRY owes you the gratitude that this one small salesman offers you. Happy Trails to the King of the Closers.
(7/9/2013 9:24:49 AM)
There's little I can add to the comments already expressed. Throughout his career, Giff has been all of that and more! I met him first as a valued member of the International Broadcasters Idea Bank (back in the days when Eric Rhoads, too, was a member), and we all benefited from Giff's sage advice. Enjoy your retirement, old friend, and thanks for all you've done for the industry!
Dave Lyman
Founder & Past Director, International Broadcasters Idea Bank
(7/9/2013 6:32:28 AM)
Note to Ed Ryan:
Please send a message to Giff - "resignation rejected".
I dunno.... he might buy it.
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