(COPYWRITING) The Secret Life Of Clients

1/6/2013

Beyond the business life of each of your clients is another life filled with stories, interesting facts, and material that just might make interesting and effective radio commercials.

I?ve talked in depth about going beyond the typical client-needs analysis questions and to do an audience-needs analysis to unlock good story material from your client.

You can go a step further and gather input that will give the audience a way to connect with the client as a person.

This technique won?t work with every client, but for some it?ll be the most powerful approach you could take.

As you get your client to open up, continue through the business, positioning, competition, and benefits questions into the realm of the personal. See if any of these topics and examples yields the stuff from which story commercials can be made:

? Former lives:
What career did your client have before their current one?
Did they grow up in a large family or were they an only child?
Did they have an overbearing sibling?
Were they adopted?
Did they/do they take care of ailing parents?

? Events, situations, circumstances that shaped their lives:
Did they come from a family that was financially or otherwise handicapped?
Have they overcome obstacles to succeed?
Were there any watershed events that changed the course of their life?

? Relationships:
We?re used to getting comments from employees and customers, but what about?
Family ? admired him; thought he was crazy; knew he?d succeed.
Spouse ? puts up with long hours taking care of customers.
Other business people ? suppliers who admire the client?s vision, persistence, or ethics.
Influences ? inspired by a teacher, coach, or mentor?
? Quirks, attitude
? Education
? Hobbies
? Philosophy

There may be more topics you can think of, but you get the idea.

As you uncover these mostly unpublicized parts of their lives, ask yourself: ?How can these insights benefit customers?? These secrets made them what they are today ? driven, compassionate, detail oriented, hard working, successful, talented, skilled, or multi-faceted. Now, tell their stories.

Your commercial stories could be in the form of interviews with relatives, neighbors, teachers, or suppliers. They could be produced like documentaries, or an episode of Biography. You could dramatize their stories with characters, music, and SFX.

You could have the clients tell their stories alone. You could intersperse their voice, or the voices of their relatives, friends, neighbors, or associates with narrated benefits for the audience.

You may find that these secrets can differentiate a business or put a human face and personality on an advertiser and keep their business from remaining a secret.

To get your very own free copy of Hedquist?s List of 226 Cliches, email me at jeffrey@hedquist.com. Guaranteed to reduce commercial effectiveness.

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(SALES) The One-Page Proposal Clients Love

8-16-2013

After you?ve thought about the way your client answered your seven-question client needs analysis regarding his advertising and marketing efforts (click here for that article), you?re ready to put your conclusions and recommendations into proposal form.

My favorite proposal format is what I call S.O.S. (Situation, Objective, Strategy), a one- to two-page, easy-to-read summary of what I?ve learned from the client, combined with my recommendations on a creative campaign and a weekly budget. The S.O.S. proposal looks similar to a business plan summary, the short synopsis of the 40-pages-long business plan that you would put together when applying for a business loan.

Here is an example of the S.O.S. proposal:

Situation: Locally owned Cutler?s Nursery is steadily losing business to national and regional box stores The Home Depot and Lowe?s. Cutler?s strategy up to this point has been newspaper and Yellow Pages price couponing but that is proving to become unsustainable. Cutler?s gross margin of profit is 60 percent after the cost of merchandise: plants, pots, fertilizers, soils, gardening supplies. Average sale is around $60 but the average customer comes in two or three times per season. So the average customer is worth $60 x 2.5 = $150 per year.

Objective: Cutler?s goal is to gain a minimum of 17 new customers per $1,000 per week spent in advertising ($60 average sale x 2.5 visits per new customer = $150. 40 percent (client?s cost of merchandise) of $150 = $60. $1,000 divided by $60 = about 17.

Cutler?s would like to get out of the price war with the box stores and would like to begin selling value over price.

Strategy:  We at WXYZ recommend implementing a long-term broadcast strategy we call ?To Tell the Truth.? We will make unscripted commercials based on the things Mrs. Cutler and her loyal customers have to say on why it?s in the best interest of Southwestern Michigan consumers to do business with her store instead of the box stores. These commercials will include the following talking points:

1. The soil in our area is highly acidic and many common plants don?t survive here. Cutler?s doesn?t sell plants that don?t grow well in our area. Store employees are all schooled in what grows here and what doesn?t. Who knows what the box stores are selling, and how well educated their employees are?

2. The Michigan unemployment situation is dire. Mrs. Cutler says, whenever possible, she only buys from Michigan growers so that jobs stay here in Michigan. The box stores are known for buying plants from out of state.

3. Cutler?s has plenty of parking at the doorstep and Cutler?s employees help you load your vehicle with your purchases. At the box stores, you usually have to park a block away and you load up your purchases yourself.

4. Cutler?s prices really aren?t that much different from those in the box stores.

5. Cutler?s contributes money to local charities like Safe House for abused women.

Besides these talking points, Cutler?s now has the bully pulpit to discuss virtually any topic in a natural, unscripted tone of voice, the same way they would talk to customers in the store. Topics would include, for example, teaching consumers what plants grow best in shade and which ones grow best in full or partial sun. Or, what plants use the least amount of water. Or, how to properly prepare planting beds in our region.

This campaign is designed to do several things at one time:

? Educate consumers. Educated people buy more than uneducated people. When people are educated, they perceive greater value and are willing to pay more.
? Catch fish now. People will shop for gardening supplies this week. They may already have the box store in mind. We believe our creative strategy will persuade many of them to come to Cutler?s instead.
? Branding. There are those not ready to buy this week or this month. But when they are ready, they should already know to go to Cutler?s instead of automatically going to the box store.
? Controlling public dialog. As far as our audience is concerned, Cutler?s people are the experts. The campaign raises the bar on how a gardening store should operate.

These vignettes of natural conversation will be edited. Complete recordings can be done with an i-Phone, transferred to YouTube, and linked to her website.

Cutler?s telephone number is currently 451-6509. But 37 PLANT (377-5268) is available as a redirect and 377plant.com is also available from godaddy.com for $11.99 per year. It?s easier to remember and easier to type than cutlerspotsandplants.com. ?Call us at 37 PLANT or just go to 37plant.com.? Every time they mention the website in ads they further reinforce the phone number and vice-versa. We will help get the number and the new URL and our tech person will set up the redirects.

Schedule. We recommend that Cutler?s owns their category on the station, with 10 commercials per day Wed.-Sun. as discussed.

Cost per week-$XXXXXXXXXX.

There you go. A nice proposal that shows that you?ve put original effort into a better plan for their success than the plan they were previously using. It will serve as your notes during your presentation, so you?ll sound better organized. The S.O.S. keeps you on topic. ?He with the agenda controls the meeting.? Most importantly, the proposal is designed to help you draw out any objections the client may have.

Many of my friends in sales management love this approach to proposal writing because the S.O.S. provides a window into precisely what their salespeople are actually pitching, or not pitching, to local, direct decision-makers.

Management can also use S.O.S. to turn chronic whiners into creative problem-solvers. Instead of solving every problem for every employee who walks into your office, you could say, ?Hmmm?Do me a favor and write me up an S.O.S. on that and then we?ll talk about it.? Hahaha! Now you?ve got them solving their own problems. If that?s not better than a slap across the belly with a wet fish, I don?t know what is.

Paul Weyland is a broadcast sales trainer, author, and hired gun. Budget to bring Paul to your market. You can reach Paul at 512-236-1222, www.paulweyland.com or at paul@paulweyland.com 

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(SALES) A Simple Consumer Needs Analysis Clients Love

8-2-2013

Local direct decision-makers often find broadcast seller?s Customer Needs Analysis forms awkward, especially if you?re the third media rep this week that?s asked them to help fill one out. Many business owners would rather snack on wasps than help you fill out a lengthy form. The best way to get the information you need from local direct clients is by asking good questions and then listening very carefully to responses during the course of normal conversation.

Here are seven questions you can ask to get the information you need for a great custom proposal. Even though I may already know the answers to many of these questions, I like to hear the answers from the client?s lips. By listening carefully to their responses, I learn a lot about what they know (but maybe aren?t advertising) about their business?as well as what they know and don?t know about our business.

1.   Regarding advertising and marketing, what are you doing or what have you done in the past?
2.   Why are you doing it?
3.   Who are you trying to reach?
4.   What do those people you?re trying to reach know now about your business?
5.   What do you want those people to know?
6.   What is your average sale?
7.   What is your gross margin of profit?

Again, even if I believe I already know the answer to any of these questions, I ask it anyway. I ask so I can listen carefully to their responses and determine their level of ignorance or sophistication about marketing, advertising, and my station in particular. I am looking for holes in their perceptions. I?m looking for correctable untruths that they may have about advertising, or about my station. I?m also digging for the client?s true strengths and weaknesses, as well as her perceived notions of the strengths and weaknesses of her competitors. I will use this information to create commercials that will really get consumer?s attention.

When I ask about her average sale and her gross margin of profit, I?m getting information I can use to calculate return on advertising investment and show her that advertising on my station is a good calculated risk, not gambling. I?ll also use that same information to manage her expectations about results on my station.

Later, I?ll put what I?ve learned into a concise one- to two-page proposal that the client will understand and appreciate.

Here is an example of a conversation with a business owner. She owns a gardening center. 

Salesperson: Regarding marketing and advertising, what are you doing?
Client: We use the newspaper and the Yellow Pages.
Salesperson: Why are you using those mediums?
Client: Because they work. We?re doing couponing and the people come in with the coupons.
OBSERVATION: All media work. We?ll deal with that later. And, I wonder how much of her advertising is dedicated to price only? She can?t win long-term against her price-slashing national discount competitors. Maybe in the future we can focus her advertising on creating value for her products and services and less on cutting her prices.
Salesperson: Who are you trying to reach when you advertise?
Client: We?re trying to reach everybody we can.
OBSERVATION: No medium can reach everybody and we don?t have to. Just a percentage of those people who will buy plants and garden supplies this week.
Salesperson: Helen, those people you?re trying to reach?what do they know about your business now? [At this point the client usually begins to open up. I start to observe some of her frustrations.]
Client: We have a good reputation and we sell good stuff but we?re steadily losing business to Lowe?s, Home Depot, and Menard?s. And it?s hard to compete with all of their advertised low prices.
Salesperson: Helen, what do you want people to know about your business?
Client: Well, our soil in Southwestern Michigan is different. And, we don?t sell things that don?t grow in Southwestern Michigan. They sell a lot of stuff that just won?t do well here with our weather and our soil.
OBSERVATION: Here come some golden nuggets I can use later in commercials.
Client: And we have a horrible unemployment problem in Michigan. Whenever possible, I only buy from Michigan growers and Michigan vendors, so we can keep jobs here in Michigan.
OBSERVATION: What great commercials these statements are going to make. And, we can focus value propositions like these, instead of trolling for bottom-feeders that would only buy her because of price.
Client: And, we don?t have one of those great big parking lots. There?s plenty of free parking at the door and we even help load up your car for you.
Salesperson: What?s your average sale?
Client: Considering everything, about sixty dollars per customer.
Salesperson: What?s your gross margin of profit? Is it keystone (50 percent)?
Client: Actually, it?s a little higher than keystone, about 60 percent.

Great. Now I have the information I need to come up with a custom proposal. It will include a long-term creative strategy as well as a long-term schedule. My budget will be created from real numbers, which include her average sale figure and her gross margin of profit.

We?ll deal with how to write these proposals next time.

Paul Weyland is a broadcast sales trainer, author, and hired gun. Learn more about bringing Paul into your market by visiting www.paulweyland.com or by calling him at 512 236 1222.

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(SALES) How To Calculate Your Clients' Full ROI

2-18-2013

The No. 1 buzzword (okay, buzz phrase) for retailers is ?return on investment.? Media salespeople are discovering that one way to quantify and qualify their clients' objectives is to use the ROI formula. Here are a few reasons you should use ROI calculations with your client:

? Managing expectations.
? Upselling current schedule.
? Generating long-term business.
? Overcoming media?s biggest objection, which is ?it costs too much.?
? Validating your customer?s decision to buy your media company for advertising their product.

In most cases in our fact-finding calls, we fail to dig deep enough to determine the prospects? problems, challenges, or opportunities. Three questions we need to ask the prospect in order to make the ROI work are:

? What is your gross profit margin (on your profit centers)?
? What is the average sale/ticket (on your profit centers)?
? What is your average closing ratio?

Now let's work on the ?initial sale.? When we figure the ROI for a prospect?s business, when a new sale comes through the door we tend not to get full credit for that sale or for the new customer?s value to the prospect?s business beyond the initial sale. The initial sale is the starting point, but it?s not the end of the sales if we bring a new customer into the business. Here are two essential extensions to the current ROI formula:

? ICV (incremental value)
? CLV (customer lifetime value)

From our initial fact-finding call, we learned that a new health-club customer must pony up a $300 initial fee and sign at least a one-year contract with the club. Monthly dues are $35. Therefore, the initial sale is:

? 12 months X $35, or $420
? Initiation fee of $300
? Initial sales would be $720 ($420 +$300)

This is where we typically would stop. However, when a customer signs for a year, there are incremental sales involved, and they should be figured into the ROI calculation. You should ask your prospect: 1) ?What else does the customer purchase during this initial 12-month phase?? and 2) If business is generated from referrals, ?What percentage of your business comes from referrals?? (For instance, the health club could generate money from selling protein drinks and apparel sales.)

In this case, the health club generates 30 percent of its business from referrals from current clientele. This new clientele would include new people we bring in to the business. The ICV would be calculated as $720 X 30% [.30] = $216. The rule of thumb here is that ICV is figured only on the initial sales and not the CLV or customer lifetime value.

Next, ask the prospect -- in this case the health club decision-maker -- ?On average, how long does a person continue to use the club before quitting or letting the membership expire?? In this example, it?s 32 months. So you would figure the ICV as 20 months (we already used 12 months in the initial sale) X $35 =$700.

In reality -- and you need to deal in realities -- the average sale or initial sale is really $1,636 and not the original $720. It?s important that we get credit for a customer?s real initial value and any revenue that is associated with that person over the customer?s lifetime. In reality, we bring more business to the client than initially meets the eye or the cash register. The health club is a real-world example. For the electronic version of the ROI calculator or the ROII (return on interactive investment) calculator, go to www.luceperformancegroup.com. It?s easy to use. You just have to do a great CMP call.

Sean Luce is the Head International Instructor for the Luce Performance Group and can be reached at sean@luceperformancegroup.com.

(2/18/2013 6:54:29 PM)
Every GM and GSM should memorize this article and make it the subject of a sales meeting once a month until their advertisers begin to really appreciate the selling strength of their stations. Radio averaging for decades 5 to 7% of the ad budgets is really a reality of our weak and ineffective habits of selling.

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(SALES) Who Are The Client's Pillars?

12-14-2012

Pillars, by definition, are the key to support. Good radio sellers know the owner or the advertising decision-maker very well. A few of the greatest sellers I?ve ever known have developed an incredible practice of going much deeper inside their client?s businesses. When you walk into the clients of these high-caliber sellers, you quickly notice two, three, four or more people greet them by name. It is truly amazing. How did they get this job done? Is there a secret to having real depth in your client relationships?

Today, I?m going to teach you some simple steps that I want you to start doing the first time you interview a business owner. It is one of my crucial 10 client questions. When you?re interviewing an owner or manager, ask this question?.

Who are your pillars, your real right hands? I mean, the members of your team that are so important to you that if one of them resigned today, you wouldn?t sleep tonight?

Then, listen carefully and write down every name you hear! Be sure your client elaborates on each one. At the very end of your interview, when you?ve had all 10 of your questions answered, close your interview with this request?..

I am very grateful for the time you?ve given me. We?ve agreed I?ll see you one week from today at this same time. I will have done my homework and do my best to help you. By the way, is it alright if I hang around for a few minutes and shake a few hands?

I?ve learned most clients are so impressed with the 10 questions you?ve asked, that all you will ever hear is, ?Make yourself at home.? Then, you guessed it?. GO MEET THE PILLARS! Give them your business card. Get one of their cards. I?ve learned that when I meet a pillar and I say to them??

?I just spent an hour with your boss. By the way, they speak very highly of you.?

?.my new relationship with that person just catapulted to a very high level in a matter of minutes! You can leave a business after the very first call with multiple, solid relationships. Go do this today!

Rob Adair is the President of Pinnacle Solving. His company provides revenue growth solutions, branding and differentiation strategies to radio and other industries. Adair is a former radio industry COO and Sr. VP overseeing 25+ stations and multiple major markets. He can be reached at 405-641-0458 or by e-mail rob@pinnaclesolving.com

(12/15/2012 5:51:12 AM)
Marvelous and clean strategy, Rob. Rather than some sleazy closing technique, this one serves the client.

The next step is to teach the sales staff how to go into the Creative departments; find a breathing soul who isn't already in a restraining jacket from hearing constant demands or from constantly having to prepare crap and finding a way to get them to generate some radio-messaging that will actually influence the client's target market.

I know... I ask too much.

Is there even an opportunity to outsource the creative...?

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(SALES) Can We Know What Clients Expect?

12-7-2012

After years of selling radio, observing radio sellers, and interviewing countless clients, I finally determined the 10 most important questions to ask a client in the initial interview. Today, I want to talk about the last question, #10. This is the final question I ask an advertising decision-maker in the interview. One aspect of radio selling, where even the best sellers aren?t very good, is getting a feel for a client?s expectations in advance of doing business together. Is there a way we can get a handle on their expectations in the interview process? I believe asking this final question in an interview not only accomplishes this, but helps set the stage for a long-lasting and meaningful relationship:

?Let?s pretend it's 24 months in the future and I?ve not only helped you, but I?ve become the single best media sales rep you have ever worked with. What have I done for you??

Rarely will you hear an answer like, ?You?ve tripled my sales" or "You?ve doubled my profits.? I have always found it amazing how realistic most clients set the bar with their answer. I hear things like, ?You?ve helped my business grow. People tell me they hear my ads.? This question, worded this way, accomplishes something else for you, too. When you say, ?Let?s pretend It's 24 months in the future,? that sends the distinct message that you have no interest in selling a long-weekend package. It says you?re going to be around a while. You expect to be hired, not bought. It says you have no interest in anything short of a long-term, meaningful relationship.

Getting a feel for your clients' expectations can be accomplished with one, well-worded, final question. Put this question to work today!

Rob Adair is the President of Pinnacle Solving. His company provides revenue growth solutions, branding and differentiation strategies to radio and other industries. Adair is a former radio industry COO and Sr. VP overseeing 25+ stations and multiple major markets. He can be reached at 405-641-0458 or by e-mail rob@pinnaclesolving.com

(12/7/2012 10:23:49 PM)
I wonder if many old-timers remember when the opening line - on the phone - was: "Wanna buy some spawts....? And it worked!? (Fade in: Mary Hopkins-"Those Were The Days".)

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(SALES) Improve Results With Clients Now

11-26-2012

One of the functions that I perform in my consulting business is to travel in the field with media reps to coach and train them. I see the issues first-hand that the reps encounter day in and day out. I would like to share five practices that I have observed that can improve media reps? results with their clients.

1) Hold the Client Responsible for Their Portion of the Advertising Campaign

In selling a media campaign to clients, reps need to understand that the advertiser also has an important responsibility in the campaign. The client sets the price, the placement, and even chooses the specific product for the campaign. The media rep is responsible for promoting the product(s). The media rep does manage a portion of the campaign, yet they are often given full responsibility for the failure of a campaign. To avoid being blamed, reps should set the expectations at the beginning when quantifying the results with the customer. The rep then establishes a means for tracking the results or objectives of the campaign. They should be sure to meet with the client before the advertising begins and establish measurement guidelines on realistic product movement. In addition, the rep should use a return-on-investment calculation if possible, so the advertiser will have realistic expectations. There are various aspects that constitute a successful campaign. The rep needs to make sure that the client is also doing their part to insure the campaign?s success.

2) Bring Creative Ideas to the Client

I am surprised at how many times that I attend a closing presentation and the rep fails to include creative ideas for the campaign. The media rep is the advertising consultant for the account. One of their most important responsibilities is to make sure that they have creative in place that will accomplish the client?s goals. If the rep has completed the customer marketing profile, they should already know what the customer needs. When I hear a sales rep ask the advertiser, ?Are these ads what you need?? it is a good indication to me that the campaign is already off to a rocky start. The media rep should be making the recommendations about the advertising, not the client.

3) Do  the Homework Regarding  the Customer

Hit-and-miss, drive-by-shootings is how I like to describe these calls. A drive-by-shooting is when I see a media rep rambling on in a sales call with no particular objective. They will try and throw something out there and hope that the client bites. The client will occasionally feel sorry for the rep and toss some small buys or scraps their way. Remember that only five percent of sales reps do any homework before attempting to set up an appointment with a client. Tragic! Do not be the rep that gets the scraps.

4) Follow up With the Customer

Following up with a customer is how a sales rep earns their stripes. There are many different aspects of follow-up, but it is key to maintaining an ongoing relationship with a client. Whether it is a thank you note from an initial meeting or a return phone call on a customer inquiry regarding their ads, the rep needs to be timely in their replies. A simple motto regarding customer follow-up: ?Do what you say you are going to do.?

5) Organize Territory

 I see many reps driving aimlessly with no solid plan. With today?s gas prices, how can a rep afford to leave the office and merely drive around? Reps will miss a lot of precious face-to-face selling time by not having a concrete plan for a territory. A solid day with a well-organized call list can increase sales substantially. The key point here is that a rep?s week should be organized the previous week, not as they are walking out the door to start their day.
The success of any sales rep is a direct result of following proper selling techniques. The most successful sales reps are always measuring their customers? expectations, bringing them new ideas, following up with their clients, and organizing their territory. The top reps work smarter, not harder.

Sean Luce is the Head National Instructor for the Luce Performance Group and can be reached at sean@luceperformancegroup.com.

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Herman Cain To Speak To Arbitron Clients

10-21-2012
Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain will be speaking at the 2012 Arbitron Client Conference which is being held in Annapolis, MD,  December 5 and 6. Cain will be replacing Neil Boortz when Boortz retires from his syndicated program in January. Additional presentations will include: "What Connected Cars Mean for Radio," "How Disney Builds Customer Loyalty," and "What Radio Can Learn From Minnesota Twins' Social Efforts."

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(SALES) Six Tactics To Get And Keep Clients

8-4-2012

Although many sales reps do not want to admit it, they have taken a client for granted at least once. One rep?s top client is usually someone else?s number one prospect. There is a tendency to take our current clients for granted in a rush to procure new business.

I am often asked how to get business away from an account where the competition is firmly entrenched. I always look for a small crack in the door that the competitor has left. Do not be the one who leaves the door open. The basic rules of good salesmanship do not change even if the client is a good personal friend. The account must perceive value no matter what the relationship.

The majority of prospects buy on emotion. Listed below are six unconventional tactics that can turn a prospect?s head away from the competition and towards your company.

1. Develop an inside coach: A rep needs to learn about a prospect as quickly as possible. Get advice from people who already have knowledge of the business and know contacts who can influence the decision-maker. Coaching can come from inside the business or from people, such as vendors, who already work with the prospect.

 2. Use the referral alliance: We live in a small world. A rep can throw the prospect?s name around with their current circle of clients and see if anyone has a relationship with the prospect. In most cases, this practice can lead to a call from a satisfied client to the prospect. People want to do business with individuals who are successful. Sometimes a prospect needs an outside voice to move the process along.

3. Get more influencers to help: A rep needs to penetrate deeply into all different levels of this account. If the client is firmly entrenched with the competitor, a new rep will need to go deeper in developing relationships apart from the main decision-maker. Meet the salespeople on the floor and the business manager. Don?t forget the warehouse personnel. This is not an easy process. The deeper the rep digs, the better their chances are of making this prospect a client.

4. Ask prospects for a wish list: Try to satisfy the customer?s wildest expectations. What do they want from their rep? Ask them, then figure a way to make it happen.

5. Walk their business. It amazes me when a rep thinks they should earn a meeting with a prospect without first walking the business. I tell reps to walk it once, walk it twice, and keep walking the business until they know that business like an employee.

6. Build a customer profile: A rep should have a thorough knowledge of the customer?s personality, likes and dislikes, family members, education, community involvement, and much more. Ask this question: ?Do my competitors have a better profile of the customer than I do?? If they do, it will be difficult to dislodge this prospect. If not, the chances of selling this prospect over a period of time are extremely high.

Remember the old saying: Make new friends, but keep the old; one is silver, and the other is gold. Closing a new account takes three times the effort, money, and time versus keeping existing customers. Protect the home front, and then go for the gold!

Sean Luce is the Head International Instructor with the Luce Performance Group and can be reached at sean@luceperformancegroup.com

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(AUDIO)Trout Says Radio Never Gets Sold Well to Clients

3-28-2012

The legendary Jack Trout, author of many books, including Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, Marketing Warfare and The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, was on the cover of Radio Ink in January of 1996. Trout is recognized as one of the greatest marketing minds of this generation and he's still going strong, his most recent book is called Repositioning. Greater Media Buzz Knight is the Vice President of Program Development for Greater Media Buzz Knight caught up with Trout for Radio Ink. He touched on how advertising has changed, how the battle for the mind is more competitive and how radio is never sold properly. Listen to our interview.

(3/29/2012 8:32:20 PM)
Radio has both audiences and advertisers as customers. Audiences invest time and clients invest dollars.
I suspect someone who is good a 'rithmetic could figure out some pretty convincing equivalencies.
(3/29/2012 1:18:09 PM)
gets down to the real question:
who is radio's customer? listeners or local business?
listeners don't buy, they consume.
and are moving to newer media, games and social forums.
everyone who says local business.... what's your product going to have to look like. It's always about CONTENT.
(3/28/2012 10:27:27 PM)
I got the impression that Jack just didn't have the heart to share with Buzz that Radio no longer has a story and that there are few, if any, distinctions that can be made in order for a station to claim a primary position in the minds of an audience. We can't build an interesting or compelling campaign for our own local advertisers - never mind for ourselves.

Otherwise, thanks to Buzz for getting with the guy - the Legend - and providing the chat here.

Meanwhile the boys and girls of Radio are still scurrying around like ferrets trying to implement "Branding" strategies... as if they had one. (A Brand, I mean.)

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(DIGITAL) Getting Digital to Work For Your Clients

4-2-2012

(by Chris Miller) If the future is digital, then there?s always another potential unknown pitfall ahead in the dark. There?s always something new that we don?t know about, or that someone could use against us ? or is that really the case? ?The future is not digital; the future is the same as it?s always been,? according to former PD turned digital expert Craig Ashwood. ?Relationships with clients and listeners?i> is what will fuel our success Ashwood told me in a recent interview.  

Ashwood has has focused exclusively on digital for radio, TV, and newspapers for the last twelve years. He got into digital after a radio career as a major market PD, seller and on-air talent. ?People rush lemming-like towards technology,? Ashweed says, advising against tossing out our core competencies.  After years as a programmer, Ashwood says if someone asked him how radio works, he?d say, ?Magic!? In other words, he didn?t need to know how it worked. He knew how to create results with it. It?s the same thing with our new digital tools and platforms.

?A ?CNA? is a Client Needs Analysis, not a Client Wants Analysis,? Ashwood points out. With a quiver full of effective arrows, we need to go solve marketing problems and get results for our customers, whether it?s on the air or online. Before meeting with new clients, it?s easy to learn how knowledgeable and comfortable they are with technology by seeing what their business is doing online and checking their Facebook or Twitter profiles. When meeting with them (especially direct clients) ask them about their online activities, such as what do they like to do or use, or if there are any friends or relatives that have influenced them."

Ashwood then suggests you find out about their global, strategic business goals. Even if they?re hoping you can create a special website game that their nephew thought of, focus them on what they want to accomplish and what tools you already have that you can plug them into that will get them proven results.

Ashwood uses the example of a client having a special weekend sale. Knowing that the people who listen to your stream are mostly your P1s, who value your brand more than others, ?you can run a saturation schedule on your inserted ad stream, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and get them tremendous bang for their buck with the people most likely to like and act on your message.?

Accountability and usability are two important words for the future. We?re far more accountable selling digital, because everything can be measured. In addition, management needs to be accountable for the development and use of digital platforms. Ashwood says he still hears major market programmers say things like, ?I don?t care about the stream,? to show that the top people need to adopt and champion digital tools.

In radio, ?it?s in our DNA that we have a tendency to keep promoting,? Ashwood says, ?and what gets lost [on the web] is the usability. People ignore that at their peril.? If you do a great job marketing a client, putting together a campaign using all your platforms, but then you link to their site you go to the main page instead of a page to register for a particular contest ? you?ve hurt both yourself and your client.

Contact Craig Ashwood at 404-455-1764 or craigashwood@gmail.com.

Chris Miller has been a major-market PD in Atlanta, Portland and Cleveland. He now operates Chris Miller Digital, which he launched. Visit his website at www.chrismillerdigital.com.
Contact Chris via e-mail, chris@chrismillerdigital.com or 216-236-3955.

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(AUDIO)Trout Says Radio Never Gets Sold Well to Clients

3-28-2012

The legendary Jack Trout, author of many books, including Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, Marketing Warfare and The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, was on the cover of Radio Ink in January of 1996. Trout is recognized as one of the greatest marketing minds of this generation and he's still going strong, his most recent book is called Repositioning. Greater Media Buzz Knight is the Vice President of Program Development for Greater Media Buzz Knight caught up with Trout for Radio Ink. He touched on how advertising has changed, how the battle for the mind is more competitive and how radio is never sold properly. Listen to our interview.

(3/29/2012 8:32:20 PM)
Radio has both audiences and advertisers as customers. Audiences invest time and clients invest dollars.
I suspect someone who is good a 'rithmetic could figure out some pretty convincing equivalencies.
(3/29/2012 1:18:09 PM)
gets down to the real question:
who is radio's customer? listeners or local business?
listeners don't buy, they consume.
and are moving to newer media, games and social forums.
everyone who says local business.... what's your product going to have to look like. It's always about CONTENT.
(3/28/2012 10:27:27 PM)
I got the impression that Jack just didn't have the heart to share with Buzz that Radio no longer has a story and that there are few, if any, distinctions that can be made in order for a station to claim a primary position in the minds of an audience. We can't build an interesting or compelling campaign for our own local advertisers - never mind for ourselves.

Otherwise, thanks to Buzz for getting with the guy - the Legend - and providing the chat here.

Meanwhile the boys and girls of Radio are still scurrying around like ferrets trying to implement "Branding" strategies... as if they had one. (A Brand, I mean.)

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Want To Sell More? Listen to Your Clients.

Want To Sell More? Listen to Your Clients.
by Sean Luce

Listen, do you want to know a secret?
You?ll never know how much I really love you.
You'll never know how much I really care

Listen, do you want to know a secret.
Do you promise not to tell, whoa, oo.
Closer, let me whisper in your ear

Say the words you long to hear. I'm in love with you, oo

When it comes to listening, no truer words were ever written than by the Beatles in their 1963 hit ?Do You Want to Know a Secret?? Listed below are what I consider the top three traits of a successful sales rep:

1. A good listener
2. A good listener
3. A good listener

Do you have those traits? Many sales reps are too eager to talk. They are thinking about what to say next in a conversation instead of paying attention to the client. The majority of the time the client will actually tell a rep exactly what is needed in order to sell the product or service to them. As my mom used to say, ?Listen up?.

When I worked in St. Louis several years ago, my general manager and I had lunch with several key players from an advertising agency. Our station had seen very few buys from this agency. What does one do at a lunch with advertising executives besides smooze? Listen up! I was sitting next to the advertising buyer. During the course of lunch, the buyer mentioned in the cold St. Louis winters that she often arrived at work with her hair frozen. Of course, I asked why she came to work with frozen hair. She told me that in the rush to get ready for work her hair was wet when she left the house. Frozen hair was just a small tidbit of information ?no biggie, right?

As a sales manager, I had a 10 question test that I took every night on the drive home. The 4th question was ?What did you listen to today, and what are you going to do about it?? As I was completing the test that night, I asked what I had heard today that really rose above the clutter. What could I do about it? I went to Walgreens on the way home and bought a hair dryer for the buyer. I wrapped it nicely and sent a note with it to the agency. The note said, ?Stay dry in the mornings and blow some money our way.?

One week later a $3,000 order ?blew? through the door. That was the first buy from the agency in a long time. A couple of weeks later I ran into the agency principle at another function. He pulled me aside and said the hair dryer was a nice touch. The point that stood out to him was that I was listening. He went on to say that when people are listening, his agency had no problem entrusting their clients? money with that station.

How Do You Listen?
Position to listen. McCartney and Lennon got it right. ?Closer, let me whisper in your ear.? When listening to a conversation, I want to be as close to a person as I can without infringing on the three foot rule which applies only if standing. If sitting, I want to sit next to the person. If they whisper, I want to be close enough to hear them. Try using the ?Power Domain? rule which means get the person away from their desk. For example, find a conference room. Be close to them.

Engage to listen. 
Engage your body language to imply listening. Listening has as much to do with body language as it does with paying attention to what is being said. Lean forward when something intriguing is said. Keep that position and then lean back. Moving back and forth is a skill in listening. Do not stay in one position for an extended period of time. Stay long enough to let the client know you are listening to every word. I sometimes like to cock my head to the left or right similar to how my dog Ajax does when his ears perk up. When Ajax?s ears perk up, something important is occurring. Tilt your head?move one side of your face towards the conversation with the ear closer to the person. Do it occasionally. Try not to make your head look like it is on a swivel.

Aspire to listen.
I recently had dinner with 8 people from Alaska. I wanted to learn     their names and call each person by their first name. I wanted to know as much as possible about each one of them. Again, McCartney and Lennon got it right, ?you?ll never know how much I really care.? So I ask, ?What?s it like living in Nome, Alaska?? What does the end of the Alaskan pipeline look like in Valdez, Alaska? What does the sound of mating moose call really sound like?? It is more than just cannon fodder when people talk. People do not care how much you know about them. They really just want to know how much you care about them. I know what the Moose mating call sounds like now. It was recorded at dinner that night. You never know when you might need that information!

?Say the words you long to hear.? The sweetest sound in any language is your name rolling off someone else?s lips. The old adage does hold true here. We have two ears and one mouth. We should do twice as much listening as we do talking. The true secret to successful sales is listening.

Sean Luce is the Head National Instructor for the Luce Performance Group and can be reached at Sean@luceperforancegroup.com

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Triton Digital Announces New Clients on Five Continents

Triton Digital (www.tritondigital.com) announced a roster of new international clients yesterday. The 250 employee company is currently doing business in over 30 countries, spanning from New York to Singapore. Triton Digital is now serving over 7,000 media properties. These customers join an existing list of clients which include some of the largest media companies in the U.S. including CBS, Cox, Citadel, Pandora and Slacker.

?In today?s connected world, audiences are often dispersed across vast geographic areas. There is no reason why loyal audiences shouldn?t enjoy their favorite station?s programming wherever they travel,? said Eric Whitlock, President of International Markets at Triton Digital. ?Triton?s solutions allow stations to stream their content digitally, making it available anywhere with an internet connection.?

The company recently added several international clients to this list, including:

Europe
?RTL Berlin (Germany)
?Sky Radio Group (Netherlands)
?Voice of Russia (Russia)
?PRISA Radio (Spain)
?HRT Radio (Croatia)

Latin America
?Punto FM (Argentina)
?MVS (Mexico)
?TV Accion (Paraguay)
Middle East and Africa
?Ajman TV (United Arab Emirates)
?Arabian Radio Network (United Arab Emirates)
?Dubai Media Inc. (United Arab Emirates)
?Gulf News Broadcasting (United Arab Emirates)
?Channel 4 Radio Network (United Arab Emirates)
?Citruss TV (United Arab Emirates)
?Sawt El Ghad (Lebanon)
?Light FM (Lebanon)
?Radio One (Lebanon)

Asia-Pacific and Oceania
?BFM: The Business Radio Station
?Ace radio broadcasters
Northern Americas
?CBC Radio

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6 Easy Steps To Helping Clients Succeed

by Wayne Ens

Success coach Anthony Robbins often tells the story about a major shopping center that experienced a failure in their elevators. It was costing them thousands of dollars a minute in lost sales. The mall manager was panicking. She had called several service companies, but none of them seemed to be able to fix the problem. Finally, she called someone who was able to fix the problem in 60 seconds flat by simply pressing a few buttons?. Then he invoiced her a whopping $10,000 fee ?for services rendered."

The outraged mall manager asked the service man ?How can you charge $10,000 for pushing a couple of buttons and one minute?s work?? The service man replied by re-writing the invoice to say ?service charge for pressing buttons, $1. Investment for knowing which buttons to press; $9,999.?  Your clients can purchase quantifiable spots, space, reach and frequency from an ever growing list of cheaper suppliers today. It?s the knowledge you bring to the table in your total value bundle that will separate you from your low-price competitors. One of the ways to improve and demonstrate your knowledge for your key accounts and key prospects, is to conduct a marketing audit for them.

The simplest and easiest way to gain credibility for your ?audit? is to examine all of your prospect?s advertising from their web site to their yellow pages and from their radio script to their newspaper ad or a brochure for inconsistencies. Very often you?ll quickly reveal the advertiser is using different slogans in different media, or does not use slogans consistently at all. This simple exercise will open the door for you to conduct a more in-depth audit, increasing your knowledge and demonstrating your expertise.
1. Customer Perception Audits
Design and post a survey on your website to  measure share of mind levels and customer perceptions of your client. If you uncover a poor perception of a particular aspect of their business discuss whether that perception is a reality or not. If it is reality, encourage the advertiser to make the necessary changes immediately. If the public perception is not in line with reality, develop an advertising and communications plan to change that perception.

2. Mystery Shopper Reports
Construct a list of the ten things your client wants their customers to experience when they do business with them.(i.e.; they might choose staff greeting, product knowledge, cleanliness of store, prompt telephone pick-up etc.) Your mystery shopper then reports how each experience compares to the business owner?s expectations .Try having a couple of your fellow account executives be the mystery shoppers on an account, then return the favor by serving as the mystery shopper on their accounts.

3. Competitor Audits
Produce a short written overview of your client?s competitors? marketing. Visit competitors? locations, check out their websites and compare their ads to your clients. Look for weaknesses you can exploit, or a competitive strength you can build upon.

4. Supplier Audits and Interviews
Suppliers can make excellent marketing allies and can tell you about successful marketing efforts in other markets they serve. They?ll often have vendor funds above and beyond co-op that they can contribute to your campaign.

5. Communications Audits.
Check out your client?s blogs, phone their company with an inquiry, and email a question to them. Report how quickly and accurately their people handle these communications and help them find ways to continually improve every customer touch point.

6. Internal SWOT Analysis
Offer to chair or facilitate a staff SWOT (strengths, weaknesses and opportunities) Analysis for the advertiser. Your facilitation will not only be sincerely appreciated, it will result in a more candid and objective overview than one hosted by the client. If your audit uncovers some unpleasant surprises, have the confidence to present those shortfalls, but do so very tactfully. Make certain that any criticisms are not expressed as your  personal criticisms or opinions, but rather, they are presented as the finding of your research and audit.
When you build and establish your knowledge as the go-to expert to help with your clients? marketing and planning processes, your stations will play a major role in their advertising campaigns. Your advertisers can buy spots or space from any commodity sales person. It?s the knowledge you bring to the party to increase their return on investment that makes what you sell worth more than just your simple spot rates. The knowledge you gain from your marketing audit will help you push the right buttons, and justify stronger spot rates.

 Wayne Ens is President of ENS Media Inc and can be reached via e-mail Wayne Ens wayne@wensmedia.com

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