Edison: Newspapers "Most Least Essential"

3-12-2015
Comparing data from 2002 to 2015, Edison Research tracked the question to media users: "Among the Internet, newspapers, radio and television, which one is the least essential to your life?" Newspapers took it on the nose. The legacy media was down, or should we say up, with nearly 50 percent saying it was "Most Least Essential," compared to 31 percent in 2002. Radio ticked up, but only from 14 percent to 19 percent.

The Internet is a big gainer more than doubling its essential quotient. TV, surprisingly to some, gained some essential cred, gaining 4 percentage points. If you look at everything but the newspapers, it almost seems like a three-way-tie for "least-least." The bottom line from Edison is that while the Internet may have "changed everything," Newspapers are the hardest hit.

The chart below tells the tale:

(3/13/2015 5:48:10 PM)
Oh Bob,

You must be a radio dj or salesperson.
The numbers for radio, TV and internet today are all similar, within the margin of error. You must not remember not many years ago that MOST people subscribed to a daily newspaper..while today only a minority does. Even newspaper people agree with these figures. Radio has "made room for" the internet while the paper has been destroyed by it. (Classified advertising). Network TV has been hit, too, but, like radio, is fighting back nicely.

(3/13/2015 1:57:03 PM)
Wrong Bob----

What the chart says is the 80% of people think RADIO IS ESSENTIAL.

(3/13/2015 11:52:20 AM)
Almost 20% of people now say that radio is "most least essential"? That is terrifying. And looking at newspaper being much higher is irrelevant to radio's situation...that is like looking at someone else's boat sinking, while yours is too.

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(SALES) Four Essential Steps For Hiring The Right Salesperson

5-20-2013

Over the last few years I have seen sales departments sometimes take a strategy of adding salespeople in order to have more of a presence on the street and allow the station to cover more accounts. At the same time, I have seen other sales departments go in the opposite direction, shrinking the number of salespeople they have on staff to go with a more consolidated approach. But don?t worry; this is not an article on which strategy is best (we?ll save that for another day).

In either scenario, hiring the right person is incredibly important. A bad hire is very expensive. The time spent finding, training, and ramping up is all lost if the person you hire is not able to make it past even the first year. Companies that suffer from high turnover in the sales department are losing money on both the top line and the
bottom line.

So how do you make sure you are hiring the right salesperson? That?s one of the questions I?m asked the most. While some might think hiring salespeople is easy, those of us who are responsible for making the hire know differently. If you are the one responsible for the hiring process and the on-boarding of these new sellers, you are
probably left wondering how you?re going to get it all accomplished.

Here are four essential steps you should take if you want to make sure you are hiring as effectively as you can.

1. Constantly make deposits into your talent bank. Chances are that you don?t have a strong talent bank to tap in to. Take time right now to begin filling up your talent bank. Commit to doing 20 interviews this month. This is a challenging goal and you will probably have to call upon all your resources to make it happen, but there is no better time to do it. A good way to think about this part of the hiring equation is to consider it part of the recruitment phase. In this phase, all you?re doing is looking to fill the talent bank.

2. Ask your network who they might know. Ask a minimum of 10 people you trust for three names of individuals who meet the description of the type of salesperson you are typically looking for. Be clear about the fact that you are not necessarily looking for the names of people who are looking for a job; you want the names of people who match what you are looking for. Start sending out e-mails to the people you know today! This exercise will point you to at least 30 people you can begin to reach out to. Again, this step is all about recruitment. Part of the secret to hiring great salespeople is to have the ability to select the best person for the job you have available.

3. Determine exactly what you need. Stop saying, ?We need to hire a new salesperson.? Instead, use very specific and descriptive words to describe exactly what you need in this job. For example, you might decide you are looking for someone who is excellent at asking questions, very detail-oriented, and who loves to get people to do what he wants them to do. Nailing down the specifics of what you need in this job will help you to spot the behaviors you are looking for in candidates and make better selections. This third step is focused on the selection of the right person.

4. Don?t ever settle for second best. That?s right: Don?t hire anyone you feel is not the perfect and best hire to make for the job you have open right now. Don?t catch yourself saying things like, ?She is not the best person, but she?ll do just fine.? Settling for ?just someone? is a big mistake. I recommend that you evaluate people and make decisions on all three of the following: talent, experience, and fit. All three are important, and all three need to be present to make a great hire. Oftentimes hiring mistakes are made because of the glare of experience, which causes both talent and fit to be overlooked. In order to make great hires, you need to see all three.

At the Center for Sales Strategy we have a saying that many have heard us use for years and years: ?Lose sleep before you hire, not after.?

Matt Sunshine is EVP of the Center for Sales Strategy.
E-mail: mattsunshine@csscenter.com

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(MANAGEMENT) 10 Essential Leadership Models

6-20-2012

By Dan McCarthy

While there have been thousands of books written about leadership, there are a handful of leadership models that have served me well as a leader and leadership development practitioner. These are the tried and true models that have shifted my thinking about leadership and helped me create teachable leadership moments for others. Mind you, I'm not a scholar, so the models I favor tend to be simple, practical, and I have to had see evidence that they are effective.

Here are 10 leadership models that I believe any leader or aspiring leader should be familiar with. (Kudos to Mind Tools for supplying many of the summaries in the links, and to Vou.):

1. Situation Leadership.
Developed by Ken Blanchard and Paul Hersey, it's a timeless classic. If I could only teach one model to a new manager, it might be this one. It's all about adapting your leadership style to the developmental needs, or "maturity level," of your employees. It's easy to understand and can be used on a daily basis. Your only dilemma will be which version to choose: Hersey or Blanchard? I say Blanchard, but that's because they follow @Great Leadership. (-:

2. Servant Leadership.
A philosophy and practice of leadership developed by Robert K. Greenleaf. The underlying premise here is that it's less about you as a leader and all about taking care of those around you. It's a noble and honorable way to lead and to conduct your life.

3. Blake and Mouton's Leadership Grid.
Okay, so it's really more of a management model, but it's another timeless classic. Explained by a nice, simple, 2x2 grid, it's all about balancing your concern for people and your concerns for getting things done (tasks). You gotta love those 4x4 grids!

4. Emotional Intelligence.
While Daniel Goleman's book popularized EQ, his HBR article "What Makes a Leader?" does a great job explaining why the "soft stuff" is so essential to being an effective leader.

5. Kouzes and Posner's Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership.
K&P do a nice job breaking leadership down into five practices: Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart. I've always liked the Leadership Practices Inventory 360-degree assessment that supports the model.

6. Jims Collins' Level Five Leadership.
First published in a 2001 Harvard Business Review article, and then in the book, "From Good to Great," Collins' leadership model describes kind of a hierarchy of leadership capabilities, with level five being a mix of humility and will.

7. The Diamond Model of Leadership.
Although not as widely known as Collins' Level Five model, my colleague Jim Clawson actually wrote the book "Level Three Leadership" two years earlier than the Collins' HBR article. Jim introduced the Diamond Model, which describes four elements of leadership: yourself, others, task, and organization.

8. Six Leadership Passages.
Charon, Drotter, and Noel did a nice job explaining six key developmental passages a leader can advance through in their book "The Leadership Pipeline," along with the skills required to be successful for each passage. I actually came up with my own six passages, in which I made a distinction between management and leadership.

9. Authentic Leadership.
I've only recently become a fan of Bill George's work ("True North"), and it's made a difference in how I think about leadership and leadership development. Instead of trying to find and copy the perfect set of leadership characteristics, George argues that you're better off figuring out who you are and what's important to you, and leading in a way that's true to yourself.

10. The GROW model.
Widely attributed to Sir John Whittmore (although it's not certain who really came up with it), GROW stands for goal, reality, obstacles, options, and way, will, or what's next, depending on which version you use. It's really more of a coaching model than a leadership model. However, it's an essential tool for leaders, and one of the easiest to understand and effective coaching models I've come across.

Dan McCarthy has been in the field of leadership development for over 20 years. He is currently the Director of Executive Development Programs at the University of New Hampshire's Whittemore School of Business and Economics (WSBE).

Reach Dan by e-mail at daniel.mccarthy@unh.edu
Dan's website is www.greatleadershipbydan.com

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