Joyner Taking Applications for ‘Full Ride'

11-21-13

The Tom Joyner Foundation announced the ?Full Ride? scholarship program that will cover all the expenses of one student planning to attend a Historically Black College and University in the fall of 2014. Joyner said, ?The cost of a college education isn?t getting any cheaper. So, I want to help a graduating high school senior with a chance to attend a black college to pursue their dreams.?

Students will receive full tuition and stipends for up to 10 semesters to cover on-campus room and board and books.  Students must meet the required academic standards each semester to renew the funds each year. Graduating high school seniors can apply for the scholarship by going to the Tom Joyner Foundation website at http://www.tomjoynerfoundation.org/ to download an application.

To be eligible, students must meet the following criteria:
1) A United States Citizen
2) Current high school seniors attending school in the United States (applicant must be anticipating completion of high school degree in the spring of 2014).
3) Minimum high school grade point average of 3.50 (on a 4.00 grade scale, excluding home school studies) and Minimum SAT score of 2100 (combined math essay and verbal score) or ACT score of 30.
4) Applicants must apply and be accepted to an HBCU by July 1, 2014.
5) Applicants must have demonstrated leadership abilities through participation in community service, extracurricular, or other activities.

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(SALES) Taking Total Control Of The Sales Call

5-20-2013

Out in the field last week, I noticed some moves by a couple of young sales reps that exemplified controlling a sales call from start to finish.

On average, once we get into the meat of the sales call, we have about 17 minutes to accomplish our intended purpose. In this case, I had two different sales calls. The first was a CMP, or needs analysis, call and the other was a closing call for an annual agreement. No set-ups on these calls for me either -- they were the real deal. I ride with the reps we consult. It?s the only way to really see if the training, and most importantly, the in-field coaching by the sales manager is taking root. My purpose on the calls was observation as opposed to the reps meeting with me to ask for opinions or suggestions on their marketing.

1st call: CMP: This was done by a rookie 24-year-old sales rep with four months of media sales experience with her company. She had sent over the pre-call checklist on scouting the account for me to preview so I would have the knowledge of the account. We were calling on a real estate agent. As usual, things at a real estate company are pretty busy. The rep scheduled a 20-minute call for her needs gathering.

-- Establish control: The real estate agent came into the small conference room inside the brokerage and stated things were hectic and she needed to move quickly. She also said a client was waiting in the lobby for her. In most cases and even with veteran reps, they would short change this call. Not our new sales rep. She quickly says we will be 20 minutes as stated on her phone call to set up the appointment and proceeded to take out her CMP folder. She noted that the information stayed confidential and handed the CMP folder over to the real estate agent and asked her to check off the top three things that were most important to her from the 25 options. She did not deviate from her purpose on the sales call and quickly established that she was in control by having the real estate agent check off her wish list.

-- Power Domain: The real estate agent was in her power domain inside her company?s office. Our sales rep took a seat right next to the real estate agent. Subtle nuances of body language count in a sales call. The young rookie leveled the playing field early by sitting next to the agent.

-- Quantify, qualify, and set the next appointment. The rookie rep asked how many listings the agent was currently doing, how many would be a reasonable increase, and put a dollar figure to it. The rep also found out on a 1-to-10 question where the shortcomings were on the media the agent was currently using. A 5 and a 6 on her current advertising made the agent think that there was a better option out there versus what she was currently using. The next appointment was set.

In 48 hours the creative was done. Creative that truly rises above the clutter.
 
2nd call: Closing Annual: This call was done by a 26-year-old with three months of selling her display advertising. She previously had two years of radio sales experience. The advertiser was a car dealership. On this call, the ?technical buyer? showed up four minutes into the call. The ?tech buyer? was the decision-maker?s wife. 

-- Never flinching: The ?tech buyer? normally stalls the call. Remember, the ?tech buyer? can?t say yes, can only say no, and usually does. During the course of the call, the ?tech buyer? wants to use the new product before her husband can make the decision. The ?tech buyer? then says that on any creative, she needs to approve it before her husband can sign the agreement. This is a tough situation to overcome. The sales rep isolates the objections from the ?tech buyer? and says they are noted and continues on with her presentation all the while noting the needs of the wife. In many cases, I see the sales rep cave on a call like this and let the ?tech buyer? dominate. Not so here. The sales rep's eyes continued to focus on the decision-maker and his body language while casually looking at the wife and then back to the husband.

-- Time to close: Yes, the first one who talks does own it. On several occasions this call could have gone back to the drawing board. The sales rep stayed the course, asked for the annual, and got the signature. The objections all came from the wife. By the end of the call, the sales rep had plans to go have drinks with the wife. The wife asked that new creative be done before her husband could sign. The rep said she would redo the creative after the signature. This is the way to do it -- instead of having to keep going back and redoing creative, get the signature and then redo the creative. Otherwise, you could be on a nine-month wedding march and you never close it.

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

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Salem Taking Nightline Show National

7-12-2012

Starting Friday night, Salem's 94-FM the Fish/Nashville is partnering with Salem's KLTY/Dallas to deliver Nightlight with Andrea to a national audience. The show airs from 7PM to Midnight and originates from KLTY. The program will make its nationwide network debut on Salem's Today's Christian Music Network Monday July 30th where it will reach a weekly potential 120 affiliates in the Monday-Friday 7pm-12mid time period.

Nightlight? features contemporary Christian music and listener interaction as Andrea takes listener calls on lifestyle family friendly topics. Stations interested in adding Nightlight? with Andrea to their lineup should contact Salem Music Network affiliate relations manager, Jeremy Sweat, at 615-367-2210 ext. 7033 or jsweat@SalemMusicNetwork.com.

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Dial Global Taking KMOX Overnight Program National

1-23-2012
Dial Global and CBS radio's KMOX News Radio in St. Louis have teamed up to do a national launch of the program "Overnight America with Jon Grayson." KMOX originated the program about three years ago. It airs from 1AM-6AM eastern and is already heard on KDKA-AM in Pittsburgh and WCCO AM in Minneapolis.

Grayson began his career in talk radio at age 19 while still in college. In just three years he had already hosted sports, politics, and general interest talk shows and served as the executive producer and on-air co-host of a top-rated weekly comedy broadcast on WFLA-AM in Tampa, FL. Jon honed his style through his early 20??s and landed the evening talk show host position at WWTN-FM in Nashville, TN at age 27. The show quickly went to No. 1 in the ratings and Jon enjoyed three years at the top of Nashville radio. In 2000, Jon moved to KMOX where he hosted the station?fs overnight show. 

The program will be available on January 30th and for more information on the program, contact Peter Sessa at Dial Global psessa@dialglobal.com

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"Major Directional Change" Taking Place at Merlin in Chicago

Apparently a format specifically designed to talk directly to a female listener isn't working out the way Merlin had planned. On the heels of radio veteran Dave Williams' surprise firing by Merlin in Chicago a source inside the station has confirmed that the station is making "major directional changes." The source also says there will not be any more layoffs and in fact the station is hiring again. "What we went on the air with looked good on paper. But then once it went on the air it was apparent we had to change the focus from narrowcasting to broadcasting. Some of the features weren?t working and we went with a harder news approach, but still with a more modern execution and feel," the source also told us.

In the October 24th print issue of Radio Ink magazine, Merlin COO Walter Sabo described why the format he helped put on the air was different. "All day, you take the news of your life and you share it with your spouse, parents, friend, co-workers, etc. The way you share it is different. Let?s say you got a promotion. You would tell it differently to each of them. You might feign modesty when talking to your neighbor. You might simplify it when talking to a 5-year-old niece. You might brag a little when telling your dad. It?s the same fact, but you present the information to the audience you are talking to a little differently. You communicate in words, terms, symbols that are meaningful to your audience. The traditional all-news stations are great stations. They are brilliant at reaching the retirement set. You look at the demography of those stations, and they aggressively appeal to people over 65."

When the station originally went on the air it was quickly criticized by Chicago media, some saying it was unlistenable. The station source told Radio Ink, "we?ve done a lot of things to actually add muscle to our coverage. It didn?t help that we had the world?s worst computer system in the buildings. You can?t imagine the problems that caused. No way to describe. That?s now changing. It?s too bad our staff was blamed for poor execution when newscasts were locking up, disappearing, etc."

Sabo is quoted in the magazine saying what Merlin was putting on the air was "not really a new way. It?s the way people have spoken all of their lives. When you are late to meet your friends because of traffic, you?re not going to say, ?There was a four-mile backup due to a disabled vehicle with police activity on the side of the road.? We are going to say, ?Some idiot ran out of gas,? or, ?The police are doing radar, stay away from there.? Because that?s how you would tell your friends."

Sounds like Merlin is leaning more toward saying things the old way. More toward the CBS way.

(10/12/2011 5:42:01 AM)
Well! What do you know? The only reason this group has ever gotten so much publicity is because of your affinity for them, not because they were newsworthy. Now we find this small company, yes it is small, is also fallible. Thanks for giving them an inordinate amount of publicity. Now let's get back to the rest of the broadcasting community.
(10/11/2011 11:56:16 AM)
Please be quick.

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