(SALES MEETING PODCAST) Understand How Agencies Think To Get More of The Buy

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8/15/2012

Like it or not, until radio changes the way it is rated, agencies all across the country are going to set the rules for how much money they spend with us. You can play the CPP and added value game their way or you walk and leave money on the table. To at least be considered for more of a buy it's important to know what these agencies are thinking of us as a medium and you as a rep. What do they expect from you and are you delivering that? Why are we treated differently than TV? How can you really pitch them digital so you are getting additional money and not just bringing a digital order back to the station that you would have gotten with spots anyway.

In this weeks Radio Ink Sales Meeting Podcast, we spoke with Kara Hocking, the owner of Hocking Media in Detroit. Hocking spent over 25 years at an advertising agency in Troy before opening up her own shop in 2008. Her accounts included Blue Cross Blue Shield and Comercia which accounted for over $30 Million annually.

In our interview Hocking says she uses radio to great success for her clients because of radio's ability to engage the consumer. On what radio salespeople need to improve, she doesn't hesitate, "customer service." She believes radio plays too many commercials, it's more difficult to track than Pandora, Clear Channel should sell ads on iHeartradio should sell ads and reps do not understand how to speak the language of digital.

Here is our interview with Kara Hocking of Hocking Media.

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Understand The Past to Thrive in The Future

by Lee Abrams

I was recently having a friendly and spirited discussion with some product experts in the Urban marketplace.  Music became a topic and I suggested Gil Scott Heron's (RIP) contributions to the development of rap.  While two of the guys waxed on about Gil's work,  one went "who??" I was shocked...sort of.  I strongly believe that you cant design the future without understanding the past. Of course you can get lucky and come up with the hot new thing,  but the changers are more often those with a firm grounding in the history of their mission.

Back at XM in the pre launch years,  we were charged to recreate the magic of radio,  on 21st century terms.  The first thing we did was look BACK.  We'd play tapes of radio from the 40's to understand "theater of the mind";  the 50's and 60's to grasp how music could be 'sold' by air talent;  the 70's to experience 'bigger than life' and so on.  The point being that programmers were infinitely better prepared to fight the content war and deliver genuine positive  change if they had a strong bond with what made radio magical in the first place.  Of course it wasn't about re-creating the old days,  it was about understanding them as a powerful tool in their creative, strategic and tactical tool box.

It's clearly not only radio...it's ALL media and probably all business that has a vision for the future.  Great film makers religiously study the great classic films;  Great musicians EVOLVE from the past.  I doubt if there would be a Beatles without a Buddy Holly and certainly not a Led Zeppelin without the Muddy Waters school.  In 2007 we had Coldplay perform one of our Inside The Actors Studio like "Artist Confidential" shows where the late great George Taylor Morris conducted an interview/performance before a rabid audience.  Prior to the event,  many young programmers were insisting that Coldplay wouldn't relate to George and would want to talk about Rob Thomas.  Well,  George did the show and the band said it was clearly the best interview ever.  The reason was "George talked about things that interest us like Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan instead of this weeks alternative flavor."  Coldplay of course sound nothing like Bob or Johnny,  but part of their brilliance is an understanding and inspiration from that music.

Food is like that too. A strong trend over the past few years has been molecular gastronomy. You know,  essence of horseradish foam napped in a mousse of Bolivian clover.  The difference between this style of  food being truly awful and truly amazing is in training.  A classically trained chef has the grounding to make  magic,  one without that background is probably going to deliver culinary hell.

Then of course there's the military cliche...but it's true.  The great military leaders certainly understand the historic basics of warfare...just watch Patton again.

The future is obviously digital and the history of the Internet is short,  but there's still a history.  More important is recognizing that the Internet is what CARRIES content,  so if it's say,  sports online/mobile,  you'd study the history of Sports content.  I have heard things like "This history stuff is irrelevant because everything is online"...wrong.  the Internet is a powerful, global, interactive, life changing transmitter.  It'll always be WHAT is transmitted that drives things. TV was/is a transmitter too.  It's what's ON the TV that makes the difference.

I found print to be an interesting case.  I studied newspapers going back to the 1800's.  There were many things papers USED to do that might actually work again if re-thought for today,  but it was generally met with such an obsession with the current state that it was  hard to get traction.

The danger is LIVING in the past.  Very bad idea and unfortunately that's how this stuff is often interpreted.  The truth is that passionately understanding past successes and failures is a powerful tool in designing the future.  So many are obsessed with dealing with the challenges of today where by looking back for inspiration is a 'depth of thinking' that has incalculable competitive, creative and end result advantages.

Lee Abrams can be reached at Lee Abrams n101xm@gmail.com

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Understand What Your Customers Are Going Through

Every day is a battle on the rough and tumble streets of make-a-sale-every-day America. Competition is increasing, consumers are more selective and your advertisers are smarter. Your clients understand the cost per customer, the cost per lead has increased since the last recession so they need to focus on what works for them. No more spray and pray as they used to say. It's your job to understand what they are going through, present them with an opportunity to bring more people through their doors and deliver to them the R.O.I. they should expect from a seasoned sales rep.

To do that you need to focus on more than just your typical sales training information. Those cassette tapes sitting in the sales office are outdated. For crying out loud...they are cassette tapes. You need to do more than read the client's newspaper ad. You need to do more than walk the client's store. You need to do more than ask the client for five minutes of his time. He doesn't have five minutes to hear your tired old pitch about why your cume, your ranker and how many listeners you have 30 minutes away from his location. Chances are somebody else is selling widgets just like him all over town. He wants bodies through the door. He wants them yesterday and he wants you to deliver them. How are you going to do that?

Ed Hess is a best-selling author and a professor of business administration at the University of Florida. His most recent work focused on entrepreneurs and how they successfully, or unsuccessfully, grow their business. He interviewed 54 CEO's of high growth companies. I had an opportunity to interview Hess and asked him to focus on how a business owner thinks, their challenges, what they need to succeed and how radio can help. A very interesting quote from Hess: "people like to do business with nice people." Simple enough. Let's get to it. To listen to that interview, GO HERE. You can also download the interview as a Podcast from iTunes right onto your phone and listen to it in the car on your way to your next call. You do know how to download a podcast don't you?

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