It's no secret that many radio and television account executives are running into real trouble trying to make budget. Sellers who have prospered for years dealing primarily with advertising agencies are seeing their precious billing siphoned away to newer, shinier media. Expect this trend to continue.
This year agencies are expected to pull even more budgets away from radio and television and into new "interactive" media campaigns. In fact according to Advertising Age Magazine, last year's trend toward You Tube type viral media campaigns will become standard fare for 2007. The main reason? It's the trendy thing to do. The shallow reality is that agency creative directors, once eager to "make their mark" in television are now flocking to the newest "cool" medium, the Internet. The new goal is to somehow create a viral campaign on a site (or sites) like You Tube. Logically of course, very few of these campaigns will succeed in helping advertisers break through the clutter, but damn the results. The agencies are going there anyway.
As a consequence, agency-oriented broadcast salespeople are finding that in order to make their numbers for 2007 they must focus on local direct business. The problem is that many of these veteran broadcast salespeople are a little rusty when it comes to hustling up local direct contracts. Unfortunately the pressure is on. If you are feeling pressure to bring in more local direct billing here are some things you can do to immediately improve your chances.
1. Prospect the easy way-Don't just call on accounts that other stations already have on the air. Go to product/service categories that are completely over-represented on other media (like attorneys in the Yellow Pages) and completely unrepresented on your station. Cull out one advertiser from one of these categories and tell him you've found a hole in his competitor's marketing and advertising strategy that a B-52 could fly through. Then simply explain that the media "lake" he's fishing on is actually being tremendously over-fished. Meanwhile, you have a perfectly good lake with lots of fish in it and not one single business in his product/service category is fishing your lake. The client would have practically a monopoly on your lake.
2. Convince your prospect that using your station is not a "gamble", but in fact a good, calculated risk. Determine the client's average sale and gross margin of profit. If the client owns a funeral home his gross margin would be close to 55 percent and his average sale would be six to eight thousand dollars. I mean, come on...how many...ummm...new bodies would would you really have to deliver in order to justify your measly little 10 thousand dollar weekly schedule on your station? What percentage of your total 12 plus total CUME audience would that "magic number" represent?
3. Make sure that your prospect realizes that you are an expert on making good "bait." That is, you are an expert in the difference between good and bad advertising. For example, use the Best Friend Test on the client's copy to ferret out cliches. Explain to the client that if he wouldn't say those exact same words to his best friend that the copy is cliche and needs to be replaced with words that really do identify and solve consumer problems.
Once the client realizes that your plan for his success is better than his own, he'll surrender and let you lead. By showing the client that it's in his best interest to let you drive the bus you'll get more long-term contracts with less rate resistance and less "added value." You'll sell more local direct whether you're number one or number twenty, regardless of your format or program. And by working local direct you'll have more control over revisions and cancellations with less worry about meeting a media buyer's ridiculous cost per point. Working with local direct clients after a career of dealing with agencies can actually be a liberating experience.
If you would like to improve your local direct numbers contact us. Use our products. Every one of them is guaranteed to help you succeed in selling more long-term local direct.
Happy New Year, kindest personal regards and Good Selling.
Paul Weyland
President
Paul Weyland Communication Strategies
(512) 236 1222
www.paulweyland.com
