Friday Poll: What Title Do You Use on Your Business Card?

    • 1373 posts
    June 20, 2014 12:49 AM PDT

    Happy Friday, everyone!

     

    This week’s poll question was posed by Brent Danielson of Red Wing, MN.  Brent writes, “We are getting new business cards [and] discussing what title the sales staff should use.  Some have ‘Account Executive’; some have ‘Sales Representative.’  We want all staff to have the same title.”

     

    What do you have as a title on your business card?

    And while a simple reply with your title will do, we'd love it if you'd grab a quick shot of your business card with your smartphone and share it with us using the image button or upload files link below.  Thank you!

    • 58 posts
    June 20, 2014 1:49 AM PDT

    Marketing Consultant.  Account Executive really says nothing about what you do and I think Sales Representative has a slightly negative connotation.  Marketing Consultant says I'm here to help you make your business successful. 

    • 59 posts
    June 20, 2014 5:09 AM PDT

    We currently use Account Executive, but I like Media Consultant better and we will be changing to that but....if you also sell your website or other Social media or also sell a cable access TV station as we do, Multi Media Consultant is even better

    • 3 posts
    June 20, 2014 5:49 AM PDT
    Mine says Account Manager, but I really like Marketing Consultant and will bring that up at work today.
    • 4 posts
    June 20, 2014 6:19 AM PDT

    We simply use "Account Manager" or for some of our veterans Senior Account Manager

    • 135 posts
    June 20, 2014 6:25 AM PDT

    I use Marketing Partner. Some of my coworkers use Account Executive.  We have one rep who focuses a lot on HR type clients so she has Recruitment Specialist with her name as well.

    • 11 posts
    June 20, 2014 6:33 AM PDT

    Marketing Specialist.  Our sales team is educated in all mediums of advertising, and Marketing Specialist shows our clients that we want what's best for them.  Of course - radio is the best in most cases.

    • 53 posts
    June 20, 2014 6:41 AM PDT

    I am Minister of Covert Ops.

    Since she owns the company, my wife is President for Life.

    (In her official photo, she should be wearing a military uniform and aviator shades, waving from the balcony. So far, we have not made that happen.)

    • 112 posts
    June 20, 2014 6:48 AM PDT

    We let our consultants choose their own title on their cards. For instance, I am technically the Sales Manager, but my title on my cards is "Business Builder". One of our other reps uses "Business Growth and Marketing Executive"

    • 121 posts
    June 20, 2014 7:38 AM PDT

     Account Executive is what it says on my card, Account Manager is what my email says.  I've used Advertising Consultant, Media Consultant, Advertising Account Executive/Manager.

    It really doesn't matter as long as they know that when they want to buy advertising on the radio, they think of me as the one that can help them buy smart.

     

    • 121 posts
    June 20, 2014 7:40 AM PDT

    Oh, and the card only gives my cell number.  The QR Code gives them all the contact info to add to their contacts when they scan.

    • 89 posts
    June 20, 2014 8:02 AM PDT

    I would ditch Account Executive for sure. You can continue to use that title internally though.

     

    People seldom connect with that title. It doesn't read "RESOURCE"... it merely sounds like "SALES PERSON." Account Manager definitely takes the cake as far as sounding like "Sales Person." It's simply not a title that today's business professionals relate to. Within the advertising sphere, our industry is the only one that I see still using it frequently.

     

    Marketing Consultant, Marketing Partner, etc. Not sure about Media Consultant... clients want to work with professionals who can help them with their entire strategy and brand identity... not just the Media portion.

  • June 20, 2014 10:03 AM PDT

    I have the generic, "Account Executive" - because I don't have the choice of choosing my title.  If I did, I'd use "Advertising Consultant" because I want to help my clients understand the world of advertising and not just get a paycheck off of them!

    • 9 posts
    June 20, 2014 11:09 AM PDT

    We are marketing consultants. Salesmen sell shoes. We research other media, including our own, and design custom marketing plans that work. We don't sell "air". We sell successful ideas.

    • 53 posts
    June 20, 2014 1:18 PM PDT

    Senior Account Executive. Kind of evokes that sense of, this guy's over the hill, someone get the Geritol.

     

    • 5 posts
    June 20, 2014 9:30 PM PDT

    Marketing Consultant at Fremont Broadcasting in Lander, WY ..  we try to help educate our client base when needed to help them under stand a very important principal .. Advertising, publice relations, and all marketing outreach is an "investment" ..NOT an expense ..  Mary Wakefield, Marketing Manager

    • 53 posts
    June 21, 2014 6:46 AM PDT

    It was always a cringe-worthy moment: periodically, an account rep would introduce me to a new client by enthusiastically proclaiming, "And THIS is our Award-Winning Copywriter!" It immediately divested my position of any authority for anything other than being clever.

    Fortunately, my business card did not say, "Award-Winning Copywriter!" The first one said merely, "Copywriter." It's also a title which comes with zero clout for the uninitiated. "I dub thee Sir Loin of Beef!" Thank you sir, may I have another.

    As soon as I could order new cards, the title changed to Creative Director. At least, as a Creative Director, there's authority. And being vested with responsibility for client discovery, concept, copy, voiceover, direction and production, Creative Director is a reasonable titular shift.

    Were I to do it over again, I might use something like Commercial Strategist. Especially for a client who knows nothing, the title speaks to a degree of authority as well as expertise. For people who know nothing about direct response radio advertising, "strategy" sounds like a win. Strategy gets results. (Maybe Results Technician?)

    I encourage anyone who works in a radio station with copywriters to rename them. And if they've won awards, forget about it. Clients want results. They merely trip over awards.

    • 74 posts
    June 21, 2014 5:28 PM PDT

    No titles. Everyone does everything. Small market radio.

    • 12 posts
    September 20, 2014 4:00 PM PDT
    Imagineer
    • 121 posts
    June 2, 2017 5:51 AM PDT

    Currently my card says Advertising Sales & Marketing Consultant.  This card came out about 18 months ago and we will have new ones later this year.

    I need to let people know that I can actually sell them stuff, but I also function as a Marketing Consulant or Marketing Coach as I tell some of my advertising partners.

    • 2 posts
    June 2, 2017 8:24 AM PDT

  • June 2, 2017 9:37 AM PDT

    "The Idea Guy"

    • 16 posts
    June 3, 2017 11:40 AM PDT

    My current card says Marketing Consultant. I'm known as and used Big Marketing Guy in the past.


    This post was edited by Bill Denkert at June 3, 2017 11:41 AM PDT
    • 1373 posts
    June 3, 2017 5:38 PM PDT

    Tommy Tatum, GM of the Delta Radio Network, gave me permission to share his card:

    • 54 posts
    June 4, 2017 8:22 AM PDT

    I think it was David Lee Roth who said, "If you want to be a rock star, the first thing you should do is start acting like a rock star."

    At some point in the late 90's, I read a Jeffrey Gitomer essay in which Gitomer advised making every interaction with a client memorable in some way. On a whim, I changed the title on my fax cover sheet (we used faxes then) to "Portland's Finest Radio Rep". The first time I used it, I got a phone call minutes later from the recipient, demanding to speak to Portland's Finest Radio Rep. 

    I figured I was onto something, so I put the same title on my letterhead, changed my voice mail message, and tried to get it on my business card. My GM shot that down, but eventually he left the station, and I snuck it into the next card order. It stuck.

    The title set me apart from every competitor in the market. People remembered me, and expected a higher level of service. 

    Eventually we started selling digital products, so I changed it to "Portland's Finest Media Rep", and that was my official title until I left radio and joined Jim Doyle & Associates.