Hi everyone, I've recently began working in radio sales and as of last week, I have made my first sale!
Now that I've tooted my own horn, I have a question. I live in a small town in North West Alabama. With that being said, one could imagine that there wouldn't be all that many businesses that are looking to buy locally with the low amount of cash that flows here. Most business owners seem excited when I approach them and tell them of all the wonderful things we can do with them, but cringe at the dollar amount, even after I give them the most basic package I can provide. My G.M. has asked that I remain local and try not to go to a corporate or agency level, but with limited businesses that haven't already been prospected, I really don't know what to do. I love this job thus far, I just feel stuck. Any and all advice will be helpful.
Thank you all!
Repeat after me: "Google Is My Friend".
Pick the top categories for advertising under your signal, and by top I don't mean what is on your station now.
Go to Google Maps and type in DDS and your zip code.
Put together and ROI estimate for Dentists.
Make up nine spec ads
Make up a one sheet for an annual order on your station
Go play three spots to each dental office, show them the advertising plan and ROI calculation.
'Oh, where do you find an ROI calcuulator? Try Here: http://influence.fm/free-radio-tools/
Okay need copy ideas for Dentist? Go to http://www.wikicopy.com/ (free too)
Need some sales training? https://www.youtube.com/user/ChrisRolando and look for the Crawl Walk Run series. It's... FREE
Don't listen to anyone who tells you why you cannot. And by the way even in Market 1, NYC, a rep I trained still hears "we have no money". It is just an objection and means nothing.
LEAD with ideas and you will do well.
Price is never really an objection. You can always find something that fit their budget. The client may not like the time but now you're negotiating.
I like to tell clients, "I can give you time of day, day of week, and price. You pick 2 and I get the other one."
Tristin,
Manta.com is a great resource for gathering data on how much revenue almost any local business is generating annually. If they're doing at least 500K in annual revenue, go for it. Chris is right.... dentistry is a solid category. EVERYONE needs a dentist so they'll make sense for your station no matter the format and they tend to have a healthy revenue stream.
That said, when you can, go ahead and prospect for larger corporate/agency accounts that make sense for your station. Most of those accounts plan their marketing annually and now is a great time to be talking to them about 2015. Your GM isn't going to walk away from the business nor is he/she going to take it away from you. Just make sure you're doing your due diligence turning over every rock you can on the local direct side.
As Chris pointed out, you'd get the no money objection in larger markets too. And if you were in NYC, you'd be getting the objection of, "I don't want to advertise on a radio station that reaches the whole metro. My customers come from a 5 mile radius. Customers in Brooklyn aren't going to drive to my store in Soho... they have three businesses like mine in their neighborhood."
