Radio Sales Café

We limit the number to (A.) Those accounts that have been active (SPENT $) on your list in the last 13months plus (B.) no more than 25 target accounts. When you sell one of your targets you can add another...This keep salespeople from hogging the entire city just because they have been with the station for years...also because target number is limited they work their targets. Movement of non-spenders does occur. What is the correct manageable number...exactly the number that for them is manageable. On your second question concerning the new salesperson...Work Ethic can not be taught...so assign a daily set of numbers20 random dials from the yellow pages everyday...plus 7 appointment calls from targeted prospects. Have them do this everyday...when the appointments start to come...and they will...don't stop. My job occupies me constantly...I've been doing "Radio" over 30 years with new folk...sorry...it is just a job. Call me if you wish to discuss further....Mac

Kathie,

We used to have a database called Act that had no limit as to the number of contacts you could store, but it got to the point that if you had been here for a few years, you could have over 1500 clients that are marked as yours and no-one else can approach. There is no way an Account Manager can service that kind of client base. We scrapped it 2 years ago and each AM has a list called their "super serve 70". 70 clients that you love to death and are in contact with at least once a month. The list can be updated at any time, and we have a process of exchanging clients with eachother each month if some are sitting dormant, or might be better served by another manager. Everyone seems happy with 70 as a number though.
Good luck!!

Chris.

Do you see/touch base with all of your clients on a weekly or monthly basis?

In addition to Sales, I am also the Office Manager for our stand-alone AM station in a small town in Northeastern Wyoming. I keep my account list to no more than 25 (on-the-air) each month because I truly believe I can't service my accounts and call on them properly with any more than that. My Station Manager has over 70, and it's physically impossible to give each client the time and attention they deserve when you have so many. New Sales people need to be "given" at least five accounts to begin working with, and as they progress and grow, that list can be added to, hopefully by them. My station has been working with a Sales Consultant this year, and he recommends no more than 30 accounts for each full-time Sales person. Hope this helps.

Yes it does, and you're exactly right. I agree with 30 on the air + a B list for seasonal, quick telemarketing and businesses you're trying to get on.

You've got your hands full ! Thanks........Kathie

Every single one of my advertisers has my cell phone number stored in their cell phone and theirs in mine. I contact most of them weekly and some every other week, but just a few once a month.
I e-mail them new ideas, new commercials, articles about their business category, call them for lunch occasionally, but see them in person a lot.....truly care about their business and partner with them on understanding how radio works. Relationship building alone is not near enough, right now more than ever, we need to work extremely hard for every single advertiser.

This is purely theoretical, of course, Kathie - but I recall Jim Williams' recommendation that account lists be limited to 50 clients. His assumptions were:

1. See every client, every week
2. "Average" length of a client visit (including travel time) = 30 minutes
3. Based on his "average" work day*, one could expect to service an "average" of 10 clients each day
4. Based on an "average" Mon-Fri work week, 50 clients would be the maximum a salesperson could effectively handle

*9 a.m. - 12 noon = 6 client visits; 3 - 5 p.m. = 4 client visits
8 - 9 a.m. and 1 - 3 p.m. were devoted to meeting with the sales manager, writing orders, commercials, doing research, refining the daily plan, etc. And he'd allow an hour for lunch, say 12 noon - 1 p.m.

Of course, Jim recognized the need for qualification. He used to say, "If you have one foot in a bonfire and the other in a bucket of ice, on the average you're comfortable."

In other words, your mileage may vary.

Best,

Rod

It varies a little. Long term bookings will get a service call every month, unless they need more or are due a creative change. More bespoke clients will be more frequent. essentially, to be on the Super Serve list, you must contact them at least once a month.

Hi, I can't answer your question, but I would like to hear how you sell your station. You sound like you are doing well. We have a stand alone AM station in West Virginia, and we are having a very hard time.

Greetings Kathie: I don't feel there is a hard and fast answer to this question. For me.. I start a new rep with 150 people on their account list. The cold calling with the manager quickly brings the list down to maybe 100 and then the rep digs in. My top two reps only have their on air account and maybe 10 to 15 more accounts. Yet I have also had other salespeople in the top levels who could handle a strong list and as many as 40 more prospects. I understand what Williams is saying but there is no one size fits all solution. In our case we are using www.inaboxonline.com (shameless plus as I own the company) to help our sales people. It is a simple CRM, but here is the kick... every Friday we hit the button and it purges all accounts that have not been visited in person in 52 days. This, after just a few months will pare the sales rep's list down to the level that THEY can manage, not some arbitrary number that management comes up with. My personal belief is that you should see every active account every TWO weeks. And when you walk in it's not to "drop by" or ask what they want to run next week, but a meeting to PRESENT your idea for copy for next week. this proactive way of working accounts makes you a resource. I believe that when YOU have to ask what copy to run next you are just a leech. But I may be wrong...