NEW GENERAL SALES MANAGER

    • 5 posts
    December 2, 2010 9:51 AM PST
    HEY EVERYONE. I AM A NEW GEN. SALES MGR. AND BOY AM I OVERWHELMED. I HAVE NEVER BEEN THE BOSS AND I'M NOT SURE I WANT TO LOL!

    I NEED INPUT.... THE INS AND OUTS... MY BIGGEST PROBLEM IS FINDING QUALITY SALES STAFF AND KEEPING THEM. I HAVE ONE SALES PERSON THAT HAS BEEN WITH ME FOR 5 MONTHS AND STILL AS YET TO REALLY SELL. HE HAS HAD A FEW SMALL CLIENTS BUT HE IS UNABLE TO KEEP THEM ON THE AIR. I DO NOT PAY ANYTHING BUT COMMISSIONS SO HE REALLY DOESN'T HURT THE STATION BUT WHAT'S THE POINT IF HE ISN'T GOING TO SELL.

    AND DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY GOOD IDEAS FOR PROMOTIONAL PACKAGES FOR THE NEW YEAR?

    THANKS FOR THE HELP
    • 135 posts
    December 2, 2010 10:09 AM PST
    Ive never been a manager either so Im probably not much help there. But the biggest thing I can share is to train train train! Your new salespeople will never be good sellers if you dont train them!

    Our company recently got a new general sales manager as well as he has made it a point to meet with each of us salespeople to discuss what we liked, what we didnt like and what we wanted in a sales manager. We were all a little nervous to get a new manager---nervous of what changes might happen and such.. so it was really nice for him to get our input as it felt like he cared and wasnt just coming in and gonna make a bunch of changes.

    We run a package 1st quarter where the client gets Buy 1 get 1 in January, Buy 2 get 1 in February and buy 3 get one in March. With 1st quarter traditionally being slower, we have the available inventory to do it and the client feels more comfortable in a tight time for them too.
    • 68 posts
    December 2, 2010 11:07 AM PST
    You have now engaged the enemy on all sides!

    Motivating others
    1. Money
    2. Responsibility / Delegation
    3. Optimism / Emotion
    4. Goal Focus (Definition)
    5. Variety (Creativity)
    6. Growth / Risk Taking
    7. Trust
    8. Awareness / Information
    9. Positive Use of Pressure
    10. Efficiency
    11. Good Work
    12. Leadership
    13. Consistency
    14. Tactful Discipline
    Get yourself a good CRM designed for radio
    • 5 posts
    December 2, 2010 11:54 AM PST
    THANK YOU YOU HAVE BEEN HELPFULL
    • 993 posts
    December 2, 2010 12:15 PM PST
    Random thoughts:

    1. CARE about your new hires. Treat them as you would want to be treated, even better. (Read Proverbs 3:27-28 and you'll see what I mean.)

    2. PROVIDE the training and support they need in order to help their advertisers and the station grow their businesses.

    You'll find a wealth of good information, resources, and people here at RSC; plenty of gold for a determined miner.

    Be sure they get training in ADVERTISING as well as SALES. Invest in a library of time-tested marketing and advertising works by the masters: David Ogilvy, Claude Hopkins, John Caples, Al Ries and Jack Trout, Jay Conrad Levinson, etc. Chris Lytle's "The Accidental Salesperson" will be most helpful to you as well as your salespeople. Pick up Roy Williams' "Wizard of Ads" trilogy - on CD, preferably; hearing his stuff beats reading it. Michael Corbett's "33 Ruthless Rules of Advertising" will help your sales staff see the world through the eyes of their prospective clients.

    3. BE TOLERANT of their mistakes. We all make them. The trick is to learn from them and grow, not to perpetuate them.

    4. ENCOURAGE RISK-TAKING. Nothing significant in life is accomplished without calculated risk.

    5. BE TRANSPARENT. Make sure they know what you expect of them and how you, in turn, will provide support for them.

    6. BE CONSISTENT. They're out there in the field busting their butts for you. Don't confuse or undermine their efforts by, for instance, having double-standards with regard to rates (lower rates for people you like) or access to resources.

    7. SEE #1 ABOVE. It's really that important.

    ---------------

    Promotional Packages for the New Year? I shudder at the thought of offering Q1 bonus spots, but that's just the way I was trained too long ago to entertain the notion of changing now.

    Instead, bring your prospects great ideas. Sign them to long-term campaigns at a fair price, rather than cutting your rates to solve a short-term problem. Clients who are quick to buy on the basis of price will leave you just as quickly when your competitor drops their rate even lower. That's a spiral that takes everyone down with it. Again, you'll find a wealth of ideas here at RSC - ideas for ads and campaigns that you can tweak for your prospects. I've learned over the decades that it's much easier and productive in the long-run to gain a client's respect for what I bring to the table, than by how much I can shave off the rate.

    I wish you good success!
    • 2 posts
    December 2, 2010 12:16 PM PST
    I am not a manager either but I have been in sales 15+ years and know what I need and want in a sales position and a manager. A good salesperson will not leave another company to come work for you in less you give them a client list that is already billing monthly and/or you give them a salary to start out for a certain amount of months until they can build their book of business. We need to pay our bills and if you don't give me an incentive to come work for you why would I? In a Sales Manager I look for knowledge in the industry to learn from, someone who's actually interested in helping me grow, gives me incentives to hit my goals and good communication. I will not work for someone who just stays in their office and expects to bark orders and micro manage. I like the BOGO idea and I used that in television and will probably do that for first quarter at my company I'm with now. Think up a New Year's promo like a giveaway, then you have Valentine's Day in February you could give a couple scripp or something to do a romantic dinner and time away from their kids and then March do the BOGO. Not sure if any of this helps but just my opinion. Good Luck!
    • 180 posts
    December 3, 2010 9:40 AM PST
    Regarding keeping good sales people, remember that if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. I am lucky that the Astor Broadcast Group holds to it's commission levels. Twenty percent for Direct. Fifteen for agency. Ten for blocked programs (Infomercials.) Too many of my friends at other stations have strange staggered rates. Clear Channel is terrible. Adjustable rates based on total billing. New business rates that diminish with time.
    Nuts. Cutting commissions in order to improve the bottom line is self defeating. The sales people make the paychecks possible. Treat your staff with the respect due them. Thank them. reward them. Be generous (but reasonable) with trade. Establish bonus incentives. And above all. There should NEVER be house accounts!!
    • 993 posts
    December 3, 2010 10:01 AM PST
    "If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys." I may be the only person in this community who's never heard that before, Joe, but it's a great line!
    • 112 posts
    December 3, 2010 10:05 AM PST
    Congratulations Rhonda: I remember my first year as a sales manager and believe me, I would not want to re-live it.

    When it comes to hiring, I always go back to a saying that was handed down to me in my retail mgmt days: "Hire the person with a great attitude. You can train everything else but attitude"

    I am assuming by your e-mail that this guy has some sort of established list or he wouldn't be surviving after 5 months. Maybe he's too comfortable with what he's already getting and not striving for more. And if he's getting new clients but they're dropping off fast, find out why. Did he not follow up? Were they expecting too much? Get behind the reason so you can correct it.

    I like all the books Rod recommended and one more. I always give my new people a copy of Jeffrey Gitomers Little Red Book of Selling. It's easy to read, goes straight to the point and emphasizes relationship selling.

    And my last bit of advice on this is don't be afraid to cut the cord. Too often I see salespeople who are hanging around, not accomplishing what we need, and upper management is slow to cut them loose. That is de-moralizing to the rest of the staff and hurts your stations relationship with your clients when they have to deal with a poor performer. If you have firing power, don't be afraid to use it and move on.

    As for a 1st quarter promotion, we run trade shows in January, February and March, which keep us very busy and bring in billing during the slow retail months.
    • 108 posts
    December 4, 2010 4:18 AM PST
    Rhonda,

    Here are 40+ Radio Sales Tips and Promotions to help you get started.

    Send me back your email address and I'll send you more tips every Monday morning.

    Jingle Jim Reilly
    American Music Concepts
    [email protected]
    P 732-604-8625
    • 31 posts
    December 6, 2010 9:19 AM PST
    God Bless You Rod...it's pretty rare rare that someone pops off The Holy Bible as reference material in this business!

    In the same vein...I would highly recommend a book I have read and re-read recently: Lead Like Jesus by Ken Blanchard....lessons from the greatest leadership role model.
    • 5 posts
    June 10, 2011 7:03 AM PDT
    well i am no longer a general manager, i have moved to another station and i love not being in charge
    • 7 posts
    July 11, 2011 6:07 PM PDT

    this thing was really helpfull. I look forward to your other weekly jingle tidbits

     

    • 37 posts
    July 12, 2011 5:51 AM PDT
    Give me a call or email anytime we are a CHR station. We have grown from the small station to a fairly large multi-frequency group. We do not have ratings and are listener supported. 613-966-4822 is the station number.
  • July 19, 2011 1:24 PM PDT
    Very good info Jim!! Thanks!!
  • December 26, 2013 7:11 AM PST

    HOW TO BUILD A GREAT RADIO SALES TEAM.

    http://www.radioink.com/Article.asp?id=2093316&spid=29000


    Recruitment.  Hire high-percentage candidates in the first place.   
    Must be brave and smart, with an insatiable curiosity for all things  
    retail.  Proven media sales experience is a "must hire" criteria and  
    outside sales experience of any kind is a big plus.  Media sales is a  
    career, not a job, a life, not a lifestyle.  Hours? 24!  All  
    candidates must be prepared to live, eat, drink, sleep, smoke,  
    breath, toss and turn advertising sales!

    Training.  There was, is and always will be just two ways to sell  
    media.  You're either a spot hawking, cold calling, package pushing  
    MEDIA REP or you're a true ACCOUNT EXEC operating on a two-call  
    consult-and-sell methodology.  I've only been in the biz since 1983,  
    but I'm still waiting to meet my first package pusher with a  
    successful career in broadcast sales, earning an above average income  
    year after year, owning a big house, putting kids through college.  
    etc.  Yet, sadly, a one-sheet spot package is what most media reps  
    are given as training.

    Compensation.  Pay the highest commissions in your market.  Period.   
    Set a structure, and don't change it.  And never, NEVER put a ceiling  
    on an AE's ability to earn.  Never, ever "adjust" account lists by  
    taking from one to give to another. Make every AE build his or her  
    list from accounts NOT on the air. Never, ever, cheat an AE out of a  
    commission. Great AEs don't work to achieve station goals. They  
    work to achieve their own.  And you, the sales manager, must be 100 percent  
    committed to THEIR financial success!

    Eliminate protected account lists. If an account is NOT on the air,  
    it's OPEN!  If an AE secures the business, then it's his or hers.  I  
    think it's ridiculous to hire new people to sell and when they call  
    on a business NOT on the air, someone starts hollering, "That's on my  
    list!" Too many sales nanagers spend way too much time fiddling  
    around with account lists and managing all the drama they create.   
    Never, not once has a prospect called me to complain about one or  
    more AEs calling on his or her business.  When it happens, I'll  
    simply ask, "Well, who do you prefer, then?"

    Eliminate daily call sheets and spend more time with your AEs.  Call  
    sheets are nothing more than creative writing.  I work with my AEs  
    closely every day.  I can smell it when one is coasting.  I don't  
    want them taking time off the streets writing some bogus puffery.   
    Give them what they need most: daily one on one meetings developing  
    creative for new business presentations.

    YOU as the Sales Manager must be the BEST copywriter, campaign developer in the building with a cunning keyboard and total mastery of craft.  That's what great AEs need from you!  A GREAT campaign, the words, the copy, the message!  It must be based on accurate retail acumen and follow the proven rules of written persuasion.  Most in this business not only don't know the rules, they don't even know there are rules!  Study John Caples, David Ogilvy, Rosser Reeves, Victor Schwab, NOT Lew Dickey and certainly NOT the RAB!  Be a coach, not a cop and be 100% committed to their financial success first, not the station, not the GM, not YOU.  Your sales team is your employer and they can FIRE YOU at any time!  Help them succeed!  Show them what to do and what to say every day and help them deliver to their clients the best campaigns in the market!


    Kevin Neathery is General Sales Manager of the Jonesboro Radio Group
    KDXY-FM KDXY-HD2 KDXY-HD3 KEGi-FM KJBX-FM
    [email protected]

  • December 26, 2013 7:30 AM PST

    Reply to me and I'll send you my e-book FREE!

    Media Account Exec:

    A Strategy Handbook

    By Kevin Neathery

     

    How To Get Clients

    How To Keep Clients

    How To Build Great Campaigns

    • 1 posts
    January 6, 2014 9:14 PM PST

    Hi Kevin!!

    can i have a copy of your e-book!

    [email protected]