I remember being at client dinners where the GM would ask the waiter or waitress, "What’s your favorite station?" There’s just something about a focus group of one that seems meaningless, and frankly, I was embarrassed by having to sit through this little exercise.
But every once in a while, this "research" technique would yield a sharp, intelligent, vivacious server who just loved the client’s station. Oftentimes, he/she would rattle off all the reasons they loved the station, the morning show, the contests, and even those weekend themes. On occasion, the GM would even give this person their business card, encouraging them to call and discuss a possible sales job.
My takeaway on this was that radio operators had to be a little desperate to be enticing an Olive Garden waitress to join the sales team. After all, account rep jobs were in demand, with no shortage of bright and reasonably talented professionals who wanted to break into radio or move up the small-medium-large market chain.
Sadly, that’s not the case anymore. Many radio stations – even in large markets – have to use their own air to advertise sales openings and "job fairs," hoping to find reasonably intelligent candidates to sell radio time. And more often than not, sales efforts are failing radio in markets, clusters, and stations all over the U.S.
I’ve come full circle on this. We are frequently asked to put together and present basic presentations for the sales staff to help them defend Rock or Classic Rock stations. Yet, in many cases, we’re talking about heritage stations with consistently great ratings. In situations where you’d least expect it, it’s Sales 101. Too often salespeople either don’t get it or just don’t have that passion for stations that are otherwise highly successful.
So, a couple weeks ago, I was in another restaurant, at another client dinner, and another waitress (from Detroit) happened to overhear our radio discussions. After chatting with her for a few minutes, it turned out she actually had some experience in event promotion, knew the client’s station very well, and was a motivated, smart, and attractive person.
I encouraged the client to give her a business card, and look forward to seeing her in an upcoming sales meeting.
Aren’t we at that point where it’s time to acknowledge that we need sales reps who love our stations, who are enthusiastic about our morning shows, who appreciate our special programs, who enjoy surfing our websites – and who can work with clients to help them attract customers with a great, local media outlet – our stations? Aren’t we tired of pulling great ratings and hitting our goals, only to continue falling well short of our objectives?
Maybe it’s time to rethink where those sales reps are coming from – and how we find and recruit them. People who are upbeat, "into" radio, young, and pleasant are no longer plentiful in radio station conference rooms.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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I manage a public radio station and I’m about to hire some new Account Managers (sales) whose passion for public radio beat out several applicants who had lots of media experience but not a clue of about public radio. It sounds odd to say, but enthusiasm trumps experience.
That’s absolutely right!
I know a smart young woman who was serving at a high end restaurant who was poached by a VP of Marketing for a major company in that same manner. She had just moved to the city a few months earlier for an account exec job with a recruiting company, but was laid off from it. Instead of leaving the city, she took the serving job to cover while she put out resumes. Just because someone is a server doesn’t mean they aren’t qualified for more: You can get hired and working quickly, it gives you time to go for interviews during the day, and if you’re good like she was, the tips can make for a decent salary.
Servers can make excellent salespeople, since the best salespeople have great listening skills, they’re not afraid of striking up conversations and putting their best face forward on a moment’s notice, they learn to read people well, and so on.