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Life's a Pitch. Understand, It's All About the Money. They're watching you. Not your activity - but your billing. The person who just hired you has made a bet that you'll be successful. They very, very much want you to succeed. Now's the time - right now - to get billing on the books as fast as you can. They don't care if the orders are small, they're just looking to see if you can do it. If you have even tiny successes early - you're off to the races. The sales manager will then have confidence they can feed you more business.
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Plan & Organize. Yes, they all have the BIG accounts. But in this economy that's no problem. Listen to the stations and close competitors. What categories of advertisers do you hear most? That's the BIG clues where to start your prospecting. And no, there not all taken. We're notorious for going a mile wide but only an inch deep. When you find those great categories you'll find many that haven't received a serious radio pitch in a year - or ever.
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Plan Your Annual Goals. After a few weeks, you'll have information to start making some realistic goals for your annual income. With simple math you'll know how much you'll need to sell every week. With some experience you'll know your success rate for sales calls. Then just go out and have fun making money for your clients and yourself.
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Be Obsessive & Compulsive about Your Personal Database. Outlook, Franklin Planner - no matter. Note everybody you meet every day. Not only the names of the clients you meet - but the clients' Assistants. What are their hobbies? Where did they go to school? What's their family situation? Take and keep lots of notes. You'll be surprised how easy it is to see the CEO when you call their Assistant by their first name and ask, "How did Billy do at his soccer tournament last week?" or "How was your Mom's operation?" All possible because you talked to EVERYBODY in the chain and kept great notes.
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Get Some Sales Training. The sales training you'll see is mostly about Radio, the product. When I was new, I enrolled in the Dale Carnegie Sales Course. It was expensive, but changed my life. They taught me that sales was all about The Customer. If you understand how to ask important questions - to the customer - you can sell them anything, including Radio. There's tons of good training around your town - find it and you'll get further faster.
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Learn some Business & Accounting. Radio salespeople are usually the best SELLERS in town; however they're notorious for not having a clue about the client's actual business. You'll be ahead of everyone else if you learn some elementary basics of business and accounting. Learn the definitions of EBDITA, gross margin, floor planning, SKU, FSI, column-inch and F&I. There are self-taught courses all over the internet that can insure that the client will take you more seriously. There are books, Juco courses, online courses - all worth your time.
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Think About Success. Yes, a lot. Spend time picturing yourself as successful.
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Find a Rabbi. A euphemism for a Mentor - somebody who will take us under their wing and keep us on course. Obviously find someone who's successful - but give even more weight to a good biller who has a great attitude. Hang around the people who are organized, successful and don't complain much. Listen for the Clue Phrases like: "Sure we can get that done," "I''ve got an idea for you," 'Let's try another idea." and "This is a great job." Spend lots of time with them. In my early years I just happened to stumble on a couple clients who helped, a sales manager and a couple salespeople.
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Make Friends with Everyone in the Station - especially the Sales Assistant, the Business Manager - everybody on the air, the Traffic Manager - and again, the Sales Assistant. Offer to help a Sales Assistant with some chore that will keep them after hours - and you'll have a good account list, guaranteed. (Also, see Rabbi above.)
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Shun Toxicity. There are Toxic things all over the station and all over town. You must learn to repel from them like when you quickly jerk your hand from a hot stove. Toxic people are those who have nasty and/or negative attitudes. The doomsayers or the ones who say this place sucks. (They might be right - but that has nothing to do with you being a star.)
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Learn to How to Handle Rejection. The answer, Don't give any head time to the people who say No. Rather, focus on the ones who say Yes. Ask the veterans around you. Remember, in baseball, if you have a .300 lifetime average - your chances are good of going to the Hall of Fame. That's only three out of ten times at bat. Remember the ancient Latin slogan Illegitimus non carborundum est or Don't Let the Bastards Grind You Down.
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Whistle. Look in the mirror and say, Yeah Baby!
