As you've seen we've been doing quite a few online workshops on Selling in a Tough Economy - combined with - Jump-Starting Your Year. At the end of the 90-minute presentations we get some sensational questions.  Here's a good one, perfect for the times.

How can I stay on the air with you if I can't pay you? A couple answers.

1. Your advertising is creating traffic that's keeping your other bills paid. Cut something else - don't cut off your oxygen.
2. How much can you pay? Let me work with the schedule and see what we can do for you. We can succeed only if you stay in business.
3. I'm not going to let you hurt your business. Let's figure something out. What if we could crank up a promotion or sale that will get some new people in here? Let's get to work.

Note all the subjects we DIDN'T talk about; no mention of station, competitors, reach, frequency, CPP, demo, blah, blah, blah - who cares?  It was all about helping the client stay in business. That's the answer to selling today - help them stay in business.

Responses: We're Client Focused - but we won't do THAT!

• Lowering rates doesn't mean not making budget. Its the opposite.
              GSM, Boston
• I've often used the airline analogy when working with sales staffs. When the clock strikes "12" those avails are gone forever.
              Bobby Harper (Yes, THE Bobby Harper.)
• We're in one of those smaller markets. We're ahead for the year, but perception is reality and we need to price for what to sell.
                DOS, Corpus Christi, TX
• My last boss had talked about Rate Integrity forever. Because of our strict rules of no bonus, and no value added, even when we were not sold out, I've found myself losing business to people with no integrity - got the money and made their budgets. My boss (a good person) lost a job because of missing months.  Now I'm the sales manager.  I do have some integrity - but not enough to miss a budget.
                Name & Market withheld by request

That's how many (77) have attended How to Jump-Start Your Year in Today's Tough Economy. They've downloaded their own copy of the workshop and while you're reading this, they're on the street right now using the tips and ideas they saw and heard.

We've uncovered dozens of ways to beat this nasty economy. It's 90-minutes of pure practical Things You Can Do. There's so much material - you can pick and choose. THE choice goodies that produce best for you. (A rep called to say that the moment the presentation was over, she called a client who wanted to cancel - saved the business and got additional bucks.)

The ENTIRE sales staff? $99 bucks. (If the company won't pop, get a group together and split it. In fact we've had many single signups.)  

Tuesday, Jan 13 and Thursday, Jan 22. Jump-Start Your Year in Today's Tough Economy.

Click Here for Details & Registration

 

Thursday, Jan 21 - same as above but FOR MANAGERS AND SENIOR SELLERS.

Click Here for Details & Registration 

P.S. By request we've just added Radio Negotiating 101 to the workshop. What to do and what to say - when the client wants to cancel, cut back or wants a better deal.  How to not only save the business but prime them for more budget.

As in,You Are the Armageddon of Radio because (basically) you disagree with sacred laws. Here's what I told him. When I was a kid, my favorite aunt had a heart attack. When we went to the hospital we had to be very, very still and very, very quiet. She had to lay motionless in a dimly lit room. They didn't want her to get upset and have another heart attack. At that time, that was conventional wisdom. It was the best medical thinking - at that time.

Now, years later a good friend had the same thing and they had him out of bed the next day - walking his sorry butt all over the hospital. A week later he was hiking up Camelback Mountain in Phoenix. Medicine found that there was another way. With the arrival of new evidence they abandoned the old way.

That's a problem we need to work on. We just don't take too kindly to new discoveries. I don't blame the caller. He loves the business, is sincere about his beliefs and thinks he's doing the right thing - in spite of leaving spots unsold. 

I think you are all wrong. I'm not going to participate in the Recession.
Answer. Good. I don't want to either. However, I don't think it's smart to ignore 2.5 million unemployed people, banks failing, and stores closing. On the other hand, I still choose to call it a New Economy with new rules for success. We just need to learn those new rules. Nor will it last forever.

P.S. Negative Talk didn't cause it. However Positive Talk will mitigate it and help us not have a personal recession.

American's Do Best Under Duress.
Just had a wonderful conversation with former RAB VP Bob Griffith - now with Google. Bob noted that we do well in hard times. He cited Pearl Harbor, the Kennedy Assassination and 9/11. The nation came together. I think the same thing is happening right now. I believe we're going to innovate a New Business of Radio. We'll be forced to re-examine some notions in sales - and - in ownership. Was the Radio business model ever intended to thrive in the public markets? The evidence is now overwhelming that this did untold harm to the industry.

Gladly, the New Economy will most likely take care of that too.