You’re not begging for a contract…you’re offering a strategy

Selling Radio Direct with Pat Bryson

Long- term business is good for us. Long-term business is also good for our clients. If you will take a look at your success letters, I believe you will find that most of them have been written by your annual advertisers. Using radio on a consistent basis has given them results. Radio works! So does digital, and ANY platform of advertising works better if done consistently and with enough repetition that people will remember the message.

So how do we sell more long-term business? Selling long-term business is a change of habit on our part. We must not be afraid to ask for the amount of money required to run an appropriate and effective schedule. We must sell SCHEDULES, not BUDGETS. Nothing else is really required. It is up to us to present 52-week solutions. If we don’t ask, we won’t get annual business.

In our campaigns, we should present weekly schedules on our calendars with weekly amounts and then show end dates representing 52 weeks. This way, our clients see what kind of investment we are asking on a weekly basis. The amount looks smaller, and remember that not all months contain exactly 4 weeks.

Our annual campaigns should contain a sample message. In fact, they should contain more than one showing how the creative side of the campaign will sound throughout the year. Prospects buy their ads. If they like them, they will buy them. Even if they don’t like the ones we brought, have them edit the copy. Once they begin to help us create their messages, they have taken ownership of the campaign.

We should approach our relationships with our clients as being “hired” not “flight-bought”. Your client wouldn’t hire someone for three or four weeks. They would expect and hope an employee would be with them longer. They should view us as employees. We are there to become their marketing expert and manage that part of their business. We are there to help them grow, not to sell them a few spots and run.

How we perform for our clients means keeping our job with them. We should make sure to log ad meetings, copy changes, results’ checks and service meetings in our agendas so that we can keep our clients’ advertising on target and working for them throughout the year. Remember, they “hired” us!

P.S. I challenge you to put a “3” instead of a “1” in the length of time you ask for in the campaign. There is a scientific reason for doing so. If you are curious what that might be, give me a call. I’ll be happy to explain. 9188103068

Happy Selling!

About the Author

Pat Bryson is an internationally known speaker and trainer specializing in training salespeople and managers.

She has consulted stations in the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe and Central Asia. Her career has included on air, salesperson, sales manager and general manager.

Since opening BBI, she has travelled extensively and has spoken at most major radio conventions on three continents.

Pat is the author of two books, “A Roadmap to Success in High Dollar Broadcast Sales” and “Successful Broadcast Sales: Thriving in Change“.