Sell More Radio without Wasting Your Precious Time

October 31, 2013

Let’s face the facts; we would all like to be more successful in our sales careers. Regardless of what our hurdles may be, we can probably agree that we crave more time for our sales efforts. After all, the more time we spend contacting prospects, the more likely we are to get a sale (to use a common sports analogy, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”).

At Research Director, Inc., we can’t magically create more hours in a day, but we are experts at helping you spend time on what matters. Today, I’ll share a few methods that have proven to be successful and won’t waste your precious sales time.

1. Become the Local Market Expert

When you become the local expert in your respective market, agencies and local businesses will be using you for your unmatched insight. With these increased contacts comes a bias toward you, and ultimately, the station(s) you represent. You can position yourself as this invaluable resource by doing the following:

• Voluntarily provide objective market information to the agencies that are important to you. They will appreciate your “nothing up my sleeves” approach, keeping you and your stations on their minds. By simply providing information that will make their days easier, you will reap the rewards and experience increased local exposure.
• Attend local business events. Specifically, look into becoming a regular attendee at events that are held by your local Economic Development Corporation (EDC). The goal of your EDC is to improve the local business in your market. Make quality connections with many of the local business owners in the EDC, and you will ultimately create additional business over time. You can quickly become a well-known name in your community by simply attending these events and supporting the continued development of your county, town, or city.

2. Experiment with Your Sales Tactics

Making small adjustments to your sales efforts can result in big change. I’ll provide an example to prove my point:

A contact of mine recently experimented with an intriguing sales concept, where he found definite success. He spent 18 months (3 six-month intervals) integrating testimonials into his sales pitches, and tracked his sales along the way. His results were as follows:

By simply tracking his slight adjustments, he was able to increase his total sales by 18%. I’m confident that anyone reading this certainly wouldn’t be upset with 18% more commission.

Importantly, there was very little extra time invested into these efforts. This small tweak in selling style resulted in additional success and recognition. Take a few minutes to think about some small adjustments that you could make to your efforts and track your results. Over time, you should be able to discover your ideal strategies.

Integrate these strategies into your sales efforts, and you’ll realize additional success with minimal time added to your schedule. After all, time is becoming more valuable by the minute, and we should take full advantage of the strategies that are conducive to saving time.

-Tyler Plahanski, Sales & Marketing Associate

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