A Willing Buyer, A Willing Seller And A Clever Idea

.. but I have a few concerns before we go too much farther down this road.

Whether Colorado Broadcasters Association President/CEO Justin Sasso or a Nielsen researcher/affiliate rep came up with the concept, it's a brilliant win-win in any case, as 300+ Colorado broadcasters this week at the Doubletree in Grand Junction got a look at some of the latest information from Nielsen on the use of television, radio and other media sources.

Sasso highlighted the value of television and radio as sources that many throughout the state continue to use in receiving their news -- despite of the many newer media platforms developing online.  "We're trying to get people's heads around what's happening, instead of what they're reading in newspapers that these new media sources are taking over, and they're great, but in no way replacing radio and television." - News Channel 5's Jorma Duran

Inside Radio reported yesterday:  "other state associations have used presentations to reinforce the power of broadcasting, these were the first to use custom Nielsen data for a specific state.  Since many broadcasters in the state’s smaller markets aren’t Nielsen subscribers, the CBA commissioned Nielsen to crunch the Colorado numbers and license the data to its members to incorporate into their own presentations for one year."

Regional presentations took place in Ft. Collins, Denver, Colorado Springs and Grand Junction to packed houses in three days, pulling off four regionally customized presentations compiled using Nielsen’s vast database.

The data was licensed from Nielsen, at the CBA’s expense, for one year. CBA members will be able to access the Nielsen data and incorporate pertinent information into their station presentations.

My take, for what it's worth:

It would be wonderful if the 49 other broadcast associations and Nielsen are able to get together to do the same thing regionally in every single state over the coming months to become a fully regional "Audio Today 2015!"

Of course, it would be a nice additional source of revenue for Nielsen, repurposing stats from a new angle that have already been paid for by subscribing radio and TV stations.

For that reason, I hope the price can be kept low and as other state broadcast groups negotiate for them with Nielsen.

I'd encourage the rating firm to use some of that "found money" from these projects to be very transparent about how they manage to merge the very different PPM, condensed market rolling average and very small sample county by county diary data which doesn't come out until the following April, in the year after it was collected.

Hopefully by going to respondent level, Nielsen can give our local clients in small markets all over the country fresh, very reliable regional usage data in as close to real time as possible.

How To “Make Things Happen”!

Sharing an idea with a co-worker.  Pitching for a new salary.  Trying to land an advertiser.  Motivating your station's Core.  

Whether it be an idea, service, product or point-of-view, the goal is to “make things happen.”   

Here are a few thoughts on selling (anything!) I learned from longtime Clear Channel programmer Michael Albl:

All objections to buying take on one of four forms: 

1.    No need

2.    No money

3.    No authority

4.    No hurry

These objections can be eliminated by using NaB & CaPTuRe:

Need:  Find out the NEED.  Verify, up-front, that your product of service matches, or is very close to matching, your prospect’s wants or needs.  Here you establish yourself as a good and careful listener.  And you will have uncovered an important need.

Budget:  Their budget for this need is your second sales stage discovery.  If they can’t pay, they can’t play!  Then again, if they got the money honey…

Commitment:  Who makes and when will a commitment to purchase be made.  You have to be talking to the right person(s).  And if you aren’t there with close in mouth (as opposed to your hand), when they are ready to buy, you might as well keep your mouth closed.

  

Prescription…without thorough diagnosis is malpractice in both medicine and sales.  An aggressive sales-person wants to go where the action is, not sit around gathering information about prospects needs so their diagnosis of the need is generally superficial.

Take...personal responsibility for making sure everything sold is delivered exactly as specified.  Get right on top of remedying the situation.  When all goes well, credit the support staff.

Return...to the customer within 30 days of delivery to see that all is running well.  When it is, then ask for referrals.

"Reinvent" This!

It wouldn't be a radio business convention or meeting if someone didn't call once again for reinvention of one aspect of what we do or another.

There's nothing wrong with rethinking, of course, but Arbitron's Ron Rodrigues (Marketing Manager for the Programming Services Team) has a better idea in my view:

The next time your sales staff is driving you crazy with value-added, got-to-have-this-or-the-client-will-cancel demands, educate them even further about the power of radio.

Go to the next sales meeting and give them the five-question pop quiz below. Bring a pair of concert tickets or a $5 gift card for the person who scores the best. Be sure to count how many times you hear “Hmm—didn’t know that.”

Before you walk back to your office feeling like the smartest person in the building, remind the sales team that all of this information can be found in Arbitron’s “Radio Today by the Numbers.” This tool will arm them with the information they need to show clients how well radio works for advertisers.

Radio Listenership Quiz

Q1: What percentage of Americans aged six and up does radio reach on a weekly basis?

1. 73%
2. 83%
3. 93%
4. 103%
5. Are you counting all eight days of the week?

Q2: How many hours a month do consumers spend listening to the radio?

1. 14.5 million
2. 1.45 billion
3. 14.5 billion
4. A gazillion

Q3: If there are 10 people in a room, how many are likely to have listened to the radio in the past day?

1. 5
2. 6
3. 7
4. 8
5. It depends on the room.

Q4: What percentage of consumers does radio reach during prime time (6AM–7PM) each day?

1. 60%
2. 70%
3. 80%
4. 90%
5. More than newspaper

Q5: Rank these devices from highest to lowest by the percentage of radio listeners who own one:

1. Digital Camera
2. Computer
3. HDTV
4. Cell Phone
5. Predator Drone

Answer Key:

Q1: C—Radio reaches 93% of all Americans on a weekly basis.

Q2: C—Consumers listen to 14.5 billion hours of radio each month.

Q3: C—Slightly more than 7 out of 10 consumers listen to radio each day.

Q4: D—90% of consumers tune in between 6AM and 7PM.

Q5: From highest percentage of ownership to lowest—Cell Phone (90%), Computer (84%), HDTV (69%), Digital Camera (67%), Predator Drone (unknown %).

I'd suggest that our agency friends who seem to be hooked on nothing but the age-old negotiating ploy called "cost per point" that actually drives the percentage they make on radio buys down, since an agency commission on a small number is less than buying radio intelligently, using qualitative, all our multimedia platforms and involving us in your creative design, testing and execution.

They might increase the rate the agency pays a bit, but wouldn't that increase the dollars buyers make from radio and also act as an incentive for the radio side of the bargain to maximize results, not just lower our prices?

Make radio a full partner in working for the client instead of just a low cost vendor you can beat up in long-used ways.

Let's talk together about reinventing THAT.

The Psychology Of Influence

15+ years ago, fresh out of college with a degree in accounting (of all things) Sean D'Souza joined an advertising agency called Leo Burnett.

Now, he's living in New Zealand as "Chief Brain Auditor," e-newsletter editor and strategist, employing "PsychoTactics™," a thought system that is based on 5000+ years of tried and tested methods. He says:

Our brains are hardwired with information, that hasn't changed in all these centuries. Imagine being able to use that same psychology in business. It's so deceptively simple that you will wonder just how you did without this incredible understanding of the human psyche for so long.

Click around his website and become more effective at what you do!

Selling?

• Recently, I went on a sales call with a programmer at a client station and listened as a station rep told a buyer who asked for additional value-added - after reporting that a competing station was offering more free mentions as incentive than "we" were - told the agency, "you know they will promise anything but their track record is that they talk big but don't deliver."
  
  
• Not too long ago a music director reported that a major label promotion rep suggested that he drop a competing label's highest-charting song to make room for something on the promoter's imprint.

So, what else is new?

Of course, these things happen every day, in one way or another.

We're in a very competitive business in difficult economic times, both in our advertising contacts and our music business relationships, so you can't blame folks who aren't incented on necessarily doing things the right way, but on the short-term results they get.

However, doesn't any good business need to be based on solid product attributes which deliver results and relationships built on trust?

How does trashing your competition achieve that?