Working in Radio through the recession of the late ’70′s and various minor economic downturns over the decades, a pattern started to emerge. Somehow, local retailers managed to sense a slowdown in business long before it revealed itself in national statistics. They responded to their perceptions by cutting back on their advertising budgets. Our stations [...]

A sales consultant I know was recently telling me about one of his clients. He said the stations were experiencing a rough period — this is unusual? — and some days as much as 69% of the available inventory was going unsold. The stations were only selling 31% of their ad time. I asked if [...]

Most Radio broadcasters are happy to see the last of 2009. With a number of major Radio companies at or near bankruptcy, most operators are struggling to keep their heads above water in an increasingly oppressive economy. But in the middle of the doom and gloom, there are glimmers of hope. In a few markets, [...]

In an earlier post, we talked about the fact that your Radio clients don’t require everyone to respond to their ad message; it is necessary only for enough people to react to the ad to produce a return on investment for the advertiser. Unfortunately, most Radio sales reps can’t or won’t convince the advertiser to [...]

If your stations are like mine, sales are horrible. We’re down for the year and it’s getting worse, with the average sale WAY down. The problem is not store closures or empty strip centers. It is confidence and spending. I think Radio as a whole is fine. The latest RADAR study shows 92% of the [...]

I had lunch with a very good friend of mine just last week. She’s sold radio in a top 50 market for over 20 years. She’s busted her rear drumming up new business, good economy and bad. She drives 30 miles out of her way to pick up checks from her local small direct clients–just [...]

Back in the 1970′s — almost medieval times — several studies took place to discover the optimum number of commercial announcements that could be aired in a “break” or “cluster” without causing listener fatigue.  Depending on the study you believe, I recall the number was between three and five…let’s call it four. After the fourth [...]

How do you define success? For most Radio salespeople, success is making the sale. Closing the deal. Bringing back a nice order. Seeing the sales manager smiling as you turn in the big-ticket, multi-month buy you’ve worked on for weeks. But what constitutes success for the client? What yardstick does he use to determine if [...]

“We have a special this month,” said the sales manager. “Anyone who takes our Mega Monster Package before the end of the month will get 20% off.” There is a buzz among the sales reps. This is a good deal! “And it’s good only for new advertisers.” You’ve probably heard this many times before; a [...]

Have you ever agreed to a long-term, low-rate schedule and later come to regret it? It has happened to many of us. The allure of a large gain in total revenue can blind us to the long-term consequences. A wise Radio mentor educated me long ago that each ad on your station is worth exactly…what [...]