How much sales training is enough? Personally, I believe a Radio sales rep cannot get enough training. With over 30 years in the business, I was always learning something new…for a while.
Then, after a period of time, I found I was hearing the same training but from different sources. Certainly there were variations on the theme, but overall few new concepts were introduced by the established “experts” in Radio sales training.
It was only when I moved to the world outside Radio that I started being exposed to new and different sales ideas. Suddenly, I was hearing some startling sales techniques, and immediately thought of how they could be applied to Radio sales.
One excellent resource for sales ideas is the field of Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) — otherwise known as network marketing. If there is a more difficult sales field than Radio, it’s MLM. If you haven’t yet, you might want to look into the techniques espoused by MLM experts Tom “Big Al” Schreiter, Todd Falcone, Art Jonak, Kim Klaver, and the terrifically-named Tim Sales. It’s not a perfect fit, but Radio — and your personal sales — can definitely benefit from MLM’s innovative approaches.
For too long, Radio sales training has been limited to the same pool of experts. It’s time to cast off the blinders and look to other fields for ideas on how to sell more Radio in 2011 and beyond.