How Did You Get Your Start In TV Advertising Sales?

Do you work in television advertising sales? We’re collecting “How I Got Started” stories at TV Sales Cafe, and would love to have yours.

new TV advertising salesperson, first day at work
Photo by oneinchpunch

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Remember the movie City Slickers? Billy Crystal plays an advertising salesman who goes to his son’s school for Career Day. He has to follow a construction who has a rather colorful story about the time he lifted a 2000-pound crane off of a woman’s legs. 

Crystal’s kid, realizing that his dad can’t match a story like that, tells the class his dad’s a submarine commander.

Warning: there’s some NSFW language.

Some of us dreamed of being a submarine commander, or a firefighter, or a center fielder. We didn’t dream of a career in advertising sales. Yet here we are.  Turns out that this career can be a lot of fun, and you can make a pretty good living.

We’ve already got some great stories on the site — you can read them by clicking here. If you’re already a TV Sales Cafe member,  post your “how I got my television advertising sales job” story on the site at the same time.

If you’re not a TV Sales Cafe member, it’s easy, and free, to join by clicking here.

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Credit where credit is due: this was inspired by my friend Rebecca Hunt, who posted the same question on Radio Sales Cafe in 2009. Nearly seven years later it’s become an epic, with 79 responses to date from advertising sales professionals on how they got their jobs.

 

Does Your Account List Need Some Spring Cleaning?

When the spring sunlight shines on your account list, what do you see? If your list is cluttered with junk, it may be time to clean some of the bad stuff out.

Salespeople should clean out the crap
Photo by djedzura/Adobe Stock

If you’ve been at this for more than a year, you’ve got some junk in your sales trunk.

Clients who love to pick your brain but never buy. High-maintenance accounts who spend small dollars. People who once seemed like great prospects, but turned out to have no money, no authority to buy, or no interest.

As Nellie Akalp points out on Forbes.com, “Not every client is a good one.

The emotional, physical, and mental drain caused by a bad client relationship can keep you from enjoying your job and negatively impact the work you do for other clients. At times, the best way to grow your business is to let go of those clients who are holding you back.

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Before the year gets away from you, put the gloves on and grab some shears. It’s time to prune a few things out:

1. That little account that makes you drive out to the store once a month to pick up a check. Yes, they’re nice people — but every time you drive out there, you’re losing money. Wish them well and move on.

2. The rate grinder who plays every station against each other and  is always complaining that your station — out of all the ones he uses — is the only one that doesn’t work. Every time he calls, you have to throw more free spots at him to keep him from cancelling. He’s doing this to everybody. Dump him.

3. The slow payer. If they can’t pay within 90 days, let them be someone else’s chargeback.

4. The client who won’t plan in advance, doesn’t return your calls when you need approval on copy, and is constantly forcing you and your production staff to drop everything and scramble. High maintenance should equal high dollars. Unless they are spending A LOT of money with you, you’re better off without them.

5. Look with a jaundiced eye at any account that hasn’t bought something you in the past 12 months. Why are they still on your list? Unless something significant is about to change over there, consider the possibility that they’re just not that into you.

Here’s your sales advice for the week: pick three from that list and make them go away.

  • Give them to a rookie who will appreciate them.
  • See if your manager has something decent to swap.
  • Quietly take your name off the account in the station CRM and just stop calling. For extra fun, tear up their business card.

Use the time you save to go after new business that makes you happy, and makes you money. It’s addition by subtraction.

[reminder]What’s the worst account you’ve ever had? How did you get rid of it?[/reminder]

 

Sales Advice: How To Get Past The Put-Off

“I’m tired of getting put off — I’d rather they just say no.”

salespeople can't wait for the put-off
Photo by MNStudio/dpc

 

Jane has been selling broadcast for about a year, and is finding her sales efforts blocked by clients who either can’t or won’t commit. In her post on TV Sales Cafe, she writes

I’ll meet with someone and they’ll ask for a proposal. When I bring it back they usually react well, but they don’t sign. Sometimes they’ll tell me to call them in a week, but when I call a week later they tell me they can’t do anything yet, and I should call in three months. Three months later, same thing. It’s not the right time and I should call back in three months.

This is not an uncommon occurrence in the world of sales. Customers buy when they want to buy — not when we want to sell. And sometimes there are perfectly good reasons why now is just not the right time.

But if you’re hearing the same refrain over and over again, it’s time to take a good look at why this might be happening.

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Before each contact with your customer, you should have a planned objective for the interaction. Ideally, you want to be looking for an advance – defined by Neil Rackham in the classic Spin Selling as an event “either in a call or after it, which moves the sale forward toward a decision.”

An advance can be something like:

  1. Scheduling a follow-up meeting to present requested changes for the proposal
  2. Arranging for you to meet with the committee that will actually make the decision.
  3. Requesting production of a spec ad – and scheduling the meeting for the right people to watch or listen to the commercial.

Each of these advances has potential… as long as you and the client agree on what the result will be.

Anthony Iannarino says that“the first reason deals stall is that the salesperson doesn’t ask for or obtain an advance during the sales call.”

As the process moves forward, you should be asking questions like:

  1. “Once I make the changes you requested to the proposal, will you be ready to go ahead with the plan?” If the answer’s not yes, make sure you understand what else has to happen to get the client ready to buy.
  1. If the committee likes what I present to them, can they sign for it at the meeting?” If not, you should fully understand how the committee comes to a decision… and how long it should take.
  1. “If you like the sample ad we produce, can we formalize the plan and get started?” Spec ads may not be perfect, but they do take a significant amount of work. In return for that work, the client should be willing to make a tentative commitment to move forward.

TV advertising people should be on TV Sales Cafe

Sales expert Michael Boyette offers these tips on interpreting a stall:

Prospects who stall are sending you a message. And you will never make the sale unless you figure out what that message is.

Here are some possibilities:

“I don’t really have the authority to say yes … but I like feeling important.”

“You’re not really hitting my hot button … but I’m too polite to say so.”

“There’s something that’s making me hesitate … but if I tell you what it is, I won’t be in a strong negotiating position”

“I’m afraid to make a decision … but I’ll never admit it.”

“If I keep putting you off, you might offer me a better deal.”

There’s one more possibility: a legitimate reason for the delay.

Sometimes there’s a reason why three months from now is better than right now:

  • A new product will be launched, but they’re not sure exactly when.
  • A new location is opening, but it’s weeks away.
  • The new fiscal year starts, and they’re waiting for someone to tell them what their budget will be.
  • A corporate reorganization is underway, and nobody knows what that means yet.

How do you find out whether “call me in three months” really means they want to talk to you in three months?

Ask.

“Of course, Mr. Client. I’d be happy to call you then… but could I ask you one question? What’s going to be different in three months?”

The answer you get back should tell you whether there’s truly something to talk about.

Finally, if you’re on your second or third “3 months” with the same client, Michael Boyette recommends a very direct approach.

Don’t be afraid to pin buyers down when they keep putting you off: “Gee, Ms. Buyer, we’ve been at this for a while now and we don’t seem to making progress. Can you tell me why?”

That may sound blunt, but if you’ve invested the time and effort, you’ve earned the right to ask. And chances are, a real prospect will respect you for asking.

Should you keep chasing the business, or tear up their business cards? Ask the right questions, and it’ll be much easier to turn your selling time into money.

[reminder]What’s your best tip for jump-starting a stalled sale?[/reminder]

 

Do You Work In TV Advertising  Sales?

If you’re not already signed up for TV Sales Cafe, you’re missing out on a great source of information, sales advice, and connections. Membership is free.

If you’re already a member and haven’t been there in a while, you should take a look — there are a bunch of new discussions by an increasingly active group of Account Executives, Sales Managers, and agency folk.

Go check it out right now by clicking here.

You’re Not Talking to the Decision-Maker

Not long ago, I learned that the President of a credit union couldn’t make a $12,000 decision.

sales don't happen when the client can't buy
Photo by Art3D/dpc

Prior to the first meeting the AE was convinced he had the right guy — he was the freakin’ President of the CU. But when I asked the Prez about the decision-making process at the initial needs analysis, he mentioned an 11-member Board of Directors.

Warning sign.

I asked if any board members could come to our subsequent presentation, and the answer was no. Not to worry, said the President… I’ve got a lot of sway with them.

Wrong.

It was a small market and a small credit union with a small advertising budget, so our ask was modest — $1000 a month for 12 months. The President shook his head. “The board would never agree to spend that kind of money for a year. I can’t even ask them for that.”

Qualifying the prospect is crucial to the sales process — and making sure you’re talking to someone who can pull the trigger is a big part of that. Jeffrey Gitomer puts it this way:

The number of sales you make will be in direct proportion to the number of actual decision-makers you sit in front of. The problem with most salespeople (not you of course) is that they are sitting in front of someone who has to ask their mommy or daddy if they can buy it or not.

 

Here are some strong indicators that you’re not in front of the real decision-maker:

  • The Board: As above. If the board can veto it, you’re contact isn’t the decision-maker. Period.
  • The Family Business: The young couple says they run the store, and Dad’s retired now. But they still go to Dad for advice. Dad’s still the decision-maker, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
  • The General Manager: “I make the decisions on this stuff. But I always like to run things by the owner.” The GM will make the decisions… as long as the owner lets him. In this scenario, you need to get to the owner.
  • I Keep Trying to Tell Them: The Marketing Director is absolutely sold on the need to advertise, and she loves, loves, LOVES your station. But every time she goes to the home office for money, those idiots turn her down, and she just shakes her head. Maybe this time will be different, but don’t count on it.
  • If Carl Lets Us Do It: I had this one last year in the Midwest — five people in the room. General Manager, Marketing Director, Sales Manager, and a couple of department heads. They all loved our idea, and they wanted to do it, if Carl would give them the green light. Who wasn’t at the meeting? Carl. We’re still waiting for that green light.

 

All of the people in the examples above are influencers, not decision-makers. They can block a sale and keep it from going forward. They can run it up the ladder. But none of them can say yes.

It is not necessarily a waste of time to meet with influencers, but your chances of closing the sale go way up if you know who the boss is, and make your case directly to the boss.

 What It Means
To Have The Boss At The Meeting

A Sales Presentation Story

Two years ago in Mississippi, I presented an advertising plan to an insurance company. In the conference room we had four company executives. The CEO had been at the needs analysis meeting; although he was going to be out of town the day of the presentation, he wanted to be part of the conversation, so we set up a web conference so that he could see it.

For the first 45 minutes of the meeting, he was silent — in fact, I wondered if he was still even on the call.

When we asked for the order, the four executives in the room each expressed an opinion. One of them hated my idea, and the other three just didn’t like it.

It looked like a goner until it was the CEO’s turn to speak. His voice came out of the speakerphone:

“I like it, and we’re gonna do it. Let’s get it going.”


15 minutes later we were on our way back to the TV station with a sale and a signed contract. That one “yes” overruled four “nos”.

Don’t let influencers fool you. Asking the right questions can put you in front of the right person… and that may be the difference between “No” and “Yes”.

 

[reminder]What question do you ask to make sure you’re in front of the right person?[/reminder]

 

 

 

 
 

Want a Free Book on How to Create and Manage a TV Sales Force?

I’m giving away three copies of Jim Doyle’s great new book Prime Time: Transforming Your TV Sales Staff Into A Sales FORCE.

 

Great TV Sales Management Book

If you’re a television sales manager, a DOS, or a General Manager — or if you’re an Account Executive who’s thinking about going into management — this book is an excellent guide.

Here’s how you can get yours, in three steps:

  1. Go to TV Sales Cafe. You can do that by clicking here.
  2. Sign in if you’re a member. Sign up if you’re not — membership is free.
  3. Add a new discussion in the Discussion Forum.

TV Sales Cafe is a networking site where television and digital sales professionals can connect, ask questions, and share ideas. It’s off to a great start, but these things always need more members and more discussions.

This here contest is a little jump start for it.

First three people to add a brand-new discussion to the Discussion Forum get a copy of the book. I even pay for within-the-US postage!