Margie Albert

Today’s remark – Coach Who Trains or Manager Who Controls?

– Posted on May 20, 2013 by Margie Albert

Love it when someone I greatly admire writes a piece that reflects what I have been saying for years.

Harvey Mackay wrote “It’s a Brave New World for Sales” describing how consumers are doing research well before you walk in the door. By the time a salesperson gets to the customer there are only two differentiators – price and YOU! And that is true in TV Sales as well.

Jill Konrath (another one of my favorites) says, “Salespeople need to be business analysts and idea providers.” If you have spent five minutes with me you have heard me say those exact words!

So what can Sales Managers do to support the Television Sales team? Coach, coach and then coach some more!

AEs only have about five seconds to make a positive impression on the prospect. During those five seconds the prospect will decide if the AE is worth their time. If the AE sounds like a salesperson they are out. If they sound like a resource they have a good chance.

Are the AEs doing the necessary preparation and research? Do they understand their advertisers’ businesses and trends? Do they know their specific advertiser’s objectives? Can they speak the advertiser’s language? Do they have ideas to help stimulate their business (and buying TV and providing a script is NOT an idea!)? Do they know all this BEFORE they contact the prospect?

The days of Television Sales Managers spending their time on spreadsheets and putting out fires must be over.

Sales Managers MUST be provided coaching training. Sales Managers MUST go out on calls with their AEs. Sales Managers MUST establish the customer-focused culture and have a zero-tolerance policy for anything else.

As Mr. Mackay says, “You can’t expect to meet challenges of today with yesterday’s tools and expect to be in business tomorrow.”

To be remark-able Sales Managers must be Coaches who train and instruct rather than Managers who handle and control.

Today’s remark – are you insane?

– Posted on May 06, 2013 by Margie Albert

Chris Brogan (entertaining bio here) recently wrote about “the world’s #1 secret game – distraction.” We are all playing it – I prefer to say, “We are all being sucked into it!”

There are many distractions in our lives causing angst. Email (huge offender), watching your Klout score, looking at comments and likes on facebook, seeking to know everything about everything, pleasing your Sales Manager by being “political,” volunteering for multiple organizations because you are afraid not to, and, most of all, worrying about what others are doing – all play heavily into the “distraction game.”

However, there was one short paragraph in his blog that struck me hard. He mentions the difference between “News” and “News Media” in the game.

“News” is what is necessary and would be difficult to function without. “News Media” is an entirely different game and those of us in it know this to be true. “News Media” is about hooking the viewer’s attention. “News Media” is about eyeballs and time spent watching which translates into $’s. “News” equips us for success and betters our ability to survive. The motivation behind “News Media” isn’t to help you or your community.

“News” organizations were established to provide a service for the betterment of citizens. It appears we have strayed off course dramatically. Reporting a car crash isn’t “News” but seeing the mangled car is a distraction (for some reason we all want to see that!) to hold our attention. Are we really doing a service to our community in these days of distraction angst? How often do you hear your community say they want you to report more car crashes? And if traffic was a mess 3 hours ago who cares?!

So what can a “News” Organization do to stop playing the “distraction game” and provide a service for the community?

1. Determine who your community is and how best to serve them – you cannot be everything to everyone. A18-49 is not a community; it’s a family reunion!

2. Know your community and take deep pleasure in super-serving it. Don’t be distracted by other communities. They don’t matter.

3. Know where you are going (Chris points out a GPS tells you where you are, you have to tell it where you want to be before it can help you).

4. Don’t stray off course (your GPS “recalculating” voice sounds bitchy for a reason!)

5. Those who “fit in” don’t move forward. Stop worrying about “fitting in!” STAND OUT!

There’s no time like the present – local TV News numbers are diminishing and the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Are you insane?

Today’s remark – When? Why? How?

– Posted on Apr 23, 2013 by Margie Albert

This past week my longtime and dearest friend suddenly became a widow. Just the day before we were chatting about everything from shoes to The Voice. We laughed freely and made plans to see a movie. The next day everything changed – there was no more laughter, the plans to see a movie changed to planning a funeral. As a friend, my focus was now completely on “her.”

You ask what this has to do with a TV Station and Social Media?

Well, the same thing happened last week to all of us. We were going about our lives freely until Boston. And then West. The nation’s mood changed suddenly and completely. Fluff and laughter gave way to sadness and fear.

Social Media ebbs and flows because that’s what life does. Social Media allows us to extend our friendships and relationships but must be sensitive to each other’s needs. There is a time for humor and frivolity and a time when that is completely suspended.

TV Stations must know what to do in a crisis – when it is appropriate to talk about The Voice and when it is not, when to promote a contest and when not.

Treat your Social Media friends as friends! Be considerate of thoughts and feelings and, when they are in need of news and comfort, give it to them. It is all about them, not you. Don’t ask questions of those in mourning – they don’t want to think and they don’t want your thoughts either. Just facts and comfort.

Maybe these two tragedies will propel stations to better understand the power they have and how to increase the use of Social Media to benefit their communities and their friends. Those TV Stations that do that with empathy will be remark-able next time and, unfortunately, there will be a next time.