Media Training Company, New Media Courses

Today’s remark – every day, all the time

– Posted on Apr 24, 2012 by Margie

OK, it’s tough out there. Your owners (shareholders) are demanding improved bottom lines; your General Managers are feeling the heat from above and transferring it below. And we all know what rolls downhill, right? Everyone is feeling it every day, all the time.

Well, guess what? Your advertisers don’t care. They have their own problems! And they are looking to you to help them.

Here are some basic suggestions (frequently violated when under pressure):

Stop assuming a “no” before you really “know”
Be prepared, knowledgeable and eager to learn
Stop talking and start listening
Don’t be afraid to ask researched questions
Don’t be afraid to say you don’t know something
Never cut corners – do your very best on every call, proposal, email

Be honest with yourself –

Are you spending time preparing for each call? How much?
Are your questions thought-provoking or blah, blah, blah?
Are your proposals about you and your station or about them (remember, they only care about themselves)?
What do you do daily to grow your capabilities and knowledge?
How valuable are YOU (not your station’s audiences) to your advertisers? Would they be affected if you went away?

Introspection isn’t a fun exercise but we can all improve. Excuses are easy – our advertisers need and deserve the best we can give them every day, all the time. Providing that will make each of us remark-able.

2 comments

Today’s remark – I don’t have time

– Posted on Apr 08, 2012 by Margie

The #1 comment I get when talking about Social Media for Small Business is “I don’t have time.” OK, that’s fair. My question back is, “What are you doing with your time set aside for marketing?” Oftentimes the blank stare follows.

SMB’s need a marketing strategy with time set aside to execute it. I don’t care what the strategy is as long as they have one and it doesn’t have to include Television or Social Media (although I strongly believe in both).

To “do” social media doesn’t need to take up more than 15-20 minutes per day if you are set up with alerts for updates, comments, etc. You can think of Social Media as a new telephone line coming into your business – another communication lane. But if you aren’t equipped to “answer the phone” don’t install it!

What does this have to do with being a TV Account Executive or Broadcast Sales Rep? Everything! Do you have a marketing strategy for yourself? After all, you are a small business owner and many of you are responsible for millions of $’s. Most of you are bigger businesses than your local direct clients you advise every day! Yet, I would bet most of you have never even thought about your own marketing strategy.

Make the time – develop your strategy and devote just 15-20 minutes a day to execute it. Please don’t say, “I don’t have time.”

If you make the time you will be truly remark-able.

1 comment

Today’s remark – the boring TV Station Sales meeting

– Posted on Apr 03, 2012 by Margie

The TV Station Sales Meeting – I can probably describe yours from my desk:

Scheduled to start at 830a (actually starts at 840a)
Billing and Pacing
National Update
Inventory – current and upcoming specials, etc
Competitive
“Housekeeping” (the catch all)
Recent success story
Scheduled to end at 930a ( actually ends at 945a)

Pretty close? If you answered “yes” I encourage you to re-look at your meeting because this is an actual agenda from 1990!

Here are some suggestions to freshen your meeting and make them more effective:

Ask why you have this meeting. Is it for the Reps? For the Sales Manager? What do you need out of the meeting? What do you need to get across? Notice the word “need” not “want.”
Build bagels and coffee into the agenda and allow some social time for those who wish to attend. Agenda item #1 Bagels and coffee from 830-840a. Actual Meeting starts at 840a sharp for all. Start at 840a – no exceptions.
Last one in is required to be the note-taker. No one likes to do that so chances are people will show up on time
Do the meetings with everyone standing – trust me, they will go quicker and eliminate unnecessary banter and there is a different energy in the room. Yes, I’m serious!
Conduct the meetings in different places if you can – not the same conference room with people sitting in the exact same place week after week. Go outside, find a stairwell, use a different conference room if you have a larger facility
Set a time limit and stay within it – no exceptions
Stay on topic – no exceptions. If another subject comes up find another time to address it or choose what you will eliminate from the current agenda to make time for the new topic. Do not extend length of meeting to accommodate new topics.
Make sure everyone comes out of the meeting wiser and better prepared than when they entered. Otherwise, the meeting was a waste of time
Study your agenda before distributing and ask why every item is on it.
Distribute some information via memo, email, etc. If it is proprietary information and you can’t trust your employees you have a bigger problem than boring, ineffective sales meetings. If you fear the memo/email won’t be read you also have bigger problems than your sales meeting!