The Radio Sales Playbook: Building the Proof from Day One
By Harmony Tenney, MBA
Make sure that you and your client are engaging monthly to ensure Proof of Performance, so that your campaign yield will be ready for harvest (renewal). Agree that the measure of success will be both monthly customer counts, and new customer revenue.
Set the expectations for the campaign’s proof of success at signing
It’s not as easy as this year’s total revenue compared with last year’s. Recognize “total revenue” includes things neither of you control: the weather, staffing, a competitor, a big account walking away. Measure what the campaign controls: new customers, new customer revenue, and each one’s estimated lifetime contribution to the bottom line.
Track these four numbers every month and tally them.
- New customers – a simple count. They can ask, “Is this your first time coming in?” And make a tic mark on that day’s scratch page.
- New customer revenue – what each new customer spent. Tally monthly.
- How they heard about you – ask each new customer to ask and record the answer: radio, friend, web ad, drive-by, etc.
4. What are their three favorite stations – yours will be on their list, after 13 weeks.
Keep the tallying simple enough that a busy employee will actually do it. Give them easy tools: a tally sheet.
Have their employees ask these four questions at checkout and on the phone:
“Is this your first time coming in?”
“How did you hear about us?”
Then ask them what their favorite three radio stations are, and if used, an offer from your station’s airwaves (usually the on-air talent’s name).
Then ask for two reports. A year-over-year sales report shows each month next to the same month last year. A sales-by-customer report, sorted by the first purchase date, shows exactly who is new and what they spent. With those two reports, my client’s $100,000 would have been visible every month. Those three numbers become the agenda. And when something big happens, like a lost account, a new competitor, or staff turnover, write it down that month, not a year later.
Managers: build measurement into every campaign
Put measurement terms in every annual agreement.
Schedule a proof review every 30 days before renewal, not nine months after signing. Coach your reps to hear “our bottom line didn’t move” as a cue to show the numbers, not to apologize.
Renewals and referrals come from proof. Proof is framed at signing. It ensures your renewal.
Dig deeper. Work the math. Get credit for what you grow.
Harmony Tenney, MBA, author of The Ultimate Radio Sales Playbook, is dedicated to connecting communities through radio’s superpowers. Radio Ink twice named her a Top Ten U.S. Radio Marketing Consultant. Reach her at Harmony@UltimateRadioSales.comor UltimateRadioSales.com.