The Radio Sales Playbook: All Aboard!
By Harmony Tenney, MBA
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first of a series of TALKERS marketing articles by Harmony Tenney, a nationally respected veteran radio sales executive and author.
Ask broadcasting professionals what they need, and you’ll hear the same three answers: finding salespeople, keeping them, and growing revenue. The order varies, but the concerns are on repeat.
First, run recruitment ads on your own station. It’s how I got my first radio job. I was traveling between cities when I heard an ad for an account executive. I knew immediately it was the job for me. Three interviews later, it was.
That third interview was in front of the entire sales team, and they would decide whether I joined them.
I gave them plenty of reasons to say yes:
- I had a local bakery make a radio-shaped cake with the dial tuned to their station.
- I created a PowerPoint proposal and asked them to role-play a board of directors considering hiring “me.”
- Then I asked for the order and closed the deal. I was in!
That’s the kind of candidate a recruitment ad can bring through your door: someone who sells themselves the way you’d want them to sell your station.
Remember, recruitment advertising reaches beyond active job seekers. It also reaches their family and friends, plus passive job seekers who are employed but open to a change. In your ads, share a bit about your company’s culture, what your station is known for, and how your employees serve the community, not just the job duties.
Second, stay alert during your everyday activities, especially at community events and festivals. Take note of anyone who is personable, attentive, or offers you an upsell. Hand out your business cards everywhere and invite each person to apply.
Third, ask your employees to do the same, and offer a cash bonus when someone they refer is hired.
Fourth, promote area job fairs and attend them personally. They’re usually organized by your community college, a veterans’ organization, or your local economic development department.
Harmony Tenney, MBA, is the author of The Ultimate Radio Sales Playbook (Amazon), connecting communities through radio’s superpowers. She’s spent more than two decades selling local radio in the Charlottesville, VA market, working with small business owners, local governments, and area non-profits; twice named a Top Ten U.S. Radio Marketing Consultant by Radio Ink. She can be reached via email at Harmony@UltimateRadioSales.com or phone 540-255-5686.