I received good news this week, as a friend and former co-worker announced they were taking a new job. New jobs, any job during this downturn of the economy is a reason to celebrate. And in her case, I believe she’s moving on to a good job with a really good company, which makes it even better.
But initially, she was hesitant on pursuing the opportunity. The hesitation wasn’t about leaving her current position, the new company or shifting jobs during a pandemic. The concern was over the perception - would she still have credibility to customers because she initially had sold newspaper advertising, then television advertising and now in this new position she would be selling radio advertising.
What she thought might be considered a problem, I consider a great asset.
One of the basic principles that I’ve taught for years with media reps was to never call someone’s baby ugly. While many things have changed over the years, this is a foundational belief and it has not changed in my opinion. Though some media outlets and salespeople test this principle.
It is a basic fact, all media has strengths and weaknesses. Most media reps I encounter don’t sell me by tearing down the competition. Thank you for not calling my baby ugly - if I purchased that newspaper or station, I saw some value in it. So I appreciate you not telling me how bad my decision was.
Rather than knocking the competition, I would prefer that you provide me facts, features and benefits about your platform and your audience that will help improve my business. Be my partner and win the sale by providing facts that support your product and my goals, and not tear down your competition. For instance, I had a great conversation with a radio rep recently where we were discussing ratings and audience size. I had mentioned that I was looking over a few very specific audience segments. The rep didn’t get defensive, or try to improve their position by denigrating the competition. Instead - she sent me an article from an industry publication on research available to help me better perform my analysis. What a great partnership!
As for my friend, the hesitant media rep moving to radio, she has a perspective that will be extremely unique in the market and a great opportunity to be a fabulous partner to her customers. Very simply, sales is about providing solutions to problems and good feelings - nothing more and nothing less. Pretty much everything you’ve ever purchased was for one of those two reasons - the purchase solved a problem or provided a good feeling. Occasionally a purchase can do both, and what a sweet thing that is when it happens.
The perspective of having worked for and sold newspaper, TV, radio and digital marketing in the marketplace hopefully means having a working understanding of the features and benefits of all of those product lines. When you’re trying to be a partner, the more information you bring to the relationship the better partner you will be. Honest analysis of the good things a media outlet can bring is valuable to your customers. And that is true when you are doing an assessment of your own products as well as your competitors. Even the strongest media platform has holes - penetration of audience, demographics or buying power. There are lots of variables, and no one outlet is tops in all areas of analysis. As a sales person, my friend will be able to use that knowledge to build even better relationships than she already has in the market, and has the potential to be the true media consultant many advertisers want.
On more than one occasion as an advertising sales manager, when I had a rep from a competing media join my staff, I made that new employee do training. Their ability to talk about the strengths and weaknesses of their former employer and competing outlet allows them insider insight on what works and what does not. Knowing the strengths of all media available arms a media rep with all the information needed to create a better marketing mix for their customers, and to help find ways to compliment existing media buys for those customers. And you can also show how your product can solve the same problem as other channels better or more efficiently without tearing down the competitor.
Comments