By Jon Holiday/Owner – Radio Consulting Services
Sure my “day job” is as owner/operator of a radio programming consulting firm. However, over the years I’ve also worked with radio and non-radio clients alike as a media buyer. I’ve bought radio and television time in markets as large as Dallas-Fort Worth, places not really considered markets and everything in between.
Several years ago I was hired to buy radio advertising for an annual event in a half a dozen markets or so. I dealt with companies that included iHeart, Alpha, Saga, smaller broadcasting companies and mom and pop operators, too. Most of the experiences went smoothly and efficiently.
However, one buying experience just dragged on. Way too long! Because of the preferred way of communicating these days, it was all done by email. That’s fine except it took 24 hours before I would get responses. I’m a buyer, I showed interest, and I clearly stated approval of the plan presented. Yet it continues to drag on as I write this newsletter. When I politely requested a quicker response, you would have thought I had said something incredibly offensive.
Then came the excuses, er “reasons” for the delay in communication. Come to find out, this “salesperson” plays a key role for several stations in a cluster, was out of the office and “only” works “part-time” in sales. If my client didn’t already have a long-standing relationship with this radio company, I would have moved on by now.
This situation reminded me of an episode of a favorite television series of mine; Mad Men the 1960’s period drama about a fictional New York advertising agency.
In one episode, a Jaguar exec indicated that the luxury car company was looking for a new ad firm. When the agency’s British bean counter tries to moonlight as an advertising salesperson and has an unsuccessful business dinner with the Jaguar executive; one of the seasoned ad men moans “Come on, ‘Lane’ couldn’t close a car door.” So, if I seem skeptical when you ask me if I think your next on-air hire might handle sales on a “part-time” basis, I hope you’ll understand that I’ve seen how this plays out again and again.
About Radio Consulting Services
Radio Consulting Services is the multi-format consulting and programming services company advising stations on how to grow their audience. Every day, our winning Programming and Consulting team keeps radio stations on top. For more information on how Radio Consulting Services can help your company gain more listeners, achieve higher ratings and grow revenue, contact info@radioconsultingservices.com