The One Thing a Sales Manager Should Never Say
“I have the power to get your promotion on the air,” said the sales manager of a mid-sized market country station last week.
“Do you think your PD will balk at the idea?” I asked. (I knew the idea was great for the client but would sound pretty awkward as an on-air contest.)
“I can get anything passed. I outrank the PD,” said the overly aggressive GSM.
The sales manager was trying to demonstrate how accommodating her station was toward an advertiser. But here’s how I reacted as a buyer:
Translation: We care so little about our product and so little about our listeners that we’ll override the Programming Department to accommodate your agency’s crappy promotion.
The GSM’s statement is a red flag for savvy media buyers and ad agencies who understand that it’s more important to have your spots air on a station with a passionate, active following rather than a station with less-than compelling content. Why do agencies like to buy stations like KPLX, WHTZ, WLTW, WBEB, WUSN, KIIS? Because they’re established, strong brands which deliver results to their P1 audience and advertisers alike.
My advice to GSMs is to push back a little and protect your brand. Work with the agency to develop a better promotion that will work for your audience…which will in-turn work for the client.
As always, I welcome your thoughts. Please e-mail me: bknight@harrison-edwardspr.com or follow me on Twitter@BobKnightAdMan
Next week: Know how listeners use your station… it’s worth 10% more.
Bob Knight is Vice President, Advertising and Digital Media with Harrison Edwards PR & Marketing in New York and oversees the company’s advertising and HEdigital divisions, which include podcasting, webcasting, blogging; and print, electronic, and broadcast advertising and media buying. Prior to joining Harrison Edwards in 2005, Bob worked for some of the nation’s largest broadcasting companies, successfully developing programming in some of the most competitive markets including Chicago and San Francisco; his stations and shows were consistently top-rated. In addition to Bob’s work as program director and on-air personality at AMFM, Inc., Clear Channel Communications, Citadel Broadcasting, Entercom, and NextMedia Group, he served as a consultant to Internet radio stations during the dot com boom. Bob’s national and regional radio commercials have won a Gold Clarion Award (AWC) and Gold “Big W” Awards (Ad Club) for commercials he produced. In 2008, Bob was named a “Rising Star Forty Under Forty” by the Business Council of Westchester and is a graduate of Leadership Westchester (Class of 2009).
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Not a lot of PD's these days that have the GM watching their back for them. Everybody's too busy playing CYA now.
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