Since in radio we really serve two customers: our advertisers and our listeners, it is an integral part of our sales and marketing strategy to ask questions to find out what those customers need. In programming, this means using research to find out what our listeners want and expect from us - and then giving it to them. With our advertisers, this means asking good, thought-provoking questions that get to the heart of what key marketing challenges the advertiser is facing - and then figuring out how and whether our radio stations can fill that need. I think a big mistake in our business is ASSUMING that we know what our listeners and clients need and then trying to give it to them. This is like going to see your doctor for a broken arm ... but the doctor just handing you a prescription for an antibiotic. The doctor MUST ask good questions to figure out what ails you ... before prescribing the antidote. We need to be sure that we do the same thing ... before selling spots on our radio stations or changing our programming strategy.
Kim Guthrie
Regional VP/General Manager
Cox Radio

What customers need the most are good, efficient and knowledgeable services. We provide them this service by:
l. Understanding their product
2. Asking all questions related to What, Where, When
3. Giving clients everything they have asked for in a timely fashion
4. Going over the presentation a couple of times so as not to waste client's time and effort
5. Never being late or giving any excuses
6. Being neat and prepared and most importantly knowing your stuff
If we follow these elementary and essential rules we will be called again and again.
Laura Hagan
President
HBCsi National Sales

What Breakthrough marketing customers need is a clear, concise, training methodology on how to find, call on and close new business clients. We provide this through a series of on-going market visits and phone and email service, a uniquely structured strategic plan for their station or stations, as well as action and accountability standards for each participating Account Executive.
Julie Lomax Brauff
CEO
Breakthrough marketing, Inc.
425-747-0647

What our customers need: They need us to ask the right questions and pay attention to their answers. They need us to sell them what they need to buy. And they need us to deliver what we sold them.
Edie Hilliard
VP/COO
Jones Radio Networks

What our customers need from us most are our solutions to their opportunities. And they need to be actionable. By asking specific questions of our advertisers and customers and understanding what they expect and how they intend to measure results, we can then provide them with solutions. Every package is customized and every customer is treated equally - large or small.
Erica Farber
Publisher/CEO
Radio & Records

Excellent Customer Service, Prompt and Accurate Follow through. This means showing that you care, admitting mistakes and offering solutions in a very timely manner, and being a complete resource.
Mary Ware
Vice President/Director
Katz Urban Dimensions

We serve two customers: listeners and advertisers. Our listeners expect and need consistency and reliability. They want to be assured that when they turn to one of our radio stations, they know what kind of product they’re going to hear. We provide this by actively engaging our listeners, responding to their feedback, doing daily call-out research, and responding to market studies. On the other hand, our advertisers expect us to help them solve problems and get results. That might mean getting more customers in the door, breaking through market clutter with a new imaging campaign, or moving product quickly and efficiently. We meet their needs by listening to them, asking the right questions, and then customizing our services for them. We have a wide menu of services from which to choose, be it schedule placement, copywriting, event marketing, or web site development, but the “cookie cutter” approach does not work. Singular attention to each individual client is what works.
Amy Waggoner
President and General Manager
KQRS, 93X, Drive 105, Radio Disney

Our (advertiser) customers need results, even though they may each quantify that differently. They need expedience, ideas that generate results, good service and they need to make their jobs easier. They want information and access to key people on our staffs. To provide that we place value on that as a company, setting an example for AEs that those are our standards. We involve various people within the organizations to get good ideas for our customers and to execute them. We under promise and over deliver as much as we can.
Val Maki
Sr. VP/Market Manager
Emmis LA/ KPWR/KZLA

My clients need to know that they can rely on me—to have good, accurate answers; to be the solution to a problem or a conduit to the right information; and that they can reasonably rely on finding me to get those things. I provide those things by continuing to capture new information every day, and giving them access via a website, email and a passel of phone numbers with voice mail—all of which I check at least hourly.
Mary Beth Garber
President
Southern California Broadcasters Association

As an entrepreneur, my customers need to know that they’re in good hands and that their needs are being met. One way I provide this is by staying in constant touch with them and updating them on the progress of the project I’m working on. It’s the classic definition of “customer service.”
Corinne Baldassano
President
Translucent Media

Our consumers expect accurate and timely industry information and product information. For example, when a rating book comes out our customers expect that we’ll provide as much accurate information as possible in order to help them complete their media and marketing plans. When our competitors change format or when we change, the expectation is that we’ll share that information as quickly as possible. What our customer doesn’t want is to be put in a position with their customer and they don’t have the answers.
Cindy W. Schloss
Regional VP/GM
Clear Channel Radio

We help our clients build e-mail databases, relationships and revenue through a mix of technology and marketing smarts. Our clients need us to LISTEN and to provide tools that are simple and stable, and innovative ideas to make their databases valuable. How do we provide it? The right staff with the right expertise and encouragement.
Ruth Presslaff
President
Presslaff Interactive Revenue