COLD CALL RESISTANCE AT THE OTHER END OF THE PHONE
Many years ago my phone rang and the person on the other end said, "I'm doing, right now, what you wish your salespeople were doing...I'm making a cold call!" The caller completely disarmed me and yes, I wished that all my sellers were doing the same thing. It's a great way to break the ice on a cold call and if you're calling on the right person, they will relate completely!
Cindy W. Schloss
Regional VP/GM Clear Channel Radio New Mexico

CLUSTER SELLING: THE USUAL OBJECTION IN REVERSE
I oversee a cluster that includes three different FM rock formats: classic, active, and alternative. The typical objection to cluster selling that we’ve all heard from media buyers or clients is that they don’t want to feel that they’re being “forced” to buy stations or packaging that they wouldn’t ordinarily buy. In our case, however, we’ve occasionally experienced cluster objections in reverse. We don’t own television stations or billboard companies or entertainment companies, just radio stations. Sometimes when we come up against multi-platform sales, we’re told that we won’t fit into the buy because we’re not offering as many different media options as the gigantic cluster. We get around that objection by illustrating the size of the audience being missed by the various entities of the “big” package. We use exclusive cume and time spent listening to show that, if they’re not buying us, then there’s actually a very large hole in their plan because these are all the potential customers who they’re NOT reaching with their big glamorous package. We use qualitative data to show, for instance, that our alternative rock listeners may not be seeing those billboards out in the suburbs. We’ve seen good results when we’ve gone after the big guys this way.
Amy Waggoner
President/Cluster manager
ABC Radio Minneapolis

GETTING TO WHAT’S REALLY IMPORTANT TO THE CLIENT
Our company products are software based and sometimes beyond the interest of a technophobic manager. A recent sales meeting started off with a manager telling me point blank he didn't know what we did, didn't have an interest in technology or internet related products and although he knew his staff liked our service he was happily out of the loop. Since he was key to renewals and additional business, I had to turn that around pretty quickly. Instead of defending the wonderful world of technology or trying to educate him on product that was clearly outside his area of interests but near and dear to mine, I told him his lack of interest was fine, and in fact justified for his job. I suggested we just focus on the end result: the benefit the product brought to his business. We bypassed all the technical "stuff" and looked at how the information we provided aided his ultimate goal--understanding his audience and selling more effectively to his advertisers.

That one meeting set the stage not only for additional business but the beginning of a great relationship. It also underscored the necessity of discussing what's important to the client, not what we like best about our own products.
Ruth Presslaff
Presslaff Interactive Revenue

SELLING VALUE OF YOUR PRODUCT VS. COMPETITOR’S
Several companies I've worked for have had "premium products" that were often perceived as too expensive for the radio stations that wanted them. Others low-balled our prices, and created a perception that their products were just as good (they weren't). In those situations, there were several things I did and said. Our products weren't for everyone, and if price were the only criterion, there wouldn't be a sale. I focused on the value of the product to the most qualified potential buyers, particularly in a situation where the speed and accuracy of the information was paramount. I collected comparative information, and showed the potential client precisely where the differences in the products were, without EVER making negative comments about the competition--the facts spoke for themselves. The sales cycle was longer because so much legwork had to be done, but when a client came on board, they rarely left.
Corinne Baldassano
Translucent Media
Los Angeles, California

IMAGERY TRANSFER FROM TV TO RADIO
An objection is inherent or perceived. An inherent objection such as, "you can not see my product on the radio," is one that is a fact or inherent and needs to be acknowledged. Here’s a good way to respond: "Yes, you are right, you can not physically show your new makeup color on the radio. However, 70% of consumers recall the television visual when the spot is heard on the radio. Let me show you how that works. Have you seen a music video? Are you able to strip that visual video music image when you hear the song on a radio? That is imagery transfer!”
Debbie Durben
President
Interep Marketing Group

THE EMOTIONAL POWER OF AUDIO
In dealing with major national advertisers, one of the most frequent objections I hear to the use of more Radio in the media mix is the following: "The creative in Radio is horrible. We simply can't get the same quality of commercials for Radio that we get in TV, especially if the campaign uses emotion. You have to have pictures to show emotion."

My response is to actually demonstrate the power of sound for the client. The RAB provides CD's of Mercury-award winning commercials as well as finalists, at no charge to agencies, advertisers and Radio sellers. I can select specific category-appropriate spots, or a specific type of commercial that is relevant to the advertiser. While we can also provide research from our Marketing Guide and Fact Book and the Radio Ad Effectiveness Lab regarding Message Recall and other research, nothing is more dramatic than the Power of Sound.

In fact, I attempt to close all my client-directed presentations with a sound montage of commercials, famous speeches, TV sound bites and music from different eras. The impact of hearing this “slice of Americana”- with no pictures- can transport people to a specific time and place in their lives- and do it in ten seconds or less.
Listen up!
Mary Bennett
EVP/Marketing
The Radio Advertising Bureau

OVERCOMING NEGATIVE STEREOTYPING
When I was President / General Manager of KIIS FM, we faced this challenge: The Hispanic composition of the KIIS FM audience has always been significant, reflecting at or slightly above the market composition. And even with the strength of qualitative research, the negative down-scale "stereotype" of the Hispanic audience who listens to CHR radio persisted and continues to persist with buyers of some upscale products. Some advertisers (often national clients) have positioned this high Hispanic composition as a negative, and use it either as a rate negotiation factor or to justify not buying this heritage radio station.

Here’s how we neutralized the negative stereotyping: on local sales calls or when I accompanied my DOS or NSM on national trips, we would always carry with us a copy of the Beverly Hills phone book. If the objection of KIIS's Hispanic composition came up, we'd first discuss the socio-economic profile of Beverly Hills residents. When we reached agreement of their value to this up-scale client, we'd pull out the Beverly Hills phone book, and ask our buyer or client to open any page. Then we'd ask them to observe the percent of Hispanic surnames on that page. And another page. And another. This dramatized the fact that even in up-scale Beverly Hills, Hispanic surnames represent a significant percent of these tony households. In most instances, we then were able to neutralize this objection to the "down-scale" Hispanic composition of the KIIS FM audience, and move on to the business of doing business.
Lynn Anderson
Senior Vice President, Consulting and Training Division
Radio Advertising Bureau