Most of their suggestions, with just a bit of tweaking, can be can be rendered useful for sales managers and marketing or promotion directors. Read between the lines…stretch your mind…and learn how you can become a valuable asset to your company!

AMY AND KIM’S TOP TEN WAYS TO BECOME AN ASSET TO YOUR GM

1. Cooperate with all departments. Let the guys in engineering have plenty of notice for remotes. Tell the business office about vacation times, talent fees, part-time hours. Also put out fires so that the GM doesn’t have to referee.

2. Encourage cooperation among your staff. Eliminate the “take my ball and go home” prima dona behavior. Above and beyond that, try to be a model for positive attitudes and behavior, rather than negative.

3. Expand the types of community events that you’re willing to participate in. Your favorite thing as a rock station may be to broadcast from the start of the Sturgis Rally. But that doesn’t mean that the station can’t also benefit from helping out at a Habitat for Humanity event.

4. Communicate everything. Share the call out research and trend numbers with the GM so she doesn’t have to hunt you down. Communicate well beyond the numbers. Good news. Bad news. The goal should be NO SURPRISES for the GM. Offer solutions to problems when you present the problems.

5. Go on a sales call. It impresses clients to no end when they see that the programming department is also interested in them. The good will that it buys is much greater than the immediate advertising schedule and lasts a long time.

6. Memorize your company’s programming content policies. (They may be different from the FCC’s.) Just because the FCC won’t fine you for saying “asshole” on the air, it doesn’t mean that your company will stand for it. Do you know what your company policies are? Do you know what the FCC guidelines are? Ask your GM to give you printouts of FCC rulings as they come down. She has them.

7. Give and take on promotions that are sales driven. Don’t use NO as the immediate answer. The sales department can sell options B, C, or D. Give the sales department money making opportunities. There are plenty of options that don’t hurt you. Utilize the web site. Ask the talent to make some courtesy appearances. Remember, too, that you can benefit from the sales department. They can come up with prizes for you when you don’t have money in your budget.

8. Learn how to read…and manage…a budget. Also understand that timing is everything when asking for money. Know your budget. Don’t make ridiculous requests when you’re having a tough time. Also, when the station is doing well, don’t assume that there’s a big fat pile of money lying around waiting to be spent on something. Don’t overreact to what the competition is doing. Just because you saw a tv spot for a competitor, don’t jump all over the GM and demand that you have to be on tv NOW also.

9. Aggressively fight your competitors and get ratings. Show passion, desire, and heart. Let you GM know that you’ve got your eye on the ball. Good ratings makes nearly everything more tolerable. Remember, however, that raises aren’t automatically handed out when ratings go up because salaries aren’t automatically cut when ratings go down.

10. Always have a bench. Always be recruiting. Confer with the GM regarding the types of skills and talents that you both want on the team.