Perspective: A More Promising Conversation With Our Clients.

In our last article, we raised the question: what business does radio want to be in? We proposed that every client is grappling with marketing challenges and opportunities they haven’t yet articulated and that these unspoken goals represent a goldmine for any media seller ready to uncover and address them. But tapping into that potential requires more than a shift in mindset. It calls for a change in behavior. Sellers must learn to engage their clients in conversations that focus on what matters most to them, which is the growth of their business.

For a vivid illustration of what that change in behavior might entail, consider the simple act of purchasing a bow tie.

Walk into the men’s clothing department of any store in the mall and tell them you are looking for a bow tie. A typical clerk will show you the display and either wait quietly while you make your selection or leave you to browse. You pick a tie, pay at the register and leave. It’s a polite, efficient transaction — exactly what most customers expect. Most store managers would consider it an unremarkable transaction, unaware of the money they left on the table.

Now walk into a Nordstrom and tell them you’re looking for a bow tie. The predictable question will be, “What’s the occasion?” The answer to that simple question will reveal to the Nordstrom seller a world of opportunity.

Suppose your answer is that you are getting ready for a trip to attend a wedding. The Nordstrom associate, trained to understand social occasions, knows that weddings often include several separate events: a rehearsal dinner, the ceremony itself and maybe even a farewell brunch. What ensues is a full-on conversation in which the seller helps you, the customer, think through the clothing you are planning to wear and maybe even the statement you want to make in every phase of the wedding you are about to attend.

By the time you leave the store, you might have picked up a couple of bow ties, new shirts to go with them, slacks and maybe even a new sport jacket.

Yes, Nordstrom enjoys the immediate benefit of a larger sale. But they know that the value of every customer conversation is much higher than the value of any single transaction. They are opportunities for the salesperson to reinforce in your mind his position as the go-to person any time you want to look good.

So, what does this have to do with selling radio? Everything.

Nordstrom sellers have been taught that a person who buys a product has a broader problem they are trying to solve. So, rather than focus on the bow tie, they deliberately explore the customer’s broader problem of deciding what to wear at a wedding, confident in the knowledge that the conversation will reveal unanticipated ways the customer needs help.

A man shopping for a bow tie doesn’t need a bow tie. Just like an advertiser doesn’t need a radio commercial. What they both seek is a result that matters to them.

Results Are What Matters

So, what broader problem does the person who buys media tools have? And how do we prepare the salespeople to get at it?

To begin with, it’s important to remember that whether the client owns the business or manages a portion of it, except for their families, nothing matters more to them than the growth of their business. That’s why even the way the seller prepares for a meeting with a client should put them in the mindset of engaging in a conversation about the growth of the client’s business.

Radio sellers have an advantage over Nordstrom sellers in that they can size up the client’s business long before the first conversation. What are the priority products and services that will likely have the biggest impact on the client’s growth this year? Who are the category buyers they are most likely interested in reaching? Are there obvious challenges or opportunities the client is likely working on?

But, of course, what the sellers consistently do in front of their clients is entirely dependent on what management thinks their job is. The question is, what does the company expect salespeople to do? Is the job to sell the media or is the job to help the client gain more customers? This is the fork in the road that every radio company faces today — to settle for media transactions, or to expect the sellers to go deeper into business conversations where their clients’ real needs are uncovered.

Look at your sales process. Lay it out as a sequence of steps. Is there a step where your sellers engage in a conversation that is entirely about the growth of the client’s business? Do you want there to be such a step? What questions could they ask that would open such a conversation? Do you want all your sellers to follow the same playbook? How will you know they’re doing it?

We know that many leaders are sincere about helping their clients grow their businesses. The question is whether those values are evident in the day-to-day activities of the sales organization.

Sally Beamer is Managing Partner and Gerry Tabío is Founder and CEO at the Creative Resources Group, which specializes in helping media companies create sustained year-over-year revenue growth. You can reach them at sallybeamer@creativeresourcesgroup.com and at gerrytabio@creativeresourcesgroup.com.