March 23, 2017
One could argue that innovation isn’t necessary once you find a formula for success. McDonald’s and Burger King are still selling the same things they sold 40 years ago, and they don’t seem to be affected by the lack of innovation. Right?
Perhaps. But when innovation is missing and you are delivering the exact same thing that your customers are used to, and about the same thing your competitors offer, you stand a strong chance of watching your business (or industry) decline the moment a new competitor innovates and offers a distinguishable advantage.
One could argue that Pandora offered something new and different, and it allowed them to steal 10 percent or more of your audience. One could also argue that Spotify stepped in and offered something different and more interesting than iTunes. What if they or others keep innovating and find ways to steal more audience and advertising?
Our industry has become almost totally dependent on certain formulas for success. Those formulas worked well 20 years ago, and yes, they are working well now. We play the same tight playlists, the same bumpers and sounders, the same jingles. But what if you were to innovate in your programming, take risks, and gradually try some new things? Would that strengthen your ties with your audience? Don’t forget, your audience is continually adopting innovations in other areas of their lives.
If you do what everyone else does, even when you do it better, you get only incremental growth. What if you were to do what no one in your market is doing? How powerful would it be if people thought of your station or your company as a leader in a whole new category or approach?
What if all the major advertisers in the world were still using the same campaigns they used two decades ago? Though many keep the same focus or slug line, they are always refreshing campaigns because consumers get bored and don’t notice them any longer. Are your listeners experiencing the same thing about your “Greatest Hits” sounders? And chances are, if your own air talent are bored, it will come across to the listeners. What have you done lately to innovate the sound of your station?
Oh, I know everyone says you shouldn’t break what isn’t broken. But why not? What if the new thing brings new enthusiasm and interest to your stations?
I see your job as one of constantly creating raving fans. The way to do that is to know your audiences intimately, and to let people try new things to superserve that audience. Encourage your people to try new things — and let them fail.
Innovation needs to occur in everything that is stale — programming and selling and servicing customers. Dig deeply into how Facebook provides advertising services, and you’ll see what the new level of expectation is and why so many advertisers are shifting budgets to Facebook.
Of course, we also have to innovate behind the scenes. Innovation can even mean cost savings. A friend of mine who creates props and costumes in the film industry just crushed his competitors by switching everything to 3-D printing, lowering his cost per unit. Are you so opposed to spending that you’re missing innovative new tech you can use in your properties?
Comfort is a dangerous thing in a competitive world filled with others who want to steal your audiences and advertising dollars. What you did even a year ago may not be enough today. You may want to gather the troops — and be sure to include the young bucks who want to change the world, who are not stuck in the way things have always been done. Ask the question: How can we innovate in all areas of our stations? How can we change for the sake of change? How can we lead our market in innovation?
Doing this will not only bring enthusiasm and energy to your team, you just might come up with something that will flip a switch and give you a giant advantage.
Time To Change The Way You’re Selling
By Matt Sunshine -
If you answer “No” or “I don’t know” to most of the following questions, you need a new sales playbook.
1. Do you know how many e-mails you have sent to individual prospects in the last 90 days?
2. Do you know how many have been read? Responded to? Clicked on?
3. Do you know how many have been focused on helping with their customer journey?
4. Do you know how many led with an insight?
5. Do you know how many were mostly about “checking in”?
6. Do you know which e-mail templates are most effective?
Sales Content
1. Do you have specific content/resources/e-mails salespeople can use during certain stages of the buyer’s journey and sales process?
2. Do you have specific content/resources/e-mails salespeople can use to overcome specific objections they hear?
3. Do you know which efforts are driving the best sales results?
Phone Calls/Meetings
1. Do you know how many phone calls were made with prospects in the past 90 days?
2. Do you know how many meetings happened in the last 90 days?
3. Do you know how many attempted calls were made
to engage?
4. Do you know how many of the voicemail messages left have been returned?
5. Do you know what prospects are doing on your website after or before you have a call or meeting?
Sales Cycle
1. Do you know what the time interval is between client touches, and are you losing business due to the time between contacts?
2. Do you know how much time you are spending as a salesperson on certain activities? And which are paying off the best?
3. Do you know what the length of your sales cycle is (from lead gen to close)?
4. Do you know the average length of time between each step in the sales/buying process?
5. Do you know which steps are most important to the buyer?
6. Do you know when a deal is stalled in a particular step? Are you notified?
Prospecting and Leads
1. Do you know which prospects you should focus your efforts on/prioritize?
2. Do you know the percentage of leads that are qualified?
3. Do you know where your best leads are coming from and how they’re finding your business?
4. Do you know how many prospects convert into appointments?
5. Do you know how many appointments convert into proposals?
6. Do you know which types of leads are converting and which are not, by AE and team?
Salesperson Success
1. Do you know where some salespeople excel, and where others need to improve?
2. Do you know which salespeople on your team have the highest activity? Highest conversion rates? Highest revenue performance?
3. Do you know why you won or lost certain business, and are there trends related to that?
4. Do you know how your salespeople compare to each other in activity and different conversions?
Proposals
1. Do you know how many proposals have been created and presented in the past 12 months?
2. Do you know how many you have won? Lost? And why?
3. Do you know the average amount of time it takes from when you present to getting a yes or no?
4. Do you know how often prospects buy, and if they buy exactly or almost exactly what you presented?
5. Do you know how long they view a proposal and which pages they spend the most time on?
Remember, if you answered no or “I don’t know” to a majority of these questions, it’s time to consider getting yourself a new sales playbook powered
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