How Do We Get Their Time?

Grabbing advertisers by realizing that they don't buy radio advertising; they buy what it will do for them.

Pat Bryson, Bryson Broadcasting International

We at Bryson Broadcasting International are available to help your sales staff achieve its next level of expertise. We customize our programs to meet your needs. As needed, we make use of interpreters and produce sales materials in your language. If you would like to discuss your sales training needs, email Pat Bryson.

Click to visit Pat's website.

"Yes, hello, my name is______ and I sell radio advertising for station KXXX. Could you please tell me who handles your advertising?"

"Good morning, my name is_______ and I sell radio advertising for station WXXX. I was wondering if I might come by and learn a little about our business?"

"Good morning, great to see you Mr. Prospect. Look at the great deal I've brought you today. You're going to love these low rates!"

Do these opening lines sound familiar? At one time or another, most sales people have used them. How'd they work for you? My guess is, not too well. At least they didn't for me. It took a lot of contacts to get an appointment. Getting new prospects to give us their time is vital to our success. What is our attrition rate this year? The state of the economy has increased our need for new business. The better we are at using "grabbers" to get our prospect's attention, the easier it will be for us to funnel new people into our sales pipeline.

Somewhere along the line, I got a little smarter about how to catch the attention of a new prospect. I discovered that "People don't buy radio advertising: they buy what it will do for them!" I learned to approach prospective new clients from THEIR WORLD, not mine. My ratio of appointments to new calls went way up when I added these "grabbers" to my repertoire:

"Mr.______, my name is____. I don't know if we have anything to talk about, but I work with business people who are experiencing frustrations in several areas. Some are feeling the effects of the down economy. Some still have problems finding and keeping good people. Some have seen their profit margins shrink as the large box stores have moved into their area. Which of these might be a concern for you? (Wait for answer). Would it make sense for you to invite me over to discuss this? Would you be available on Thursday or Friday?"

The magic in this "grabber" is that you are positioning what you do in the WORLD OF THE CLIENT. You don't sell radio. You solve business problems. And, you've been successful in developing solutions for many other businesses. Can you help this client? Maybe, maybe not. But, you've helped others, and it would be worth his time to talk with you.

Think about what you're hearing from your clients about the problems they are experiencing. You can list any of these frustrations in your "grabber". In the summer of 2008, it was high gas prices. 2009 brought slow economies everywhere. Just remember to develop your list from the client's point of view.