Behind the Scenes at WOWO Radio: Ben

by | Apr 28, 2015 | Really? The Personal ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

There is this fellow named Ben Saurer that I have known for around ten years.  Ben is my manager/coach/boss at WOWO radio in Fort Wayne.

Recently I mentioned that I’d tell you about Ben and with him being out of town at the moment, he can’t stop me today.  Not that he would, but he certainly wouldn’t like the attention if he knew about it ahead of time.

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This article is about relationships between employers and employees.  Most of you reading this are one or the other, perhaps both if you are a manager of people with a boss above you.

Ben and I worked together for another group of radio stations.  When he was hired 10 years ago, it was his first job in radio and I was asked to mentor him.  Back in those days, the company we worked for would hire salespeople by the handful and see which ones would stick.  I recall being introduced to two new guys before a vacation and when I returned a week later, only one of them was still there.

Back to Ben and those early days.  Ben had a determination to give it his best.  Later when I was in management and I was training new staff, I asked them to learn from Ben.  Ben was fresh to the business and made it while others fell by the wayside.  I was pretty entrenched by this time with a solid base of advertising partners, and Ben was creating his own success story.

Ben also saw the writing on the wall at those radio stations.  Despite our best efforts, our company was hurting financially.  Out of town investors and owners had accumulated so much debt that all we were doing with our profits was servicing the debt and paying our people.

Ben was hired away by Federated Media to become the General Sales Manager for WOWO radio and our local ESPN stations.  That was 6 years ago.  Between 2011 and 2013 Ben and I spoke on occasion. At the end of 2013 I joined Ben at WOWO as part of his sales team.

The culture is different at WOWO and Federated Media than the other stations I have worked for.  And while there are similarities in the sales culture between WOWO and our sister stations, the reason I decided to join them 18 months ago was Ben.

I trusted Ben.  I still do.  Because I watched Ben mature as a sales person and for awhile our roles were reversed as I was his boss at that other company, I figured if Ben was still true to the person I knew when I last worked with him, it would be a good fit to join him again.

Even though Ben has worked with my WOWO Radio Sales team nearly 5 years longer than I have, there is a mutual respect and understanding based on our past. In our meetings, he will sometimes quote me (stuff I shared with him years ago), back to me. Ben is fortunate that he inherited a seasoned and successful staff.  While they had to follow him, he also had to earn their respect.  At least one of my co-workers is twice the age of Ben.

Ben has also had to un-hire sales staff over the past 18 months I have been there and in the 5 years previous.   I know that is not easy.  Most employers and managers want their people to succeed, that’s why we hire them.

A couple of lessons and questions to wrap this up.

I know that my relationship with Ben is based primarily on our business relationship.  When Ben worked for me, I wanted him to be successful and he wanted to be successful.  Now that I work for him, the same is true.  If Ben was a lousy manager or I was a bad employee, this would not work.  Lesson: Remember the business side of our relationship trumps the personal side when it comes to us working together.

I joined the WOWO Radio sales team because of Ben.  If I did not trust and respect Ben from our previous time together, I would not have joined WOWO.  Federated Media goes through a multi-step screening process to find potential sales candidates.  Not everyone makes it through the entire cycle. I did not receive any special waivers or consideration in that process.  However because I stayed in touch with Ben over the years, (only about once a year), I was on his radar a couple of times when he wanted to add to his team. Lesson: Don’t burn bridges or ignore people from your past.

I see Ben incorporating many of the same principles that I used to use when I was his manager.  Hire the best you can, and give them the tools to be successful.  Make sure you are there to support them, not to hinder them.  Give them the freedom to succeed and be an honest encourager. At Federated Media, the General Sales Managers are Coaches.  They do not sell and compete with their sales teams.  The coach mentality is a healthy one in the way Ben carries it out.  Lesson for Managers: Don’t micro-manage.  Instead support each person on your team to be their personal best.

Lesson for employees: You need to be responsible for your own success.  Do what you need to do instead of waiting for someone to do it for you or tell you what to do.  Ask when necessary, but always be learning. 

The final thought is the about working relationships. If you are an employee, are you treating others, including your boss in such a way that they would want to work for you if one day you were in the position to hire people?  And Mr/Ms Manager… are you treating your staff in a manner that they would want to hire you if the tables were turned?

Becoming An Advertising Partner

by | Apr 21, 2015 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

Do you like being sold something?  Or would you prefer to buy something?  It’s an important distinction.  Even though the result can be the same.

Yesterday I started telling you the story of how Mike became one of my advertising partners on WOWO Radio.  It is because I did not try and sell him something I wanted to sell him.  Instead I helped him buy something he wanted to buy.

He wanted to buy more qualified leads for his business.  I had the ability to sign him up for an advertising program on WOWO Radio.  But Mike did not initially want to buy advertising on WOWO.  My job was to bridge that gap and together we worked side by side to understand his business dynamics so I could craft a campaign that help him create more qualified leads.

More on Mike coming tomorrow.

My job is to seek out qualified businesses and people who can become advertising partners.

An advertising partner is more than a customer or client to me.  Even those who spend money with me who are used to being treated like just a customer can become an advertising partner if we can develop a partnership. analytics-282739_1280

A partnership goes two ways.  I do certain things and you do certain things.

Here’s an example of what I will do:

  1. To meet regularly, every 2 to 6 weeks, as needed
  2. To keep our advertising messages updated regularly
  3. To offer additional opportunities to use the services and marketing platforms offered by WOWO Radio, Federated Media, Federated Digital Solutions and Federated Entertainment
  4. To be a creative resource and consultant for all your marketing efforts
  5. To offer suggestions and feedback as the relationship continues

And here’s the corresponding expectations of what I ask of my advertising partners:

  1. To be available for regular meetings and communication
  2. To keep me updated when changes and/or new services are offered that we might include in your marketing.
  3. To set up a tracking system to assist in identifying results from our campaign
  4. To stay current with monthly payments as outlined
  5. To inform me of both successes and concerns as we move forward.

As you see, this is not a typical sales person trying to sell the biggest contract and then disappearing, (which happens all to often in the sales world).

Want to see if we could work together?  Contact me.

 

Do You Trust the Person Who Is Trying To Get You To Buy Advertising?

by | Apr 20, 2015 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

I’ve been meeting with a very wise person who last week signed the papers and handed me a check to kick off his advertising campaign on WOWO Radio.

Mike is an expert in his business.  And he is wise enough to listen and learn from others.

Mike and I met earlier this year and we’ve invested a few hours into getting to know each other and how we both operate. Listen

I met him when an advertising postcard arrived in my mailbox at home and I decided to see what other types of advertising his company does.

I also wanted to see how legit their company was.

It took about 4 visits for me to reach Mike.  He operates from a business office and part of his day is spent out of the office.

The first face to face meeting was simply to set up a meeting for a more in depth conversation.  We decided to check back in about 3 weeks.

3 weeks later I visited him and set the meeting.

When the big day arrived, I already knew some of his credentials and had done my homework, but I don’t know much much Mike had checked me out.

I believed there was potential for Mike to become an advertising partner, but it was going to need to be a co-operative relationship, not one where I was trying to convince him to buy something he didn’t want.

At the end of that first meeting, we had a game plan with a couple of half-baked ideas that needed to be fleshed out and we agreed to meet in a week with the intention of signing the paperwork to begin.

At the conclusion of that first big meeting, Mike told me I was different from others who had tried to sell him stuff.  He said it was because I didn’t try and sell him stuff, but instead worked with him to see if we would be a good fit.

Ultimately, Mike was willing to try an advertising program on WOWO radio, if he believed it would pay off financially.  And that is what we both were trying to discover, together.  I only wanted to work with him if I believed we could meet his expectations, (and that his expectations would be reasonable).

Here’s the bottom line.  Mike trusts me and I trust him.  That’s why he handed me a check and told me he’s looking forward to a long and profitable relationship for years to come.

Do you trust the people who are trying to sell you advertising?

More lessons from my story with Mike tomorrow.

How To Lose Friends on Facebook

by | Apr 3, 2015 | Really? The Personal ScLoHo

This is easy.

Want to lose a few Facebook friends?

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Mention something political.

Act like a prejudicial buffoon.

Call people names. (See what I did there?)

Now, you may like to talk about politics and say whatever is on your mind.

Go ahead if you want, but this is one easy way to annoy others.

I am not shy to share my thoughts and beliefs regarding political stuff, but I am very purposeful when I do it.

Winning arguments on Facebook is nearly impossible.

And if you are about to say something online that you would not say to someone face to face… don’t say it.

This is true for both businesses and private citizens.  For teenagers and adults, alike.

Now, let’s get back to each of us doing things of a positive nature online.

Bring on the cat videos.

Early Adopters & Late Bloomers

by | Mar 24, 2015 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

From the ScLoHo 2011 archives:

Changes are occurring faster and faster.

I’m sure my parents and even grandparents felt the same way in their lifetimes.

With the speed of technology improvements, it seems that what was last months new thing, is already outdated.

And there is no sign that any of this shows any sign of slowing down.

So how do you ride the wave of the next new thing?

Understand that the Early Adopters are always going to be looking for the next new thing. These people will not make you rich, but if they have influence, they can help push your new thing to Mainstream.

Once the new thing becomes Mainstream, the Early Adopters may or may not stick around, since they are always on the look out for the next new thing.

But Mainstream is where the money is at. If there is money to be made by your thing, this will be the time. If your thing becomes really popular, you will face competitors, more than you can imagine.

What about the Late Bloomers? Typically these are the hardest to convince. Usually no amount of advertising will ever move them to spend their money with you. Word of mouth and peer pressure along with a low price is what gets them to become your customer.

Once you understand this business cycle, you can create a focus, a strategy, and the tactics to make it work, and worry less about trying to please everyone, all the time.