• They are focused on their customers’ success
• They are positive
• They block out negativity
• They are relentlessly curious and love learning
• They look for solutions, not problems
• They don’t give their advertisers easy outs
• They concentrate on meaningful activity and delete or delegate the rest
• They network, network, network and then they network some more
• They are open to ideas from many sources
• They know how to uncover their advertiser’s needs quickly
• They aren’t afraid to ask for the order
• They win big!

And, as TV Sales people, how many of these qualities do you possess? The more of them you have the more remark-able you are!

(And do you surround yourself with Super Stars?)

The very word “selling” still makes me uncomfortable. I associate “selling” with asking someone to do something they don’t want to do, of being conniving and somewhat deceitful. I know there are shelves of books telling us “selling” is an admirable profession but it just doesn’t sit well with me.

What I found works best is finding something I believe in and sharing that with others so they can achieve their success. If the advertiser’s budget doesn’t allow me to guarantee success on my TV Station, if the customer is just not right for that football package or some other initiative I’m pressured to sell or if I am not sure my station can execute a promotion properly you can pretty well bet I will be unsuccessful in “selling.”

If my solution doesn’t solve the customer’s problem but I’m shoving it at them anyway I am “selling.” And I see this every day.

But when I believe in something and know the resources are there to support my efforts look out! I am all in!!

If you are having trouble closing sales take a look inside. Are you a believer? If you aren’t maybe it’s because you are “selling” and not “solving.”

If you confidently believe you are contributing to your advertiser’s success go all in. You won’t feel like you are “selling.” You will be remark-able and, best of all, they will be too.

Well, how have you changed since then? Still trying to fit in especially at work?

“Fitting in” is the problem today – as hiring Managers there is a tendency to look for “a good fit” which means someone just like the rest of your team. Because of that most TV Sales teams are made up of highly creative people who get nothing but the most urgent done. New, well thought out projects are major challenges that oftentimes never get off the ground.

I keep hearing you want to be proactive but are stuck being reactive.

Maybe it’s not the outside world causing this. Maybe it’s your team makeup.

Diversity of styles, strengths and tendencies enriches your team and can lead to increased efficiencies if identified and respected. There are many tools available to help you “diagnose” your current staff and identify what characteristics are needed to round out your team so you can become more efficient and proactive! If interested contact me – they are not expensive tools and well worth the investment!

To be remark-able don’t “fit in.” Shake it up! Diversify your team strengths and talents, develop a culture of respect for these differences and learn how to best utilize these talents. The result will be a proactive team dancing together but to their own music.

Harvey Mackay wrote “It’s a Brave New World for Sales” describing how consumers are doing research well before you walk in the door. By the time a salesperson gets to the customer there are only two differentiators – price and YOU! And that is true in TV Sales as well.

Jill Konrath (another one of my favorites) says, “Salespeople need to be business analysts and idea providers.” If you have spent five minutes with me you have heard me say those exact words!

So what can Sales Managers do to support the Television Sales team? Coach, coach and then coach some more!

AEs only have about five seconds to make a positive impression on the prospect.  During those five seconds the prospect will decide if the AE is worth their time. If the AE sounds like a salesperson they are out. If they sound like a resource they have a good chance.

Are the AEs doing the necessary preparation and research? Do they understand their advertisers’ businesses and trends? Do they know their specific advertiser’s objectives? Can they speak the advertiser’s language? Do they have ideas to help stimulate their business (and buying TV and providing a script is NOT an idea!)? Do they know all this BEFORE they contact the prospect?

The days of Television Sales Managers spending their time on spreadsheets and putting out fires must be over.

Sales Managers MUST be provided coaching training. Sales Managers MUST go out on calls with their AEs. Sales Managers MUST establish the customer-focused culture and have a zero-tolerance policy for anything else.

As Mr. Mackay says, “You can’t expect to meet challenges of today with yesterday’s tools and expect to be in business tomorrow.”

To be remark-able Sales Managers must be Coaches who train and instruct rather than Managers who handle and control.

There are many distractions in our lives causing angst. Email (huge offender), watching your Klout score, looking at comments and likes on facebook, seeking to know everything about everything, pleasing your Sales Manager by being “political,” volunteering for multiple organizations because you are afraid not to, and, most of all, worrying about what others are doing – all play heavily into the “distraction game.”

However, there was one short paragraph in his blog that struck me hard. He mentions the difference between “News” and “News Media” in the game.

“News” is what is necessary and would be difficult to function without. “News Media” is an entirely different game and those of us in it know this to be true. “News Media” is about hooking the viewer’s attention. “News Media” is about eyeballs and time spent watching which translates into $’s. “News” equips us for success and betters our ability to survive. The motivation behind “News Media” isn’t to help you or your community.

“News” organizations were established to provide a service for the betterment of citizens. It appears we have strayed off course dramatically. Reporting a car crash isn’t “News” but seeing the mangled car is a distraction (for some reason we all want to see that!) to hold our attention. Are we really doing a service to our community in these days of distraction angst? How often do you hear your community say they want you to report more car crashes? And if traffic was a mess 3 hours ago who cares?!

So what can a “News” Organization do to stop playing the “distraction game” and provide a service for the community?

1. Determine who your community is and how best to serve them – you cannot be everything to everyone. A18-49 is not a community; it’s a family reunion!

2. Know your community and take deep pleasure in super-serving it. Don’t be distracted by other communities. They don’t matter.

3. Know where you are going (Chris points out a GPS tells you where you are, you have to tell it where you want to be before it can help you).

4. Don’t stray off course (your GPS “recalculating” voice sounds bitchy for a reason!)

5. Those who “fit in” don’t move forward. Stop worrying about “fitting in!” STAND OUT!

There’s no time like the present – local TV News numbers are diminishing and the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Are you insane?

This past week my longtime and dearest friend suddenly became a widow. Just the day before we were chatting about everything from shoes to The Voice. We laughed freely and made plans to see a movie. The next day everything changed – there was no more laughter, the plans to see a movie changed to planning a funeral. As a friend, my focus was now completely on “her.”

You ask what this has to do with a TV Station and Social Media?

Well, the same thing happened last week to all of us. We were going about our lives freely until Boston. And then West. The nation’s mood changed suddenly and completely. Fluff and laughter gave way to sadness and fear.

Social Media ebbs and flows because that’s what life does. Social Media allows us to extend our friendships and relationships but must be sensitive to each other’s needs. There is a time for humor and frivolity and a time when that is completely suspended.

TV Stations must know what to do in a crisis – when it is appropriate to talk about The Voice and when it is not, when to promote a contest and when not.

Treat your Social Media friends as friends! Be considerate of thoughts and feelings and, when they are in need of news and comfort, give it to them.  It is all about them, not you. Don’t ask questions of those in mourning – they don’t want to think and they don’t want your thoughts either. Just facts and comfort.

Maybe these two tragedies will propel stations to better understand the power they have and how to increase the use of Social Media to benefit their communities and their friends. Those TV Stations that do that with empathy will be remark-able next time and, unfortunately, there will be a next time.

In my opinion, yesterday’s horrific event in Boston was made, in some ways, worse by some of “Traditional” media and I am referring to my beloved television. Here are some examples:

An anchor here in Phoenix asked multiple times on their facebook page if we thought the Boston tragedy was a domestic act of violence or an international act. Really? Why ask that when no one knows as of this writing and, truthfully, our speculations not only don’t matter but also incite uneducated conversations with the only possible outcome being additional anger and frustration. That is not a conversation that will get us anywhere and is meaningless. Why even ask that?

Stations across the country created lovely pictures of candles burning with prayers to those in Boston including their logos and asking their fans to share. Really? Using this event to self-promote? Sorry but no wonder some think the media is self-serving and despicable. If you want to create something for those of us who don’t have the tools to do so that would be nice but to include your logo. Really?

NBC ran an hour-long Prime Special that included nothing new and more speculation. Yes, I understand not everyone was up to date on what occurred during the day but an hour of very limited substance in what could have been summarized in 15 minutes. An hour? Really?

The twitterverse is flooded with people asking for facts only and begging users to stay calm, not start the blame game and to refrain from speculations. They are begging real journalists be responsible and yet I see many in the industry I love stooping down rather than stepping up.

The newest trend is Broadcasters be one of us rather than separate from the viewers. Reminds me of the 80’s when parents were friends with their children and how did that work for most of us?! There are times to be my friend and there are times to my authority figure. Yesterday, I, along with many others, wanted the authority figure devoid of fluff or asking for my meaningless opinions and focused on facts only.

Television is not at war with social media – it is times like these where television and true reporting can shine. They can fact check, they can say they don’t know and until they do they will not report, they can think quality rather than first, they can be true journalists and refrain from the temptation to speculate and overdramatize. There was a noticeable shift in social media demanding this.

Really!

Your comments welcomed—

Here goes.

Let’s be honest – most of us TV Sales people think of ourselves as being our customers’ hero. We ask a few questions (if we are truthful, to determine if this potential television advertiser will contribute to our wealth) and then provide a proposal incorporating as much as we can to meet or slightly stretch their budget.

How about we look at it differently? How about we look at the customer as the hero of their story and we are their valued sidekicks?

Most of you aren’t old enough to remember The Lone Ranger and Tonto. The Lone Ranger was always the hero but he couldn’t function without his trusted sidekick Tonto. Tonto was always by his side, was trusted completely, and never took credit for anything other than being loyal and always focusing on the Lone Ranger’s success. Because he was so valued he lived a very nice life full of devotion from his “customer” – The Lone Ranger. And The Lone Ranger never considered exchanging Tonto for a competitor!

To view your customer as the hero of their story is the way to go. It is their success and wealth that is important to them and must be to you.  Let’s assist our customers in becoming their own hero. To be a devoted Tonto to your Lone Rangers will make you remark-able.

(To learn much more about storytelling visit with Park Howell at Park & Co.)

Don’t we ALL need training and continuing education? Is there anyone who doesn’t want or need to grow and learn? And many employees crave this attention!

There is a difference between training and education. Training is “skills” based. Training applies to working with Wide Orbit and One Domain. It is task oriented where step-by-step directions can be included.

Education is mind-thought based and applies to actually working with our television clients – understanding strategies, business nuances, trends, marketing, advertising, idea development and decision-making. There is no step-by-step guide to follow.

A Sales Manager would never say, “Here’s Wide Orbit, figure it out.” But it appears there are some who say, “Here’s THE most important part of our business, your client list, go figure it out. You knew yesterday what you were doing so I will assume you will grow on your own. We won’t be supporting your growth efforts. We are just too busy.”

Education is about growth. And the Broadcast industry needs intellectual growth more now than ever.

Companies who invest in their employees create growing employees and growing companies!

If you want to remain stagnant, which means fall behind; don’t invest in your employees. But, if you want to be remark-able provide employee growth for the employee, your TV Station and your advertisers. Guaranteed time well spent and I know you are busy!

Speaking of education – I will be interviewed on a radio podcast this Saturday, April 6, at 9am PST by Deb Calvert of PeopleFirst! The one-hour discussion is titled, “Customer Focused Selling Gives You 20/20 Vision.” Hope you will tune in but, if you can’t make it, the interview will be archived for your later listening pleasure!! I understand some sales departments replay interviews during a “brown bag lunch” which may be a good idea for you? And if you have questions you want Deb to ask send them over!

But change is all around us so does that mean we are all frightened and unsettled?

Probably. But what we do about it is up to us.

Ask yourself, “What would I do if I wasn’t afraid?” Remember, unless we are talking about life or death, fear is usually based on something unfounded in reality. I call it the “what if’s” and usually it is an excuse to keep me preoccupied and in my comfort zone. It has everything to do with what might happen in the future and nothing to do with what is happening now. If we all allowed fear to rule our actions we would never have airplanes, penicillin, or television – all crazy ideas once upon a time!

Change is frightening and unsettling but being left behind scares me more – rejecting change leads to extinction.

Those of you who have worked with me know my television sales training requires change. After all, training without change was nothing more than entertainment! However, I see TV Sales Managers resist it because they let their fears fool them into thinking everything is OK the way it is – the way they have been doing business successfully for the past 10+ years. The fear of change, the “what if’s” paralyze them and, what is so sad, they don’t realize it. Mark my words, their fears and “what if’s” will keep them where they are and eventually lead to their extinction.

If you don’t allow your fears to rule your behavior you will be remark-able. So, I ask you, “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?”