RELENTLESS RADIO

 

Author:	Ken Scott
Published:	September, 2000

 

Gather two or more GM’s or DOS together and the topic of conversation quickly becomes finding good sales people. The entire industry cries that finding good people has become impossible. The 4 keys to getting the best salespeople are: 1. Always recruit 2. Clearly define what it takes to succeed on your sales team 3. Interview in a challenging manner 4. Develop your team Before you start recruiting make a determination of the correct staff size for your station. One school of thought is the more the better. Flood the streets and let volume produce demand on inventory. This method works yet often yields high turnover and little long-term business. The second view espouses using a model to determine a staff size, then hiring and developing quality people. This produces low turnover, long term clients and usually better billing. Once you settle on staff size, first recruit internally. Use behavioral profiling, sales skills testing, role-plays and most importantly in field observation to determine the proficiencies and developmental deficiencies of your current team. It is more cost effective to train and develop existing staff than to recruit and replace. Once you determine a true need to recruit new sales people your first step is defining exactly what you are looking for. Do you need people to develop new business? This requires strong prospecting skills and a personality style that is driven and extroverted. Maybe you need a person to maintain and further penetrate large accounts or agencies. This requires different skills and again behavioral styles. The time you spend in determining your exact needs will pay benefits by hiring better and reducing turnover. Your actual recruiting and hiring has two phases. Consistent recruiting to keep the pipeline full and specific recruiting to fill a position. Recruiting consistently means interviewing on a regular basis. You want to have a file of potential hires at all time. Begin building this file with internal references. Who do your current sales people and other staff members feel will fit your team. Add to the list with references from clients. Finally become very active in local and state broadcast groups plus sales organizations such as, Sales and Marketing Executives. Your goal is getting to know top talent and seeing how they react in the group. Look for leaders and develop relationships with them. When attending conferences and meetings always talk very positively about your company and what a great place it is to build a career. Brag about your training programs and resources. Let people know that good talent is always welcome to join your team. Finally place a message about recruiting on the back of your business card. The statement should say, "ZZZ Broadcasting develops top sales people in broadcasting. I would like to speak with you about such an opportunity for you." Give your card to people you meet that exude the type of ability you want for your team. Finally make them play ball and interview. Use multiple interviews including telephone and a social setting. Ask your receptionist and assistant how the candidate was to deal with. Shockingly recent studies from TTI International indicate that interviewing alone only produces a 14% success rate for hiring. Increasing your odds includes behavioral profiling and selling skills testing. There are many quality products and companies available to assist you at very reasonable costs. The last part of the interview process involves a videotaped role-play with the candidate. Your favorite NFL team will not draft a player that they have not seen play. You should demand the same of your potential hires. Be consistent and use the same process when evaluating all people. Invest time in hiring and you will do less of it.