Selling Radio with Pat Bryson. 2015 is here with new challenges to meet this year. It will be important to work harder and smarter. 

Finding new business is always important as is retaining existing business through better service strategies. How well we execute the basics of selling may well determine the success of our year.

Organisation is one of the key skills for salespeople. We can’t handle the volume of business necessary to succeed without using our time wisely.  We need methods for dealing with the mountain of paperwork that accompanies success in sales.  We need to make sure that our office, desk, briefcase and car are clean and well-managed.

    •    Are you using your daily planner, PDS or customer management software to organize your appointments?

    •    Have you noted contract renewals, service calls, copy changes on your calendar?

    •    Are your client files up-to-date?  Do they include all contract details, copies of past orders, correspondence, copy and production orders?

    •    Have you culled your account list and removed those accounts who are not viable?

    •    Is your prospecting system in place?

    •    Do you have a workable system for call-backs on potential prospects?

    •    Have you cleaned out last-year’s files to purge out-of-date paperwork?

I also found it helpful to keep a file in my car that contained copies of all station information, special offerings, success letters, thank-you cards and CNA forms. That way, I didn’t have to run back to the station during the day if I needed one of the forms. This saved me many “billable hours”.

Setting aside some time each week, outside of normal business hours, to plan your week and month can add productive hours to your day.  It’s not about being “busy”; it is about being “productive”. 

2015 is a clean slate upon which we may write our paychecks. Using time wisely will pay big dividends!