Tag: Lapcom Communications Corp

Industry Views

Pending Business: Good News Bad News

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Steve Lapa
Lapcom Communications Corp
President

Survey says, the good news is, 49% of local direct advertisers use AM/FM radio.

The bad news is, the same survey says, 65% of that same group uses social media advertising. Advantage +16% for the digital team. The good news is, you are comfortable selling/managing digital and social media vehicles because like it or not your local advertiser is leaning in on the digital/social media advertising opportunity.

Survey says, more bad news, 54% of the local direct advertiser group is buying event-sponsorships. The good news is, you are comfortable selling/managing event-sponsorships because like it or not your local advertiser is leaning in on the event-sponsorship advertising opportunity.

Now for the closer, survey says, over 50% of these local advertisers are now budgeting only 2% of gross revenues on advertising. Thank you Borrell for the researched eye-opener and thank you pandemic for shrinking the local advertiser’s marketing dollar.

Show of hands, please, anyone reading this totally surprised? The online digital/social media advertising world has been on a double-digit growth tear as long as anyone can remember. The growth continues as AM/FM sellers stand by and watch the parade go by, sorry guys. The facts are… there are roughly 310 million smartphones in the U.S. According to the last Edison survey, 68% of U.S. homes own 1.5 radios. In round numbers 338 million radios at home. Wait, what? Are there almost as many smartphones as AM/FM radios at home? Anyone own more than one smartphone? I thought there was a radio in almost every room in your home. Not anymore, you say? Quite different from the average five radios per household when many reading this column earned their first double digit commission check as a member of that fun loving sales team. The times are a changin’ and I hope you are changing with the times. Let us start here:

Update your value proposition for “Why Radio?” Make it current and relevant to today’s media ecosystem.

Sharpen your new selling skills. Get ahead of the curve and leave your competitors in the dust.

Ask yourself, “What happened?” The numbers of smartphone users are growing. Maybe not as fast as in the past but growing. The number of AM/FM radios in the home is shrinking. Look to your leadership for some answers.

When the trend is NOT your friend, it’s time to think like the great leaders who built our country and media empires, “Lead, follow, or get out of the way.”

Steve Lapa is the president of Lapcom Communications Corp. based in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Lapcom is a media sales, marketing, and development consultancy. Contact Steve Lapa via email at: Steve@Lapcomventures.com.

Industry Views

Pending Business: You’re Halfway Home

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Steve Lapa
Lapcom Communications Corp
President

imCongratulations! You’ve made to the halfway point this year.

Stand by to prepare for the second half of the year like you never have before. This upcoming second half could be so confusing even WAZE may not get you home.

The economy is sending so many mixed signals it is almost impossible to distinguish flashing warning signs from healthy growth curves. From home sales to new car sales, prices are holding as mortgage rates are at a 15-year high and new car prices redefine sticker shock.

Hiring in many categories was robust over the last few months, signaling a better economy ahead. Here comes the tricky part. For most in the news/talk sales world, the next quarter isn’t exactly on fire and as usual precious few sellers and managers are working on Q4 as they wrestle with the headwinds they now face.

Sorry to report there is no fast fix or instant solution. But let’s at least try to review some basic game planning:

— Are you still spraying and praying, or have you zeroed in on growth targets? Every survey says, “revenge travel” and dining out are big factors in local economies this year. What’s on your target list?

— Open your eyes. What’s hot and what’s not? Here in Florida, there are two Peloton stores in two major malls as well as a full display in our local Dick’s Sporting goods. All three venues are forever uncrowded – as in empty. Yet have you checked out the price of bicycles, golf clubs, or leisure wear? The consumer is spending, but not where you may think.

— Back to the basics. Medical, dental and general wellness should always be on your radar as most of us are ready to invest in health and happiness. Does the category profile show on your target list?

— Unpredictable economies require smarter financial and legal plans. Are your listeners ready for a financial check-up? Laws change and staying current with tax and estate laws is always a challenge. The news/talk audience always over-indexes on financial qualitative.

— How is your competitive periscope? Are you aware of any new media competition that may be carving into budgets? Have you come to terms with the growth in local digital marketing or is your head still in the sand?

The second half of this year is up to you. Make it or break it, it’s your call.

Steve Lapa is the president of Lapcom Communications Corp. based in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Lapcom is a media sales, marketing, and development consultancy. Contact Steve Lapa via email at: Steve@Lapcomventures.com.

Industry Views

Pending Business: What Will You Focus on Today?

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Steve Lapa
Lapcom Communications Corp
President

imSimple question, tricky answer. Unless you are organized.

If you are a professional athlete, you are paid to put points on the board or stop the opponent from scoring. Did you ever watch a competitive body builder work in the gym? Some have a journal and a tripod to mount their mobile phones recording technique as they work through their routine, carefully blending form and precision. The professional entertainer? Paid to sell tickets. Professional politicians? Easy, get the most votes.

Professional ad seller? You get paid to close business.

Is the better question, “What business will you close today?” Of course, it is. Wait, most sellers never start every day with the stomach-churning question, “What business will I close today?” Maybe that question is a little too focused. After all it drills down the process to the very measurable result of being organized, skilled, and focused. Just like that high achieving athlete or getting a ticket to that sold-out performance, someone was ready to answer that elegantly simple question, “What will you focus on today?”

Let’s start the process of learning how to better sharpen our focus skills. Suppose we start with an easy how-to, as in how-to prioritize your call activity. Your sales calls will fall into five major categories:

— New Business. The lifeblood, the very oxygen of the radio business. Remember this: radio advertising, when measured honestly (political ads, COVID economics adjusted) is a single digit growth business. Unless you are making developmental calls, attrition, competition, and the wobbles in the economy will overwhelm you. Make the developmental calls a priority.

— Renewals. The most efficient sale you will make is the business you currently have. Work on renewals when timely.

— Service. My experience is this is the number #1 weakness of most radio ad sellers. Learn how to follow-up, check-in and listen without looking for a transaction. It’s about making sure your rapport is healthy and ready.

— Collections. Do you need an explanation? Just be sure of your numbers and documentation before you make the call or send the email.

— Internal. Collaboration with management, programming, production, or biz ops starts here.

Simple enough. Five columns to list, prioritize and budget your daily call activity. Owners and managers who are reading this, help your sellers when they get distracted. What will you focus on today?

Steve Lapa is the president of Lapcom Communications Corp. based in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Lapcom is a media sales, marketing, and development consultancy. Contact Steve Lapa via email at: Steve@Lapcomventures.com.

Industry News

TALKERS 2023: Video of “Generating Talk Radio Revenue in a Digital World” Panel Discussion Posted

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

im

During the coming days, videos of all of TALKERS 2023’s numerous sessions conducted June 2 at Hofstra University will be posted, continuing today (6/20) with the panel discussion,im “Generating Talk Radio Revenue in a Digital World.” The session, sponsored by The Ramsey Show, was introduced by syndicated host and radio executive Doug Stephan of the Good Day Show/Stephan Multimedia (pictured at right) and moderated by Lapcom Communications Corp president, Steve Lapa (pictured above). Panelists (pictured below from left to right) include Vince Benedetto, CEO, Bold Gold Media Group; Paul Gleiser, host/owner, KTBB-FM-AM, Tyler, TX; Michael “MZ” Zwerling, host/owner, KSCO/KOMY, Santa Cruz;  Todd Starnes, host/president, The Todd Starnes Show Syndication/owner, KWAM, Memphis; and Paul Vandenburgh, host/owner, WGDI, Albany, NY. See video of the session here.

im

Industry Views

Pending Business: Thank You, Mr. President

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Steve Lapa
Lapcom Communications Corp
President

imHow about a collective “thank you” to the 45th president of the United States for keeping your talk radio programming relevant, timely, unpredictable and most of all engaging?

The interpretation, speculation and compilation of facts, opinions and reporting will be non-stop until this chapter of the news cycle meets the next chapter. This is a never-ending saga that keeps the dial locked into your talk radio frequency. This is the content that keeps the electronic water cooler crowded with listeners who can’t get enough.

Whatever comes next in this chapter of history unfolding in front of our collective ears and eyes is the oxygen that keeps the talk radio world alive and well every day. By the way, the 45th president of the United States just may have pulled your typically soft talk radio summer sales out of the basement and pushed you into an express elevator to the penthouse.

Are you still feeling the drumbeat of the naysayers predicting how talk radio will age out? Or better yet, run its course? My prediction is talk radio is about enter a phase previously unmatched in American broadcast history. Seriously. When was the last time a former president of the United States owned the headlines and collective headspace of talk radio hosts and listeners worldwide for so many years? Never.

Let’s get ready to refresh our summer vacation schedules, seasonal sales packages, rates, and most of all strategies. Start here:

— Sell the concept. Leave the opinions and banter about indictments, politics and the law to your on-air talent. Focus instead on the unique value of the engaged audience.

— Experts are important. Chances are your talk radio hosts will be smart enough to break down the issues and lean on experts to help the audience understand the ramifications. Credibility and consistency can make your coverage stand apart. Show your advertiser what makes your coverage different and better.

— Talk radio goes where TV and video can’t – the car, the beach, even the backyard. Sell the need to know on the go.

— Unfolding the unpredictable. Your listeners want the “inside scoop” on what the next chapter of this saga looks like. Your on-air talent look for every opportunity to give their listeners a peek behind the opinion curtain. The seller’s job is to bring the value of that connection to life on every sales call.

Talk radio is alive and well every day. It’s up to you to show your advertisers the value of instant access to a trusted voice.

Steve Lapa is the president of Lapcom Communications Corp. based in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Lapcom is a media sales, marketing, and development consultancy. Contact Steve Lapa via email at: Steve@Lapcomventures.com.

Industry Views

Pending Business: The Spoken-Word Advantage

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Steve Lapa
Lapcom Communications Corp
President

imI’m sorry.

Please accept my apologies for NOT believing radio, AM radio, news/talk radio is dead. Just ask most of the panelists at last Friday’s TALKERS 2023 convention.

For sure, the news/talk AM radio sector is navigating the choppy waters of change, like it or not. The microsecond breaking newsflash so currently common in our digital world has forever changed the basic pillars of the AM radio news/talk world: programming, audience engagement, sales, and tech. Change and adapt we must. To paraphrase Charles Darwin, “Survival belongs to those who adapt to change, forget about being fit.”

Surprising as it may seem, the five local owner-operators who joined me for our “Generating Sales in the Digital World” panel all agreed on one thing: commitment to their local community. And where there’s a local sound, there is a local sale. Just look at how local owner-operators are growing their AM news/talk operations to win more sales every day. Todd Starnes’ KWAM, Memphis is expanding its local news department, while trendy players like Vice Media and Buzzfeed shut down news efforts. From the Hudson Valley and Albany in New York state to Santa Cruz, California, local owner operators are on calls personally driving local sales. The tech friendly media kit at KTBB, Tyler, Texas tells the story of “The Spoken-Word Advantage.”

These entrepreneurs are fearless when it comes to competing with large group-owned properties that may be better positioned to win national dollars delivering scale local owner-operators can’t match. But wait, they are all proving there is more than one way to win business. While some large-scale group operators struggle with the perils of stock market delisting, 80% of my local owner-operator panelists feel confident 2023 will be bigger and better than 2022. How about you? Is there an air of pride and confidence on your sales team that 2023 will close ahead of last year?

When it comes to the digital race, the truth is many local owner-operators are still learning the best way to compete. Local ad budgets are quickly shifting to incorporate more and more digital, mobile, and streaming initiatives. To a large extent, sellers follow the path of least resistance to the ad money as local managers try to project where the ad money is going. The message last week at the TALKERS 2023 convention was the local news/talk radio business is alive and well and still growing, with an understanding to adapt to change is to survive. 

Steve Lapa is the president of Lapcom Communications Corp. based in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Lapcom is a media sales, marketing, and development consultancy. Contact Steve Lapa via email at: Steve@Lapcomventures.com.

Industry Views

Pending Business: The Fastest Billboards

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Steve Lapa
Lapcom Communications Corp
President

imUntil NASA approves company logos on rockets, the fastest billboards an advertiser can buy move at over 200 miles per hour, weigh less than seven ounces and are three-hundredths of an inch thick.

Who wants fast-moving billboards? The longer you can read the message the better, right? Not a problem when a marketer identifies a hard-to-reach target combined with an engaging new opportunity. No, these are not the colorful logos you see on NASCAR vehicles or the old school logos on Formula 1 cars. These are the new-age digital billboards on Formula 1 race cars.

These new billboards are the first of their kind, strategically placed on Formula 1 cars. These magnificent machines, featured at races around the world, can reach speeds of nearly 250 miles per hour. When a race car is moving that fast every ounce of weight counts, hence the paper-thin design. You see (excuse the pun) it is all about a camera angle and what the viewer sees when TV coverage cuts to that strategically placed camera and over 2 million viewers are looking on. Angles count.

Formula 1 racing not a threat to local radio ad sales, you say? Not yet, but when over 13 million people watch the top 12 Grand Prix races worldwide, it’s just a matter of time. The Formula 1 billboard lessons for local sellers and managers are not simple “how many calls, how many closes?” The Formula 1 billboard story is about:

— Sales and marketing innovation in a sport that is nearly 130 years old. The idea of creating a paper-thin, super lightweight digital billboard is an amazing accomplishment.

— Try again. How many times have you pitched a package to an advertiser who told you what was wrong with your package, only to lead to frustration at not winning the business? Can your manager quickly adapt to the advertisers’ needs? Managers, please read that last sentence carefully. The designers of the digital billboard were sent back to the drawing board until the weight and thickness worked for these incredible race machines.

— While you are thinking about getting your pitch together, somebody is already moving forward. In plain English: you snooze, you lose.

— Collaboration is the way to win. It took sellers working with engineers, working with marketers to make the concept work. How about you? Are you comfortable selling in collaboration with teammates?

The sales and marketing innovation clock never stops. How about you? Is your learning clock still ticking?

Steve Lapa is the president of Lapcom Communications Corp. based in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Lapcom is a media sales, marketing, and development consultancy. Contact Steve Lapa via email at: Steve@Lapcomventures.com. Steve Lapa will be moderating the “Generating Revenue” panel at TALKERS 2023 on Friday, June 2 at Hofstra University.

Industry Views

Pending Business: Get Your Head Straight

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Steve Lapa
Lapcom Communications Corp
President

imAre you a multiplatform juggler? If you sell or manage for a radio station, the answer is yes.

Why? Because it’s been part of the radio ad sales DNA since radio advertising shrunk to single digit growth.

Maybe someone reading this column can research or remember the last time radio industry pre-pandemic ad sales grew at double digits. It’s a tough putt, for sure.

Radio sellers were the first to reach across the aisle and “cross-sell” event sponsorships, concert tie-ins, publications, prize catalogues, bridal fairs, recruitment fairs, half-off fairs, sports and leisure tie-ins, hurricane guides, meet and greets, and it all started with a simple concept called a “remote.”

Radio ad sales strategy has come a long way since the first five-year plan had no projected double-digit growth. Even worse was the negative growth forecast for many markets. I remember that famous local market slogan “last one out, please turn off the lights.”

Those simple, linear, fun-to-present packages that required nothing more than easy-to-follow graphics, reasonable pricing, and a testimonial letter required little training, re-skilling, and new technical understanding. The toughest questions were about electrical outlets, display details, and when do we load in?

Covid killed some of those income generators, but you can add in pre-pandemic tired, low-energy sellers and managers taking concepts for granted as the final nail in the coffin.

Wait a minute. Aren’t brides still making decisions? Is inflation driving us back to coupons and looking for daily deals? Seems like sports-related advertising always thrives, right?

Some concepts will return, others will be reimagined, and a few are gone forever. Back to the future. Digital and social media sales will shape your sales future whether you like it or not. The digital/social media growth trend is moving at a non-stop, double-digit pace, pushing every competitive sales team to learn more and sell faster.

Smart, energetic thinkers are planning the next move, reshaping the past for what will sell tomorrow. It’s been almost 25 years since the first Blackberry phone. Sometimes innovation leaves iconic concepts in the dust. Here is where all of this goes. Get your attitude ready to learn and earn.

— Your glass is never full. The next time a manager introduces a new opportunity open your thinking

— Ask questions. Remember “new” is a powerful sales world door opener. Be sure YOU know how this new opportunity works. Leave your ego outside the sales meeting.

— Local advertisers like a competitive edge. Procter & Gamble built the most successful package goods marketing in the world with “New and Improved.” Learn from the legacy winners.

Managers and sellers want to win new business. Are you prepared to learn how?

Steve Lapa is the president of Lapcom Communications Corp. based in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Lapcom is a media sales, marketing, and development consultancy. Contact Steve Lapa via email at: Steve@Lapcomventures.com. Steve Lapa will be moderating the “Generating Revenue” panel at TALKERS 2023 on Friday, June 2 at Hofstra University.

Industry Views

Pending Business: Obstacles to Sales Productivity

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Steve Lapa
Lapcom Communications Corp
President

imWhat will hurt your chances of sales success more, graduating from a low-ranked college or attending too many inefficient sales meetings?

Not exactly a trick question, but enough to make you stop and think.

Remember when having a top-tier college degree was all that mattered? A recent article in the L.A.Times recalled the classic 1999 study that proved where you received your college degree really didn’t affect your career, except for maybe the networking part, maybe not. The bottom line is you don’t need a degree from Harvard to earn a respectable income as a top seller or manager in the media industry.

On the other hand, attend or lead too many inefficient sales meetings and the result may be a career killer.

The recently released 2023 Microsoft Work Trend Report is a wakeup call for every seller and manager in any business, especially ours. The top five “Obstacles to Productivity” in the report read like a what-not-to-do if you are a leader or hope to lead a sales team in the future. There are even a few warning signs if you are a team member struggling to cope with rudderless sales meetings. Let’s review some takeaways from the report and learn how to right the ship before you take on too much water.

— Goals. Every meeting should have clear, simple, actionable goals presented in an easy-to-understand form. The seller should know exactly what action points to implement to improve performance. Can you check the box?

— Perspired or inspired? Every week I talk to a seller working for one of the larger broadcast groups who feels the ready, fire, aim of product overload. Many radio station sellers can sell anything in any market that belongs to the company represented. Would a sales rep at Home Depot in Florida sell you a snow shovel with the same expertise as a rep in Buffalo? How come the biggest companies in the radio business barely surviving on the NYSE don’t learn from the companies that sell at almost $300 a share.

— Soft sales = more meetings. Seriously? In the age of Zoom, Teams, etc. the 2023 Microsoft Work Trend Report still identified “Too many meetings” as one of the top 5 obstacles to productivity. Can we all just hit the pause button on old-school command and control meeting overload? There is a difference between re-skilling and repeating old material. There is a difference between re-strategizing and re-selling a rejected concept.

The AM radio business is in the emergency room in desperate need of a fresh approach to sales. FM radio could be next. Are you looking forward to your next sales meeting?

Steve Lapa is the president of Lapcom Communications Corp. based in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Lapcom is a media sales, marketing, and development consultancy. Contact Steve Lapa via email at: Steve@Lapcomventures.com. Steve Lapa will be moderating the “Generating Revenue” panel at TALKERS 2023 on Friday, June 2 at Hofstra University.

Industry Views

Pending Business: Father’s Day

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Steve Lapa
Lapcom Communications Corp
President

imYou have still have six weeks to make Father’s Day your sales success. Stop taking for granted, this always undersold 100-plus-years-old celebration.

Father’s Day is a $20 billion business that rarely dominates a radio sales meeting. Did you have a full sales meeting devoted to selling into the Father’s Day gift giving cycle?

Your most valuable sales asset, your on-air personalities, can be helpful in brainstorming, collaborating, even creating unique sales opportunities. They know their audience.

The National Retail Foundation projects only an $80 difference in the average gift spends between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Still the typical radio ad sales team rarely takes the time necessary when it comes to brainstorming this annual opportunity. Unlike Mother’s Day where “natural” categories like flowers, candy, dinner, spa days, even jewelry make the annual target list, what does your target list look like for Father’s Day? How creative is your Father’s Day planning… especially since neckties are still out?

Could it be because Father’s Day was hatched in Spokane, Washington as a complement to its senior partner, Mother’s Day?

It really doesn’t matter. These takeaways may help guide your thinking as you approach any holiday marketing. Let’s start with a Father’s Day profile that should broaden your thinking:

— Forget the old school. Consider this: 81% of gift givers are looking for “unique” or “experience” oriented gifts. A true opportunity to open your prospecting targets. Would Dad enjoy a weekend staycation?

— Like it or not online shopping is becoming the norm, yet when it comes to Father’s Day, nearly 50% are still shopping at retail locations. Another reason to freshen up that prospecting list.

— Despite inflation, 76% of Americans will celebrate Father’s Day.

— The average spend is projected at $171. Not exactly Christmas numbers, but welcome income to any retailer.

Sellers and managers often overlook obvious income opportunities that could come easily. Chances are your local talent have a connection to Father’s Day that could make a difference on a sales call. Don’t overlook the opportunities right in front of you as you approach the next sales call.

Happy Father’s Day!

Steve Lapa is the president of Lapcom Communications Corp. based in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Lapcom is a media sales, marketing, and development consultancy. Contact Steve Lapa via email at: Steve@Lapcomventures.com. Steve Lapa will be moderating the “Generating Revenue” panel at TALKERS 2023 on Friday, June 2 at Hofstra University.

Industry Views

Radio Sales Pro Steve Lapa is This Week’s Guest on Harrison Podcast

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

One of the radio industry’s most respected experts on sales and marketing, consultant Steve Lapa, is this week’s guest on the award-winning PodcastOne series, “The Michael Harrison Interview.” Lapa is presidentim of South Florida-based Lapcom Communications Corporation – a consultation and marketing firm that specializes in helping radio stations and program providers stay afloat financially and actually thrive in these uncertain times of digital media disruption. imHis career goes back more than four decades during which he has served in various management capacities at some of the nation’s biggest radio and television operations in addition to working with major names in talent. Harrison and Lapa engage in a productive chat about the existential challenges facing radio as well as some of the age-old techniques of sales and marketing that withstand the test of time. Lapa, who will be moderating the sales panel at the forthcoming TALKERS 2023 conference on June 2, states, “We have to get radio out of the emergency room and into recovery.” Listen to the podcast in its entirety here.

Industry Views

Pending Business: Harnessing Desperation

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Steve Lapa
Lapcom Communications Corp
President

imAre you desperate enough to be a superstar seller or great manager?

Fellow fans of the NBA, especially all of us based in Miami or Milwaukee, know the name Giannis Antetokounmpo. The 28-year-old, 6’ 11”, 240-pound NBA superstar is affectionately nicknamed the Greek Freak, reflecting his Greek-Nigerian roots. In the past few days, his words dominated the sports news cycle. An emotional two-minute response to a question posed by the Milwaukee Bucks beat reporter Eric Nehm set off a viral frenzy.

Not a basketball fan? Antetokounmpo has 15 million Instagram and 3 million Twitter followers who know him well. Giannis Antetokounmpo, who earns about $40 million a year playing basketball, was asked by Nehm if he felt his team’s 2023 playoff performance was a failure as they lost to the lower seeded Miami Heat and were eliminated from the 2023 NBA playoffs.

Antetokounmpo’s answer was so riveting even a competing owner, the super shark himself—Mark Cuban – complimented Giannis in front of Cuban’s own 9 million Twitter followers.

In just over two minutes in the setting of a globally broadcast press conference, the Greek Freak explained how he does not process “failure.” His brain computes performance, goals, and achievement. Failure is not part of his competitive world, getting closer to his goal is. In a previous interview, Giannis described the desperation he feels from the fear of losing everything he has achieved is his motivation. The NBA MVP ego part is great, but for him it’s about the feed your family, make your parents proud part. Wow! A star performer who is honest enough to share how desperation pushes his performance meter for fear of losing it all.

How can sellers and managers relate when most are focused on “make the month?” Let’s start here:

  • What motivates you? Is it the money, the challenge, the ego gratification of a job well done?
  • Are you the hardest working seller or manager in the organization? Do you still waste your time lobbying for an “E” for effort?
  • How do you process not winning the business? Failure or one step closer on the next opportunity?
  • Are you focused on improving an important aspect of your performance? Commitment to improving is mission critical to every aspiring star.

Next time your motivation meter is low, search for a most memorable 2-minute motivator courtesy of Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Steve Lapa is the president of Lapcom Communications Corp. based in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Lapcom is a media sales, marketing, and development consultancy. Contact Steve Lapa via email at: Steve@Lapcomventures.com. Steve Lappa will be moderating the “Generating Revenue” panel at TALKERS 2023 on Friday, June 2 at Hofstra University.

Industry Views

Pending Business: You

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Steve Lapa
Lapcom Communications Corp
President

I’m one of the lucky ones. In my marketing work I get to speak with radio/audio sellers and managers around the country at companies privately and publicly owned, as well as that increasingly rare breed – the radio station owner/operator. They all share one common fault. Yes, I said fault. Can you guess what it is? Probably not, because you too may share the same fault.

I’m one of the lucky ones as I was warned about this early in my career. Before we look in the mirror, let’s recall what Harry Beckwith said in his 2011 book, You, Inc. His premise was, “The first thing you sell is yourself.” Having trained hundreds of high achievers, my experience is that premise is one of the most subjective statements you will ever hear. How do you sell yourself with grace and humility? How does your ability to sell yourself stand head and shoulders above the next seller on the Zoom call or in the advertiser’s office without over-the-top braggadocio? While on calls with one high achiever, there was always a pause point where that seller took a side bar that started with, “Believe me, I’ve been working for ____ for __years…..” Sound familiar?

After a few calls on the same advertiser, the tenure pitch gets stale. The focus on “me” gets confused with building credibility through proven performance. Sorry, but You, Inc needs an update.

You see the missing link – the fault most sellers and managers share – is the lack of investment in “You.” In plain English, most sellers and managers fail to invest in themselves. We fail to recognize it takes a financial and time investment to keep our skills sharp, our minds focused on performance, and our teams coordinated with a win-win attitude.

There is a reason why high-level tennis professionals work and compete under the watchful eyes of well-compensated coaches and trainers. Pick a competitive career, from sports to entertainment, and somewhere in the mix you will find a coach, mentor, or trainer paid to help improve performance. But rarely will you find a seller or manager in the highly competitive radio/audio sales space investing in improving performance. Sorry to all you managers reading this, but who is coaching you?

Books, seminars, videos, online programs were and are still part of “stay sharp, stay current” training. Sales and managing sales departments is a moving target with change built into every day. Recruitment, strategy and digital dynamics move ahead with or without you. It is never too late to understand the investment necessary in “You” to keep sales and sales management skills improving every day.

Steve Lapa is the president of Lapcom Communications Corp. based in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Lapcom is a media sales, marketing, and development consultancy. Contact Steve Lapa via email at: Steve@Lapcomventures.com. Steve Lapa will be moderating the “Generating Revenue” panel at TALKERS 2023 on Friday, June 2 at Hofstra University.

Industry Views

Pending Business: NAB – Never Assume the Basics

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Steve Lapa
Lapcom Communications Corp
President

Welcome to the NAB edition of Pending Business.

Wait, not that NAB. I am talking about the NAB that affects every manager and seller in the broadcast business, especially radio. This NAB is all about Never Assume the Basics.

Timing could not be better. Borrell and Associates just released a report that validates the Covid pandemic-driven changes in the local advertising marketplace. The shifts are so big, they most likely will change the ad world for a long time. The report shows the measurable local advertising marketplace is now at approximately $143 billion dollars. If you believe the numbers in the report, 67% of local ad dollars are placed in digital media advertising. Simple math says 33% of local ad dollars are now split, radio, TV, all print, outdoor and direct mail. Now that is a genuine showstopper!

These numbers are a tough pill to swallow, especially for those of us who remember the days when (print) newspapers were the king of the hill of local ad dollars. Whether you accept the numbers or not, the trend is your friend, and no manager or seller wants to be left behind. The major drivers behind this seismic shift in local ad dollars are the giants of social/digital media. Members of what TV personality Jim Cramer calls the FANG set – Facebook, Amazon, Google – you know what I am talking about. The shift in local dollars happened and continues happening right before our collective ears and eyes. Some of us are changing with the flow, others are still satisfied just reading a competitive radio monitor report during the Monday morning sales meeting.

Let us pause right here and get back to the danger of assuming the basics. You know what assuming can do, so let us regroup. Zoom back and take a treetop view of how you reconcile the basics of:

— local ad budgets

— sales prospecting

— packaging

What’s changed in your approach to prospecting? What NEW information and new businesses are you targeting? How has your competitive information flow adjusted to reflect local market changes? What is the newest package concept in your sales arsenal? Are you up to speed on the newer social and digital media initiatives in your local market?

Make no mistake, I am not advocating breaking the foundation. Yet we cannot ignore market dynamics. Some companies are driving change and growing in the digital/social media ad space, while others are slower. The great Teddy Roosevelt said “Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way!” Leadership is never easy. When it comes to sales, it should be a constant goal. Do not let anyone push you out of the way.

Steve Lapa is the president of Lapcom Communications Corp. based in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Lapcom is a media sales, marketing, and development consultancy. Contact Steve Lapa via email at: Steve@Lapcomventures.com. Steve Lappa will be moderating the “Generating Revenue” panel at TALKERS 2023 on Friday, June 2 at Hofstra University.

Industry News

Pending Business: Attracting New Recruits

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Steve Lapa
Lapcom Communications Corp
President

Ask any sales manager what the #1 challenge they face is and nine times out of 10 the surprise answer is not “more business.” Generating more business takes a well-oiled machine that starts and ends with a focused, well-trained sales team. And therein lies the challenge question I hear every week. “Where can I find more good salespeople?”

With all the sophisticated technology available today – from Zoom and Teams to data mining and social media – it is hard to comprehend why any viable radio station would have difficulty recruiting “good salespeople.” I rarely faced that challenge in any of the markets where I worked. No matter what the ownership structure or market size – from Buffalo to San Francisco – recruiting and retaining “good salespeople” was only an occasional problem.

If you are a manager at any level, in any market, responsible for recruiting and training “good salespeople,” you may never view the task the same way again if you follow these six simple steps:

1)         Recruitment should always be on your “To Do” list. Always, period, the end. Like the sun rises every morning, recruitment is a regular part of your day.

2)         Times are changing, build your bench. If your sales team is a mix of generations, any given team member may decide to move on for reasons you may not understand. Be prepared. Turnover happens, don’t be ambushed.

3)         Do you have a written profile of the ideal candidate for sales? Sound crazy? Try it right now. What are the three must-have qualities of every successful seller on your team? Those qualities may now be changing with newer digital, social media, and programming changes.

4)         Is your compensation structure competitive? This is one of my favorites. Depending on ownership you may or may not have the degree of flexibility you want. However, you may find a friendlier structure through performance incentives.

5)         Would you trust members of your current team to interview a candidate? I used the technique often over 15 years. Sometimes the culture in your sales department is unique or you may feature team performance incentives. The power of teams is a proven winner in most businesses.

6)         Are you plugged in to the new-think of today’s entry-level seller? Here are some current facts that may change your view of recruiting younger sellers:

   a) A study at the University of Chicago showed 56% of Americans think a college degree is not worth the money. Wow, is that different from most job postings!

b) As job markets become unpredictable, 97% of graduating seniors are open to alternative careers, as in not their major, this according to a study by iCIMS.

Finding “good salespeople” should never be viewed as a management headache. Once you make the commitment, the next great seller could be your next interview.

Steve Lapa is the president of Lapcom Communications Corp. based in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Lapcom is a media sales, marketing, and development consultancy. Contact Steve Lapa via email at: Steve@Lapcomventures.com. Steve Lapa will be moderating the “Generating Revenue” panel at TALKERS 2023 on Friday, June 2 at Hofstra University.

Industry Views

Pending Business: Planning & Organization

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Steve Lapa
Lapcom Communications Corp
President

On a scale of one to 10, where would you rank yourself on planning and organization?

If you are the #1 seller on your team, how do you rank your ability to plan and organize? If you are working your way to the top, how prepared and organized does the #1 seller on your team look?

Planning and organization don’t mean every hour is filled. Top-tier sellers know interruptions are a given. Demands change on a moment’s notice and change is a constant. The day-to-day selling environment is rarely a walk in the park.

The underlying question is how do you prepare to plan? How do you evaluate the opportunity flow to determine what to emphasize and what to abandon? Which projects do you add, and which ones do you delete?

These are tough calls – these drop/adds – as you painstakingly review time, effort, and emotional attachment in each of your sales projects. But here is the good news. All of us, every seller and every manager, can use fresh eyes on planning and organizational skills. To that end, here is my simple gift to you. A timeline of 13 upcoming sales opportunity events that should be income generators. Let us liberally countdown the sales lead time from today, Monday, March 27 to many of the income producing events that drive your sales calendar. Your specific station may not directly tie-in, however, many of your local sponsors are planning right now. So, let us get busy:

Mother’s Day              6 weeks
Memorial Day             7 weeks
Father’s Day               12 weeks
Independence Day      14 weeks
College Football         22 weeks (Season kickoff)
Labor Day                   23 weeks
NFL                            24 weeks (Season kickoff)
Halloween                   31 weeks
Election Day               32 weeks
Veterans Day              32 weeks
Thanksgiving              34 weeks
Christmas                    38 weeks
New Year’s Eve          39 weeks

There sits the 2023 friend or foe selling calendar before your eyes. Do you have the historics, wins/losses and opportunities organized? How about your competitors? What about newer digital and social media integrations that may need more lead time? Is there any turnover in decision makers at key accounts? Ready to wake up and smell the coffee?

Every high achiever knows, everyone wants to win. But are you properly prepared and positioned to win? Another three minutes of planning a day goes a long way!

Steve Lapa is the president of Lapcom Communications Corp. based in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Lapcom is a media sales, marketing, and development consultancy. Contact Steve Lapa via email at: Steve@Lapcomventures.com. Steve Lappa will be moderating the “Generating Revenue” panel at TALKERS 2023 on Friday, June 2 at Hofstra University. 

Industry Views

Pending Business: What’s a Sale?

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Steve Lapa
Lapcom Communications Corp
President

Photography - BroadcastingLet’s take a lesson from arguably the greatest college basketball coach of all time: John Wooden.

The coach wanted every UCLA player on the same page, so he took time in meetings to explain the proper way to put on those old school basketball socks. You know, the ones that came up to mid-calf, usually double stripped at the top. There was a clear method to Wooden’s genius. Taking meeting time to show budding superstars like Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Bill Walton something so fundamental achieved several goals.

 — Fundamentals count. There is nothing more basic than how to properly put on your socks and mastering the basics wins.

— Short cut the basics and you will suffer. Having worn those socks through thousands of school yard games myself, rush the process and painful blisters follow.

— Every player starts every practice, every game the same way.

Every year I would conduct one sales meeting asking my team to answer the question, “Can you define a sale?” I know, that’s way too basic for sellers earning six figures. It’s an embarrassing waste of time for the tenured sellers who had proven themselves in the field every day. Was I wasting the time of those newer team members who were looking forward to the highest commission rate in the market?

Try it. Chances are you will get so many different answers your sales team will seem like a Cirque du Soleil act.

There IS a simple, legal definition of a sale. It all starts with an “exchange.” Once you dissect the definition and focus on the dynamics of the “exchange” you will understand how and why a sale is a process that needs constant care.

Most sellers and managers move right past that critical dynamic. You know the one that requires confidence from both the buyer and the seller. That one dynamic, the exchange between confident buyer and seller goes back to 1626 when it was rumored Peter Minuit bought Manhattan Island for 60 guilders or $24.

There is something to be said for getting all sellers on the same page by starting with the basics.

John Wooden’s record 11 national championships still stands. I figured if it worked for the greatest college basketball coach of all time, it could work for me. Emphasizing the basics should work for you too!

Enjoy the Madness this March.

Steve Lapa is the president of Lapcom Communications Corp. based in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Lapcom is a media sales, marketing, and development consultancy. Contact Steve Lapa via email at: Steve@Lapcomventures.com

Industry Views

Pending Business: AI Meets Sales

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Steve Lapa
Lapcom Communications Corp
President

Talk radio - PodcastHave you picked up the most recent buzz around Artificial Intelligence? It’s hard to miss it.

Seems like the AI buzz is getting louder as more companies face the pressure to improve efficiency and profitability during this roller coaster economy. From Silicon Valley’s tens of thousands of layoffs to Steak ‘n’ Shake closing 30 locations, the heat is on.

Companies vested in the terrestrial radio business have known this pressure for years as we function in a world of single-digit growth and AM radio stations going dark as the real estate is worth more than the FCC license. For the first time, some of the players on the podcast side are feeling the financial heat as the congested podcast world fights for highly competitive ad dollars.

How can AI be a resource in the broadcast radio and podcast ad sales world? Here are two examples of what could be around the corner on your next sales email, Zoom or from the office phone pitch.

— AI audio/phone recognition. Imagine software tracking your phone pitch or Zoom call collecting phrases that identify rate objections, efficiency objections, competitive objections, talent objections, even content objections. Management teams skilled in reviewing the “phrase data” analyze everything from the number of times the objection is raised to the category or tenure of advertiser raising the objection(s). Fast forward to solutions. If your team is made up of multiple sellers with various levels of experience and similar objection(s) appear frequently, management responses and adjustments happen faster, with less stress as the numbers tell the story, not the seller in a confessional. Those adjustments appear in coaching bubbles on your screen as you engage.

— AI shows us the phrase that pays. By now you should know many of the key words and phrases that are sales friendly, grab attention and move you to a close. As well as the opposite – those dreaded turn-off words that turn a warm conversation into stone-cold ghosting. What if the AI software interfaces with your emails? AI could be programmed to identify the key phrases that help close a deal as well as those that are deal busters. I once attended a sales seminar that coached away from using the word “contract.” Not a good takeaway for me. All I could imagine was the legal team slapping their foreheads.

Something tells me the AI software discussed already exists working in the field somewhere helping a sales team become more efficient and crushing the earnings barrier. It’s only a question of when our radio/audio world will be smart enough to adapt the tools for a smarter sales path.

Steve Lapa is the president of Lapcom Communications Corp. based in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Lapcom is a media sales, marketing, and development consultancy. Contact Steve Lapa via email at: Steve@Lapcomventures.com