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BUFFALO: AM SALES

G

GeorgeKramer

Guest
So my sales rep roots are pulsating and I have to ask... who are considered the best sales guys and gals on the AM dial today in WNY?

Specifically, who does WECK/WLVL have on the streets and working the phones?

Who has the great gig of selling for Schopp & Bulldog on WGR? Love em or hate em, they have plenty of listeners and pull in numbers.

Who's the best grizzled veteran working the scene? Who is the up and coming kid selling for Entercom?

Anyone at Entercom that Riter/Greene should target as a future employee of Culver Communications?
 
GeorgeKramer said:
So my sales rep roots are pulsating and I have to ask... who are considered the best sales guys and gals on the AM dial today in WNY?

Specifically, who does WECK/WLVL have on the streets and working the phones? Who has the great gig of selling for Schopp & Bulldog on WGR? Love em or hate em, they have plenty of listeners and pull in numbers.

Who's the best grizzled veteran working the scene? Who is the up and coming kid selling for Entercom? Anyone at Entercom that Riter/Greene should target as a future employee of Culver Communications?
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Are you serious? With your "sales roots," surely you know radio sales is commission based. You don't sell, you don't eat, you don't work. What AE (even a marginal rep who hangs in month to month) would walk away from a cluster that gives him/her a better chance of making a living by selling successful formats from AC to Classic Rock, CHR, News-Talk or Country, to roll the dice on WECK? When you're out in the street, you're up against some of the shrewdest, smartest (and in a minority of cases, sleaziest) competitors in the market. You're selling to clients, direct and agency, who will grind three layers of skin off your back if they have the chance. Ever presented to fat Billy Fucillo and his advertsing clan or the creative mavens at Paragon? These days you don't make your pitch armed with good looks, a smile and a pat on the back. Even Helen Hipshaker doesn't sell that way anymore. It might have worked in '78, but this is 2011. And you can't rely on "relationship selling" if a station has no ratings on which to build that relationship. Reps have it hard enough even when they're working for stations that give them the resources to do their jobs (e.g., ratings, print presentations, qualitative research, multi-platform sales potential, computers and leadership.) They're not likely to trade that for selling WECK on the if-come. During live-local hours, WECK should stop running the PSAs which they use to fill out their stopsets. PSAs diminish the value of thir inventory (minimal as it might be) and give the advertising community the impression that "nobody's buying the station." During network programming hours WECK should use station promos to fill the gaps of unsold local inventory. Image counts.
 
Wow Element number nine...you are exactly whats wrong with people who want or think they want to sell. Relationships can be made and cultivated. To think a station has to have all the ratings to be successful is ludicrus. EVERY station will deliver results if its purchased correctly. That means the client's target customer reaches the demos of the station. Then the creative is effective. Finally the rate is reflective of the number of listeners on the station. If you don't believe it, have a client run a campaign giving away absolutely free product. See how quickly they scream to stop. Relationships can be very important. Maybe you're the rep who comes up with the "killer" copy that run on all stations. Maybe you actually advise the client on the best buys to make and you're absolutely objective and actually want to client to be successful. Maybe you help the client plan and execute campaigns. Believe me there are so many ways a radio rep can help small or medium sized businesses today. They are screaming for the help because they have probably are down in sales, due to the economy, which means they have less employees, work longer hours and don't have the proper time to work on marketing. Unfortunately from what I see nowadays, reps want to e-mail the package of the day. I bet a good majority of reps don't even see their clients more than once or twice a year. No wonder the business is suffering. Go back to the basics, you will win if you do.
 
intheeno said:
Wow Element number nine...you are exactly whats wrong with people who want or think they want to sell.
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Really? I'm wrong because I drew a distinction between AEs who have to hit their numbers, feed their families and make their car payments having a better chance of making a living selling a station that gets results for its clients? The words "you have to have all the ratings" wasn't in my post, so don't quote something that was not written or implied. Of course personal relationships are important, but getting results for the client are equally if not more important. By your logic, putting "killer" copy on WJJL would make as many listeners aware of a client's product or service and running that same copy on WBEN. "Killer copy" and "award winning campaigns" don't sell diddly squat if they're placed on a station that doesn't reach listeners in the client's target demo.
 
@Elemelanting....nine times...I stand by my post. You seem to think only ratings matter and that is not true. I see it every day. You make the comment, "stations that don't have any ratings", I'm sorrty but all stations have some ratings. If you read my post I was clear in saying the clients customers have to match with the stations demos. The killer copy I refered to would run on a stations that were good for the client, and my definition of killer copy is effective copy. Don't try to disect my posts. I was in radio when your mama was still looking for your daddy.
 
Well gramps, if you believe "all stations have some ratings," you haven't seen a recent book. We're talking Arbitron here, not Hooper or Pulse. It's likely that all stations had ratings back in the day when you were slapping clients on the back and promising them good tickets to see the Bisons at Offerman Stadium. Today, not all stations have ratings and some of those ratings, particularly under a one share Persons 12+ are negligible. But if you want to try to convince advertisers to "invest" in a schedule on a station that gets outranked by all but four stations in the market, Persons 25-54, knock yourself out. Just don't come by my business and try pitching me.
 
Its guys like you that are the death of radio...if you actually believe there are stations on the air with no ratings then you should just leave the business and go down to the Rath Building and see if you can land a life long job living off the taxpayer. All stations will deliver results if purchased properly and that also means paying the the rate that matches the audience. The way you write you would think WBEN and WECK are priced equally. WECK will work for small businesses that can't afford spending $1500-3000 a week on WBEN. Get a life and stick to what you know which appears to be nothing.
 
Get a life and stick to what you know which appears to be nothing.
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@ intheeno - take a deep breath and calm down. This is a friendly board. Turn it down a notch & lose the insults.

Personally, I don't see how you can advertise on low to no rated stations and get much in the way of results.
 
@Cee, another radio killer...its all about what you get for your money. Do you actually think all the advertisers who shell out 5k on WBEN get great results? Ask a rep who does a remote and sits there with the on air person talking to the client about the "residual" effect of the promotion. $200 on WECK may actually deliver better results for the client. Its all about frequency. Go back and read your Radio 101 book. And finally I don't need you to tell me to calm down. Look at Elements number of posts...look at them...you'd think he was Marconi. Maybe your Marconi's wife...
 
Look at Elements number of posts...look at them...you'd think he was Marconi. Maybe your Marconi's wife...
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No, I'm a dude and not involved with Element or any other posters on this board at the present time. But thanks for suggesting it.
 
Hmmmm. The question seems to be "What will give you better results - 5,000 people hearing it 10 times, or 500 people hearing it 100 times?"

BTW, reality says that mom & pop simply can't afford to be on 'BEN, but they can afford to be on WECK. The question is whether 20 spots on WECK are better than putting an ad in the local pennysaver.
 
Seems a lot of this is market/station specific. A $200 buy might get you more BTA or ROS units in smaller markets, but having worked with Dick Greene and Dave P., I'm guessing $200 won't buy a high frequency schedule on WECK. Maybe four, five commercials? Haven't seen their latest rate card. I advised a few clients on buys during political season. As noted, repetition is key, yet in smaller markets like Olean, Duinkirk and Batavia, even with political rates, $200 wouldn't buy a schedule that reached the body count we needed to reach with frequency.
 
Jim, I wish I was selling you time...4 or 5 commercial? Many more than that....its a tough sales world out there...Dave P is wheeling and dealing. The 200 I meant as a weekly schedule by the way. Come on people, we all learned frequency is the name of the game...Rox, The Penny Saver? you've got to be kidding me. Newspapers are the only medium that didn't grow in 2010. Stick a fork in them.
 
'No, WECK also didn't grow in 2010. About the only medium in WECKs league money-wise is the pennysaver. Or maybe targeted direct mail.
 
Metro Community News?

If that's even still around. The previous owner went all wacky and print some infamous "takes" about controversial issues like abortion and gay rights and other don't touch 'em issues?

I'm not even sure who owns that outfit anymore. Probably a out of town corporation... much like Entercom!
 
Bwwwahhh-hahhh-hhhaaaaa. I don't know what's funnier, DeForrest the seasoned sales genius talking about "frequency" spending $200 a week or Pastrick buying WECK at $40 a unit. Professor 'No says a $200 weekly schedule (for the benefit of "frequency," twenty spots at ten dollars a holler) will do the job. Frequency on $200 a week. That's like trying to build a three story house with a hammer from the Dollar Store. Better to spend more money at Sears for a good hammer that will last a lifetime. He must be selling WXRL or WJJL.
 
Element...keep your day job and dreaming about the big time...As i said in previous posts, guys like you are the death of radio. $200 a week constistently on WECK will get an advertiser results. Like I said before stick to something you know, NOTHING!
 
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