Introduction to Radio Sales(Module 1) Professional Selling Skills

Course details

To provide participants with a grounding of how radio works, to have confidence in their product, to appreciate and understand the role played by Sales staff in revenue generation for Stations and to have confidence to enjoy your job and to be successful. • Understand the role of the sales person in business and what characterises excellence in selling • Develop an understanding of a customers’ mindset, needs and wants • Recognise and develop the skills, behaviours and attitudes which define great sales people • Understand the value of good planning and preparation in sales • Learn the importance of excellent communication/presentation skills • Examine the techniques of effective questioning, listening and handling objections and negativity • Learn the value of building long term business relationships

Training Content

This one day course will cover four areas:

• Psychology of Selling
• Preparation
• The Sales Presentation
• Managing your Clients

1. Selling Radio

Great selling skills are primarily about the seller: what you stand for; how you think; how you come across to the customer; how you dress; what you say; what you do; how you can read the customers’ body language; how trustworthy and likeable you are ; what you know. It really is ALL ABOUT YOU. This session shines the spotlight on what the custo

mer wants from his/her advertising campaign and how you can deliver just that. Content includes:

• Consultative SellingRadio Industry - development of radio in Ireland
• Characteristics of a professional salesperson
• Correlation between Attitude/ Behaviour and Success
• Evaluate your own skills & strengths and areas of weakness
• Adopting successful patterns of thinking and behaviour

2. Preparation

Great selling skills mean knowing your customer and knowing your business. You need to immerse yourself in radio knowledge so you are not just a natural expert in your subject, but your colleagues and customers alike recognise your expertise and professionalism. Knowledge is power, and power means confidence, recognition and sales success. It also makes good sense to plan and prepare so you meet well prepared on all fronts. Topics include :

• Radio v Press/Online
• Joint National Listenership Research
• Prospecting/Networking/Managing Time
• Features v Benefits – developing a persuasive argument
• Handling Objections

3. Your Sales Presentation

When we arrange to meet with a client, our ability to manage that conversation, listen, be persuasive, confident and sure footed is critical. We need to make the most of that opportunity because we will probably not get a second chance to make a first impression. This session concentrates on the different – but seamless - stages of the sale presentation and how we handle the interaction so we get the best result possible. This session will include:

• Body Language/verbal cues
• Using Creative Brief

4 Stages of the Sale

• Practical Presentations
• Post Sales Meeting Checklist

4. Building Loyalty

It takes a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get a customer to buy in to your radio station. You prepare the groundwork, present your ideas and plans, impress the customer, overcome all her objections, resistance and hesitancy and she makes the decision to spend with you. Now, you must manage that customer so you build a solid working relationship>

Loyalty begins once a sale is made – from that moment the customer begins to judge your value based on what he perceives. He judges your quality, your service, your responses, and then he judges how he feels about you. How he feels about you is critical in determining whether he will continue as your customer, topics will include:

• Building loyalty and respect from customers
• Complacency hurts your business
• Building credibility
• What a customer wants
• Emotional engagement
• Wrap Up

Delegates will outline what their challenges are going forward and what they intend to do to address those challenges.

They will be asked to continue to work on the areas which they have identified that need more work and attention and build on the skills and knowledge they’ve acquired during the training day.

Training Method

Highly interactive one day training course with a practical focus on implementation of theory and provision of real solutions to sales problems within the industry.