Sales Focus & Deal Quality
By Al Cupo, Vice President, Local Media Association
Presented by Christine Rice, Vice President Interactive Sales, Barrington Broadcasting Group LLC
Deals Profile
12 websites running deals
27 broadcast stations
14 markets across the Midwest and South
Deals are a perfect fit for these markets with SMB clients
Started Deals in February 2011
Weekly emails to all station presidents, top execs and AE’s with weekly deal specials sold throughout their company
Group Focus: Regular calls with all sites
Local Sites: weekly, monthly and quarterly calls to discuss deals’ reports
Management Team: all revenue reports sent to management and used in follow-up revenue calls with presidents
Weekly Reports - The Data:
- Revenue Reports
- Deal Category Reports
- Deals/Contest Database Reports
All report data used to identify and measure best in class programs
Onsite Visits
Personal visits are essential to maintain local focus
These onsite visits are used to gauge success with all interactive products; Deals category is part of every regular site visit!
Training and role-playing is very important to keeping deals top of mind on each sales call.
Deals training includes:
- Deals positioning
- Good deals categories to pursue
- Creating a good deal from scratch
- Handling objectives
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Local Sales Teams
Combination of interactive sales managers and local AE’s sell all interactive. Managers review and confirm prospects and oversee all deals programs.
Interactive Local Sales Managers have a goal of 1 – 2 deals/week
General Sales Managers also have a goal of 1 – 2 deals/week
Ultimately, Local Sales Managers and AE’s responsible for all deals
Local Sales Teams – Compensation
Deals Account Executives: Base plus commission with goal of moving to commission only
Many ‘deals only’ sales AE’s are also functioning as on air talent. Expected to input their deals into system
TV Account Executives: Commission only for deals
Most station commissions are higher on all interactive products than TV
Local Strategy – Account Reviews
Weekly meetings with sales managers to discuss prospects and current accounts – top 200 deals prospects are identified and added to by account executives
AE has two-weeks to close deal before moving prospect to another sales person
Best categories for deals are reviewed and SMB targets not included in the best category list require preapproval
Local and company-wide Sales Contests
AE who sells the most deals win money, trips, concert tickets, gas cards, etc.
Deals Calendars keep track of start and stop dates and is used during sales meetings –fill holes in program
Deal Quality: Negative Effect of a Bad Deal
Reduces database size and audience interest
Diminishes faith in product
Must be able to say ‘no’ to some deals
Always keep in mind that it’s about the audience – develop deals for the end-user
Deal Structure is important – The offer and page design must be considered
Evaluate past deals both locally and throughout the company to gauge future results