KBA'S WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

DECEMBER 17, 2020

BROADCASTER ALVIN WREN PASSES AWAY

Obituary for Alvin Wren at Bosley Funeral Home

Rev. Alvin Wren, Jr., age 68, of Bradfordsville, passed away Thursday, December 10, 2020 at Norton Hospital in Louisville. He was born on December 25, 1951 in Marion County. For 47 years, Alvin pastored South Fork Presbyterian Church in...

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www.bosleyfuneralhome.com

LOCAL MEDIA IS WINNING THE COVID TRUST BATTLE

Local Media is Winning the COVID Battle for Eyeballs and ...

A recent study conducted by The Whitman Insight Strategies Initiative and Creative Circle Media Solutions takes a deep dive into how a global pandemic has affected the actual feelings and emotions of local media consumers.

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www.editorandpublisher.com

FORMER KBA CHAIR, TOM ULMER (AKA SANTA), SPREADS HOLIDAY CHEER

GDL: Merry Christmas, St. Albert the Great Parish School!

Santa wishes a very merry Christmas to the students at St. Albert the Great Parish School.

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www.whas11.com

RISING ABOVE REGISTRATION NOW OPEN

We’d like to formally invite you to attend Rising Above: A Virtual Sales & Management Media Summit on January 27th and 28th.

Featuring lessons from the best trainers in the business (Laurie Kahn, Chris Lytle, Bonnie Hagemann, Jamie Alpin, Jessica Jett-Hill, Joe Jordan, Derron Steenbergen, and Speed Marriott) Rising Above will be a day and a half live virtual training summit that will teach, coach, inspire and motivate your members to rise above the challenges of today’s sales environment.

During this multi-day summit, we’ll combine our talents and host a virtual cocktail reception with live entertainment from BMI.

Registration for this summit is FREE, complements of the Kentucky Broadcasters Association.

JEFF SCHMIDT'S SALES TIP OF THE WEEK

SALES MANAGERS COULD BE MORE LIKE DOCTORS

Have you had your annual physical yet? I just completed mine. Those are always fun. I like my doctor. He and I have a little chit-chat about what’s happened in the past year of our lives and then we get down to business. Before the doctor comes into the room, the nurse has weighed me and taken my blood pressure, pulse, and temperature. These are the “vitals.” For the annual, they also draw blood and do a “panel” on my blood. If those are all within the boundaries of good health, the doctor and I chat some more, he does a bit of poking and prodding and says, “You look healthy good work.” The process takes a total of about 15 minutes and I’m good to go for the next year unless something comes up that causes me concern.

Imagine for a moment if that would be how sales managers handled the annual reviews with their salespeople. Imagine if the one-on-one with your sales manager were similar to my experience with my doctor. They aren’t, but you can dream, right?

I’ve been on both sides of the table of a one-on-one meeting; sometimes it feels like a ridiculous exercise of measuring the minutia--details I never would look at if not for the meeting.

Before you managers start to get angry with me, let me explain. My doctor looks at my “vitals.” If he finds no cause for alarm, he doesn’t subject me to needless invasive procedures and expensive diagnostic tests looking for trouble. He accepts the vitals as an indicator of health or trouble and proceeds accordingly. IF there are warning signs, more questions, tests, and diagnostics are performed - but only IF an issue is found in the vitals.

In sales, shouldn’t we be measuring what matters and not subject our people to analysis by paralysis? Here are the “vitals” for sales professionals:

Are they meeting their PERSONAL financial goals? Are they making enough money? In my experience, most sellers don’t care much about the company goals. They care about their personal goals first. Notice the whole process starts with them.
How does their billing compare to their agreed-upon goal? If they are meeting their goals every month, this is a great sign. Many managers, (including me), would joke, “Then we have to raise your goal.” Salespeople don’t laugh at that.
How does their billing compare to last year? Are they up, down, or flat? Have they retained most of their customers from last year, or are they churning through new business? Okay, 2020 is not a fair year to look at this, so maybe look at 2019.
New business. What is the percentage of their billing that didn’t exist last year?
Repeat business. What are their renewal and attrition rates?
Are they enjoying what they are doing and why? No matter how good they are, if they aren’t being fulfilled by the work they do, that’s cause for concern.

By looking at those six vital signs you would have a complete picture of a salesperson’s success.

The big idea is this: Measure what matters. The seller who is performing doesn’t need the same level of diagnostic work as the seller who is not performing. If Dr. Carlson were to put me through a battery of tests when my vitals are good, he would be accused of insurance fraud or over-billing.

Jeff Schmidt is the SVP of Professional Development at the Radio Advertising Bureau. You can also connect with him by email JSchmidt@rab.com or on Twitter and LinkedIn.

NEWSLETTER QUICK NOTES...

KY JOURNALISM HALL OF FAME NOMINATIONS ACCEPTED THRU 1/15

Nominations for the 2021 Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame are being accepted now until January 15, 2021. The sole criterion for selection is that nominees should have made a significant connection to Kentucky and have been active in journalism long enough to establish that the contributions they have made to the profession are significant. Kentucky natives or journalists who were raised or educated in Kentucky but practiced journalism elsewhere are eligible for nomination and selection. For details and instructions on how to submit a nomination, click here.

NEW FCC COMMISSIONER CONFIRMED BY SENATE

The Senate voted this week to confirm Nathan Simington as the newest FCC Commissioner. Simington takes Commissioner Michael O’Rielly’s spot. When Chairman Ajit Pai leaves the agency on Inauguration Day, the FCC will stand at two Democrats and two Republicans, depriving President Biden of a majority at the agency until a new Democratic Commissioner is confirmed, potentially delaying action on controversial matters that the a Chairman may want to pursue. Read more

WHAT DOES THE MORE ACT PASSAGE MEAN FOR MARIJUANA ADS?

By: David Oxenford

Last week, there was much written in the press about the MORE Act passing in the House of Representatives, taking actions to decriminalize marijuana under federal law. This would include removing marijuana from The passage of this bill through the House, though, should not be taken as a sign to start running marijuana advertising on your broadcast station – though there are some signs that the day on which that advertising can be run may be in sight. Read more