Your (Underwriting) Potential Is Greater Than You Know
Apr 23, 12:48 AM
You’ll be surprised at how successful your underwriting can become just by following a few simple steps. And best of all, most of the ideas are free. A high-performing Underwriting Department is not just a function of format, market or audience size. Even favorable Arbitron ratings, traffic software or sophisticated selling tools – helpful as they are – aren’t the main ingredients. Rather, you need organization, leadership, determination and a few good selling principles; these form the underlying framework of success. None of these qualities cost much, but they will yield enormous results to your station’s bottom line. If you’re serious about underwriting, try the following steps:
FIND A SPECIALIST.
Take an inventory of your station. Do you have a full time person devoted exclusively to underwriting? I don’t mean someone who does a little underwriting in their spare time, works part-time in membership and then writes and edits the station newsletter when they get a chance! I mean someone who does nothing else but underwriting, full time. You can, of course, have some part-time people who solicit underwriting, but have someone whose entire day is devoted to nothing else but finding new, and solidifying existing, business for the station. It will do wonders for your station’s underwriting budget.
FIND GOOD SUPPORT STAFF.
If you are a one person show in underwriting, you are hampering your effort by spending valuable time away from your most important mission -selling! If you can find a good person to coordinate the paper flow, then you will be free to increase your productivity and increase your FTFST (Face To Face Selling Time). Look for someone who can write up and fax contracts to the customer, edit or help compose underwriting copy, plus do the monthly billing and statements. A good Underwriting Coordinator is worth their weight in gold!
PUT MORE PEOPLE ON THE STREET.
If you devote one person exclusively to underwriting and are getting good results, imagine if you clone that person again and again. Depending on the size of your market, you could hire some independent contractors and have them do nothing else but sell underwriting too. Train them in sales techniques, pay them a good commission, 15%-20% of their sales, and you have suddenly gotten the focused, exclusive effort of several people who do nothing else but contribute to the station’s underwriting revenue stream.
PROSPECT, PROSPECT, PROSPECT.
Your underwriting effort will never grow unless you go out and find new businesses to put on your station. Radio is one of the easiest media to sell! Your main competition (newspapers and TV) usually think your clients are too small to bother with. Finding companies whose owners like your format or love NPR is not hard, if you’re out there looking. The quality of the public radio audience is very high, so key in on this fact when you talk to the client. Most commercial radio reps would kill for your station’s qualitative characteristics! I usually like to quote the “three B’s” of the public radio audience in my pitch: Boomers, Brains, and Bucks. These three qualities are the most desirable of any radio demographic. Where do you find new business? Listen to other radio stations for leads or tear ads out of the local newspaper. Try to bring in somebody new each or every other week If you get just 25-50 new clients a year in addition to your established customers, you’ll set a sales record!.
CREATE A GREAT PRODUCT.
If you create a concise and attractive sales presentation, present it in professional manner, and act excited about it, you will be successful in the sales process. How do you do this? Piece together a few simple one-page sheets on your station’s qualities (program guide, prices, coverage map, etc.) and start making appointments. The majority of your sales already come from the business owner or decision maker, a favorable dynamic that the commercial radio reps only wish they had. It is likely that most of your clients will have heard of NPR or may listen already. During this Face to Face Selling Time your opportunity to close underwriting sales is very high! Think of it as a chance to promote your stations’ underwriting program as a potential solution to the your prospect’s marketing problems. Many times, companies are eager to reach your station’s high quality audience in a different, non-commercial manner. Offering underwriting opportunities on public radio is a great time to capitalize on that dynamic!
DON’T UNDER-ESTIMATE THE VALUE YOUR PRODUCT.
One common mistake most stations make is pricing their underwriting too low. One of my first acts as underwriting manager was to raise rates 20%. When nobody complained, that told me that rates were not high enough. I usually try to raise rates in the second or fourth quarters, when demand is higher and there is more activity in the market. Buyers of radio understand that it is a supply and demand medium. Compare your rates to other radio stations in town with similar formats, (especially morning drive rates) you may find that yours are vastly under priced. Take a look at your inventory. What are your most popular dayparts? Start charging higher rates for the popular shows; it’s like getting a easy raise! Worried about complaints about high rates? Use “no charge” spots. They lower the unit rate of the overall schedule and you can be more generous with them in first and third quarters, when business is slow and less generous in second and forth quarter when business is brisk.
BE CREATIVE.
Don’t just sell your underwriting “a la cart”. Most stations have tons of underutilized inventory. Try to sell dayparts or programs in combination with one another. For example, if you check the audience figures for Weekend Edition you’ll see that they are very good, almost as good as your All Things Considered, and it is usually priced lower than the prime Monday-Friday programming. By combining Weekend Edition along with the Mon.-Fri. Morning Edition and All Things Considered, you get two extra hours to sell and your client will get more spots at a lower average cost. For longer term contracts, discount the rate and offer to throw in some free spots to “sweeten” the deal. As a further incentive to close the deal, offer the potential client some special programming free or at low cost. Program providers such as NPR and PRI offer special programs throughout the year. Include underwriting in these programs in your package, as a special added incentive exclusively for that client. Package up evenings and weekends if the programming is different than in drive time, and discount it heavily. Customize a package for a special client and ask for a 52 week commitment – you’ll be surprised what happens! Provide added value by listing your underwriters on your website and in your newsletter at no extra charge, but be sure to let them know the dollar value of these extras!
SET SOME GOALS.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and it may take awhile to build up your underwriting. Set some realistic goals and give yourself 12 months to reach them. Some months you may go over, some months you’ll fall short. More importantly, see how you are progressing quarterly. Have a monthly goal for each sales person and check periodically to see how each individual is doing. Soon you’ll be creating a track record and you can compare sales figures by month.
Now that you have a framework for success, get out there and sell! Pick one of these steps to start with, implement it, and then add the others one by one. If you already have some in place – congratulations! – you are on your way! You have the ability to greatly boost your station’s bottom line through underwriting, insuring a quality product for your listeners.