Jon Miller

The Arbitron book is out.

After you’ve analyzed the ratings and talked to your airstaff, it’s now time to run the toughest gauntlet - talking to the sales team.
          There’s a good chance this is the toughest audience you will face. One big thing to remember up front is that their livelihood is more directly attached to the numbers than yours. Most program directors are on a salary with bonuses when the ratings are up and no penalty – other than decreased job security – when the numbers are down.
           Sales people, on the other hand, are paid on commission so when the numbers are up they generally have an easier time generating income. But when it’s the opposite, the station is tougher to sell, their income is more likely to take a direct hit, and that can affect putting food on the table. 
          When it’s time to talk to your sales team, the following are some suggestion on how to approach presenting the numbers, particularly if your station saw a decline in ratings. 

1. Break it Down
All the sales team is likely to notice is that the station went down. This is your chance to share what you found when you took the time to analyze the book. Whether the cume dropped, TSL fell or the station’s P1 composition changed, share it with them and start a dialogue on what the station needs to do to bring the numbers back up.      
           We’ve talked at length in previous articles about what to focus on each time the book releases and how to analyze your competitive situation.  I would highly recommend giving those pieces a read (or a re-read) before you dive into the ratings.  It will not only help you get a handle on what moved the ratings this survey, but increase your credibility with the sellers if you’re able to stand up and give them a factual accounting of the station’s most recent performance. 

2. Look for Storylines                                                                                                                                               
It’s inherent in their job description: sale people are paid to sell. They need good stories they can rally behind and tell their clients about. There is always at least one positive story in every book and it’s your job to find it and share it with the sellers.                                                                                                                               
           Dig up at least one credible ray of sunshine and include it in what you present. It could be a daypart story (“we are really starting to see traction with our new morning show”) or you could look at the composition of your audience (“we are still primarily an adults 35-54 radio station, which is right in the wheelhouse of the much coveted 25-54 demographic for advertisers”).
           If you have the PD Advantage program, use it to hunt for stories.  Here are some short video tutorials on how to take advantage of the best reports; for diary markets click here and for PPM markets click here.


3. Get Some Perspective                                                                                                                                                 
Beyond the rays of sunshine look for easy ways that sellers can explain the ratings to their clients. Comparing this particular book to the station’s performance over time to prove that a down book is more the exception than the rule or doesn’t match previous trends can give sellers a lot of ammunition when they are talking to a client. Look for patterns involving your station, your format or the market as a whole that go beyond just the last month or quarter.                       
           At Arbitron we definitely recommend taking a 3-pronged approach to analyzing your station over time.  Looking at the most recent book (1), doing a year-to-year comparison (2) and finally examining the ratings over the full course of a year (3).  The most recent book tells you what just occurred but you need to augment it by investigating where you were at this time last year.  And, by putting the most recent book into a year-long trend you can get an idea for what the highs and lows look like over time.

4. Explain the Unexpected                                                                                                                                         
The sales team isn’t likely consider the impact that seasonal events such as the start of baseball season or unique moments like the presidential election can have on the ratings of stations in all types of formats. If a certain event shifted a lot of listening out of normal patterns, be sure to explain it.                                                                       
           This is precisely why we advised how to analyze your ratings over time in our last point.  Seasonality shows up in the numbers only when you run a year-long trend.  And at the same time, things are rarely static in the market from one year to the next.  If the baseball team that finished dead last in 2011 makes a run to the world series this year, that’s going to affect more than just the listening to the sports format in town because it’s going to become a cultural phenomenon in your market that transcends just the sporting world.

5. Keep it Short                                                                                                                                                   
Don’t plan on spending a lot of time in front of the room explaining the nuances of every number in the ratings book. Visual aids are nice, maybe a couple of PowerPoint slides but that’s it. Pick out the most important storylines, explain them and be done.  Kind of like this paragraph.

6. Be Prepared for Questions                                                                                                                              
Once you’ve finished, don’t just run out the door after your presentation.  After you share a few observations about the numbers and give them some good stories to tell their clients, ask if they have any questions then stay for the rest of the meeting!  It’s a nice gesture that you’re invested in their success as any good programmer should be.                 
           If they do have questions, be sure to give honest answers even if the news isn’t good. When the inevitable question about what you are doing to fix the problem comes up, unless it involves personnel issues you can’t talk about, give them the most honest answer possible including, “I’m not sure” if you don’t know. They’ll see through you and maintaining credibility is key when working closely with your sales team.                                                                        
           Then, after you’ve suffered the slings and arrows, go back to your desk, hunker down and work on bringing the ratings back up so the next time you have to go over the numbers with sales it will be a much more pleasant experience.