Digital Dealer - February 2019 - 31

where you paid only for
spots that actually generated inquiries or sales.
Now, it might be difficult to
negotiate that specific tactic
today, however, whenever
our media department was
involved in negotiation for a
station we had never used,
we made it clear that we
would track activity through
a media habits survey,
tracked to scheduled spots
and any future business
would depend on results.
Putting the 'tracked results'
game back into the lap of
a salesperson encourages
that salesperson to work
with station scheduling to
make sure spots are run
at critical times and often
encourages non-negotiated
'bonus' spots.
Some years ago, I told a
Philadelphia market station,
who had been after my
dealer client's business for
five years, that we were going to 'gamble' with a buy for
the coming weekend. I told
that station that we would
place $500 on that station
for spots from Thursday
through Saturday. I didn't
care how many spots they
ran or what time the spots
were run, but if we could
track at least three visits
directly to the station, we
would sign a three-month
contract. We sold eight vehicles that weekend directly
attributed to the station. We
signed for three months with
the caveat that we would
track carefully and base our
future actions. The station
went on to become one of
the biggest producers and
best CPI values, and a longterm media player for the

dealer.

DO A MEDIA HABITS
SURVEY! And ask the right

questions! Within 90 minutes of the sale/delivery you
will enjoy the highest level of
customer compliance with
a one-page media habits
survey where you ask no
more than 40 questions.
Don't ask 'what brought you
in today.' Ask which stations
your customers listen to
on a regular basis. Which
TV stations or programs
they watch on a regular
basis. Which websites they
visited prior to purchase.
Make sure you are tracking
which station's vehicles
are tuned in to the service
drive. When a customer
volunteers a source that
motivated or nudged them
to visit you, make sure it is
recorded. Weight your own
local research 70% to the
national, regional, and local
programs offered by media
sales people and third-party
folks with an agenda.

ASK FOR COLLATERAL
SUPPORT. Before you sign

on the dotted line ask the
station to come back to you
with a collateral support program, including such items
as premiums to offer your
employees and customers.
Ask for more bonus spots,
bonus feature sponsorships,
premium positions, live
broadcasts at your dealership, live spot call-ins,
endorsement possibilities
by station 'stars.' Even
though print is on the wane,
some years ago our media
department asked for bonus
display 'islands' on the stock
market page before renewing an annual line contract.

Newspapers rarely gave up
anything, but in this case
the paper agreed to the
offer which in term tracked
as one of the best performers for luxury sales at the
dealership we represented.
Ask! And then ask for more!
Remember, when a 60
second radio spot or 30 TV
availability goes by without
an advertiser in the position,
its time lost forever for the
station. If there are avails
they want to fill them.

NEVER BEND TO RATINGS CLAIM PRESSURE.

Often stations will wave
research reports that show
them #1 or #2. They believe
if you're going to buy broadcast media, you'll buy three
deep.. including only the top
rated stations as mandatory.
Nope! In fact, in the 30 year
experience of our media
buyers, we've found that
often a station ranked at the
bottom can outperform in
efficiency and value even
the highest rated players.
Remember.. its all about
CPM. Even though another
lower ranked station might
reach fewer overall listener/
viewers, if the price is right,
it might reach enough customers to outperform #1 in
terms of effectiveness.
GO BACK TO THE
WELL. Don't be afraid to

ask for more.. even if you
have a satisfactory packaged negotiated. One of the
greatest value strategies for
a promotion in the last ten
days of the month is to call
the stations you are advertising with and tell them you
have an additional amount
of money you want to spend
over a weekend. Ask them
D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

to come back with a proposal before the days end...
but make it clear you will
only award this to just one
station who has the best
proposal. You'll be amazed
at what some of these stations come back with. This
is found dollars.. on top of
your regular schedule.
PROTECT THE CONFIDENTIALLY OF YOUR
DEAL. Because the great-

est fear of any broadcaster
is the 'deal' they make with
you might get out, make it
clear you'll protect the confidentiality of your deal.

PAY YOUR BILLS IN A
TIMELY MANNER! Many of

the broadcast salespeople
(and sales managers) that
call on you carry around a
'receivables list' that often
dates back on collections 3
months, 6 months or more.
One of the best negotiating
tactics that will nudge your
station to accept a deal
is the promise that you'll
pay within 30 days. Sales
people hate collecting old
receivables. Often they lose
commission on those deals.
Paying in a timely manner
says they are going to get
a commission in a timely
manner. You'll be amazed
at the power of this simple
tactic. For further insight,
email jim@CBCads.com for
an article by Jack Loechner,
titled "Traditional TV and
Radio Hold Their Own."
JIM BOLDEBOOK is founder

of CBC Automotive Marketing,
an advertising/marketing agency
working with some of America's most
successful dealerships. He has been
in the broadcasting, advertising and

marketing fields for almost 50
years. EMAIL: jim@cbcads.com

FEBRUARY 2019

31
http://www.DIGITALDEALER.COM
Digital Dealer - February 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Digital Dealer - February 2019
