Broadcasting (Jan-June 1933)

Exit-j Salesman — Enter, Contact Man High Pressure Methods Are Disappearing From Radio ; Prospect Should be Shown Preliminary Program Mr. Flamm By SIDNEY FLAMM Commercial Director, WMCA, New York THE SALESMAN of radio broadcast p r o grams is rapidly fading from the scene and will be supplanted by a man whose function will be that of a broker or contact man. The complex and divergent elements that enter into the pattern of a successful radio broadcast campaign have forced this change so that it now becomes necessary to consider radio presentations from regional stations in an entirely different light, and to reorganize the commercial development with new personnel, new ideas and new methods. The elimination of the old line salesman who made the commercial contacts, built the program, suggested the merchandising contests, is a natural evolution. Outgrows Single Mind RADIO programs have outgrown the grasp and comprehension of a single mind. The highly specialized integral parts of a completed presentation are beyond the reasonable grasp of one man. The salesman should not be expected to have the knowledge of a musical director, a merchandising expert, a continuity writer, an author and stage director. In the past and at present the salesman on an account has had to cover too much territory to do it well and expertly. He has been first, last and all the time the last word on the programs he has brought to a station, and very often his personal views have been insurmountable and often a retarding element in program improvements. The new contact man's primary service will be to acquaint himself with the general aspects of a prospective client's needs and then induce the client to visit the station and listen to a preliminary broadcast program arranged for his benefit. At this meeting the client will be given an opportunity to discuss his radio advertising and merchandising problems with the station commercial director, and at the same time give his undivided attention to a constructive criticism of the preliminary program. High Pressure Lacking IN THE atmosphere of a well appointed office that reflects refinement, restfulness and success, the commercial director presents the first sample of the broadcast program. The prospective client at his ease and undisturbed by the routine of his own office or telephone interruptions can give his undivided attention to the presentation. The commercial director's easy conversation itself invites criticism and suggestions and "RADIO PROGRAMS have outgrown the grasp and comprehension of a single mind," writes Mr. Flamm in explaining why the old-fashioned advertising salesman with a sign -on-thedotted -line complex is rapidly fading from the broadcasting picture. In his place is arising the contact man whose prime function is to induce a prospect to visit the station and listen to a sample program. Once the prospect is in the station, the commercial director handles everything with tact and ease, high pressure salesmanship being noticeably absent. Mr. Flamm gives five definite reasons why this new salesmanship is superior and particularly adapted to radio. opens the door for the station's staff to make a complete study of the future clients' problems. Judicious questioning by the commercial director develops the pertinent information that is essential to a complete broadcast presentation. The client leaves after a pleasant hour in which high pressure salesmanship has been noticeable by its absence. He has not had to battle a salesman with a determined jaw and a sign-onthe-dotted-line complex. Showmanship and psychology have played a large part in the meeting and the client leaves with a picture of a successful radio station. Contact Man's Requisites AT THIS point the commercial director armed with data and the ultimate goal, which his recent visitor is desirous of reaching through a properly constructed broadcast presentation, calls in the station's department heads and turns over to them all the information he has obtained during his talk with the client. The radio contact man must be thoroughly grounded in the broad, comprehensive story of radio — thoroughly conversant with the proven performance of radio — and enthusiastic in his conviction that radio can effect good-will, prestige, and most important, a high percentage of sales response. My theory of re allocating the position and work of the radio salesman, is based upon intensive study of the regional station's status. Primarily, my study has to do with a coverage of the world's most populous area, the metropolitan district of New York, and with the great problem of satisfying the radio demands of a cosniopolitan audience that is not equaled anywhere in the world. The commercial director calls together his staff of department heads, musical director, program originator, merchandising statistician, etc. Before this group is laid the problem of integrating and interlocking the advertising requirements and sales needs of the proposed product with the radio program, never losing sight of the great necessity for audience appeal in program structure and content. Economic Aspects THE COMPLETE radio campaign is then prepared from the plans and recommendations of the staff and submitted to the client in the form of a second audition in the commercial director's office. The intei'locking merchandising campaign is presented in brochure form with illustrations of the various cardinal points. In the preparation of the broadcast and merchandising campaigns, the client's appropriation has been one of the dominant factors, as no advertising prospectus is worth the paper on which it is written if it transcends the economic limitations of a reasonable return on the expenditure involved. My proposed method of campaign building for a client takes cognizance of the many troublous details inherent in the successful merchandising of any product. The plan finally submitted to the sponsor is designed to meet and overcom.e his specific problems of merchandising — to give advertising value in full — to bridge the wide gap between good-will program entertainment and the impetus that will result in the selling of goods in the retailers' stores. Experimental Stage Past THE EXPERIMENTAL phase of radio is definitely behind us. Given a specific advertising appropriation and a specified time element, a certain level of sales accomplishments can be produced, providing the product fulfills the claims made for it and recommends its own further use after a reasonable trial. Many big users of air time have professed dissatisfaction with broadcasting and are ready to condemn it as an advertising medium, for the reason that they have applied newspaper formulae to radio rather than the basic psychology of advertising investment predicated on the proper understanding of the newest medium — radio — and its correct uses. The elaborate broadcast presentations of the past and present, demanding exorbitant advertising expenditures that have relegated the product advertised to a secondary place, and exploited nationally famous entertainers, have proved commercially unsound and economically impractical. New Theory's Advantage THE NEW theory of sales operation in the radio commercial field has some decided advantages. First and foremost, the contact man is not obliged to do any direct selling. His approach to the prospective client and his future dealings with him carry no sales resistance complexes that a salesman has to overcome. He does not have to close the deal. Second, his work is completed when the client visits the commercial director's office to listen to the program prepared from information supplied by the contact man. Third, the pattern for the revised and ultimate program is given to the responsible department head who also gets the pertinent information under the most favorable circumstances. The client is in a new atmosphere and not the pugnacious, over critical individual he is apt to be in his own office. He is more inclined to respect the opinions of the various experts with whom he comes in contact at the station than he is if he has to take it second hand from a salesman. Reversing the System FOURTH, the impersonal atmosphere of the station in which the prospective client is received is free of all those idiosyncrasies usually associated in a buyer's mind with high pressure salesmanship. Fifth, the scene is set differently. The client is led to believe that he has made up his own mind —he has sold himself. The system has been reversed and unlike the newspapers' approach, which is the correct one for papers, radio changes the order of things and brings the client to radio, and he is led to sell himself. Every possible angle has been anticipated and covered, and the indirection of the ultimate sale makes it more certain because of the absence^ of sales pressure against which clients have built up a definite resistance. New Copyright Bill ADDED to the list of copyright bills now pending before Congress is the proposal of Rep. Luce, (R.), Mass. (H. R. 5853), which would change the present law in many ways. A half dozen measures now are pending and protracted copyright hearings, which, among other things, are designed to afford greater protection for broadcasters in their use of copyrighted compositions, are expected at the next session. The Luce bill, like its companions, has been referred to the House Patents Committee. June 15, 1933 • BROADCASTING Page 11