Broadcasting (Apr - June 1960)

MONDAY MEMO from HILDRED SANDERS, vice president in charge of radio-tv, Honig-Cooper & Harrington, Los Angeles Salesmanship means sales and service The day of the slap on the back, the long lunch and entertainment are over as far as sales are concerned, but I really don’t believe many broadcasters have recognized it. Salesmanship today means sales service. Sales include service — and for the most part it’s the service we agency folks are not getting. For that reason, too, stations may not be getting the sales they want. Take a look, for instance, at print media selling. It’s getting more and more intense every day and magazines and newspapers are doing a lot of research work, providing sales service never before offered. For years, outdoor was extremely slow in selling itself. But in the last couple of years, outdoor has undergone a tremendous change, even to the point of merchandising and promotions worked out for individual advertisers. What’s the situation in broadcasting? It is not unusual for timebuyers to call stations for availabilities and get just that — no more. It seems to me it would be of greater service if the representative brought in suggested packages and showed through audience analysis how this package would reach the greatest number of desired people at lowest cost. Selling the Unsold ■ Too many advertisers, and I’m afraid too many buyers, want only high traffic times, so many stations are loaded there and hurting somewhere else. For example: Has your station’s sales department or any salesman sat down and figured how to sell the time no one requests? By request, I mean it would be a rare day when a buyer would call and ask you to build a package between 9 a.m. and noon or noon and 4 p.m. Yet, a great many stations have quite a story to sell or at least tell about those time brackets. Let’s take a look. As an example, let’s assume this is a woman’s product. One station in southern California, for instance, which has AA time between 6 and 11 a.m., actually delivers 51,700 women between 9 and 10 a.m. and only 32,300 between 7 and 8 a.m., the peak travel time. Between 1 and 2 p.m. it delivers 39,700 women. Do you think this station would have any trouble switching those advertisers from its peak time to other hours if it pointed out those facts? Isn’t that the kind of service stations should give in sales? Wouldn’t 9 to 10 a.m. be a better buy for the client wishing to reach women than 7 to 8, and wouldn’t it be a better sale for the station? On the same station in Class B time the cost per thousand for adults is 31 cents, the AA is 46 cents, the A is 44 cents. Why doesn’t this station point out these facts to fill up empty time and .relieve the multiple spotting in AA time? Isn’t that part of sales service? Other Examples ■ Let’s go on to another station. This is an independent with all one class of time. You can reach more women on this station in the hours 9 to 11 a.m. than any two other hours. Another independent will deliver 69,200 men and women combined between noon and 1 p.m. For adults, that is the best hour on this station, or I should say it ties the best hour which is 5 to 6 p.m. Considering how much fighting and scratching goes on to get a spot on this station between 5 and 6, I wonder if the station’s salesmen know that noon delivers the same adult audience? I happen to know that the only plus to 5 to 6 is that it delivers 800 more kids than noon to 1 p.m. does and I also know there are two availabilities in the noon to 1 p.m. time and none in the 5 to 6. Moreover, there’s only a difference of 6,800 adults in the audience this station delivers be Hilly Sanders has been an advertising agency executive in radio-tv for more than 20 years, first in Chicago and since 1948 in Los Angeles. For eight years she has served as only woman on standing national Committee of Broadcast Administration for American Assn, of Advertising Agencies, last three as vice chairman. In private life she is Mrs. Frederick Ross Levings. tween 9 and 10 p.m. (the peak tv hour) and it’s highest rated period. Is Pulse so accurate that the lack of 6,800 people should stop sales at night? Or does the station know what it delivers at night? I wonder if the four out of nine stations with Class B time classifications know they deliver more adults at lower cost in Class B than A? I wonder if the two out of five stations with AA and A time classifications know they deliver more adults at lower cost in Class A than AA? I wonder if a network station knows it delivers adults at a cost per thousand of 71 cents in AA time and 77 cents in C time? Don’t you wonder, too? Common Complaint ■ Not long ago I received a call from a good representative. He was complaining he was not on a station list one of our buyers had purchased and he thought he should be. I asked why and he gave me a lot of standard reasons. I asked the buyer why not and she gave me a lot of specific reasons. There is the difference: general and specific. If this fellow had specific facts, he should have submitted them to the buyer in the first place. Failing that, if he had a complaint, he should have built the best package possible on his station for this advertiser, brought it to the buyer and asked her to reconsider, as he compared his package to the one she bought. It is customary for a salesman to ask what product you’re buying for when you request availabilities. This is simply to keep you from back to back advertising with competitors. It would be most extraordinary if a salesman asked about your commercial message, such as, is it geared to women, adults, kids, or general family, so that he could choose availabilities that would deliver your specific desired audience. It would be breathtaking if a salesman walked in after you had bought a schedule and showed you how, according to a later rating book, you should change it for greater effectiveness. But isn’t this sales service before and after the fact? I sincerely hope no one thinks I am critical of any individual or station, for such is not the case. It simply seems to be a sales pattern followed by the majority and I don’t believe the majority realizes it is a faulty pattern, or that it even exists. But it does exist, it is faulty and it should be changed now. 20 BROADCASTING, May 23, 1960