NBC Transmitter (Jan-Nov 1942)

OCTOBER 1942 3 TRAIL OF THE DOTTED LINE Reselling of Accounts Every 13 Weeks a Vital Staff Assignment COVERAGE IS POWERFUL SALES WEAPON— Mr. Witnier brings the point home to members of his department: (left to right) I. E. Showerman, Eastern sales manager; George H. Frey, sales-service manager, and Edward R. Hitz, assistant to the vicepresident in charge of sales. By Roy C. Witmer I\BC Vice-President in Charge of Sales • NBC has been at the top of popularity polls and sales records so long that some observers have been heard to remark that getting orders must be just an “over-thetransom” procedure. This would be ideal —if it were true— for the building up of any product to the point where orders are just tossed into the office is a flattering thing to any sales manager. But notwithstanding the fact that most advertisers rate NBC Number One, there’s never any time for resting on laurels along the trail of today’s dotted line. It is an unremitting selling job on the part of NBC’s sales staff to keep the network in its position as the world leader of all advertising media— and it’s just as hard to stay on top as it is to reach that pinnacle. Every account on the air must be renewed every 13 weeks— and every renewal is tantamount to a new sale. This means that the sales staff must constantly sell and resell the network against such obstacles as (1) wartime curtailments of advertising budgets, (2) diversion by advertisers of all or part of their radio expenditures to other media, and (3) sales tactics of competitive networks. The war angle, of course, is the biggest problem in resales today. Many articles have already been written in the trade press on the importance of continuous advertising during wartime. The oft-told story of the necessity for an unbroken stream of advertising, promotion, merchandising and exploitation projects has proved itself so many times in the history of business that I won’t attempt to tell it here. Surely, every advertiser has learned that lesson by now. And I’m including NBC itself, when I say “every advertiser”; and our recognition of this principle of continuous advertising has kept our selling effort on a par with the merchandising campaigns we recommend to our clients. The biggest danger of losing an account these days occurs when priority allocations curtail or suspend the manufacture and sale of a sponsor’s produet to a point where he deems it needless to ad vertise wares he can’t produce in sufficient quantities for the buying public. This situation may even be more severe in the year ahead. Fortunately, even a full year before Pearl Harbor, we were in the position of having about 85 percent of our sold time sponsored by advertisers in four brackets who, under almost any circumstances, would be practically the last to feel the effect of priorities or other curtailments, at least to the point of affecting their network radio advertising budgets. These classifications are food, tobacco, drugs and soap. Industries more drastically affected by priority allocations and consumer rationing were, fortunately for us, not in that foursome of “biggest” NBC advertisers. But it has not been mere chance that has kept the NBC schedule intact. It’s a combination of having developed an excellent medium to start with and a topflight sales and promotion staff constantly driving home the powerful story of the most powerful of all networks— as well as an ample supply of concrete reasons whv all NBC advertisers should remain on the air, and, of course, on NBC. Fundamentally, the sale of time is no different from the sale of any other commodity. The commodity must be attractive, its quality must be maintained and it must constantly be sold and resold; in other words, proved over and over again by use. In this respect, aside from our great number of leading commercial programs, our service shows— including the NBC Symphony Orchestra broadcasts, “The Army Hour,” “University of Chicago Round Table,” sustaining newscasts, religious broadcasts, etc.— are, in effect, powerful selling agents, for they, too, help to maintain the quality of the network by building listening audiences and adding a tremendous amount of good-will. In other words, they help to sell and resell the network to the listener and keep him listening and coming back for more. On the statistical side of the fence, the achievements of our sales efforts speak for themselves. Considering the fact that practically all NBC contracts are contingent on 13 week renewals, it is most impressive to note that 33 percent of our present advertisers have been on NBC 10 years or more, 75 percent have been on our net( Continued on page 13)