Learning in the Land of Lincoln: How Two Reps – One City, One Downstate - From Opposite Ends of Illinois Successfully Bridged the “Prairie State Divide” and Learned From Each Other.
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MENTEE: @Brian Flath
Associate Director of Corporate Support
WSIU Public Broadcasting (Carbondale, IL) |
MENTOR: @Dan Whitford
Account Executive
WTTW (Chicago, IL) |
Before the program…
Brian:
As the calendar flipped to 2015, I was entering my 17 year in newspaper sales. Having been in the same sales industry that long was almost unheard of but I truly loved what I did and was what I considered pretty successful at it. But as I always tell others “if you don’t love what you’re doing, it might be time for something else.” I’ve always wanted to work in advertising and being in a small rural area, there aren’t a lot of good opportunities…or at least opportunities I wanted.
In February 2015, there was an opening at WSIU, which I was very familiar with, as my wife had worked there since 2003 as the morning anchor/reporter. The newspaper business was going in a direction I didn’t care for so I thought the time was now. Though I didn’t get the position I interviewed for, another opening came available in July, which I subsequently interviewed for and was hired. I had the privilege of working for someone who had been at our station for 5 years, had extensive broadcast sales experience and was patience to teach me our medium.
I certainly had the confidence that I could sell and represent our produce but I needed to learn it better, become comfortable in the pitch and the “why” clients are underwriters with us.
Oh, and then in April 2017, my manager leaves for another job and there I am, to handle everything…the sales, the managing logs, the meetings, the paperwork, contracts. Time was now at a premium and efficiencies in doing our work needed to be found…I needed more help than I was being given or was available at the station level.
Dan:
After three years doing traffic at a TV station, and twelve years buying and planning media at an ad agency, it was time. Time for me to bite the bullet and cross to what was referred to in agency circles as the “Dark Side”. Yes, it was finally time to take a seat on the opposite side of the negotiating table. But, darn it, if I was going to be a seller, I was going to sell something that I cared about! Something I felt passionate about. Something I believed in. Something like public media. So, determined to use my powers of media for good rather than evil, I took a job as an account executive at a small PBS member station on the easternmost fringes of the Chicago Metro area.
I knew the lingo. Flights. Estimate numbers. Competitive product separation. Correct copy rotation. Gross and net. Reach and frequency. But I still needed someone I could turn to. Someone who could help me take all those terms and use them to create thoughtful proposals that would connect with clients and generate revenue. Long before I became involved with CSPI, I drew upon a now-retired PBS rep who I worked with as an agency buyer. That man became my mentor.
My mentor helped me become a creative prospector. He showed me how to position my pitches. He taught me how to frame a commercial message into the more rigid framework of public media guidelines. Conversations with him helped me succeed at the little station and after only a couple of years, move on to a bigger one.
I was lucky enough to have a mentor to help me become successful. The best way I can thank him is by helping someone else become successful.
The Mentorship…
Dan:
After meeting my mentee in Virginia, the next step was to do a “deep-dive” and learn more about his station, its assets, and how he was selling it. A dual-licensee, Brian was already a solid public radio seller with some television experience. His station was in the process of expanding its reach, having recently acquired the former “Network Knowledge”, a small in-state group of out-of-market television stations. We sought to improve his coverage story by telling it through the prism of Nielsen, making his properties more compelling to advertising agencies and larger organizations with bigger marketing budgets. We also worked to focus his selling with a more programmatic strategy that used the QPIs and looked at individual programs and thematic genre blocks. Finally, we sought to add to his multi-platform strategy by creating strategies to increase digital revenue.
Brian:
One thing I quickly learned from Dan is that being a dual licensee, I was really selling two different mediums and I should not be treating them the same for an underwriting standpoint. I needed to be looking more closely at the PBS programming and finding better audience fits for my clients. I was too often broadly offering daypart schedules. Dan helped identify categories of business for programming, such as Masterpiece and QPI’s.
Many of the most valuable parts of our monthly conversations have been brainstorming prospects for each of our stations. We’re able to share what proposals we doing or prospecting that’s been successful and in turn, give each other client ideas. WTTW has had clients I’ve never thought about prospecting so having another point of communication in the PBS family has been very beneficial.
The results…
Dan:
The experience of giving back as a mentor was a great challenge that provided incredible rewards. It made me a strategic thinker and a better communicator. Additionally, it allowed me to develop long-term relationships with my counterparts at other PBS member stations across the country. It is great to work at a local PBS member station, but it is even better to be a part of the much larger, national PBS family.
Brian:
I can’t recommend this program enough for those selling underwriting. It has provided me new insights and ways to look at how I go about my daily work. It has given me new perspectives on our programming and how to present it to clients. I now take a much more strategic approach with clients and work harder at plans that have more depth and thought put into them.
This program has also expanded my network within the PBS family and having these connections/resources will pay dividends for years to come. I hope I can be of value to a future colleague the way Dan has been for me.