News to Sales

[TVMattNYC]

Anyone know of any success stories? Failure stories?

[Obewon]

I really think the job skills are so far removed from each other it would (or should) be almost impossible. I don't think your typical newsie can handle the kind of rejection sales people get.

[Spike]

I don't think your typical newsie can handle the kind of rejection sales people get.

Then again, Matt is not your typical newsie.

[Obewon]

Then again, Matt is not your typical newsie.

Could be. I tried it and was a spectacular failure. That doesn't mean other, more talented people couldn't succeed.

[Gil]

The skills are very similar. I did it. After many years in news, I sold advertising for two and a half years in radio, and another nine months in television.

In news, you spend a lot of time trying to convince people to talk to you and to go on camera. In sales, you spend a lot of time trying to convince people to talk to you and that advertising can help their business.

Both jobs require basic communication skills and the ability to think on your feet, to persuade, and to go out each day and come back with either a story or a sale.

The rejection in sales is no different than the rejection a reporter gets when someone refuses to give an interview. You just move on and find another solution to the problem.

[Roy Hobbs]

What Gil said, especially if you're a reporter.

Think about it. You have to sell the assignment editor on the idea in the morning meeting.

Then you have to sell the interviewees on why they should do the story with you. Then you have to sell the producer on whether your story should run in the first block or the second.

Then if you want to sell it to the network, then you have to sell the national desk on the story.

Then if the stories you get on the network are good enough, you have to sell a news director at another station on why he should take you to lunch.

Here, watch me sell right now...Yo Gil, I'm in Green Bay this weekend, want to meet halfway for lunch? I'm buying!

(Unfair example -- no true newsman turns down a free lunch--and
Gil's as real as they come :D ).

[John M.]

I really think the job skills are so far removed from each other it would (or should) be almost impossible. I don't think your typical newsie can handle the kind of rejection sales people get.

Strangely, I thought news reporting had a lot in common with sales when I did it. Lots of cold calling and convincing skeptical people that doing an interview with me was in their interest. Overcoming objections, listening to people, learning about them and figuring out how your aim meets their needs.

Oh, and getting doors closed in your face. That, too.

The sales aspect of reporting always came harder for me than the storytelling but I've known lots of reporters who would (and some who did) make great sales people. If you're a good conversationalist (as opposed to someone who merely talks all the time), a quick thinker and a natural extrovert, sales might suit you well.

[MitchCumstein]

Anyone know of any success stories? Failure stories?

At our station we had some guy that was sports director from 1975-1995.

Then he got canned and went to work in sales for the big local radio station, mostly selling ads during the local big time university's basketball and football games.

He drives a big fancy Lexus now and reminds me all the time that he never could have driven something like that when he worked in news.

Big time ass, but he has just the personality for being good in sales.

[Gil]

Here, watch me sell right now...Yo Gil, I'm in Green Bay this weekend, want to meet halfway for lunch? I'm buying!

(Unfair example -- no true newsman turns down a free lunch--and
Gil's as real as they come :D ).

Probably not going to work for me because I am giving flying lessons all weekend if the weather is good. If it's crummy, though, it might work out.

[LENSCRAFTER]

I know of several. One in particular.

INCREDIBLE producer... sought after by many stations. She was the best paid in the newsroom and incredibly talented. But she wanted more.

She applied for a sales position 10 years ago... got it... and hasn't looked back. She tops $150K in a top 50 market. She wouldn't have done that producing.

[Gail sirens]

You will make way more $$$ in sales.
Skills are translatable, but depends on the motivation of the person.

[Pinkie]

I know of several. One in particular.

INCREDIBLE producer... sought after by many stations. She was the best paid in the newsroom and incredibly talented. But she wanted more.

She applied for a sales position 10 years ago... got it... and hasn't looked back. She tops $150K in a top 50 market. She wouldn't have done that producing.

The sales department always seems so much happier than the news department. Maybe this is why.

[TVMattNYC]

The sales department always seems so much happier than the news department. Maybe this is why.

Seriously.

I don't know any of the network sales people personally, but from my own observations:

-- They're way better dressed than even the network correspondents and anchors.

-- They're always leaving the building at 5:30 PM on the dot.

-- I never see any of them on the weekends or holidays.

-- They're always smiling.

[LENSCRAFTER]

That's basically the reason I am out of news Matt. As long as things are running smoothly and my job is done I can leave when I want. 2 hours for lunch? No problem. 3? Sure. I never work holidays or weekends... I accrue all of my vacation and sick days so I now have 20 weeks stored up in just over 5 years... the pay is much better and the stress level doesn't even compare.

[Marty McFly]

I really think the job skills are so far removed from each other it would (or should) be almost impossible. I don't think your typical newsie can handle the kind of rejection sales people get.

What?!

If your job involves you trying to get people to do an on camera interview, you do sales.

You're selling someone that it's in their best interest to let you videotape and broadcast them to thousands of people tonight.

'I know your 3 year old son just drowned in your swimming pool. We'd like to talk to you about it...'

They say no. You start selling... and you go back to the newsroom with an interview.

THAT IS SALES.

If you can sell that, then one should certainly be able to sell a car dealership a 30 second spot.

Go for it Matt... I've given some thought to it as well.

And finally, a quote from the movie Boiler Room:
'There is no such thing as a no sale call. A sale is made on every call you make. Either you sell the client some stock or he sells you a reason he can't. Either way a sale is made, the only question is who is gonna close? You or him?'

[TVMattNYC]

What?!

If your job involves you trying to get people to do an on camera interview, you do sales.

You're selling someone that it's in their best interest to let you videotape and broadcast them to thousands of people tonight.

'I know your 3 year old son just drowned in your swimming pool. We'd like to talk to you about it...'

They say no. You start selling... and you go back to the newsroom with an interview.

THAT IS SALES.

If you can sell that, then one should certainly be able to sell a car dealership a 30 second spot.

Go for it Matt... I've given some thought to it as well.

And finally, a quote from the movie Boiler Room:
'There is no such thing as a no sale call. A sale is made on every call you make. Either you sell the client some stock or he sells you a reason he can't. Either way a sale is made, the only question is who is gonna close? You or him?'

An even BETTER quote from "Boiler Room".

The Long Island straight boys are all having a night on the town in an upscale Manhattan restaurant. Their rowdiness raises the ire of the patrons in the next booth, a group of gay men. One of the men stands up and asks kindly "Could you please dial it back a notch?"

One of the Long Island straight boys says to the gay guy "You know, they should round all of you guys up and stick you an an island somewhere!"

(Laughs all around)

To which the gay guy says "They DID, honey. You're ON it."

(SNAPS all around!)

[Roy Hobbs]

Probably not going to work for me because I am giving flying lessons all weekend if the weather is good. If it's crummy, though, it might work out.

First rule of civil aviation: Never fly in bad weather with a navigator who wears his pants like Fred Mertz.
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/conspiracy/earhart/earhart-noonan.jpg
http://www.sitcomboy.com/Fred1.jpg
...or Fred Noonan, I suppose.

[NotImpressed]

Anyone know of any success stories? Failure stories?

Sports Director Darin Prather jumped to sales 10-15 years ago in Joplin/Pittsburg market. He's the GSM now.

[MaryRichards]

I know a 6 pm producer who jumped ship from a mid-market, third place station after six years in the business.

She told the GM she was resigning to take a job in pharmaceutical sales.

He laughed in her face, said she was making a foolish decision and that she'd never be successful.

I've heard through the grapevine that she's now making six figures, is one of the top reps for her company and she's happily married with two babies.

He got canned amid a hail of lawsuits a couple years after she left.

Who's the fool now?

[Marty McFly]

Trick question. He is, right?

[Wise Old Producer]

I think Sales would be a great gig-- if you have the personality for it, which I think most tv people do. Especially since most tv "sales" is actually working as account executives. That doesn't mean all cold calls. You are essentially just managing the relationships between the station and it's paying customers. If you are good at developing and growing the relationships with clients, and can continually offer them good advice and direction on placing their commercials, you're going to make a lot of money doing it. In many cases, you don't even have to be involved in the commercial production-- the ad agencies handle that.

My guess is that the challenges are different in different markets and at different stations. It's going to be a whole lot easier to step into managing the accounts of established clients at the number one station than a startup cable station. However, I have been told that it's actually easier to sell new accounts at #2's or #3's.. because the spots are cheaper and you can put together more attractive packages.

The other nice thing is that excellent sales people can transfer their skills to sales in other industries... in other words, once you learn to be a good salesperson, you can sell just about anything and make a very handsome salary doing it. Most of the folks that live in the big, fancy houses are either sales people or executives.

[east coast producer]

I just found five things that have more personality than TVMattNYC.

http://www.bilcobrick.com/images/Content/Home_Brick1.jpg

[Bandit]

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c152/jeffgh/jockitems___65_1124734177.jpg

"Same whores, different whorehouses."

[Roy Hobbs]

I just found five things that have more personality than TVMattNYC.

http://www.bilcobrick.com/images/Content/Home_Brick1.jpg

I've met the Matt-man. He seems downright surly in here, a bit grumpy on the phone but in e-mails he's quite affable and in person he's charming and good humored and a fine and thoughtful host.

In short...a great candidate for in-person sales jobs!

[east coast producer]

Roy, he was just trying to seduce you. You have to be careful around him. He'll try to poke you... and not with his finger.

http://biology.kenyon.edu/slonc/gene-web/sickle_cell_project/shortened%20finger.jpg