DAN O’DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO

Toa Payoh

June, 1997 (continued):

Continuing my first (of what would become several) visits to Singapore….

On Thursday afternoon I bravely set out to explore outside of the downtown Singapore area.

I walked the 300 yards or so to take the MRT (rapid transit) to Toa Payoh, three train stops outside of downtown and, I had been told, a community where tourists never find themselves.

As I approached the ticket counter, I passed a blind accordionist who was playing “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”

I got my ticket and walked through the turnstile on my way to the train. Or, at least, I tried to. But I couldn’t figure out how to insert the ticket to release the turnstile. Noticing my helpless confusion, a stranger kindly explained to me that I needed to insert the ticket at a different turnstile.

The MRT was crowded, well air-conditioned, clean, and completely free of graffiti. Mine was the only Anglo face to be seen on the train and the only one I was aware of in Toa Payoh upon my arrival there.

What I did see in Tao Payoh was lots of people walking around; foot traffic everywhere. And many of those people were talking on their cell phones as they ambulated. (In 1997, that made an impression on me. Cell phones hadn’t yet become part of everyday American life.)

I definitely noticed more litter in Tao Payoh.

What was the most popular American restaurant chain in Singapore? Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Prospect’s Objection: “We’re already doing well.”

Your Response: “So are we. That’s why we only partner with other successful businesses. We partner with businesses that aren’t willing to settle for just ‘doing well.’ We actively seek out synergies that allow us to combine our successes so that we both end up being even more financially successful.”

Prospect’s Objection: “We’ve already met our goals for the year/quarter.”

Your Response: “What is the one area in which you’d like to do a lot better next year?” (If you can help them identify an area of need, you can smoothly and legitimately segue into helping them identify solutions.)

And for the particularly bold salesperson — after all, you’ve got nothing to lose:

Prospect’s Objection: “We’ve already met our goals for the year/quarter.”

Your Response: “And that’s ENOUGH for you??” (The implication is that smart business people aren’t satisfied simply to “meet” financial goals; they want to exceed them.)

Note: None of these is included in the RADIO SALES OBJECTIONS SCRIPTBOOK. But the book does contain 317 other responses to the most common objections radio salespeople hear every day “on the street.”

You know those stupid “romantic comedy” films in which some geeky teenage boy pays a popular girl to pretend to like him?

I heard this the other day on a nearby radio station:

“For a chance to win a pair of concert tickets, all you have to do is ‘Like’ our Facebook page.”

Yes, radio stations should be utilizing social media.

Yes, radio stations should be using Facebook. (Although most stations do it badly, beginning by focusing on a page for the radio station. Mari Smith did an entire seminar on this…)

But there is a difference between offering listeners an incentive to “Like” your fan page and essentially opening the mic and saying, “We’ll give you an incentive to ‘Like’ our fan page.”

The message of that liner focused on the radio station’s desire to get as many fan page followers as possible.

With just a little rewording, they could’ve focused on the listener:

“If you’ve already joined our Facebook page, you’ll be in the drawing for a free pair of tickets. If you haven’t clicked that ‘Like’ button yet but you’d like those free tickets….Well, you know what to do.”

Is that elegant wording? No.

But it’s a lot better than saying, “You don’t have to really like us. But we’re so desperate for Facebook page fans….”

A reader of my Radio Programming Letter wrote to me, asking what I thought about the advice given by a certain well-known radio programing consultant. You can see the results in the video below…