Myth #30: Managing and Training are the Same Thing

Transcript

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Hi, Dave Sturgeon here, author of The Truth About Radio, a myth busting guide for today's media buyers and sellers. We're in chapter nine of the book, and so we've moved uh into the actual internal workings of stations. Uh, the title is Guidance for Today's Radio Sellers and Managers. So uh taking a bit of a break from evangelizing on behalf of radio itself and talking a little bit about uh the teams that are out there selling radio. And so today's myth under the heading Guidance for Today's Radio Sellers and Managers, the myth is managing and training are the same thing. Truth is, managing keeps the train on track, training builds a better train. Lately I've been rethinking how we support our sales teams, and a shift is long overdue. Really, it's just a return to team leadership basics. Managing means reviewing activity, tracking pending dollars, updating forecasts. Training, on the other hand, means building skills, building confidence, and building long-term revenue growth, focusing on those things, skills and confidence. In today's market, we're asking AEs to function more like full service marketers than radio sellers, so training has never been more important. I've been leaning into the idea lately in conversations with sales managers to be less administrative and more developmental. And here are three real-world training themes that have sparked great conversations with sales managers and teams. Local radio endorsements, coaching reps on how to upsell existing advertisers with premium live first and break ads that require collaboration with talent to craft believable story-first messaging that works. It's a real untapped revenue platform for local radio stations in many markets, radio endorsements, or as we should be calling it these days, influencer marketing on the radio, the original influencer marketing platform. Second point is unsold inventory is a tool, not a problem, teaching how to use open airtime to test, promote, and build campaigns that turn into case studies, just an idea. And this thought for culture, would you rather be right or rich? This is a mindset discussion about flexibility, humility, and choosing long-term internal harmony over ego. The best part, these trainings aren't heavy lifts. Sometimes it's just a focused five minute drill that gets people thinking differently. We're all trying to evolve together. And when we make space for training, performance follows. At the end of the month, brainstorm with your team to plan four weekly training topics you'll explore next month.