Ah, Yes. The Sales Staff

By Frank Absher

Near the top of the list of jobs I wouldn’t want these days is advertising salesman.

I was never very good at it even when the economy was good. Once a radio sales manager went out with me in an effort to beef up my gross sales figures. As we drove along, this manager pointed out all the businesses in a strip mall that I should call on. Seventy percent of them were nowhere near our station’s demographic. When I pointed that out I was told I only needed to get one sale from such a client. Then I could move on to another one.

It didn’t matter that it was my face the client would see and my name that would be remembered. The objective, I was told, was to make the sale at any cost. If the ads didn’t work for the client, I could just go out and find another unwitting businessperson and pull the same stunt.

Of course, I didn’t last long at that station. I simply could not work under those standards.

As luck would have it, I was soon on the other side of the transaction, working for a local ad agency. When I dealt with ad sales people, I got to see all types and hear all kinds of pitches.

There was the “I only need a sale of $X to win this month’s sales contest.” “If you buy this much over the next three months we’ll give you a trip to Cancun.” “Buy this many spots on our FM and we’ll bonus you the same number on our AM.”

Seldom did I encounter a sales rep who framed the pitch around my needs as a client.

One man did. Greg Kornfeld worked for the largest station in town and he is, to this day, the best broadcast salesperson I’ve ever dealt with. He was able to take my budget and maximize the exposure. Not once did he ask for more money. His only goal, in my eyes, was to serve the client.

At one point I persuaded my client to make a major investment on this guy’s radio station, a buy that resulted in huge sales increases for the clioent. I received a hand-written thank-you note from the station’s general manager for the buy.

You can imagine the message that sent to my client. Here was a station where our business was appreciated so much that the GM took time to thank us. Again, this was no Podunk station, but a 50k AM and 100k FM whose billing far exceeded every other station in town.

Greg is still doing his thing the old-fashioned way, serving his clients and meeting their needs. He is one of the few who actually understands the business.

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