In our new series of radio executive profiles, here is some background on Greater Media President, Peter Smyth.

Mr Smyth is currently Chairman of the Radio Advertising Bureau’s Board of Directors, he was named 2007 “Radio Executive of the Year” and “America’s Best Broadcaster” in 2005 by Radio Ink.

After serving as an Account Executive, Local Sales Manager, and General Sales Manager, Peter Smyth joined Greater Media in 1986 as General Manager of WMJX-FM in Boston. He was appointed Vice President/General Manager in 1987, Group Vice President of Radio and Chief Operating Officer in 1988, and President and Chief Operating Officer in 2000. In 2002, Mr. Smyth became Greater Media’s President and Chief Executive Officer.

Mr. Smyth was also General Sales Manager at WOR in New York until 1986 (when moving to Greater Media). He is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Thanks to all of you who have dropped an email giving us props for our ads (promoting our Radio Sales Machine: Supersales Website + eBlaster) that are running this month with the RAB and Radio Ink.

The package we chose with the RAB includes a rotating 190×190 banner on their home page at www.rab.com:

…as well as rotating 400×51 in their Radio Sales Today email newsletter:

With Radio Ink, we’re running a series of text based headlines ads that are sent to subscribers via email and also run at www.radioink.com. Here’s a screenshot:

…and here are the text headlines we’re running:

“Today We Closed a $42,000 Annual”

Sweet news from a market manager in Oshkosh. He closed another new piece of business (this one for $3500 a month) that his sales team didn’t even know existed. Learn How at www.salesimaging.com.

Sales Imaging’s New Radio Sales Machine

The new Radio Sales Machine: Supersales Website + eBlaster is now available on a market exclusive basis. Over 40 markets are already taken. Is your market available? Click here to find out: www.salesimaging.com

Don’t Read This if You’re Old School

Sales Imaging’s new Radio Sales Machine: Supersales Website + eBlaster is for modern managers that “get” the power of the internet and email marketing. Learn more at www.salesimaging.com.

Fire Your Worst Seller Today

You know the one. He hasn’t closed a new piece of business in ages. You never know where he is. How about a modern alternative that costs less and does more. Click Here to learn more: www.salesimaging.com.

I’m often asked to recommend software that can help Radio sales departments. In the past, we’ve heard of solutions from Wicks, Marketron, Radio 3k, Sales Force, RAB, Smartrate, InaBox, Radio Ink, and others.

But, we want to know what you use (or what have you used in the past)…and give us your opinion or review.

Just leave a reply/comment. We’ll reveal the results in an upcoming etip and RadioSalesBlog post.

While you head out to visit clients and prospects, here are some promotional ideas for November:

November will be Aviation History Month, Lung Cancer Awareness Month, MADD’s Tie One on For Safety Month, National Adoption Month, AIDS Awareness Month, Alzheimer’s Disease Month, and National Vegan Month.

Kids’ Goal Setting Week - November 15-19
National Family Week - November 18-24
National Men Make Dinner Day - November 1st
Sadie Hawkins Day - November 3rd
Daylight Savings Time ends - November 4th
General Election Day - November 6th
Veterans Day - November 11th
America Recycles Day - November 15th
Great American Smokeout Day - November 15th
Thanksgiving Day - November 22nd
National Salespersons’ Day - November 23rd
Black Friday - November 23rd

A great resource for managers (and sellers who will be managers one day) is Sales & Marketing Management magazine. I recently read a post I thought would interest those of you trying to solve one of the greatest challenges managers face…hiring superstars.

Mistake 1: Relying only on interviews to evaluate a candidate
Mistake 2: Using successful people as models
Mistake 3: Too many criteria
Mistake 4: Evaluating “personality” instead of job skills
Mistake 5: Using yourself as an example
Mistake 6: Failure to use statistically validated testing to predict job skills most critical to success
Mistake 7: Not researching the reasons that people fail
Mistake 8: Relying on general “good guy” criteria
Mistake 9: Bypassing the reference check

Click here to read the entire post.

Want to really turn-off an advertiser? Want to over-hype your sales presentation? Want to look like a marketing amateur…instead of a marketing pro? Then you should just keep on using those CAPS, Bold text, and exclamation points!!! in your sales presentations. It’s not that they can’t ever be used, but only do so sparingly (very sparingly). All this over-hype only makes your pitch less meaningful.

Sit in your prospect’s seat. If your sales points are truly compelling, they should speak for themselves without the embellishment of dramatic text and punctuation. Selling in today’s business environment has become more and more delicate. No one wants to be sold…we want to buy. And when you overuse bold text, CAPS, and exclamation points!!!, you’re screaming at your prospects…and who wants to be screamed at during a sales pitch?

I went to the optometrist today (all this computer time is getting to my eyes…though passing by 40 may have something to do with it as well). Anyhow, in our greeting he asked what I did for a living. When I was done telling him I ran a business that provided sales, marketing, and tech tools for Radio — he said, “I had a radio person in here earlier today.” Oh…do I love hearing that. So, I followed up with a few questions and here’s what I found out.

1. He had been off Radio for at least a year.
2. He had been using TV recently.
3. He wanted back on Radio.

Here’s the lesson. If you have a client that has left Radio and gone to TV, print, or any other media; it may have nothing to do with the fact that he doesn’t like Radio anymore. It often just means he likes to mix things up. Often, when a client leaves us, we think they’re gone forever…they’re not. Keep in contact with advertisers. Don’t let them forget you’re there. Stay in touch with helpful information that can make you be seen as a marketing pro…not just a salesperson. Then, when they’re ready to get back in bed with Radio, you’ll be there to tuck them in again. Goodnight for now, TV.