Maybe means no

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I spent a good chunk of 1987 driving around Iowa, trying to sign radio stations to the new statewide news network we were starting. My first pitch (Roger Gardner was with me) was to Larry Edwards, the GM at WMT in Cedar Rapids. Probably the #2 station in Iowa at the time. We told him what we were planning to do and he asked if we had a contract with us. We did, and he signed it on the spot.

The next day we met with Betty Baudler and Rich Fellingham (GM and Ops Mgr) at KASI in Ames, Iowa. We told them about the network and they signed on the spot. I think the same thing happened a few days later with Andy Anderson at KMA, Shenandoah.

The point here is not that I’m a great salesperson (I’m not). The point is, these managers did not say “maybe.” Eventually, we got to some that wanted to “think about it.” But these guys understood what we were going to do and decided –on the spot– they wanted to be part of it.

They weren’t all that easy and I got a lot of “maybe’s” over the years (“Could you send me another copy of your proposal?” or “Let me talk it over with my program director and we’ll get back to you.”) Somewhere in about year 15 I remember saying to a couple of prospects:

“If you had to give me a yes or a no today, which would it be?”
“Uh, I don’t like being pressured!”
“No pressure, I’m just curious. If you HAD to say yes or no right now, which would it be?”
“If you’re gonna pressure me, then the answer is no!”
“Great. I won’t take any more of your time.”

Anybody that was EVER going to say yes would have stopped me before I got to the door. Or called the next day to say she changed her mind. Never happened. (End of 20 year flash back)

In Small Is the New Big, Seth Godin reminds me that “maybe means no.” He also explains the intellectual dishonesty that is behind most “maybe’s.”

“Dealing with change ultimately does make you confront one thing: dishonesty. And dishonesty–intellectual dishonesty, decision-making dishonesty, not-willing-to-face-the-music dishonesty–is the greatest enemy that a company can have. We disguise it as waiting to get more informaiton or looking for more input. In fact, the real deal is that we’re not willing to look the situation in the eye and make a decision, right or wrong. And so companies and individuals put off acknowledging what they already know and acting on it. They don’t commit to a decision until they have to–even if they’ve already made the decision in their minds, and a delay in making it official means spending more money, making mistakes, and staying up all night to catch up.” (Pg. 133 Small Is the New Big, Seth Godin)

So maybe I’ll respond to the next pitch I get with:

“I’m not going to say “yes” to your proposal. Ever. You can have a “no,” or a “maybe.” Which would you perfer?

MSTA Podcast: The Pulse

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Todd Fuller and Gail McCrayTodd Fuller and Gail McCray produce and co-host The Pulse, a weekly podcast for the Missouri State Teachers Association. The 25 podcasts they’ve produced since January, 2006, cover a wide variety of topics. When I listened to one of their podcasts last week, I was immediately struck by the quality and professionalism of the production. Not sure why I was surprised, since they’re both communications pros but it drove home one more time that anyone with something to say now has the means to be heard.

Near the end of the 30 minute chat (AUDIO), Todd mentions something I found very interesting. The association endorses political candidates and it’s a big deal (at least to the candidates). Typically those announcements would be made via news release to the big newspapers and media outlets. This year, MSTA plans to make the announcement on their podcast as well as putting the word out via blogs. I think that is brilliant I’ll bet they get a lot of play out of it.

Todd and Gail are making great use of podcasting and I have no doubt other associations will see the impact of what MSTA is doing and jump in the water.

PS: In addition to Todd and Gail, you’ll hear David Brazeal in a couple of places… but we lost him due to my lack of experience with Skype.

Google Juice: Blogs

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Because of the way Google Page Rank works, blogs tend to rank higher than traditional websites (whatever that means in 2006). Most bloggers are well aware of this but it hit home for me this evening as I Googled “Learfield” …the company I work for. 105,000 search results. The corporate home page at the top, with the Learfield Sports “home” page (really a sub-page on the corporate site) at #2.

Coming in at #3 is the company blog, GrowLearfield.com. And it’s only been up for six months. Want more traffic for your business/association/organization? Make your home page a well-tended blog.

On a personal note, more and more of the people (from outside our company) with whom I come in contact, have found their way to smays.com. I confess that makes me a tad uncomfortable. If you drill down about three pages (nobody does) in that list of 105,000 “Learfield” results mentioned above, you’ll find smays.com.

Despite periodic disclaimers that this blog is in no way sanctioned by or officially connected to Learfield, I’m “out there” (just like George Costanza’s mother). Sort of like forgetting to remove your company windbreaker before getting the lap dance. You know nobody is looking at your jacket, but you’re aware you have it on.

PS: Yes, this post was prompted by the photograph of two (possibly) fornicating turtles.

Leveraging your customers (fans)

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One of the ideas Seth Godin talks about (on his blog, in his speeches and in his new book) is turning your best customers into marketers. Make it easy for them to tell your story. One of the examples: The Beastie Boys gave digital cameras to fifty of their fans and invited them to film one of their concerts. They edited the best of these into a film.

I’m only remotely aware of who the Beastie Boys are but I love the idea. I’d love to try this with one of our sports properties. Some big rivalry might be fun (Missouri vs. Kansas?). The idea isn’t to get great play-by-play shots, but tail-gate fun, etc. I don’t know what you’d get but you announce that the resulting video will be on the Mizzou website (brought to you by Sponsor To Be Named?).

A lot of work? Sure. Big money maker? Maybe not. Lot of fun? Maybe.

Blipvert update

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Clear Channel Radio has found its first buyer for blinks, its new one- to three-second radio spots. Fox Broadcasting Co. is the first to purchase and use two-second radio spots in an effort to promote the fall season premiers of “Prison Break,” “House” and “The Simpsons.” [AdAge]

Tod Maffin calls these “pop-up’s for radio.”

Early adopters and the masses (Hugh MacLeod)

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“I’m astonished at how long it takes an idea to filter from the early adopters to the masses. What sort of person just read the Da Vinci Code or just discovered the iPod? I was standing in a nice store in a nice suburb and heard one 25 year old explain to a 30 year old what gmail was… it’s so easy to assume that everyone already gets it.”

— Part of the answer to one of ten questions Hugh Macleod posed to Seth Godin

Podcast bread upon the water

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PodcasterWe have a lot of talented, experienced radio people where I work. What if one of the honchos called us (I’m including myself based on experience, not talent) all together and said, “I’ve been reading about these podcast things and I think we should have one. Money is no object, but I want a show that delivers 100,000 downloads a week and you have one year to deliver. Go get ’em.”

Could we do it? Where would we start?

Topic. Do we pick a topic in which we know there’s a lot of interest? Or is that space already too crowded? Does it matter if the people on our team know anything about the topic? Must we be passionate about it or will our “professionalism” carry us through?

Talent. Do we want a veteran broadcaster? Or a fresh, undiscovered talent? Should they be funny? Young? Old? Do we go with co-hosts?

Format. Do we make it slick with lots of production values? Or do we go for from-the-basement, hand-held camera realism? What about frequency/length? Daily five minute update or weekly half-hour magazine?

Promotion. Okay, we’ll submit our feed to iTunes and all the podcast directories… what else? We’ll pester all the A-list podcasters in hopes of a link or a mention. Should we buy some spots on MSM outlets?

Sheesh! So many questions. And probably not that different from what radio and TV programmers do all the time. If they can’t deliver the ratings within a reasonable time period, the show gets yanked. But they’re starting with an audience. What does it mean when you have zero listeners on Day One?

And every day there is more competition for attention. The potential audience is ever more fragmented. And if they try you once and don’t like what they hear, they never come back. In the Old Days, you listened to your local radio stations… or you didn’t listen. So we get ONE SHOT with each listener, who has HOURS of podcasts on her nano. She can’t listen to what she has, so why will she listen to our new podcast?

If I were a honcho, I think I’d approach this differently. I’d put out an open call to everyone one in the company (not just the reporters and producers and writers and “talent.”) Anyone wants to produce a podcast… we’ll provide the equipment, technical support (hosting, bandwidth, etc), and give everyone half a day every week to produce their podcast. You pick the topic but you must produce a show every week or it’s back to the cube. Then we sit back and watch what happens.

Many (most?) will give up after the first few weeks. Too much work, not as much fun as they thought it would be. Would we get any break-out hits? Don’t know. What I do know, you’d wind up with something very different than from the first model. Instead of a podcast with 100,000 downloads… maybe we wind up with 100 podcasts, with 1,000 downloads.