Don't Be A Mudslinger!

Being a former account executive there were many opportunities for me to sling a little mud on my competition. I could attack their ratings or their spot placement, but in the end I decided that I could not sling mud without getting some on myself. All stations go through their ups and downs. One minute you have the #1 late news and the next thing you know reruns of The Simpsons are beating your ratings. Leading with strength is much better than preying on weakness. Let's face it, there have been times when i sank to that level only to have it bite me in the you know what. The client had success with what they were doing and no amount of mud was going to change that and a client will only make a change when they are sufficiently dissatisfied.I focused on their weakness and it only made me and my station appear weak in the end.

How many times have Broadcast reps been given, by management,  the "anti-cable" pitch and told to litter the streets with the information. I know i did it when I was a Broadcast rep. So, here we are years later and cable is still around and taking more share and ratings from Broadcast. Then there is the impending merger of Comcast being able to do local ad insertion on sattelite. Now what do you do? If the only reason you ever gave a client not to buy cable is penetration...uh oh!

That is why you must lead with your strengths. Do not criticize others but focus on the four areas you should be selling:

1. Your Station

2. Your Company

3. Your Medium...and most importantly

4. Yourself