Past, Present, Future

As I write these words today, we have about 10 days left in the month and the year. Many of you are preparing to take some time off for the end of year holidays, while others are hurrying about trying to keep up with the busyness of this time of year.

Anytime is a good time to pause, reflect, and plan, and I hope you take the time to do that regularly.

Since I work in sales, there are some easy metrics to keep an eye on that deal with dollars and if you are in sales, you should keep an eye on those figures too.

However, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Take a look at the details too, such as what did you sell?  How was it priced?  What was the gross profit?

Similarly, look at expenses.  Depending on your business, you may be in charge of just one side of this income/outgo equation, but take a look at the whole financial picture, not just your side.

Why do you sell what you sell?  Are you trying to sell somethings that no one wants to buy?  Or is the reason those items aren’t selling because your salespeople aren’t offering them?  Do yourself a favor and take the time to see what happened this year and why.

There’s another side of business that many companies have needed to pay attention to that a decade or two ago wasn’t really on most companies radar and that is culture.  Culture is the people relationship and we’ve learned recently that it’s a combination of reward and working conditions that determine if you will find, attract, recruit and retain the people you need to run your company.

Our company, Federated Media embarked on a quest to understand our culture in the different departments and find ways to improve it. Federated did an anonymous culture survey conducted by our consultancy the first year to see what the base line was so we could improve each year.

When huge changes in the workplace occurred in 2020 as we adjusted for Covid restrictions, we continued to evaluate and adjust and now on the cusp of 2023, we are continuing to make adjustments based on the present and future needs and expectations.

I am now in my 10th year at WOWO radio and Federated Media.  November of 2013, I accepted a position as an advertising sales representative for WOWO starting in December 2013. At the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020, a couple of other changes took place as the General Sales Manager for WOWO radio was promoted to lead the entire Fort Wayne Federated Media operation and I took over as the General Sales Manager for WOWO.

Just about everything I’ve described so far could fall in the category of PAST.

Now it’s time to talk about PRESENT.

September and October 2022, another change took place.  The General Sales Manager of three of our other Fort Wayne Federated Media radio stations joined my sales team.  This lead to my becoming the interim General Sales Manager of WBYR, WFWI & WKJG while continuing as the General Sales Manager for WOWO.

Instead of overseeing and coaching 4, I now have 7.  Plus for the past few months I have been actively recruiting new team members, up to 5 more.  Was I busy?  You don’t know the half of it.

At first, I welcomed the challenge, but after a few weeks I discovered that multi-tasking has its limits.  Federated Media was actively looking for a new General Sales Manager for WBYR and while nothing is finalized as I write this to the best of my knowledge, a plan is in place to bring onboard a Sales Manager for WBYR in early 2023.

With that plan in place, it further defined our Fort Wayne sales operation for 2023 and quite frankly, it’s a relief.  My responsibilities will be more than they were when 2022 began, but less than they are right now.  Instead of running 4 stations like I am today, it will be two or three.

My question for you right now is what resources in people, product and other resources do you have now and are there ways to better utilize them in 2023?   That’s what we are doing.

Which brings me to the Future.

There are all kinds of influences, both internal and external, known and unknown right now that you need to plan for and make appropriate adjustments. If “this” happens, then here’s what we will do.  If “that” happens, here’s our game plan.  Certain elements are under your power while others are not.  Prepare, plan and move forward, the future is coming.

And since I’ve taken you behind the curtain in my life regarding the past and present, here’s a peek into the future, namely 2023…

Federated Media Fort Wayne has 6 radio stations, 4 of them are the major stations in terms of quantity of listeners and revenue, the other two are also great stations with smaller audiences and generate less revenue.  Two of those major stations, WMEE & K-105 have been lead by one of the very best leaders in the country.  Allison was just named a C.S.S. Talent Superstar for 2022 and this is the 2nd time she has received this national recognition which puts her in a unique club called the League of Legends.  Details are here.

There are lessons learned from watching her this year that I am going to integrate into my life in 2023.

First is changes in our people structure. Before I became the General Sales Manager for WOWO, my predecessor was the General Sales Manager for both our Talk Radio Stations and we are going back to that.  I will be the General Sales Manger of both WOWO with our News Talk format, and WKJG with its Sports Talk Format.  My new combined sales team features 5 full-timers with room for up to two more.  However, we’re planning on operating with just 5 unless someone outstanding comes our way that we should add to our team.

(This is one of the lessons I’ve learned from Allison: Wait For The Right Person.)  She had two openings on her two stations for the past two years and she waited and waited until she was impressed enough to bring on two new people to her teams. Allison’s sales teams broke records without those two new people because she grew and developed the 6 she already had.  It takes a lot of time, training and mentoring in the first few years to help a new person in our business develop into a fully contributing member of the sales team.

I have a couple of veterans on my team who have had their best years EVER in 2021 and 2022, so I am going to give them extra help and support to get to the NEXT level in the next two years.   I also have two others on my team who are still at the beginning stages of their WOWO careers and have tremendous potential in 2023, so I am giving them the tools and resources to grow in the year ahead.

And finally I have another veteran on our Sports Talk Station that is in a hybrid position that is getting my attention to take advantage of his unique talents to grow in 2023.

To summarize my future, it’s to grow my current team to help them, help their current and future clients even more and each of them will also be rewarded financially as it happens.

Yes, we are still taking applications and advertising for future openings because we don’t ever want to be left short handed.  People retire, spouses get offered positions out of town, things happen which can create openings.  Contact me, Scott@WOWO.com if you want more information.

While I’m doing this at the end of one year and beginning of a new year, this is a process I do all the time and I encourage you to do the same.

Evaluate the Past.

Take stock of the Present.

Plan for the Future.

January 5th Update:  Just wanted to mention that part of what I wrote in December has been delayed.  For the foreseeable future, I am going to continue to be the interim General Sales Manager for Federated Media’s Fort Wayne Rock Station, 98.9 The Bear.

We are continuing our outreach and evaluation of qualified candidates for this intrical position.  Contact me for details.  

As far as my focus, it will continue to be on our two talk stations with a supporting role for the two music stations I mentioned.