Long-term business is good for us. Long-term business is also good for our clients.  If you will take a look at your success letters, I believe you will find that most of them have been written by your annual advertisers.  Using radio on a consistent basis has given them results. Radio works!

So, how do we sell more long-term business?  Selling long-term business  requires a change of habit on our part.  It is up to us to present 52-week solutions.  If we don't ask, we won't get annual business.

In our presentations, we should present weekly schedules on our calendars, with weekly amounts, and then show end-dates representing 13, 26 or 52 weeks. This way, our clients see what kind of investment we are asking for on a weekly basis. The amount looks smaller and easier to do. Unless there is a good reason not to, it is always more effective to create 52-week campaigns. It takes time to position our clients in the minds of our listeners.

If our annual presentations contain a "spec" commercial, then they should contain more than one. Think "campaign".  We need to show our clients how their advertising will sound throughout the year.  Using multiple commercials in our presentations lets them hear how their dollars (Euros) will be spent.

We should approach our relationships with our clients as being "hired" not "flight-bought".  Our clients wouldn't "hire" someone for three or four weeks.  They would expect an employee to be with them longer.  We want our clients to view us as employees.  We are forming long-term relationships. We are here to help our clients to grow their business, not to sell them a few commercials and run.

How we perform for our clients helps to determine whether or not we keep our job with them.  We should make sure to log ad meetings, copy changes, results' checks and service meetings in our agendas so that we can keep our clients' advertising on target and working for them throughout the year.  Remember, they "hired" us!