Forever Radio Bowling Green, KY Beaver96.7/WUHU/WBGN/Willie94.1

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Are you nuts wrote:

<quoted text>
All of this is being done, yet better. And about Joanna, you haven't worked with her apparently, all she does it make phone calls, walk ins and building relationships. 20,000 was not handed to her. Does everyone need to call on existing clients that pervious reps abandoned? Yes! It is called following through on what others couldn't or didn't!

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Amazed Forever wrote:

<quoted text>
I have to call 'bullshit'! on that one. None of what was described as training by that poster is being done. And you are going to lose more AEs soon because of your unfair distributing of prime Forever accounts. Managers should know by now that you can't hide anything for long in this small company. Who is the next to quit?

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Once there wrote:

<quoted text>
Agreed! But the Prime accounts are not being distributed. So, why the "picking" on Joanna? She is going through the same bs we all did! Managers have accounts! They compete with the sales reps!

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Down the hall wrote:

<quoted text>
It is easier to see from downstairs out of the pressure cooker how you are potentially destroying this company by going through the motions of training and account assignment. Training is pitiful, you know it, and it is the reason for losing 20 people in a year of this manager team. Training starts in the interview identifying weaknesses and strengths you can manage, and then hiring people who have some relationships with businesses in BG. They should not get a cubicle until they have some relationships to call on already, some proven trust/integrity to show clients, and they know how to sell enough spots to produce results. As a part of ongoing training every rep AND MANAGER should be required TO ATTEND EVERY LAB. Meet and stroke every advertiser willing to spend $1,000+ for a day of results, happily expecting customers. Make the new reps take pictures of customers lining up to be a part of the stations they sell. Every rep AND manager should be at EVERY monthly chamber breakfast and EVERY monthly happy hour. The managers should be teaching the reps how to work the room and how to meet the decision makers in this small town. Oh, YOU TOO Christine, show up at these easy networking events. No pet focus, but alot of businesses who want to see you as part of BG. This is the stupidest weakness of Forever, and it can be fixed tomorrow.
Training is painful! Gerald and Joe should be in the passenger seat of an AE car 6-hours per day and get out of your nest/desk and teach people what you know ON THE ACTUAL JOB (and managers should buy lunch at a non-advertiser with a rep every day). That is training. You have a smartphone so you have internet access all day long, you don't need to be at a desk. Training happens after the call, in the car, that is training whether you won or lost the sale. Managers and AEs hate all of that because it is too accountable. Tough sh!t, that is your job and we talked about it in the interview, I am riding with you as your manager, expect it every day, I am here to help you and gain stories for training meetings.
Monday's meeting is a review of the week's exciting activity and a plan for next week including where we screwed up and fixed it.
For next Monday's meeting have Joanna show a successful sale that is not a renewal from any former rep's account list that got me to $20,000 in sales without making a call. "Here is how I prospected, here is the spec I created and the presentation I wrote, I answered these objections, and here is how I closed the sale." Oh, and here are my ten target accounts I am mailing to."
I wish I could be there and not:
Down the hall.

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Not A Bystander wrote:

<quoted text>Again...OK "Down The Hall". I do agree with a lot of what you said about salespeople attending LABs. Are you, as an office person, willing to do the same? I love radio, I love the office staff and I love what our cluster of stations can offer our listeners as well as our adverisers. We not only have great promotions, but we do a great service to the community. It breaks my heart that these posts go on and on and nothing has ever been written about all the great things our stations do. St. Jude is perhaps one of the best charities in "THE WORLD". The Beaver not only goes above and beyond for this charity, but they are ALL involved on a day to day basis. I guarantee if you ask the Beaver staff if they are a "Partner in Hope", they would proudly say to you "You are damn straight I am!" Go ahead and ask the WUHU staff how they feel about The Camp For Courageous Kids. These are JUST two of the wonderful charities our cluster of stations represents for the community. I could go on and on and on and on.

I am NOT Christine...I AM a proud employee not only of radio itself, but Forever Communications. I had to tell myself this very same thing I am going to post here..."If you want to make a real change...start my changing yourself." I truly believe I have on both counts.

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Not A Bystander wrote:

<quoted text>
Again...OK "Down The Hall". I do agree with a lot of what you said about salespeople attending LABs. Are you, as an office person, willing to do the same? I love radio, I love the office staff and I love what our cluster of stations can offer our listeners as well as our adverisers. We not only have great promotions, but we do a great service to the community. It breaks my heart that these posts go on and on and nothing has ever been written about all the great things our stations do. St. Jude is perhaps one of the best charities in "THE WORLD". The Beaver not only goes above and beyond for this charity, but they are ALL involved on a day to day basis. I guarantee if you ask the Beaver staff if they are a "Partner in Hope", they would proudly say to you "You are damn straight I am!" Go ahead and ask the WUHU staff how they feel about The Camp For Courageous Kids. These are JUST two of the wonderful charities our cluster of stations represents for the community. I could go on and on and on and on.
I am NOT Christine...I AM a proud employee not only of radio itself, but Forever Communications. I had to tell myself this very same thing I am going to post here..."If you want to make a real change...start my changing yourself." I truly believe I have on both counts.

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Amazed Forever wrote:

<quoted text>
Joanna is just playing the game, she knows how desperate Forever is on the sales side and she just pushes weak managers to keep her happy with gift accounts. "Compete" makes it sound like it is a fair competition and that is just not true. Managers hoard the prime accounts just in case they call in. Or if they want to cook the books for ownership.
The ultimate slap in the face regarding Joanna's miracle return after quitting last month was to the entire BG staff, and it just happened in our corporate newsletter. Gerald needed something positive to say to the owners to cover his disasterous year. So with everyone on staff knowing the reality of her billing and bogus goals, Gerald's report positioned Joanna as the ONLY salesperson who made goal in both June and for the quarter (doc is more a manager than ae). Management and the owners are being tricked by manipulated goals and gift accounts to maintain the illusion, and the staff is angry about the fake State of the Stations report. It makes the word "Congrats" totally offensive to the rest of us on staff. We are not stupid. Maybe we're Amazed.

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Amazed Forever wrote:

<quoted text>
Joanna is just playing the game, she knows how desperate Forever is on the sales side and she just pushes weak managers to keep her happy with gift accounts. "Compete" makes it sound like it is a fair competition and that is just not true. Managers hoard the prime accounts just in case they call in. Or if they want to cook the books for ownership.
The ultimate slap in the face regarding Joanna's miracle return after quitting last month was to the entire BG staff, and it just happened in our corporate newsletter. Gerald needed something positive to say to the owners to cover his disasterous year. So with everyone on staff knowing the reality of her billing and bogus goals, Gerald's report positioned Joanna as the ONLY salesperson who made goal in both June and for the quarter (doc is more a manager than ae). Management and the owners are being tricked by manipulated goals and gift accounts to maintain the illusion, and the staff is angry about the fake State of the Stations report. It makes the word "Congrats" totally offensive to the rest of us on staff. We are not stupid. Maybe we're Amazed.

Judged:

28

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Amazed Forever wrote:

<quoted text>
Joanna is just playing the game, she knows how desperate Forever is on the sales side and she just pushes weak managers to keep her happy with gift accounts. "Compete" makes it sound like it is a fair competition and that is just not true. Managers hoard the prime accounts just in case they call in. Or if they want to cook the books for ownership.
The ultimate slap in the face regarding Joanna's miracle return after quitting last month was to the entire BG staff, and it just happened in our corporate newsletter. Gerald needed something positive to say to the owners to cover his disasterous year. So with everyone on staff knowing the reality of her billing and bogus goals, Gerald's report positioned Joanna as the ONLY salesperson who made goal in both June and for the quarter (doc is more a manager than ae). Management and the owners are being tricked by manipulated goals and gift accounts to maintain the illusion, and the staff is angry about the fake State of the Stations report. It makes the word "Congrats" totally offensive to the rest of us on staff. We are not stupid. Maybe we're Amazed.

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Formerly Forever wrote:

Well that didn't take long. One phone call.
The quarterly sales and goals were manipulated to make it appear that both June and 2nd Quarter were hit by that one person, and they were not.
At least one more person has quit over this.
Someone fill in the details.

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27

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Amazed Forever wrote:

<quoted text>
Joanna is just playing the game, she knows how desperate Forever is on the sales side and she just pushes weak managers to keep her happy with gift accounts. "Compete" makes it sound like it is a fair competition and that is just not true. Managers hoard the prime accounts just in case they call in. Or if they want to cook the books for ownership.
The ultimate slap in the face regarding Joanna's miracle return after quitting last month was to the entire BG staff, and it just happened in our corporate newsletter. Gerald needed something positive to say to the owners to cover his disasterous year. So with everyone on staff knowing the reality of her billing and bogus goals, Gerald's report positioned Joanna as the ONLY salesperson who made goal in both June and for the quarter (doc is more a manager than ae). Management and the owners are being tricked by manipulated goals and gift accounts to maintain the illusion, and the staff is angry about the fake State of the Stations report. It makes the word "Congrats" totally offensive to the rest of us on staff. We are not stupid. Maybe we're Amazed.

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24

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Usta Be There Forever wrote:

GotOutIn Time wrote:
Looks like this post got too successful with 500+ comments. But this transparency seems to be helping employees and potential new hires to this "once great company".
Where were we? We need to post your personal greatest hits!
""CH, think about how much more you are concerned about finding out who I am
on Topix telling the truth, than you are about solving the problems. Bring
that same anger and passion to go run your business and support what used
to be your family. At least show up at the office once in a while and dust
the dust off the doorknob to your revised office. or just sit with Jill,
your call.
"Okay to the people who thought the list I posted was over-reaching, I just
took it from my PamMaw(also fired) revised phone lists over the years.
Here is the last one year of fires or quit on the sales or management at
Forever. JoeDOS and ChrisK and Joannna were hired back to Forever in different positions from
the other list.
1. Jaime (2010 salesperson of the year)
2. TimDOS
3. Brittany
4. Paula
5. Betty (many year veteran in BG media, now owns an agency buying media in
BG)
6. Melinda
7. Lenora (2010 employee of the year; Long-term administration leader)
8. Donna
9. Michal
10. Mike
11. MichaelV
12. TonyaS
13. Jacob (experienced radio sales guy from the north)
14. Lindsey
15. Lindsay
16. ChrisM (former pharmaceuticals expert sales rep who got no radio training)
17. Kathy (30 year top biller quit this week after complaining about hostile office tactics)
18. Michelle
19. Vicky
20. Lance
21. Vanessa
WOW! The last three gone within ten days and at least one to a competitor with Vicky going back to selling Yellow Pages and YP. How do you explain that to the owners?

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Former Forever wrote:

<quoted text>
Shelli quit now. She got fed up with favoritism in account gifts to other reps (rep) while she built new business for Forever at a record pace. Gerald kept the hostile work environment alive by changing the goalposts for bonuses, for some but not others. When Forever fakes a goal maker by gift-account with no goal, it offends those who really beat the streets working.

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Down the hall wrote:

<quoted text>
You can't tell if Gerald and Joe are trying to fake having Joanna hit goals and be a star, or they may just be lazy and stupid. It depends on the report you look at. Some reports round up the sales and it could look like she made goal in two of the months. When she quit they took her goal off the reports so her "gift-account" sales were thousands over her goal of zero. Either way it is an insult to those who were actual goal makers.