THE RADIO CENTER FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
TRAINEE POSITION: SALES and RESEARCH ASSISTANT
PROGRAM LENGTH: 4 Months
WEEKLY SCHEDULE: 30 hours per week
4-5 days per week
QUALIFICATIONS:
Candidates with previous office experience and skills, especially in a Sales environment or recent college graduates with strong computer skills preferred. Must be proficient in use of PCs including Windows, Word and Excel. Excellent typing, attention to detail and organizational skills required. Good writing skills, including grammar and spelling. Must be able to articulate and enunciate clearly. Must be able to use telephone, printers, copy machines and computer with assisted technology but without assistance from other personnel. Position also requires good interpersonal skills.
Trainee must be available and capable of traveling in order to travel by plane to attend training sessions at locations outside Chicago.
Radio environments are often fast paced, high stress and high performance. The noise level in the work can be very loud with a great deal of physical activity and movement in the room.
TRAINING
PHASE #1: Introduction to Radio
Week #1: All trainees will spend their first week of trainee gaining basic familiarity with radio. Emphasis will be put on the overall structure, goals, staffing, and duties found in most stations.
Trainees will be assigned to listen and report on several Chicago area stations, including information available on their web site. A general Introduction to Programming will be included in this week.
Week #2: In Station
The trainee will visit one or two radio stations in the area.
In order to maximize the learning experience, RCPD trainers will provide an introduction to each station. This introduction will also help the trainee understand what lessons should be learned from each visit.
RCPD will also supply the station with a suggested list of information to be covered and goals achieved.
During these visits, the trainee will:
n sit in on an on-air shift
n meet with the Production Director to understand his or her role
n spend several hours with a sales assistant
n review various sales materials and research pieces
PHASE #2: Understanding Sales
Weeks #3-4: During this period, the trainee will be given a general
overview of radio sales in order to gain familiarity with the vocabulary and
issues facing account executives. This portion of the training may take place at the RCPD, or the trainee may be included in introductory sales training at a participating radio station. Some of the topics with which the trainee will gain basic familiarity include:
Retail Sales
Agency Sales
The Concept Vs the Numbers sale
Showing a competitive edge
One-pagers
Complex presentations
PHASE #2 Evaluation: The trainee will be given a written test to determine whether he or she has understand the basic principles of radio ratings and sales needed for sales presentations and research pieces. The trainee must score at least 85% in order to continue the program. If the trainee scores lower, he/she will have the opportunity to take the test again in two weeks. At that point, a score of at least 90% must be achieved to continue the program.
PHASE #3: Creating Sales Materials and Presentations
Weeks #5-8: The trainee will engage in the sophisticated uses of Microsoft Word and Power Point in order to integrate all written and visual information into a professional presentation. Training may be done at an out-of-town Microsoft training center.
The trainee will then work under the supervision of the RCPD sales department to create presentations.
PHASE #3 Evaluation: The trainee will be given 3 projects to execute. Each will involve putting together written materials, ratings information and graphs, using power point to create an attractive and eye-catching presentation.
If the presentations are good, even if they need some further editing or
suggestions, the trainee will proceed to the final phase. If the trainee shows
only a minimum grasp of the material and how to present it, the program will
be terminated.
PHASE #4: Understanding Research and Ratings
Weeks #9-12: The goal of this phase will be to gain in-depth knowledge of The Arbitron Company radio ratings services, including the following:
1. What kind of information does the service offer?
2. How is it used by radio account executives
3. What are the ways in which this information can be presented visually?
4. How can the information be presented in presentation to clients?
5. How can the Arbitron website be used to aid in Sales?
6. How are schedules put together?
7. How can material be shown visually to create research packages that “sell”?
The trainee will visit the Arbitron training center in Maryland for a three day training session.
Upon returning to the RCPD, the trainee will be given assignments for a specific radio station in Chicago, as if he or she were already working at that station in order to pull “runs” and create sales materials using the new skills learned at Arbitron. The trainee will also be responsible for pulling and organizing information for the RCPD Account Executives to use.
Candidates may also receive training with Scarborough (located outside of Chicago) and with Accutrends (Chicago based).
Trainees will be given specific projects related to their last field trip in order to solidify their skills before moving on to the next field trip.
PHASE # 4 Evaluation: After each field trip, the supervisor will test the trainee on the content of the material to which he or she was introduced. If the supervisor does not believe the candidate has achieved a solid grasp of the material he may terminate the candidate.
PHASE #5: Testing Skills in the Real World
Weeks #13 - 16:
The trainee will test his newly learned skills by working as a sales and/or research assistant for up to four weeks at one or more local radio stations
PHASE #5 Evaluation: The station employees with whom the trainee worked will be interviewed for their evaluation and input. If the trainee appears weak in any specific areas, several weeks may be added on to the program in order to rectify the problem.