March 18, 2010

I spoke a little bit about some new training in yesterday's column ... if you missed it, check the archive for reference.

A former DOS of mine had a great idea. He built a comprehensive curriculum that turned out to be a recruiting tool that went over two weeks -- using not a spec of purchased training tools. It included all the basics in radio sales presented by different staff members.

But, first we put out an ad for new sales reps. After a brief interview and reference checks, candidates were invited to participate in a two-week training program for which they would paid a stipend and would serve as a qualifier for full-time employment. We had 12 people go through the sessions and we did it twice in a year. We ended up qualifying about half of them for employment and the year-one retention and success rate was about 75%. That's pretty good for newbies.

I'll share more on what we taught them and how the curriculum was set up in tomorrow's column. Tune back in!