May 20, 2010

Tell me it isn't so.

We just made a change in our traffic director. We made sure she was adequately trained and ready to take it solo.

At the end of her first month there was a discrepancy between what was projected (orders in) and what actually ran (invoiced sales) by several thousand dollars.

When we dug deeper, we realized she wasn't reconciling each day's log for any discrepancies.

I don't need to tell you what that means. Any spot that didn't air, for whatever reason, was not reconciled on a daily basis and only discovered at the end of the month. In many cases, it was too late to make them good within their flight. We lost money. Not as bad as we thought, but these days losing any money that was already in your pocket is not good.

As general manager, don't just generally manage. Ask the tough questions and make sure you are in the loop on every aspect of your operation...or it may cost you big time!