Okay, so you’re already on TV and doing well with it.

Maybe you think my seminar looks interesting—but you feel like you just simply don’t need any help.

Fair enough.

Would you at least be willing to let me double check and make sure that you’re doing as well as you think you are?

Here’s what I mean, and what I can do for you:

• There’s about an 85% chance that you’re not buying your media as efficiently as you could be.
• I know you probably don’t believe me, but let’s check…
• Let me take a quick look at one or more of your schedules—the numbers, in black and white.
• I’ll give you one of three verdicts: 1) Looks like you’re doing fine; 2) Could probably use some work; or 3) Definitely room for improvement.
• Even if you use an agency, you are probably underleveraged. If you are buying it yourself, doubly so.

Think about it: if you’re spending $50,000 a month on media (TV/radio) and your buy is 20% too expensive (and you don’t know it), that means you could be getting $60,000 a month worth of media for the same money you’re already spending.

Honestly, you’re probably overpaying by more like 50% to 100%.

Or even as much as 4,500%.

Which means I could get you $100,000 worth of coverage (or more) for the same $50,000.

If so, maybe you’d want to consider spending a couple of days with me in my seminar.

And if not—no harm, no foul.

Do this: Email me at rharshaw@mymonline.com to start the conversation.

Please don’t be offended, but there’s a really good chance that you’re absolutely terrible at negotiating with TV and/or radio stations.

I don’t care how good you are at negotiating other stuff, it’s an absolute certainty that you SUCK at negotiating with these guys.

The reason why is simple: You don’t speak their language.

Yep; media has its own “language,” and if you’re not fluent in it, you’re going to end up buying swampland in Florida when you thought you were getting oceanfront property in Maui.

It’s one of the main reasons you need to come to my 2-day seminar in Dallas on April 26 & 27. To learn more about the event click here.

Let me give you an example.

I’m working with a new client in Milwaukee. They got interested in radio and TV recently and started trying to make a buy themselves.

Here’s what they ended up with:

This is swampland, pure and simple. Let me explain:

1. After we researched the market, we determined that this is actually the 4th or 5th best radio station for them to be on. That might be okay if the DEAL was so good that they just couldn’t pass it up, but….
2. They have no way of knowing how good this buy is based on this document. It states that they will get 20 spots a week for 24 weeks for $800 a week. Is that good? Unless you know HOW MANY PEOPLE are going to hear those spots, it is 100% impossible to judge.
3. The Endorsement by “Elizabeth” (on-air personality) is way overvalued—it’s 20% of the budget. We found out she endorses FOUR companies simultaneously—that’s too many!
4. The sponsorship on the left and the list of stuff on the right is FILLER GARBAGE that is worth approximately nothing. If you don’t know that, it’s a problem.

When I called the station and had them send me the numbers on this buy (which the client never ever saw—by design of the station), here’s what I got:

The Cost per Thousand (CPM) looks pretty good at $5.26. But then you realize that they are padding this with a bunch of GARBAGE (circled above) and it’s not so good. In fact, it’s terrible.

It’s like going to the store and getting 4 pounds of bananas… 1 pound is fresh and ripe and good to eat, but the other 3 pounds are old and moldy and useless. But all you know is you paid a certain price for all 4 pounds.

Let’s ask them to take 3 pounds of moldy bananas out, and just sell us the 1 pound of GOOD bananas.

I did exactly that; I asked them to remove the garbage, which exposed what a bad deal this really was:

Boom, the price (THE REAL PRICE!) just MORE THAN TRIPLED to $16.30 (CPM).

When I told her what I wanted, she then pulled a fast one on me—trying to trick me:

Okay, look, the price is down to $9.99—a big reduction. Except she used 30-second spots instead of 60 second spots to artificially lower the price.

If you don’t know what you’re doing, they will pull this crap on you all day long.

I went back and asked to price it out for 60-second spots:

Okay, now the schedule is right, but the price is terrible. I would NEVER pay $14.04 CPM for radio for my clients.

Would you? Would you even know?

I sent this “lower the boom” email; note that I am asking for a price almost 2/3 less than what she had offered:

Three hours later, I had this offer in my inbox:

$9.99… the same price she had previously offered me for 30-second spots. That’s a huge reduction with just one ask. I am sure I could get 20% to 35% more off… but since I don’t really want this station anyway, I decide not to put the thumbscrews on her.

Instead, I focus on getting a better price from a better station, and I am able to get prices of $8.00 CMP and $7.56 CPM from two stations I like better…

Then I start to negotiate with TV stations.

Long story short, I negotiated with one of the best stations in the entire market to get on for $3.50 CPM.

The original deal they had negotiated was $16.30. I ended up with a deal on a better station on TV for $3.50.

That’s media buying like a boss.

That’s how I negotiated deals that are literally 4,500% better than you.

If you think your AGENCY is doing a better job than you could, you’re probably right.

If you think your AGENCY is doing a better job than I would, you’re almost certainly WRONG.

The problem with agencies is that they almost always leave the negotiation to some junior-level wannabe who sucks at buying media.

When I took over Jericho’s $1 million media budget in 2015, I was able to negotiate deals 20% to 30% better than what they had been paying.

It happens all the time.

This is what you will learn at my “Make The Jump” seminar on April 26 & 27.

I hope you can make it.

You need to make it.

I’ll see you there.

Sincerely,

Rich Harshaw

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Ten years ago I went on a father-son camping trip with my church to Broken Bow, Oklahoma where we went canoeing down the Mountain Fork River.

After a few hours of paddling, when we stopped to rest, I challenged a few of the older boys to a swimming race to the other side of the river and back—a distance of maybe 75 yards each way.

A fair amount of trash talking ensued, and the race was on.

Long story short, I demolished the entire group of 6 or 8 boys—I beat the closest one by at least 20 yards. And you better believe a fair amount of trash talking followed!

This got a few of the older boys who had not raced interested. They insisted that we hold a second race so they could beat me and restore the dignity of young people everywhere.

I agreed, but only after a 5-minute rest.

Just before we started, a guy I had never met asked if it would be okay for him to join the race. He was about my age, and had apparently just moved into our town.

Oh. My. Gosh.

This new guy absolutely KILLED me and everybody else in that second race. And it wasn’t just that he beat us—it was the way that he accomplished it.

His swimming stroke was smooth, steady, and absolutely, positively effortless.

He finished 50 yards ahead of the pack (in a 150-yard race, mind you), and wasn’t even breathing hard when we dragged our pathetic, panting carcasses out of the river.

Turns out this new guy was named John and had just moved in the week before. It also turns out he was a scholarship swimmer at the University of Arkansas back in the day. And it also turns out he was still a top 1% ranked swimmer in Ironman Triathlons worldwide.

Gulp.

I went from a “great swimmer” who beat a bunch of teenagers to a “giant loser” who in reality had no idea how to actually swim in less than 10 minutes.

And guess what?

I see this all the time in business, especially when the “swimming” is actually “marketing.”

I don’t want to show you how to beat all your local competitors by dominating them on the internet and crushing them on TV and radio.

Nope.

Your local competitors are like those pathetic teenage boys who had no idea what they were doing whatsoever. Beating them means nothing. Not beating them is embarrassing.

What I want to do at my seminar is teach you how to get into that top 1% of all marketers.

The top 1%.

Take TV and radio.

I’ve had a thousand contractors over the years tell me “it doesn’t work for us.”

Yet I make it work for my clients in dramatic and profound ways.

There’s a difference between being “good at being a contractor” and “knowing exactly how to choose the right stations, negotiate the best deals, and produce the right commercials.”

One of my clients is 6 times bigger than his next biggest competitor. SIX TIMES BIGGER.  And not in some Podunk town. They are in the 34th biggest market in the US.

Another one of my clients holds more than 40% market share in several of the counties they compete in. FORTY PERCENT. In a top 5 market in the country.

Don’t let “good” get in the way of your being GREAT.

Come out to my seminar and literally MAKE THE JUMP to the next level in your business.

Hurry, registration closes in less than a week.

Read more about it here.

Thanks,

Rich

Click here to read more posts in my “Make The Jump” series:

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