• by Michael Shields , July 15, 2004

Radio rep firm Interep is claiming credit for driving a major influx of new dollars into a stagnant radio marketplace. The company announced a revenue increase via new business development efforts of more than $36 million new dollars for radio through the first half of this year, a 72 percent increase versus last year.

Total "developmental billing" which includes new business, new rep dollars and renewals, totaled $63 million for the company during the first half of 2004, a 20 percent increase over 2003.

This incremental business was secured through a multi-pronged attack by various sales teams at Interep with the intention of calling on upper-level decision-makers at agencies and advertisers rather than the traditional media or marketing decision makers.

Interep's strategy isn't to go over the heads of agency and marketing people to steal their budgets. Instead, its sales team target a whole new set of dollars, says Sheila Kirby, senior vice president of Interep Innovations. "These are not ad dollars, but rather sales promotion and marketing dollars," she said.

To secure these dollars, Interep conntects with what Kirby calls "non-active decision-makers," or folks who manage serious promotional budgets but do not typically turn to radio. For example, instead of selling to the marketing or advertising executives at Ford or General Motors, Interep will solicit local car dealers who have separate budgets and ROI sales goals that mesh well with radio.

However, Intereps also goes after high-ranking CEO types, who Kirby says often have access to untapped dollars. "There are many different levels at any company which are equipped to promote the sale of products," she said.