590 MIGHTY MEMORY #430

WARM’s George Gilbert. (Photo: Sweensspace.blogspot)

DOUBLE G’s SALES ADVICE 

A friend of mine shared this anecdote with me about George Gilbert. 
In the mid 90s, George Gilbert was employed as a Snior Sales Representative at WARM and Magic 93. Tim Durkin, the late Sales Manager and Joey Shaver the WARM Sales Manager thought with Gilbert’s past reputation on the Mighty 590, he could garner the stations new clients. And he did. His low key but friendly personality made him a success in his efforts on that level at WARM. 
One of the things Media Sales Representatives need to do is get out in front with clients. Using the phone to try and get a face to face meeting with a client is sometimes very hard to do. My friend was struggling and getting pretty much nowhere saying his entire spiel over the phone and then getting a no. 
Gilbert in the next cubicle called him over and said, “Can I give you some advice?” And my friend, happy that someone was throwing him a lifeline retorted, “Sure”. Gilbert said, “Next time you call a prospective client, just give him your name, the station and say I’m calling about an idea that I want to share with you. Then don’t say anything else. You’ll gey face to face meetings”. 
My friend resumed his work following GG’s methods and got some meetings and other future successes. Tommy Woods is fond of saying how the original WARM jocks were always a team. My friend and most likely Gilbert’s other coworkers in Sales saw that teamwork aspect of George Gilbert, not as a jock or Program Director, but as a Sales mentor. 
Teamwork: a tradition of the Sensational Seven that is still part of the WARM heritage.