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This column is about THE KAPLANS: Stan
Kaplan is one of the best radio sales people of all time!!!
Unfortunately, he is no longer with us. I first heard of
Stan while he was managing WIL in St. Louis in the 60’s. His
sales reputation was legendary for such a young guy.
Everyone in the broadcasting business knew Stan was a sales
tiger! For example, Stan and Dick Clark (yep, that one)
became the operating gurus for MARS which was a radio
syndication company….something NEW in radio those days. It
was very successful. MARS marketed one minute well produced
(by Bob Whitney) contests (called StarTests) plus a three
hour Dick Clark DAILY syndicated radio program ( distributed
by reel tape mailed to stations). It was during the MARS
days that Stan Kaplan entered my life, and introduced me to
his world-class salesmanship.
By observation I became Stan’s sales student. The following
is what happened at our first meeting, and I must admit I
was very nervous about shaking hands with this living
legend. He flew to see me in Atlanta to sell his superbly
produced programming (I was GM of WQXI in Atlanta at that
time). It was clear in the first five minutes of our meeting
that I was in serious trouble…he could sell me anything!!
Quickly he convinced me that his StarTests could bring
additional sparkle to our programming and increase our
ratings. But, just a minute!!! We were a very good radio
station with number one ratings even against that southern
giant WSB!! However, before I could open my mouth to say,
“Stan, I don’t have the budget” I was signing a contract for
StarTests that he pushed in front of me. This was after a
ten-minute pitch/conversation!!!!
Reeling from his quick salesmanship I excused myself to head
to the boys room to throw some water on my face and gather
myself. I had just been run over by a sales machine!! Stan
followed me to the boys room talking all the way, and as I
dried my face he was pitching his other program, the Dick
Clark nighttime show. As I walked back to my office Stan was
at my side telling me everything about Dick Clark (who was
already a legend) and the program. His pitch and audition
tape of Clark’s program was almost overwhelming. I was
almost hyperventilating!!! As Stan reached into his
briefcase to find the Dick Clark/WQXI contract I quickly
took all the pens and pencils off my desk and tossed them
into a drawer (I wanted all instruments that could be used
to sign a document out of my sight as Stan pressed for a
close.) In defense of signing I said to Stan, “Look at these
night time ratings. We are already number one with 30
audience shares, and we are 80 percent sold out. I can’t
gamble that Dick Clark’s program can increase our audience
or assist in selling out”. Stan didn’t even blink, but
instead seized the moment, and immediately countered my
protest by saying “If your ratings go down you can cancel
Dick on one day's notice, and I will guarantee you will be
100 percent sold out instead of 80 per cent”. Did he say
“GUARANTEE?” That played perfectly to my ears. I thought
Stan was joking. Selling out 100 percent at NIGHT was
unheard of in those days. I agreed to the terms believing
that Stan would never be able to find additional advertising
to take us to 100 per cent night time sell out. Was I
wrong!!!! I know because I WAS THERE the next day. This is
what happened. Stan took me, and our sales manager, Gerry
Blum, to meet Dick Darnell, the local Dr. Pepper bottler who
for some reason did not advertise on many radio stations in
Atlanta. I thought this meeting was a lost cause even though
Dick and Dr. Pepper had a NATIONAL advertising agreement for
television. But Stan insisted that Darnell would advertise
in the Clark program bringing a 100 per cent sell out of
nighttime.
Five minutes after being escorted into Darnell’s office a
professional photographer appeared out of thin air and said
“Mr. Kaplan, I am ready to take the photos”. Darnell said
“What photo’s?” Stan replied “I hired this photographer so
we could have photos for all of the soft drink trade
magazines and our radio trade magazines if we should sign
the Clark contract with Kent for his WQXI station”. There
was a ten second pause. No one spoke. Stan smiled at
Darnell. I stared at Stan. Then, slowly, Darnell got up from
behind his desk, went to a mirror in his office, combed his
hair and said “OK, let’s take the photo”. Stan whipped out a
contract and we all signed within seconds as the flash bulbs
went off. As we left the office Stan whispered to me, “That
was my photographic close”.
I learned that Stan had other unusual “closes” in his sales
kit that I will write about next week. Stan taught me how to
use imagination to sell radio advertising. Stan married a
woman named Sis who became a power player in broadcasting.
More on Sis next Friday as well. And during it all, the
Kaplans and Burkharts began a super friendship!!! Lucky for
the Burkharts!!!
e-mail Kent
kent@kentburkhart.com
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