A Belated Anniversary for Sales Talk Radio!
It’s been quite a year. Between my bi-polar job year I have missed a very important anniversary. Hard to believe but it has been 20 years since I co-founded a program known as “Sales Talk Radio.” Back before podcasts were a thing, before streaming music was everywhere, even before the iPhone (Blackberries were King), I was a part of an innovative project to stream a live podcast/radio show to the internal Sales audience of Administaff. Initially started in October 2003 this is a program still going on today.
Referred to as “Producer Brent,” I collaborated with John Orth, Vice President of Sales for Administaff (now known as Insperity) to find a way to share updates and increase collaboration for a nationwide salesforce of 250 consultants in 38 offices. We used the streaming service “Live365” to broadcast to our closed loop audience.
It was a live interactive show allowing offices and consultants to call in and speak with the hosts. The show aired every Tuesday afternoon and operated more like a Pirate Radio show format – unscripted but engaging. As we learned more about the format, we tweaked the model and became more disciplined in our show prep and production.
What I loved most about this project was the ability to try something new and have an immediate impact. Almost overnight we created a new way to share best practices and improve consultant performance. I love the chance to blaze new paths and try new ways to apply technology.
Since our early days in 2003 I recently went back to visit the company and was pleasantly surprised to hear the show continues today, although in a very different format and now video based. Hard to believe it’s been 20 years since the first show of Sales Talk Radio aired. Just goes to show what a little ingenuity and imagination can do. Happy 20th Anniversary!