CHARLIE HUSTLE or MARATHON MAN

Which are YOU? Actually it's a trick question. I'll explain in a moment.

Growing up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, a city that loved baseball but did not have their own Major League Team, created an interesting variety of fans. The Chicago Cubs I believe and the biggest following. In fourth grade my teacher was a huge Tiger fan and that was the year they were in the world series. Also high on the list was Cincinnati and "The Big Red Machine". Which brings me to my first reference, Pete Rose who was nicknamed Charlie Hustle by his manager.

Now unlike the movie with the same name that stared Dustin Hoffman nearly 20 years ago, there is another type of Marathon Man that I am referring to and that is the person who can "go the distance". Even though there are hundreds of people who run in the big races, it is up to each individual to train and prepare themselves for the task ahead.

Monday Morning November 21, 2005. It is announced that our company MUST generate an additional $10,000 into the month. Each person MUST bring in a minimum of $1000. If it was October 21st, or September 21st, the task would have been achievable by even the newest sales person, but no this was November 21st, and in reality the deadline for selling and getting the money on the books is TUESDAY at 5pm, or WEDNESDAY 9am at the very latest due to the Thanksgiving Day Holiday. Now is the time to do the CHARLIE HUSTLE.

When I left the building at 3pm Tuesday, I had done my part by 150% and it was time to concentrate on December. Will everyone else get their $1000 for the month in by Wednesday morning? Reality says no. But as a TEAM, we can still hit that $10,000 total.

So how do you become a CHARLIE HUSTLE when you need to be? By being a MARATHON MAN and working steady all the time. Here's an example of how I did it.
Darlington Christmas Warehouse This once a year sale does their media buys in July. I first met them at the beginning of November. Way too late right? Well by listening to what they are doing and some creativity, they bought our Christmas Music Programming. But it wasn't the commercials they were most interested in, it was the Shopping Bag Promotion. Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving, we are going to be passing out 2000 Christmas Shopping Bags that promote our Christmas Music Programming, and inside each bag, we will place flyers or coupons from our advertisers. That's what Darlington bought.
K-mart When I met with the store manager this summer, I was told that they were not allowed to do their own radio advertising anymore, it was all being done nationally. Today, I presented him with the Christmas Shopping Bag promotion and he gave me two boxes of flyers to stuff in the bags along with an order.
Hayden Honda They were occasional advertisers being handled by an ad agency. They actually contacted me late Monday. By negotiating with them I was able to offer them more than double the number of ads for a 33% increase of what they originally wanted to spend.
Computer Renaissance After offering them various options on our stations, they informed me Monday afternoon that they were going to go with another company for 2006. I asked them what the other station was going to do for them for their Friday Sale and was told that the other station didn't have room for them. So, after doing a quick information gathering (5 minutes) I told the owner that I would have a commercial ready for him in the morning to consider. I wrote and produced the ad, finishing after 10pm, but they were impressed and even though I had to make a couple of changes, I GOT IT DONE.

That's the hustle, and it was made possible by being a marathon man.

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