You know that your rate card is an essential tool for your team sales goals. It’s a key component of the sales toolkit, but if it’s not up to date, it can leave a significant amount of money on the table.

Here are five signs that it’s time to take another look at your rate card:

1.Your rate card hasn’t changed in several weeks

If you update your rates on a quarterly or monthly basis, you’re not alone. It can take hours to manually update a rate card, allowing it to get pushed aside for another day. 

However, you know that the demand for advertising ebbs and flows on a weekly - even daily - basis. Holidays, seasons, elections and current events are just a few of many things that all have an impact on demand. 

Updating quarterly is not going to reflect the many factors that affect advertising during that time. If the idea of having to tackle even more rate card updates is stressful, don’t panic. There are software solutions that do that for you, and do in seconds what your team would usually spend hours doing.

2.Viewership and listeners have increased, but rates haven’t

When more people are paying attention to your programming, your spots become more valuable. Your rate card should reflect that.

If it’s been a while since rates have changed but your audience size has steadily increased, it might be time to revisit the rate card.

3.Decrease in spot sales

There are several reasons for potential customers to decide against buying, and many of those will be out of your sales team’s hands. That being said, any trend in low demand is worth investigating.

The rate card could certainly be a culprit. The rates need to be attractive enough for customers to buy,but they also need to make sense. If the pricing is off or doesn’t make sense for the demand, potential customers could decide against buying.

4. High demand for spots

But what if your ad spots are selling out quickly? That’s a good thing, right?

The goal is always to reach ideal inventory sellouts. However, if you’re filling spots much quicker than usual and overselling, look a little deeper - you could be leaving money on the table. If there isn’t a major event increasing demand, then it’s possible you’re pricing your options a bit too low. 

5. A special occasion is coming up

It could be a sporting event, an election season, or a big local event. If something is coming up that more people will want to place ads for, your rate card should reflect the demand for that specific programming or time frame.

This is where it helps to have historical information, because as you change rates, buyers will want to know why. If you have access to forecasting tools and historical data, you can explain exactly why you’re charging a certain rate for that time.