WAZE-TV Automates Sales Activities with VCI’s STARS II+

WAZE-TV WB19, the Tri-State’s home for Indiana University and Purdue University Football and Basketball and the Tri-State’s home of the National League champion St. Louis Cardinals, has chosen to implement VCI’s SalesDesk sales module as their sales force automation system. Used in conjunction with the station’s use of VCI’s STARS II+ flagship product, WAZE-TV has integrated VCI technology across all of their business operations, including sales, traffic and accounting.

Following a management change in 2003 which brought broadcasting management veteran Lyle Schulze in as General Manager from Tribune’s Houston WB affiliate, WAZE-TV focused on rebuilding the station around new programming and modernizing the entire business operation in order to build a more profitable organization. Landing Big 10 Basketball and St. Louis Cardinals baseball and building a business infrastructure based around STARS II+, WAZE-TV has dramatically improved bottom line revenues and ratings, improving station billing by almost 50% in 18 months, selling out all key time periods at competitive CPP’s, and growing pacing to +15% above the remainder of the market.

Choosing STARS II+ as the central tool for business operations, WAZE-TV saw immediate improvements in their entire business infrastructure through the ability to build a centralized database for managing all traffic and accounting information and streamlining operations to attain maximum profit by building a more efficient organization.

“STARS II+ has been a key component of our success,” said Lyle Schulze, General Manager, WAZE-TV. “From the basics of simply being able to do electronic invoicing to gaining control over every part of the business and more efficient inventory management, STARS II+ has allowed us to better service our clients, sell more and sell more efficiently and get more product on the streets at the right prices and VCI is a huge part of that.”

As part of the station's ongoing efforts to continue sales growth, WAZE-TV is installing VCI’s SalesDesk module to complete their use of the entire STARS II+ product line. Going live at WAZE-TV on August 22, 2005, VCI SalesDesk is a powerful sales force automation tool that integrates seamlessly with the VCI STARS II+ traffic system, allowing all order entry and maintenance functions, as well as inventory management, to be handled accurately from within the sales organization.

“It is vitally important that our sales staff have complete control over every part of their sales. VCI’s SalesDesk allows our reps to manage a buy from soup to nuts. This has allowed us to manage our entire business better, has given our reps a sense of ownership with each account and in the end has helped improve our bottom line,” continued Schulze.