Zaga Studios: The Iron Fist and Media Giants

In the United States, every industry has it's bare knuckle fighters who experience astonishing growth during even the most economically unstable times. Radio has 'Clear Channel', cable has 'Comcast', billboards have 'Lamar' and the TV commercial production industry has Zaga Studios. I got to sit down with some senior agents from Zaga Studio to talk about what makes Zaga stand out with such brilliance while their competitors seem to be crumbling in a weak economy. "Honestly, for us, it's all about being ready and willing to take big risks." Says Tom Neja, Zaga agent of more than 10 years, Failure is simply not an option. Everything we do is calculated and has a predictable outcome based on extensive industry experience."

(PRWEB) October 7, 2004 -- In the United States, every industry has it's bare knuckle fighters who experience astonishing growth during even the most economically unstable times. Radio has 'Clear Channel', cable has 'Comcast', billboards have 'Lamar' and the TV commercial production industry has Zaga Studios.

I got to sit down with some senior agents from Zaga Studio to talk about what makes Zaga stand out with such brilliance while their competitors seem to be crumbling in a weak economy. "Honestly, for us, it's all about being ready and willing to take big risks." Says Tom Neja, Zaga agent of more than 10 years, Failure is simply not an option. Everything we do is calculated and has a predictable outcome based on extensive industry experience."

There is a big difference between taking a calculated 'risk' and a 'gamble'. Jamie Brown with 12 years in the industry interrupts, We are always ready to do the exact opposite of what our competitors are doing and what competitors expect of us. I've made it a habit of looking for strategy in opposites." Brown continues, For example when some of the cable companies started to outsource their production and were no longer competitors in some of the markets were in, and production prices began to rise in our industry, instead of following everyone else we discounted every commercial we did by a ridiculous 40%. Everyone thought we were crazy but during this time we were able to increase our active advertising portfolios by an average of 35% per agent. It was huge! We simply did the opposite of what everyone else was doing.

A lot of people dont know that Zaga Studios entire sales force are independent contractors" Tom adds, not everyone discounted their commercials. There was no across the board order that we all had to do this, but those that chose to discount the product are now reaping the rewards of the repeat business that is characteristic in industries like Realtors and Car Dealers."

What makes your commercial production package so powerful in the industry? Two things" Brown says, price and quality. We are selling commercials, in most cases for under $2,000. Our competitors are selling an equal caliber production for $15k to $20k. These are premium, broadcast quality commercials. Our customers are not sacrificing quality for price." Bob Climer, agent of over 9 years adds, Most of our business comes from the real estate industry and car dealers and our average client in this industry will update their commercial 8 to 13 time per year. Its cheap enough so that they can update their commercial with fresh listings and they are really able to capitalize off of the television marketplace.

Anyone that knows anything about the television industry knows that Zaga Studios has come out of nowhere and in less than 16 years has become the most dominant force in the commercial production industry. I asked these three agents, non of whom are a day over 35 but make an average of over $350,000 per year, what is the main component Zaga possesses that sets them apart from other production companies in the United States and Europe? How have you grown so fast? Undoubtedly its our agent program. It operates almost like a franchise program but without the hefty investment or territory restrictions." Climer continues, Sales executives from various product backgrounds are able to come onboard and make money almost immediately and just as any profession, if people are making money, they are inspired to work even harder". Neja adds, Another thing that has contributed to our agent success is that we have a mentor program the senior executives volunteer for. A mentor is assigned to every new agent that comes on with the company. The mentors job is to assist the new agent with real life/industry advice which sets them up for almost immediate success. Mentors dont make any money from helping the new guys but the three of us volunteer for just about every recruiting session that Zaga does." When I came to the company" Brown says, my mentors advice was what kept me from making common mistakes that are easy to make when you are just starting out and I was able to close more deals faster than I thought possible. Also, for every 100 people that our recruiters talk to, they only bring on an average of 5 to 7 agents so we are looking for a very specific type of individual to come into our agent program"

Times are changing and so must the tactics used to grow a company. Zaga Studios is a perfect example of a company on the cutting edge. Their innovative product and agent program is what has put them over the top in an industry known for burn out sales managers and fly by night garage based production companies. Learn more about them at www.zagastudios.com .

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