5. Develop professional relationships
Follow up. Stay top of mind. Bring consistent value.
Develop your professional relationships. Clearly, entertaining, dinners, cocktail parties, ball games, spa treatments and the like are an essential part of sales in our industry. However, the most successful sales people are those who can host these events while establishing themselves as a valuable industry resource.
Remember, one of the best ways to earn trust is to help your clients succeed in their careers. Don't just answer an RFP and wait for a response. Check in with the media buyer, know your status in the process and find out if there's more you can provide. Share relevant articles, research and industry developments with them and always remember that service is paramount.
6. Sell to all decision makers
There's rarely just one.
This is especially important in the digital space because there are oftentimes so many different influencers in a decision. For example, one buy can include three to five individuals in the final decision, and in some cases, even more. Consider all of the parties that can be involved in a typical buy, such as:
- Interactive agency's planning team
- Interactive agency's buying team (oftentimes from a different agency)
- Client's interactive manager
- Client's overall brand or direct response manager
- Traditional agency's buying team
- Traditional agency's planning team
Keep in mind, this also doesn't account for the number of people involved internally. There is a digital team or traditional team, and now companies are developing integrated teams to support a buy. So, it's imperative to find out who your contact's colleagues are, what their organizational chart looks like, if there are other people you should know on the team and if there are any other teams you can help. The digital space is always changing and so are the teams that work within it.
7. Work on your craft
Unleash your intellectual curiosity. Be inspired to learn from multiple places.
Advertising sales is a craft that requires continuous development and maintenance, especially in the digital space with its fast pace and ever changing landscape. Becoming a great sales person doesn't happen by just reading the trades and the newest book about sales. It comes from a myriad of experiences; some of the best strategies can be learned by looking at history.
While everyone should be reading the trades and attending industry events, there's more to do and you have to go beyond online advertising. The activities you enjoy, hobbies you develop and places you travel help expand your life and viewpoint. The more engaged in continual learning you are, the more your sales will be enhanced. If you really think about it, how much of your closed business has actually come from talking solely about impressions, behavioral targeting or preroll video? There's always more to a sales conversation than just business.
Results
By truly taking these seven tips to heart and incorporating them into your sales practice, you can expect the following:
- Your clients will become successful.
- Once your clients become more successful, you transition from a sales person to a marketing partner and they look to you for recommendations, insight and help in shaping media plans for their clients.
- After that, you're able to expand your professional relationship with your clients and increase your success in digital sales.
Of course, none of this can happen if you do not ask for the business. And, if you do not win the business, find out why. This information will enable you to better understand your client's perspective and help you determine where you need to focus so that next time you bring the right solution and secure the business.
Some may find these tips to be a good refresher about the importance of strong fundamental sales skills. For others, these tips may be new. If that's the case, keep these handy and have confidence that by mastering these principles you are well positioned for future success in digital sales.
Peter Green is SVP of sales, Undertone Networks.