Ad Sales Stuck in a Rut?
Posted on Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at 11:14 AM
You may have to reorient and re-incentivize your sales team.
By
William Dunkerley
Selling is making a connection. But in
publishing it's ultimately not between the magazine and the advertiser.
It's between the seller and the buyer -- i.e., between the advertiser
and the reader. Like I said in last month's issue, "the most successful
sales occur when the salesperson succeeds helping the advertiser to find
buyers."
Readers Respond
In response, I heard
from a couple of anonymous readers, ad sales people, who disagree.
Here's my interpretation of their point of view:
"As sales
people, our very existence depends on how many dollars we bring in the
door. We don't care if advertisers connect with buyers. Advertisers are
not open to dialogue with us about that anyway. What's more, the
advertisers don't even have the tracking means to measure the
effectiveness of their advertising."
That reaction raises an
issue that is problematic for a lot of publishers who maintain an ad
sales team. While we don't usually air anonymous comments, I thought
this issue should receive special treatment.
I've heard the
quoted sentiments expressed a number of times over the years in various
ways. And in my experience, if they are not dealt with effectively, that
point of view can hurt your long-term sales outlook.
Meaningful
Dialogue
First, it is hard for me to conceive of a successful
sales effort in which the sales staff cannot engage the advertisers in
dialogue. But I've seem some examples where they really couldn't. The
situations often occur when:
--The salesperson is projecting a
hard-to-like personality, and the prospects are avoiding him.
Salespeople need to be likable.
--There's no dialogue because the
salesperson is doing too much talking. The best sales presentations
begin with strategic questions. When I hear salespeople begin a
presentations with, "I'd like to tell you about our magazine . . ." I
know they're off to a bad start.
--The salesperson takes a
hounding, overly persistent approach. A publisher once told me about how
this actually worked with a particular advertiser. The advertiser called
the publisher and said, "Okay, I'll advertise. But on one condition:
keep that obnoxious salesperson away from me." But that was a fluke.
Salespeople need to respect reasonable boundaries.
--The
advertiser can't make sense out of the sales message. Perhaps he's
getting a canned pitch that is off target. Some salespeople actually
sound like they are reading from a script. That can be a big turn-off
for the advertiser on the receiving end of the presentation.
--The
salesperson is calling the wrong prospects. If your salespeople are not
calling on qualified prospects, they are wasting their time and the
prospect's time. Certainly, a mistargeted prospect won't be interested
in dialogue.
In general, if a salesperson is dealing with a
qualified prospect, one who is a decision-maker, it should be possible
to engage the person in a dialogue. I've found that a skillful probe at
the start of the presentation most often leads to engaging dialogue. The
salesperson should use economy of words, show an abundance of interest
in the advertiser's needs, and construct a sales presentation on the fly
that is targeted specifically to the advertiser's needs and interests.
Are
your salespeople capable of doing that? They should be.
Efficacy
of Ad Dollars
The salespeople quoted above asserted that
advertisers don't know if their advertising really works. That may
indeed be true in some cases. But any advertiser is going to know
whether its sales are going in the right direction. Advertising may not
be the only influencing factor in that trajectory, but it is one that
the advertiser can control. A smart sales approach will home in on that.
And
don't think for a moment that all advertisers are oblivious to the
efficacy of their ad dollars. Recently, General Motors reportedly pulled
a $10 million ad campaign from Facebook because it was ineffective. A
lot of other advertisers have systems for tracking leads and sales. The
metrics may not be 100 percent accurate, but it's a mistake to presume
that advertisers are stupid when it comes to what's working for them and
what's not.
What's more, helping advertisers to devise reliable
ad result metrics can become part of an effective dialogue between
salesperson and advertiser. Many advertisers will be grateful if the ad
salesperson can mentor them. Getting an outside appraisal of how the ads
are assembled -- the offer, the features and benefits, the message and
targeting -- can be valued by advertisers as well.
Motivating
Your Sales Team
Then, finally, there is the matter of what is
motivating the ad salesperson. If your sales team members harbor the
belief that their "very existence" depends on simply how many dollars
they bring in the door, then I'd say you might have an ineffective
system of incentives and rewards.
Selling ads that may not
produce long-term results for the advertisers may be a short-sighted use
of time. It's more beneficial to spend time with advertisers who will
find success by being in your publication. Those advertisers are more
likely to be with you for the long run, and they'll even stay with you
during periods of unfavorable economic conditions. A lot of publications
that fared poorly during the recessions failed to take that into
account. Structure your system of incentives and rewards for the sales
staff in a way that will serve both your short- and long-term needs.
William
Dunkerley is principal of William Dunkerley Publishing Consultants, www.publishinghelp.com.
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