Answering a reader's question about implementing objectives and key results in an ad sales department.

By William Dunkerley

A reader's question: How can I apply OKRs to my advertising sales department?

Q. I've followed your article series about objectives and key results. It's easy to comprehend your discussion of OKRs for the publisher's role. I can even imagine how to apply the concept to our editorial department and audience promotion department. But when I start to think about advertising sales, it's hard to envision. In the other departments there is a lot of routine. Sure there's a lot of creativity that goes into what they do. But my ad sales guys are out negotiating all the time. How am I supposed to predict how that goes? I'm really interested in following advice about ad sales. We're having a big problem there. Because of the pandemic, some advertisers are spending less. Way less. Then there are others that got convinced that targeted Google ads are the way to go. The bottom line is that our bottom line is hurting. If your OKR concept can help, I'm all for it. Can you explain how I can use it with my ad sales guys?

A. Advertising sales is an important area for applying the concepts of objectives and key results (OKRs). It is also an area where objectives can be definitively stated and results readily quantified. You mentioned an interest in OKRs for your "ad sales guys." But what about the rest of the ad sales department? The salespeople are obviously the ones that bring in the ad orders. To do that optimally, the other ad sales department functions need to be working optimally as well. So let's take a broader look at the ad department.

The first step is to recognize that the best sales results are attainable only if your entire publication is structured appropriately.

From a business standpoint, the purpose of an advertising-driven magazine is to assemble an audience of readers who are also good prospective buyers for whatever the advertisers are selling. Accomplishing that feat requires a coordinated effort by your editorial and audience development departments. You need that synergy. Do you have it going on at your magazine? If not, you are putting your ad sales department at a serious disadvantage. You'll need to fix this first before you can expect the best result in ad sales.

For now let's assume you have no problem in that regard and move forward to discuss what the important elements are for an ad sales department.

Some small publications task the ad salespeople with responsibility for multiple elements. Larger publications with larger staffs usually distribute the responsibilities. In any case, it is important to pay adequate attention to all elements.

Prospect List

You've got to know who the prospective advertisers are so a salesperson can contact them. There are a few ways to acquire that knowledge:

--Do competitive research. If you have competitors, their advertisers are prime prospects. You should follow closely who is advertising with all your competitors. Don't look at just your direct competitors; you should follow magazines that overlap with yours at all as well.

--Research reader needs. You've got to know the kinds of products and services your own readers are buying. That will guide you in identifying candidates for your prospect list. You may be able to find prospects your competitors haven't connected with yet.

--Think creatively. Are there products and services that could reasonably be of use to your readers? They might be existing things the readers haven’t thought of yet or newly developed products or services they don't know about yet.

--Acquire contact info. For any given company, who are the decision makers and how can you contact them? Tracking down this information is often no easy task.

Marketing

Why should an advertiser choose your magazine over your competitors'? Why should a company that's not doing much advertising start advertising with you now? Why should existing advertisers stick with you? Your salespeople will ultimately have to be prepared to handle these kinds of questions. It is a function of marketing to find and articulate the answers. Answers must be based on solid research to establish:

--Relative readership of your publication vs. competitors'
--Readers' preferred publication that guides their purchasing decisions
--Which magazines in your field are viewed as most helpful, most enjoyable, etc.
--Reader response to ads in your publication vs. competitive publications
--Intensity of reader interest in your subject area and in that of competitors
--Basic demographics of those magazines

Other Ad Department Functions

There is more to the functioning of an ad department than the above. Next time we'll discuss cold calls, sales calls, and customer service. After that we'll get down into structuring the objectives and measuring the key results for the critical functions of any advertising sales department.

William Dunkerley is principal of William Dunkerley Publishing Consultants, www.publishinghelp.com.

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