Selling more ads requires three things: great product, great salespeople and great systems to support those salespeople.
You can have the best salesperson on the planet, but if they feel unsupported, constrained or disrespected, then it won’t be long before they are selling loads of stuff for your main competitor.
To keep your salespeople longer and get them performing better, you need to give them:
- The right tools so they can prioritise their prospects and manage their day.
- Instant access to campaign stats to allow them to demonstrate to their clients the value of what they’re selling them. These stats should be available in real-time and unprompted.
- Access to audience stats to allow them to size up segments and opportunities on the fly. “I’ll have to get back to you”, is a real momentum killer.
- Efficient support processes, so that when they make a sale, they can be confident that billing and copy chasing will all be handled in a timely and efficient way by someone else, allowing them to move onto their next sale.
- Respect: are you treating them like adults, or naughty schoolchildren? Targets are good, but micro-managing every second of their day is not.
- Good working environment: is there a buzz about your office? Have team and individual targets been intelligently set so that those ‘ring the bell’ moments come thick and fast? Is it an environment that reflects the 21st century? Light, bright and digital…
None of this should be difficult, but I have a sneaking suspicion that for many publishers… it is.
At our webinar on Tuesday, Workbooks’ Andre Galinha explained how all the above can be delivered by modern ‘customer relationship management’ techniques. If you missed it, you can catch a recording here. It’s well worth a listen.
