A New Standard: IAB Digital Media Sales Certification

You might think…as would MoM[S] himself…that an exam for Digital Media Sales professionals is one that someone writing a blog entitled, “MindOnMedia[Sales]“, would pass on the first try. And in fact, had BETTER pass in a first sitting.

That has indeed occurred in this case, as MoM[S] recently passed the IAB Digital Media Sales Certification Exam [DMSC], in late April.

While we are personally gratified at this development, it comes with a certain set of observations on the IAB process here [not all of them flattering] that will be discussed in a future post.

Until then, we are pleased to be part of the IAB/DMSC recipient group!

Sales Talent – Is Excellence or A Digital Exodus En Route?

With all of the talk swirling in the Media world about the ‘Death of the Salesperson’, and how armies of machines are soon to take over the entire Media Sales/Buy cycle [ironically, right as the estimates come out that over $600M/yr is now being wasted on phantom/fraudulent ad buying via RTB, because they removed the humans from the process], it seemed a good time to capture a snapshot from another industry, to maybe help frame the debate.

This industry is one that has already gone through a similar process with automation, yet, as you can see from this Beverly Hills address, it still has pricey buildings full of people. Those people are Financial analysts, Traders…and Brokers. Brokers, as in ‘Salespeople.’ This, despite all of the Online, “No-Fee” account options for your IRA, 401k, and stock-buying impulses.

Among the array of big Wall Street finance firms, the one pictured here, Morgan Stanley/Smith Barney, is easily as loathed, as any of the others. And yet…they remain a going concern. And they also remain, BIG. Again, this despite having no-fee Online brokerages, ETF funds, No-Load Mutual Funds, etc., these firms still have armies of people working for them.

Why? Why, when you can buy stocks now for $7 via a shop like Scottrade, would anyone use firms like this? Because there is a market willing to pay for their services, and value provided.

So, with firms like this still in business, it becomes VERY hard for me to believe, that Media Sales is about to become fully automated for good, leaving the Sales person out of the equation. Is my reasoning simple?

Yes.

Those people hawking stocks, annuities, bonds, and IRA’s, can NOT guarantee you one added dime, unless they basically sell you a single bond, or a Savings account. They cannot. And yet, their fees are exhorbitant despite this. Even with your & my ability to ‘automate’ them out of the process!

Not so with Media. Media campaigns, even if not fully “guaranteed” in some aspects, will always provide some value if executed with reputable vendors. Even if you get “no results”, does not mean that weren’t also building awareness, Brand recognition, and other intangibles. [Think I'm wrong? Look at the $78B/year in TV ad buying, based on exactly this!]

With stocks of course…you can lose your shirt. And more, if you bet on the more exotic products like futures contracts, etc.

So…which is it? Are we doomed to extinction in the Media Sales world, or inspired to excellence, and adapting once again? Or are we exiting the scene for something better? We all wish we knew that answer, but if the firm pictured here still has Stockbrokers [or ok, "Financial Planners", if you must], then surely there are many places yet for us to sell in 2014 and beyond!

Will there be shifting in Media? When isn’t there? That’s nothing new. Just make sure, you can sell what IS new, when it arrives.

Saying Thanks to our Readers…

Just under 4 years ago, MindOnMedia[Sales]…or MoM[S] for short…was born right here on WordPress. In that time, we’ve covered many topics, and many areas of the Sales world. A number of these postings were the first, or near first, to have ever been written on their subjects. Hard not to be proud of that.

But today we are more proud in our passing of a milestone, one we are thrilled to reach: over 10,000 views of our sales thought destination, aka MoM[S].

While those numbers are not huge for many sites on the Web, we consider them to be large enough, for an obscure Trade blog, on the world of Sales.

To that, we can only say:

THANK YOU

5 Ideas To Double Your Sales Right Now. | Edgy Conversations

5 Ideas To Double Your Sales Right Now. | Edgy Conversations.

The more I read from Dan Waldschmidt, the more I like what I read. He is a great example in my mind, of living what you write.

His work reminds me very much of Seth Godin, in terms of unique, pithy insights & quirky observations…ones that go far, far beyond that in their value.

And he also validates that [as he writes], there is always room for one more player, if you prove the value. Your value.

While there will always only be one Seth Godin, it is becoming clear that there will also be only one Dan Waldschmidt, too.

[Yet Another] Online Car Sales Conundrum

When we last commented on work being done over at Borrell Associates, it created some further dialogue in relation to observations made by Amy L Phoenix, in her interview with us for our Keep It Real Interview Series.

While happening again upon something from Borrell [purely coincidentally, as it goes], we will comment this time instead on work being done by a client of theirs. A client embarking on a new venture in a corner of the world that MoM[S] also happens to have great expertise: Automotive Sales & Marketing practices in the Digital arena.

In fact, we’ve worked at AutoTrader.com under CEO Chip Perry, the subject here of Borrell’s interview entitled, Auto Advertising: Dawn of a New Era?. [Disclosure: MoM[S] was the first National Brand Mgr ever hired at Mr Perry’s firm, and spent more than 3 years there.]

Whereas Chip admittedly states that, “We have puzzle pieces we are working on today…”, which sounds early-stage to me, it will be quite another thing to be, “talking about…becoming the Amazon.com of the auto industry”, as the Borrell author states it. Those are quite a ways apart.

Now, as much of this is somewhat vague at the moment [probably intentionally so], the key issue…as always in the car business…is how this impacts the Dealer function. It is that one element, that has slayed many an online firm over the years, while building others.

As Mr Perry clearly knows where the line is on this [if anyone does], it would appear that AutoTrader may be closer than ever before to not only crossing this line, but wiping it out all together. Until they find some happy medium amongst all those ‘puzzle pieces’ to effectively offer some version of a “Concierge” type service, it will be very interesting to see what moves they can make to progress the online experience further, without at the same time alienating their core source of revenues: Dealers.

And THAT is the key difference with Amazon, which the article does not address: Amazon derived its early success from book-buying customers, not from bookstores. So there was no “threat” to its revenues by going directly to customers; it was nil. Not so with AutoTrader, which generates many hundreds of millions of dollars annually, conceivably from what may be directly impacted by the move talked about here: Car Dealers.

In looking at how this applies to AutoTrader, apparently the days of merely assembling & aggregating most of the available Dealer inventory across the nation as a Best-In-Class web property, making it easy to search & compare, and then bringing in Factory incentives for shoppers to be enticed by, is no longer enough.

Also coincidentally as it goes, in the week following this interview, the January 21 edition of AutoNews, featured not one, but two articles talking about a seemingly very similar topic, but from the other side. These were offered in terms of how wanting many purchasers now find the online ‘Automobile Shopping Experience’ in 2013. Interesting timing between all of these.

See those articles here and here. Maybe Chip Perry is once again on to something, and charting a new course for others to once again follow.

That said…change in the Autos biz is hard, despite the many great successes of this firm. The disastrous set of turns alone at TrueCar.com has certainly proven that. [And it has to make you wonder: How are they still in business at this point?]

And you can reference the many trials, twists & turns at other firms like AutoByTel, or CarsDirect to follow if you like.

Like always in the case of this legendary online firm, AutoTrader is not one to be counted out. This despite the seeming odds against them at their beginning, and once again now, as they look to define a new course for Automotive shoppers on the Web another time.

The Legacy of Your [Sales] Work

Most of the time, what you do on the Sales side…while seemingly out in front of it all…is actually pretty obscured, invisible in a sense, often forgotten. So that is why seeing this Full-Page, Back Cover ad by the great Ford Motor Co., warms our hearts here at MoM[S].

It is from this year’s New Media Expo/BlogWorld Show Directory, where we happened to be speaking on one of their panels for the first time. We are excited to see this, as we lucidly recall some thrilling days back in 2009, when MoM[S] was in a stint at a second Social Media firm by then. While it was still very early in this game, by that time we were pretty well-versed in creating & selling social media ad programs, inventing our effort as we went along.

One of the most noted programs put together by us, after diligent work back and forth with Ford’s media shop at the time, was in fact a ‘badge’ program very similar to this, and assembled in time for the Fusion Hybrid launch. It may well have been a main predecessor to the full-on badging strategy that they have clearly embraced since then, as evidenced by this ad. Hard to say, but we hope so. We wish them great success with it either way!

LA Auto Show 2012: Where Cars Meet Content, and Wheels Meet Waves…

While the focus on LA has lately been upon the nexus of Online Video, Movies and Television, E-Commerce and Social Media firms, and the Silicon Beach startup scene…a funny thing happened on the way to the LA Auto Show: It is in the Autos industry that all of these converged, as unexpectedly as that might seem to some.

When you think about it, LA had to be the place for this milieu to solidify and present itself to the world. The ONLY place. SoCal has long been known for its car culture. And movie culture. And now all the others, too. So the fact that they have arrived together, in one place and product, is breathtaking to behold. This year’s cars on display, are truly something.

What am I talking about? Well, between the screen you could only see with the ‘Special Sunglasses’ at the VW press conference, to the Dynamic videoscreen facade taking up the entire side of a concept car by Hyundai, to the Velocity system offering from Sprint, it truly was ‘Cars Meet Content’ in a very real sense.

And there was more: the ‘Invisible Cloak’ from Toyota/Lexus, that will basically superimpose video imaging which “replaces” the backseat for full rear-area viewing, is clearly a breakthrough technology. The GhostGlass module on display from Scion, also hints at very cool things coming.

With the very divergent technologies and industries, that have made LA great, cars are now moving from merely being transportation facilitators, to becoming fully-contained, Personal Movement Pods, where you can move/drive, shop, talk, text, watch content, sleep, carry a surfboard or bike, and more. Much, much more.

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In the end, even the Press events themselves had taken on a new kind of “Content”; from the rock band during Hyundai’s event, to the USC Marching Band at Mitsubishi, to the Sunglass-only screening at VW, all of a sudden, cars have a story to be told in a whole new way.

And as for the Wheels Meeting Waves, well, do I even need to explain that part? Didn’t think so!

[Note: While I have not done a side-by-side comparison, it certainly appeared that Velocity had gone beyond Ford's Sync system in both functionality and usability, thus making sense for it to be white-labeled by many of the OEM's still out there needing a solution.]