Sales & The Random Element…

So, what is random? Random is that part of the Sales process that you cannot, and will not, ever be able to control. No one human is perfect, and no one person will ever have full knowledge of any situation in its entirety. You can plan, hope, calculate, conceive…contrive. But never fully control.

Why do I bring this up? Recently I came across a person again whom I had met informally about a year ago, when I had learned they had been chosen for a job I did not get several years prior to our meeting each other. At the time, the hiring manager felt [oddly enough as we'll soon see], that *I* did not have the ‘right’ skills for her job, and so she ended up with this person.

What makes this odd, is that not only did I KNOW that I had the right skills…so did the person they hired, once we met. This person [knowing of my writing for this blog, MoM[S]], started asking me some very specific questions during that recent event related to Sales, and the Sales cycle, that I was quite surprised they did NOT know [and that they then came to me to ask about them, too!]

Worse, nor did they know some key practices at one of the very large Agency groups in LA…where this person had a lot of business already! Really? Truly amazing. Now, I wonder what that hiring manager would say, if they were to witness this.

And yet, while I indeed did have the skill set…that person had the job. And for inexplicable reasons, this hiring manager was obviously OK with a person that had minimum knowledge to use in their job, selling for her.

What do you say to that? Nothing, really. Except that this, too, is part of the Sales cycle. And part of life. Let us know of any experiences you’ve had along these lines!

MindOnMedia[Sales]: Are You Left Brain, or Right?

For more than 2 years, MindOnMedia[Sales] has written about the Media Sales process in general, while taking on a ‘Right-Brain vs. Left’ viewpoint as a framework. Ideally you may have also taken prior note of our tagline, The Right-Brain ‘Art’ of Sales vs. the Left-Brain ‘Analytic’.

But moving the descriptors ‘Art’ and ‘Analytic’ aside for a moment, what are the real attributes of being Right Brain…or Left? And why does it matter? Social Media strategy consulting expert Muhammad Saleem may provide these answers, with this cool new infographic below.

He recently completed this work for OnlineCollege.org.

As we’ve expounded on here so many times, our best work has always come from a combined, sometimes not-quite-methodical, combining of the two. While it may seem like that makes for occasional see-saw reading here, taking a close look at Mr Saleem’s work below, may shed light on why that is.

Are You Left Brain, or Right?

MindOnMedia[Sales] 2012 Predictions – The Emerging Media Landscape

With our fortunate position at MoM[S] of having been very early in writing on several of the key Sales topics out there in the last year or so, we would be remiss to not also look at what’s ahead as we start next year. Some of the trends/key buzzwords we’ll be looking at in 2012:

‘IP-Based Media’

As we wrote in a post of the same title, with the proliferation of Digital tools and controls into virtually every facet of Media these days, having access to Web protocols will be a given from here on out, it is safe to say. This will serve the dual purpose of more granular planning in the area of audience Reach on the agency/client side, and information access/control about a product or service of interest to the consumer public, on the audience side.

‘Flash Talent’

You could almost call this term ‘Crowd Outsourcing’, as it refers to when a project [or firm] brings on talent of various kinds [Sales, Accounting, IT, etc.] on a “flash” basis, at inspecific moments, for undefined periods of time. While similar to Freelance talent, I think the difference will be in the short duration/quick turnaround needs we will see more of going forward. And the broader acceptance of such a practice.

‘One Screen, Any Screen’ Audience

With the ubiquity of “screens”; TVs, Laptops, Desktops, Mobile phones, Tablets; we’ll see more strategy, and execution, of concepts that apply across all screens, yet still speak to the realities & dynamics of each. [Ironically, this will only work better & better in 2012, all the while as the Privacy debates over online targeting are waged in Congress and elsewhere. This will evolve nonetheless.]

Online/Offline: Together & in Flux

This could actually be the most interesting of the bunch, as you’ve got several colliding elements at once: On one side, you’ve got the online properties that venture into the offline space for “legitimacy” [witness the VC millions poured into Super Bowl ads, as one example.] On the other side you’ve got Old Media, offline properties desperately trying to both validate the now nearly-lost value of their old-school Media vehicles, and demonstrate their hipness/relevance, as they venture into Online realms with iPad app’s, etc. [Conde' Nast is one with mixed results, on this side.]

Metrics Sanity

Like the oversupply of online Ad media inventory, there is an equal abundance of metrics now, in all shapes & sizes. Are we past the point of diminishing returns, or just realism & sanity? Suffice it to say, a shakeout in this area will come, and the many will be distilled into the few; i.e. several viable, usable items.

The Backlash Against ‘Reputation Backlash’

More & more firms [people, too], while recognizing the importance of a good online reputation overall, will “rebel” against the instantaneous trashings that are now possible, via Twitter and other viral sources.

Rather than jump to respond at every disparaging word as happens often now, if the firm/person feels they did no wrong and are stepping away from THEIR core values to make amends for something that really may not have even actually happened, a level of comfort will start to set in with being maligned in the digital ether.

That means holding your ground [dangerous words here, I know], but mistakes do happen. In the end, you cannot be all things to all people, nor loved [let alone 'liked'] by all of them, either. It’s just reality.

As with any set of predictions, we don’t expect to be right on all of them, and maybe none of them. But either way, it will be interesting to look back one year from now, to see what was on the horizon to make us offer the items served up here for 2012!

Happy New Year to all of our readers, and thanks for stopping by MindOnMedia[Sales] this year!

Ad Agency Biz Dev: Going the Sales Route…? Part I

As we at MoM[S] keep seeing more & more of, and reading more & more about, winning New Business for ad agencies is becoming a new game. And as a part of that, we are also seeing more & more similarities to the Sales process from BizDev [as it is called in short], ones that many of us from the sales side have dealt with for years.

MoM[S] is one of the first entities to ever write about the differences between Sales and Biz Dev, to the best of our knowledge. We continue in that vein here.

What are the similarities we are referring to? As we have written about on this subject, Biz Dev is usually a path to setting Few Relationships/Many Transactions. This is often quite the opposite of the Sales standard, which tends to be more about Many Relationships/Fewer Transactions [some Major/Nat'l Account positions aside.]

However, economic forces and the resulting corporate pressures are changing that on the Biz Dev side in the Agency world. Many agency tenures are now shorter than they used to be…and getting shorter.

More, along with the same economic drivers inflicting this change from the Client side, comes something even more foreign, and far worse [from their perspective]: dealing with a Procurement Dep’t!

Selling when a Procurement Dep’t is involved is nothing new to those from the Sales side of the world. In fact, it should be obvious that the whole point of the procurement team to begin with…is dealing with Sales professionals.

Those on the Biz Dev side of the Ad Agency world are going to have to learn how to survive & thrive here, too.

We’ll look at some ways to maybe do that, in Part II.

5 Tips to Harness Urgency in Online Media Sales [Ads, Video & Content]

OK, sometimes inspiration can come from unusual places: here, it comes from a ClickZ article by Robin Neilfield, with a very similar title as the one above…but a very different perspective than is in play here.

To establish exactly which side of the game we are writing for, it is for those charged with bringing in or increasing revenues for a multi-site Publisher, Web site or Ad Network, on either a direct Sales or Manager level.

While the ClickZ article talked about creating “urgency” among consumers for making immediate purchases, the focus here is on us as Sales expert, and how we move our sales process forward in a B2B environment. You want, need, must inspire, to create a reason for action. Here are some ways to do so, in the Digital Media arena:

Give Them What They Want -

Sounds easy, right? You’d be surprised. That is because of the two key things that often get in the way of what they ask you for: what your company may want you to offer/sell them, and [just as bad], what YOU want to offer them, based on what it might do for your commissions, bonus, incentives, etc.

I mean, take this to a basic level: you’ve brought your relationship this far, put the ego & everything else aside…and just do the deal. Really.

There have many times where I have gotten to the point with a client/agency that I have made it onto their ‘buy’ list, then turn right around and give them exactly what they want, on time, at the budget level they asked for, with no frills. I’ve made it easy for them. They are often blown away by this. And so they make it easy for you [by issuing you an IO.]

A final note on this: While you or your firm may be hoping for more budget/sell them other stuff, much of the time you end up with nothing, so why bother? I’ll take the deal, rather than “try” to reach my stretch goal, lose out, and land with nothing.

[And if you want to sell them other stuff...or what your company demands...fine, but try to separate the two apart, as that really is a different part of the Sales cycle, right?]

Also Give Them What They Don’t Know They Want –

Yes, this sounds like the exact opposite of what the first point is about. It’s not. Part of your ongoing mandate in the Sales world is to know what’s going, what’s new, what your Agency/Client interest’s are. So in this case, adding in a whole new element [yes, whether they ask for it, or not] to an Upfront or RFP submission, makes total sense.

When exactly is that? Let’s just say that when you can make the case for why they would want to seriously buy it…and not why you need [or want] to sell it to them…you are very much on your way.

Bonus: If you’ve really taken the time here and justified what you are offering, even if they don’t buy now, they will respect and remember you for doing so, which paves the way for your career in working with them going forward. [See Item #5 below.]

Make Sure You Have Both Bases Covered -

Both bases in this case, would be both the Agency…and their Client. This can be fraught with peril, and could be its own Blog post in itself. Tread lightly.

There are very valid times to do this, but this one is mainly used only when you have tried all other avenues, and came up short. That is a fallback, and not the most pro-active approach. I am not going to give away my own exact ‘secret sauce’ ways that I do this personally [that is for my consulting/advising clients], but I will generally put down here that it CAN be achieved, wherein you have contact with both Agency and Client, both know about it, and neither feels threatened, because you have not set up an ‘adversary’ type of situation. This can even be true if you, as a last resort, went to the Client directly, against the Agency’s wishes.]

Be careful, and think it through. It can be done. And it CAN get you the deal, too.

Get Them Into the Game -

Most on the agency side are familiar with this one, but many at your clients may not be. Basically, this refers to the ability of their Online ad programs to perform…in the timeframe that they are hoping they perform in.

This one, in other words, has to do with optimizing, from the starting point that a campaign might begin, vs. when the ‘Event’ is occurring [model launch, sales event, holiday weekend.] With the development of cookie-based targeting across the Web, many sites/publishers can now optimize serving ads more effectively, given the time to ramp up & do so.

More, those that offer so called ‘re-targeting’ efforts can take up to 30 days to really key in to the core audience, sometimes also referred to here as a ‘Cookie Pool‘.

Make It About…You -

From Item #2 above, if you have positioned yourself properly in your career, and taken time to establish yourself as someone that your agency and client contacts want to listen to…because you come to them with things important to THEM…you are almost always on the way to shortening your Sales cycle, any sales cycle, whether for something new from your current firm, or whatever new situation you go on to down the line.

I know this to be true, having often re-approached key contacts after not having worked with them for several years. I also know it is something I will never stop being focused on. What about you?

Right Brain vs. Left Brain: Sales Success as a Concept…and as Art

Under our preferred MindOnMedia[Sales] tagline, The Right-Brain ‘Art’ of Sales vs. the Left-Brain ‘Analytic’, we have written extensively about the dynamic we personally live in, live inside of, and live through every day in the Sales world.

That dynamic element is the never-ending back & forth, of the balance between the raw scientific, analytical side of the Sales process, and how that interplays [or not], against the free-form, undefined artistic side that has done so much for us at MoM[S] over the years.

Leave it to one of the great automotive OEM’s, Mercedes Benz, to capture visually, this great pursuit…

We love that last part, about this being from Mercedes Benz, as it brings many elements of our career…and this blog…together at one time: Sales, Automotive Clients, Art vs. Science, and of course, MindOnMedia[Sales] – The Blog.

In the end, as we reflect more on this, we realize that the “vs.” [or 'versus'] that we refer so often to, is not really that. So many times in our career, I am reminded how in solving our most difficult sales challenges, with our most ingenious sales solutions, it really WAS an interplay of the two.

Those solutions inevitably arose, when the Analytic [Left Brain] side looked at the possibilities, defined the improbabilities, and just flat out stated what needed to be done. From there, our Artistic [Right Brain] side, comes up with the solution that works; so often one that no one else thought of, no one thought could be achieved, and so then dismissed in the process.

Those successes in our Sales process, for our good Clients, are always the best!

‘IP-Based Media’: The Next New Ad Buzzterm?

In a recent posting on my personal Facebook page, I inadvertently used an established term on the technical infrastructure side of the Web, but in a new way perhaps.

The term, IP-Based Media, is one I think we will start to see used more & more in the Media…and Creative…sides of the Ad world. As so many elements of the Digital universe [all of them with an IP address you'll note] start to converge, it is a given in my mind that IP-Based Media is in fact, the next new buzzterm.

Why?

Recently, at the JDPower Automotive Internet Roundtable, there was a fascinating session on the ’4-Screen’ world for advertisers [TV, Desktop, Mobile, Tablet.] And at a recent iMedia Connection Summit conference, there was a similar session, albeit dubbed as a ’2-Screen’ panel [i.e. TV...and "everything else."]

So, very soon, rather than just being used in the highly specialized world of Bandwidth dissemination, Router protocols, and Converged networks, I think we will see the term IP-Based Media being used as a catch-all term, referring to the ‘Omni Audience’ that exists more and more every day, across any & all digital platforms, environments and media, for any & all Ad/Branding clients.

The Connecting of ‘Actors as Content Creators’ to the Sales Process

I’ve written previously about some of the ways that Sales people can benefit from understanding [& then employing] the basics of Acting technique. Done in a non-manipulative way, with a solid purpose, taking on such study will only result in your coming across as more professional, and thereby more successful.

In the new world of ‘Actors as Content Creators’ [wherein actors are more & more taking charge of elevating their careers every day by creating, developing & producing their own WebContent] it may be time for Actors to also at least pay attention to some of the skills utilized by Sales professionals in their world.

Brought about in large part thanks to the Web and the lessening costs of available Digital tools to get your work produced, it is clear to me the very real similarities of the Acting pursuit and the Sales profession, in certain, specific areas.

Are all actors going to go it on their own out there, not using a Sales agent, Showrunner or Manager, to now “sell” their shows? No. But for those smaller-level, smaller-budget programs that they themselves create/direct/produce/act in, maybe they will. Some as we’ve seen, already have.

What I am talking about can be anything from maybe trying to sell a few ads onto your site [where your project lives], all the way to shopping your project to a major producer or even a studio.

So let’s look at the areas where both might converge, and where they will always be far apart. From there, it’s up to you as to what works in your career. Here we go:

ACTORS

Book the Audition

SALES Pros

Book the Meeting/Appointment

ACTORS

Sell Yourself

Sell Yourself…inside that Script or Character

Sell Yourself…into that Role!

SALES Pros

Sell Yourself

Sell Yourself…to that Client or Buyer

Sell Yourself…into then talking about your Product/Service, NOT Yourself any Longer

…and what your Product/Service means to them, and what it will do for them.

Or on this last one, in the case of the Actor, it would be ‘Sell Yourself…into then talking about your WebSeries/WebContent project’…and what it means to them, and what it will do for them…

Wait – what was that last part again? This is where the key difference comes in, as to how Actors vs. Sales Pros “sell” themselves, and what they do.

With actors, the focus is on, and supposed to always be on, THEM. [No neurosis jokes here, please.] With sales pros, the focus should really be on them ONLY long enough to build a measure of rapport, develop some credibility and interest with whom they are talking with, and THAT’S IT. A sales pro wants the focus off of “them” as quickly as possible. Not so with the actor. And that then is really the actor’s main challenge, if he wants to ‘sell.’

So for those actors who might be wanting to develop their own sponsors, maybe sell some partnerships or advertising to support their project, the issue is pretty clear. Can they be “big” enough in themselves, to allow the focus of their effort to shift onto something they are in, and not remain solely them?

- – -

Naturally, there are also very real & totally complete differences between Sales & Acting, and the two will never fully converge. And that’s OK, too.

NOTE: This piece is dedicated to Fawnda McMahan, a friend & leading Commercial Actor…and to the students at SAG Conservatory in Hollywood, whom I have the privilege of teaching for the first time in sessions on 7/31/11.

The New Autos Attraction: Is Buying ‘Audience’…Also Buying ‘Buyers’?

[The following is part of a continuing stream in the MindOnMedia[Sales] ‘Keep it Real’ Sales Series. In it, we ask the questions we see no one else asking, without necessarily taking sides on any one position.]

Earlier this year, we at MoM[S] took a decidedly more measured tone than many on the emergence/importance of DSPs and the entire ‘Auction’ process, in a ClickZ article by Hollis Thomases. I am afraid that I may also be doing that here, distilling our views down further, into an area I have long specialized in: Autos advertising.

I will state here, as I did on ClickZ, that the shiny new area of buying audiences through auction-based bidding, does address PART of the advertising equation. It does not, in any way, address the ENTIRE equation, as I see in far too many cases being made, that this is so.

To start with, what IS the value of the new levels of targeting [& efficiency] for Autos ‘In-Market Buyers’? Reaching these buyers after all, IS the holy grail for OEMs, DAs and Tier III dealers alike. And they are all in turn being chased by these new targeting systems/services that are being proferred out there.

In following, all those new systems/services are in turn using oceans worth of ‘quant’-style mathematics & algorithms that were first seen on Wall Street with Muni bonds back in the ’90s, to imply some kind of amazing superiority. While that sounds good, where can that also lead? [Just look at LTCM for an idea of just how "successful" that venture was.]

Sure, from my days on the ‘Endemic’ side of online Autos advertising, the CPMs and overall cost structures for many online ad programs seem to be coming down in a lot of cases.

But…what? What am I getting at? Are more cars being sold? Um, no; not since 2008, really. Are ad budgets from the OEMs coming down? Not the last time I checked. And note this is going on concurrently at the exact same time as these new “efficient” products [DSPs, RTB, auctioning] started to gain traction, ironically enough.

So: This means that more & more “efficient” ads are being bought [with more & more placed in front of that "targeted audience"] for lower cost-per-unit than perhaps at any time in history.

Great…but is this “effective”? Is anybody even asking that question? Is getting more & more targeted ads, in front of an ever-more targeted audience, even at a lower cost-per-unit, actually making a difference?

Maybe. But what it can also mean, is that behind the breathless hype about RTB being a be-all/end-all savior, the question of “efficiencies” has been distilled down to a very narrow set of parameters, and a lot of people have done a very good job of getting everybody else to focus on just that isolated, suspended point in the air.

[Note: I saw one beloved fellow who sat on a stage, and told an entire audience they were 'idiots' for not using what basically was the very service HIS company was selling. Nice guy. Misguided I would say, but very lovable. Kidding.]

I would argue that by taking the judgement part out of the equation [exactly as what happened at LTCM, it should be noted...], that maybe now you have LESS efficacy, rather than more.

Now despite this, like with WalMart, merely weeding the costs out may end up all that matters here, rendering my argument here totally void. That could happen, and the market will decide that.

In the end, you still have a very simple equation, which seems to be lost in the shuffle right now: Telling a story about your car, talking about good reasons [you - whoever that may be] should want to buy it, trying to draw interest from the person who might be engaged with the message, and then telling everyone how/where to buy it.

To reverse the question [something that I do quite often, you may have noticed by now]: has the Advertising/Cost per Vehicle ratio changed? Last time I saw…not really. It seems to be between the same $400-1,000 per vehicle range – depending on your market area – that it’s been in now, for quite some time.

Now, none of this is to say that the new ‘Bidding’, DSP or RTB processes are inherently bad. But sorry…as of now, they have little or NO context. None.

And worse, the Ad agencies that really SHOULD be both creating that context AND advising their clients on just what that framework/context actually is, aren’t really doing it. Not that I see. And even if a few are, it is entirely lost in the breathless hype out there right now.

So now OK, let’s not forget about our friends out there who are fortunate enough to have rising CPMs over the last few years [thru the RTB process or otherwise.] Isn’t that actually a worse scenario? With total vehicle sales Y/Y dropping from 17M down to 10.5 or 11M or so, have you provided more value here?

All of this new quant- or hyper-targeting then, is really just an after-the-fact analysis, writ large. It is ‘BT 2.0‘ as far as I’m concerned. Not really that interesting gang; hate to break the news to you.

No, what WOULD be interesting? If that hyper-targeting wasn’t reactive…but pro-active. Being able to identify and actually influence people who maybe weren’t even thinking or interested in buying a car…into buying a car. THAT would be something.

Pay attention to what I’m saying here, as currently I myself work with a firm that offers Auction/RTB offerings. This is about starting a dialogue on a framework for whats really being offered out there for sale…and what’s actually being bought.

I kind of look at this with a kind of ‘Great Equalizer’ viewpoint I guess: That is, as more ad “efficiency” is found, the harder it becomes to actually “reach”…and sway…that potential Autos buyer, merely because you hit them as a “target.”

It is paradoxical, and it just may be true. Just ask the geniuses doing basicaly the same thing at LTCM…or were doing it at LTCM, anyway.

Sorry, brilliant math/ad-serving/targeting guys. Advertising just ain’t that easy. And it never will be.

Branding & Your WebSeries II: Tie The Sales Knot, or Not?

To continue in the vein of discussing revenue-generation and sales & marketing ideas that we began under our ‘List of 19′ series, let’s now take a look at some aspects of Branding that can be tied into the ‘selling’ of your WebContent project.

The 3 most important items to consider here are:
1> Tell Your Story. As with any film or video project, your story/narrative/ concept must be a good one. That also means it must show up on film or video accurately representing your idea, and be rock solid; the best that it can be.

2> Identify Possible ‘Brand’ Elements. Then Decide How to Handle Them. This is a tricky one, as unless you are doing yours as a ‘Sponsored Project’ [already paid for as a Promo vehicle], you will have to decide where on the spectrum any possible Brand elements that could attract support for you fall, vs. the impact on your project.

In the next part of this series, we’ll take a look at ways to maybe address branding elements, and what to actually do with them if you choose to pursue support from a Brand, Client or Ad Agency.

3> Tell The Story ABOUT Your Story. Or, ‘Have A Story, About Your Story’

You also must have another story that you develop about your project, one that attracts brands/sponsors/investors to have [or get] interest in it. A PLAN is what we’re talking about here, for getting visibility, eyeballs, traffic, attention, engagement. If you don’t have a PLAN here, or develop one, you are pretty much not in the game, in 2011.

Wait…what was that? True; the first one above is pretty much a given at this point, with no argument. The second one trips many people up, or they miss the point entirely. This last one is the piece that many people are just starting to realize is possible…and expected. Already. That is, if you seek to get a serious listen from anyone that might actually offer you a budget, buy rights to your project, fund syndication, etc.

You CAN actually map out a plan for distribution/syndication/views/ engagement, and do it from both the Paid [i.e. you secure a budget], and Unpaid [i.e. "free", including Social Media] sides.

Even on the more “traditional” side of the Film world, people have not only realized this as a possibility…but are already teaching & writing about it. If you follow the great work of Stacey Parks over at Film Specific, you can take her ‘Distribution in Reverse’ course. As she so eloquently puts it, “It’s about taking into consideration the life your film will have after you’ve made it…”. This also applies just as easily to WebContent, if not more so!

Let me finish for now, by saying that not everyone will choose to want to ‘sell’ their content/project.

Also keep in mind here, that “selling” of it can mean many different things, including just attracting an audience to want to be engaged enough to maintain interest, episode after episode.