PART II How Media Buyers Buy CHAPTER6 The media sales Process— Redefined
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While corporate departments such as manufacturing and accounting, have been overhauled with Total Quality Management (TQM), 6 Sigma, and a host of other management philosophies,
how we market our creative work to the Media Corporations has remained largely a mystery.
Writers and producers seldom look at their sales process and ask, “What are we capable of?” “How can we be more efficient?” or “What could be done to boost productivity and throughput?”
We creative artists tend to concentrate on product quality while less talented but more business savvy-producers get better opportunities.
The value of media sales Process
Anything that we do over and over again can be made more efficient and more effective by developing and utilizing a standard process.
It doesn’t have to be complicated; it can be as simple as a series of steps and stages we usually work through to ensure that the outcome is as consistent, and as high quality, as possible.
Using a defined media sales process we can:
1.
Leverage a common framework and pattern for planning, reviewing, and executing media sales activities.
2.
Communicate and strategize about media sales opportunities with various Media creation team members using a common language.
3.
Make fewer mistakes because we are reminded of the steps that need to be taken, which reduces the chance of forgetting important steps while in the heat of the battle.
4.
Shorten media sales cycles because we can usually work through the steps much faster if they are laid out ahead of time, than if we just “wing it” or make it up as we go along.
5.
Shorten the ramp-up time for new hires who need to learn “how we engage C.C.O.s” in our market.
Develop a sample media sales process.
Your process should involve:
IDENTIFY - • How you find new opportunities.
QUALIFY - • How you determine if the opportunity is worth investing your time in.
VALIDATE - • How you engage in discovery to determine if there is a fit for, and a need for, what media you sell.
PROPOSE - • How you present your findings and your recommendations.
CLOSE - • How you bring Media Business to closure.
DELIVER - • How you deliver what you’ve sold.
Your process doesn’t have to be 6 steps or stages; it can be 5, 7, 9, or whatever.
However, what we do know is that the more detailed and granular your process becomes, the less media salespeople will want to use it.
It’s not because media salespeople are lazy, or can’t Deal with structure.
It’s that every Media Buyer is different.
Every media sales campaign has its unique challenges, and what worked with the last C.C.O. might be completely inappropriate for the next Media Buyer.
It’s funny, but after we win a media sales opportunity and look back at it to determine why we won, it’s usually a combination of many things that went right and all came together to make it happen.
But when we lose, it often seems as if there were one or two specific things that went wrong.
We think, “If we just could have known this, we would have done that, and maybe we could have won.”
Or worse, “I can’t believe we did— or didn’t do—that again! That happened to us before, and we should have learned our lesson.”
Developing an ever-evolving standard process to use as a guide helps us to be more consistent.
The "Process" helps ensure that we not only do the right things, but also avoid doing the wrong things— hitting the same potholes and brick walls—over and over again.
The Problem with media sales Process
Unfortunately, not all media companies that do take the time to observe, document, and develop a unified media sales process see the results they expect, or that they would like.
There may be several reasons for this:
• Lack of support from media sales management—who don’t promote and reinforce the use of the "process"
• Resistance from the media sales Media creation team—who perceive "process" as a way to “control” them or as “big brother” looking over their shoulder
• "process" seems like overhead or busywork—with too darn many forms or fields to fill out
• "process" looks good on paper—but it is not flexible enough to be useful in the real world
Any standard process which is not flexible enough to support different types of media sales campaigns and multiple media sales strategies,
or doesn’t provide the ability to change gears in midstream when you need to, simply doesn’t help your Media creation team close business.
It may not be that your media salespeople won’t use your standard process; maybe they simply can’t use it in a high percentage of cases.
The biggest reason media sales processes aren’t adopted and followed is that they are not designed around this one simple truth . . .
As media sales professionals, we don’t earn commissions, or get quota credit, for anything that we do.
We get paid, and retire quota, based on what our C.C.O.s do.
When our Media Buyer signs a contract, or they issue a purchase order, then we make some money.
Isn’t that the way it works?
media sales processes, —and the overwhelming majority of process maps that media companies try to get their media salespeople to use—
depict a series of stages, steps, and activities that we work through to try to sell some media.
But what is conspicuously absent from most of these are the stages, steps, and activities that our prospective C.C.O.s have to work through in order to buy something.
The truth is that the things we do at any particular step or stage in the process could be a complete waste of time
if our C.C.O. doesn’t do what they need to do to move forward to the next step or stage in their Media Product Buying Process.
In your process model indicate the “Things we media producers do” and the “Things they, the media Buyer does” in order to close the Media sale.
it is possible that YOU could do every single thing that you are supposed to do in your media sales process perfectly— execute flawlessly—and still not make the sale.
Yet If the C.C.O. did all of the things that they needed to do in order to buy your media, but you missed one or two of the steps you were supposed to do, you could still book the Media Deal.
So, in reality then . . .
It’s not what YOU do in your media sales process, but what the Media Buyer does in their Media Product Buying Process, that really matters.
You are there to help the Media Buyer do their job.
This truth represents one of the major challenges of professional media selling.
We cannot control our Media Buyers.
We can only seek to understand the Media Buyer and learn how to positively influence their thinking and behavior.
Your Media Buyer’s Product Buying Process
As media salespeople, and especially as Media Business Managers, we tend to ask the wrong question.
We ask, “What do we need to do to close this Media Deal?”
Unfortunately, that’s not the right question because we could do 3 dozen different things and still not get the Media Deal done.
Instead, ask, “What does the Media Buyer need to do in order to buy?”
Only when we can answer that question are we ready to ask the follow-up question, which is, “What do we need to do to get the media buyer to do those things?”
If fully embraced, this attitude will result in a major shift in how we think about the job of media selling.
We should look at each opportunity in our media sales pipeline, and instead of starting with, “What have we already done, and what do we need to do next?”
Be asking these 4 critical questions:
1.
What Does This Particular Media Product Buying Process Look Like?
Media Buying and approval processes vary based on a whole host of factors.
We need to learn the specifics of exactly what it would take for our particular Media Buyer to make a media purchase of the shape and scope we are planning to propose.
Here are just a few of the things we might need to learn:
• What is involved in getting funds released for a budgeted media buy expenditure?
Who has to be involved in that media buy approval process?
• What would it take to get approval for an unbudgeted media buy expenditure?
Who would likely be involved in that media buying process?
• Are they a small, privately held media firm with one owner who makes all the big decisions?
• Are they a division of a huge media corporation, which will have to look to corporate HQ for final approval?
• What is the signing authority of the vice president (or whomever) we are selling media to?
At what point would he need to get the CFO involved in executing a media buy contract?
• How and when does their legal department need to get involved?
2.
Where Is This Media Buyer in Their Media Product Buying Process?
Is your Media Buyer a day or two away from signing a contract?
Or are they still “kicking tires” and thinking about buying some Media?
Most of our active media sales campaigns are probably somewhere in between.
Our mission is to figure out where the Media Buyer is in their process, what they’ve already done or decided, and what they still need to do or decide before they can buy our media product.
Never take any one person’s “word” for what needs to happen before their Media Corporation will be ready, willing, and able to buy your media.
Every person I meet within a given Media Corporation seems to have their own version or opinion of how decisions are made, how media projects get approved,
and what stage of a particular Media Product Buying Process they are currently in.
Get as many different perspectives, views, and opinions as you possibly can and blend them into your own composite view of what the Media Corporation's process is like and where they are within their process.
3.
What Is the Next Reasonable Step The Media Buyer Needs to Take?
If we can figure out where the Media Buyer is, and what still has to happen before they can buy our media product, then we may be able to ascertain what would be a logical and reasonable next step for the Media Buyer to take.
Years ago I heard a media sales trainer say, “You should ask for the order on every media sales call.” Well, that’s just silly!
If we are selling a complex media solution to a major Media Business problem that costs $100,000 or $1,000,000 or more, it would be ludicrous to expect our Media Buyer to “sign” on our first visit, or even the 2nd or 3rd.
The question is what is the next “reasonable” step that we could ask our Media Buyer to take that will move them toward “OUR SUPERIOR MEDIA PRODUCT" on their way to “THEIR SATISFIED GOALS.”
4.
What Can We Do to Get The Media Buyer to Take That Step toward our media product?
If we can get an idea of what our Media Buyer needs to do next in their Media Product Buying Process, that helps us figure out what we need to do next in our media selling process.
Things don’t happen in the same sequence, or on the same schedule, in every media sales engagement.
We have to be flexible enough to do what we need to do based on any particular Media Buyer’s Product Buying Process, and where they are within that process.
Only after we understand the Media Buyer's process, should our focus shift to “What are we going to do?” based on that information.
Selling media with Specific Intent
If you choose to believe and internalize what has been said here, this has the potential to completely change everything about the way you sell.
The most important takeaway of this chapter, and maybe this entire book, is . . .
Everything we do should be done with the specific intent of helping our C.C.O. to do something they need to do in their Media Product Buying Process.
Any action we take, or any move we make, that is not done with the intention of empowering, enabling, or encouraging our media-buyer to move one step closer to a purchase, is wasted energy.
We only do the things that we do in our process so that they will do the things they need to do in their process.
This might require us to think differently about how we do our job.
Before we pick up the telephone to call—or before we drive over to see—our C.C.O., be asking ourselves, “What exactly is it that our media-buyer needs to do next in their Media Product Buying Process,
and what exactly am I going to do on this call or on this visit to help the Media Buyer do that?”
Let’s say you’re planning to meet with the Media Corporation president of your best prospect,
who will—as far as you understand—provide the final approval to move forward with any media purchase proposal you might ultimately choose to submit.
What do you want the Media Corporation president to do?
Not just in general, I mean what is it exactly that you want him to do during or after the meeting?
This would depend on where the President is in their Media Product Buying Process, wouldn’t it?
Perhaps the best place to start then, would be to ascertain where the President thinks the company is in their media evaluation or selection process.
It is shocking how often the President's feeling is not the same as the feeling of the director of marketing.
In fact, you’ll probably find out some things in that very meeting that change your understanding of what has to happen before the media Corporation can move forward,
and it could very well change your whole game plan for that meeting, as well as others in the future.
We should go into every meeting with a plan of what we want the person we are meeting with to do during, or after, the meeting.
Do you want him to:
• Endorse your plan to meet with, and interview, some of the other Media Acquisition Executives?
• Schedule a meeting where you can bring in one of your Media Business analysts
to get a better understanding of how the creative products and creative services you offer can help the Media Buyers reach their Media Business goals?
• Introduce you to both their CFO and their legal counsel so you can work with the CFO to produce a valid justification for the investment, and with Legal to approve the terms and conditions of your standard contract?
• Commit to or schedule a time to meet with you again, after you have done your opportunity assessment, to present your findings and recommendations?
If you know exactly what you are there to accomplish, then your primary objective for that meeting is to make sure you get their commitment to do those things before you leave.
I want to encourage you to take this concept of media selling with specific intent to the next level.
Think about the purpose of every single thing you do with your C.C.O..
What are you hoping to accomplish?
Establish a clear understanding of the possible outcomes of every single interaction, select the outcome you think is most desirable, and focus on achieving that.
But also, be prepared to handle all other possible outcomes.
Never allow yourself to be surprised.
If you are going to provide additional information about your company, media products, or creative services, what do you want the Media Buyer to think differently or do differently after you deliver this information?
If you can’t answer this question, do not share the information.
You will be wasting their time and yours.
If you are planning to give a presentation, ask yourself, “What do I want the audience to think differently or do differently after they see this presentation?” Never present something that doesn’t have a purpose.
If the information you are presenting does not serve a specific purpose, and is not designed to work for you, then the best that can happen is nothing, and the worst is that it will be used against you.
Like a scene in a screenplay, each meeting or presentation must move the plot forward, and change the power relationship.
Break it down one step further.
Look at each and every slide in your presentation deck and ask, “What do I want the audience to think differently or do differently after they see this slide?”
When I do consulting work with my C.C.O.s who are preparing presentations for their Media Buyer’s C-Level Media Acquisition Executives,
my rule of thumb is: “If you can’t explain exactly what purpose this slide is serving, then get it out of the deck.”
You might even want to throw all the slides out and make each point earn their way back in.
You and I, and our Media Buyers, don’t have enough time as it is.
We certainly can’t afford to waste any time doing things that don’t serve a specific purpose.
I am asking you to think differently about the way that you sell media.
Before you pick up the phone to make your next Media Buyer call, figure out exactly why you are calling.
What do you want your Media Buyer to agree to on this call?
If you’ve come over to see your Media Buyer, what do you want them to do before you come to see them the next time?
Your Media-Buyers are not always willing or able to take the steps that you request or recommend.
But if you don’t ask, or worse yet if you don’t even know what steps you would recommend if your Media Buyer were willing and able, there is no possibility that your Media Buyer will take the steps you want - he's not clairvoyant.
Before the next scheduled interaction with your Media Buyer, review what you know, and don’t know, about:
1. your Media Buyer's selection, approval, and Media Product Buying Process.
2. Where your Media Buyer is in that media buying process.
3. The next step your Media Buyer needs to take in that media buying process.
4. What you are going to say or do to get your Media Buyer to take that step toward satisfying their goals by buying your media.
Of course, gathering or collecting some of this information might be the main reason for having the next call or visit with your Media Buyer.
That’s fine.
Selling media is a never-ending process of learning, readjusting your plan accordingly, learning some more, and readjusting again.
But always keep in mind that . . .
If you or I drive over to see a C.C.O.—or worse, get on an airplane to fly there—without knowledge of their Media Product Buying Process, where they are in their process, the things they need to do next,
and what we are going to say or do to enable or inspire them to do those things, we are nothing more than a “professional visitor.”
Keeping in Step with your Media Buyer
Have you ever found yourself diligently working through a media sales campaign—holding meetings, giving presentations, delivering proposals, and maybe even providing references—
only to discover that the people within your Media Buyer’s organization who have the authority to buy are still mentally back at the very early stages?
Or they are still wondering whether this media purchase is something they really have to take action on at this time?
This has no doubt happened to all of us media producers.
What goes wrong when this happens?
I think we took our eye off of what we’ve been talking about here.
We’re no longer focused on helping our C.C.O. move through HIS Media Product Buying Process.
We’ve gotten too tangled up in our media sales process.
Sometimes we find ourselves “pushing” a Media Buyer to move through their process faster than they want to move.
The primary cause of this is that we don’t have enough opportunities in our media sales pipeline.
We end up putting pressure on what few prospects we do have to compensate for our own lack of planning.
Unfortunately, the only thing worse than having a thin pipeline is trying to get a C.C.O. to commit to Media Buying before they are ready to buy,
and damaging or ruining a relationship with one of the few Media Buyer prospects we do have.
The better we can understand our Media Buyer’s Product Buying Process, or the things that have to happen before our Media Buyer can buy,
the better we can stay aligned with our Media Buyer, and work with them where they truly are.
Of course, we will try to help the Media Buyers see the value of moving forward sooner.
Chapter 10 is dedicated to this endeavor.
But if we need more Media Business this quarter, and one Media Buyer simply can’t or won’t buy yet, we might need to accept it and work on finding some Media Buyers that can or will buy.
Facilitating the Media Product Buying Process
If you deal in complex media solutions or big-ticket items, your Media Buyers probably don’t have a defined process for Buying the type of media you sell.
Media Buyers don’t spend big $$ often enough to develop a buying process, so you will actually be helping your Media Buyer to discover their own internal Media Product Buying Process as you go.
Sometimes, we know the things that our C.C.O.s will have to do to buy media, better than they do.
We sell media products every day.
We can see a pattern, C.C.O. after C.C.O. after C.C.O., of the things that media companies typically have to do in order to buy the types of creative products and creative services we sell.
When all is said and done, we need to be flexible enough to do whatever it takes to get the Media Deal done, as long as it is legal, ethical, and a worthwhile Media Business investment for us.
Therefore, if we were to depict our media sales process most accurately, it would probably look something like : DO WHATEVER YOU HAVE TO DO to help the Buyer do his job of choosing to buy (if he chooses) your product
Be willing do whatever we need to, in whatever order or sequence required, to help our Media Buyer do the things they need to do
and then help them use what they have bought to achieve their desired Media Business results.
As we work with our Media Buyers to help facilitate their Media Product Buying Process, we should keep a few things in mind:
1.
We Should Try Never to Do “Something” for “Nothing”
Don't become greedy.
But if we invest our time and money to do things for the Media Buyer—like driving or flying several people in to do a demonstration—it’s only fair that the Media Buyer has the right people in attendance, isn’t it?
I’m not even insisting that the Media Buyers have to match everything we do for them with something they do for us.
Sometimes I just wish the Media Buyer would do something for themselves!
We may need to “negotiate” or bargain with the Media Buyer at some point in the process to make sure that when we do what we are supposed to do, the Media Buyers will do what they are supposed to do.
2.
We Have the Right to Choose to Do What We Do, Based on Whether or Not The Media Buyer Commits to Do What They Need to Do
Just because our Media Buyer wants us to submit a lengthy proposal, doesn’t automatically mean that we have an obligation to do it.
If the Media Buyer is not willing to let us speak with any of the people involved in the buying decision, how can we be certain our media product will provide the capabilities the Corporation needs in order to achieve their goals?
If we can’t find out whether or not the Media Buyer has the urgency and the means to buy, but they just want us to slip an elaborate proposal under the door and hope they like it and call us back, it may not be worth doing.
If our Media Buyer prospect isn’t willing to do the things they need to do along the way to make sure that our joint undertaking will be successful,
you and I need to think pretty hard about whether or not we keep doing the things we think we "need" to do.
3.
We Are Ultimately Not Responsible for What The Media Buyers Do or Don’t Do
If you embrace this approach to media selling, it is actually quite liberating.
When you realize that you can’t control your Media Buyers, and that all you can do is try to understand the Media Buyer and positively influence their behavior, it allows you to relax a little bit and disengage emotionally.
We’re not responsible for the Media Buyer's inability or unwillingness to take the next step they need to take in their buy process.
Yes, we work like crazy to figure out how to get the Media Buyer to move forward.
But if we do everything we can possibly do to help the Media Buyers, and they still won’t move forward, it’s not our fault.
We might need to move on and start helping some Media Buyer who wants our help.
Documenting Your Process
The next two chapters are dedicated to better understanding how Media Buyers buy and to using that knowledge to develop a media sales process that supports and facilitates any Media Product Buying Process.
One of the things that is vitally important in developing a solid process is looking closely at the media selling actions you are doing now.
What are the actions that you do in every media sales campaign that you know contribute to success?
What are some of the activities that are required in special media selling actions situations, and how do you know when a particular situation calls for such special activities?
We want to begin to recognize the media selling actions we do all the time, or once in a while, that really don’t directly impact our media selling success.
Some of these media selling activities might be wasting energy, or worse, could be slowing us down.
I urge you to immediately begin collecting the information you’ll need to take your media selling game to this next level.
In so doing, you’ll become instantly far more effective in every media sales campaign in your pipeline.
The easiest way to begin is by keeping track of what you do in each media sales campaign or each opportunity.
Just the mere fact that you’re tracking your media selling actions will make you more efficient and effective.
Make a "diary" of each media sales campaign.
Look closely at the media selling activities you have been engaged in for each media sales opportunity and ask:
• What did we do during our most recent media selling meeting or phone call?
Topics discussed
Questions we asked
Information we presented
• Why did we do each of these things?
What was the purpose or intent?
What were we trying to get our Media Buyer to think differently or do differently?
• What did we recommend or ask our Media Buyer to do next?
______Specific actions to take
Information (of our Media Buyer's) to collect or provide Information (of ours) to review
• What did our Media Buyer agree to do going forward?
Which of our requests did our Media Buyer agree to?
What commitments did our Media Buyer make?
• What had our Media Buyer done since last time we met or talked?
Which commitments, previously made, did our Media Buyer deliver on?
What did we agree to do for our Media Buyer going forward?
What commitments did we make to our Media Buyer?
Some producers will notice that this approach represents a slightly different way of thinking than they are used to.
Many of us have been conditioned to do whatever our Media Buyer asks us or tells us to do.
The Media Buyer wants this, the Media Buyer wants that, and we run around jumping through hoops for a living.
We’re “professional hoop jumpers.”
Too often, when we do leave a Media Buyer meeting with anything in the way of commitments, they are things that we have promised to do, provide, or deliver to the our Media Buyer.
This is another pattern of behavior we simply have to break.
Our Media Buyer, also, should be making commitments about the steps they will be taking within their Media Product Buying Process between now and the next time we meet.
To properly qualify opportunities, and stay in step with our Media Buyer, we have to understand what they are planning to do, and when they are planning to do it.
If we can’t answer these questions listed above, it’s either because we didn’t have a reason for doing the things we did, or because we didn’t recommend or ask our Media Buyer to take any specific action of any kind.
If this is the case, we are not following a process at all.
We are letting our C.C.O. dictate the things that we do.
begin documenting and evaluating the media selling actions that you’ve been doing,
We can’t change the past, but we can definitely change the way we think, and the way we sell, in the future.
The remainder of this book is dedicated to better understanding how your Media Buyers buy, and the things we can do to influence their Media Buying behavior.
