“You don’t sell a guy one car. You sell him 5 cars over 15 years.” - Glengarry GlenRoss
This quote from the brilliant movie about the salesmen and the hardships they endure, fully explains the importance in understanding media planning, which is true for both the buying and selling departments. It is easy for companies to get engrossed in short term goals and forget long term planning. Good salespeople are always keeping their eye on what’s currently happening with their clients and the industry. At the year’s end however, it seems that most salespeople forget to make calls to discuss and understand their clients (and their prospect’s) budgeting plans for the upcoming year. Many sales are lost this way.
What’s crucial for a media buyer is that their suppliers really understand where they’re coming from and what their interests are. Media buyers do not want to work with anyone that does not completely understand their interests. Buying and selling media is a partnership, and if both parties do not completely understand each other and their interests and capabilities, the partnership will surely fail. This is especially important when it comes to media planning. If a supplier does not make an attempt to call their client and discuss their next year’s spending strategy, this shows the buyer that that supplier is dropping the ball and is only interested in the short term.
There are plenty of media sales occurring around the holidays, but to maximize sales-earning capability, calls should be made during Q4 to all clients and advertisers to personally investigate what their budget will be and their buying plans are for the upcoming year. This call is not a hard-sell cold call, but simply an informal call to discuss media plans for the upcoming year. Long-term planning can be crucial, as big budgets are earned this way.
It’s usually a good idea to take a good client out to lunch. A casual discussion of next year’s plans and possible new directions and goals for the companies can greatly benefit both companies. This is business development and networking at its best. A relationship is strengthened by socializing outside of the office environment, and strategizing can reap great rewards. Usually a deal or two can be earned this way, and at the very least both individuals can put each other in contact with some of his or her industry friends to discuss similar interests.
Most of these conversations are informal and occur over the phone and can be very casual and rewarding. However it’s done, the message is not to miss out on potential opportunities, but capitalize on them by discussing everyone’s planning strategies for 2007 today.
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