An Open Letter to the Digital Media Sales Reps of the World:
I’m relatively new to the digital media game—just over two years fresh. During my short tenure in your space, I’ve been surprised to learn just how difficult it can be to buy from you! I have budget, I want to give it to you—but many times, you end up losing my business to someone who makes my buying experience a simple and painless one.
Here are some simple tips to make it as easy as possible for your agency partners to give you a piece of their pie, and to make sure they come back for more:
- Include an “About Us” link on your website. Most of you have this down, but for those that don’t, describing who you are and what you represent to our clients requires a frustrating and time-consuming series of Google searches and media kit scans.
- Don’t gate your media kit. Coming from a demand gen agency, I totally understand why you do this. But when I’m on a tight turn (as I almost always am), I simply don’t have time to wait. And even if it’s automated, the inevitable string of calls/emails that follow waste both of our time. You’ll either call to find out that your audience isn’t right for the campaign, or our conversation will be premature and purely academic. If I can download your media kit in a click and evaluate your audience and offerings up front, it will actually save you time! If I find that you’re a good fit, I promise I’ll call you, at which point our discussion will be far more productive and deeper into the buying cycle.
- That leads us to perhaps the most important point—call me back. Let me say that again—call me back. I know you’re busy! I’m busy too. But just a few minutes of your time on the phone can make the difference between whether you get into my proposal or not.
- When I send you an email with three questions, send me three answers. Take that extra moment to make sure you’re providing me with everything I need to make a buying decision. I’d sooner strike you in favor of a partner who’s already done this than assume the burden of hunting down the information I need myself.
- Know your clients. I frequently receive emails from my reps asking if “X client” has anything going on. But I’m an agency—just because my last campaign was with X client, doesn’t mean the next will be. It’s much more effective to ask if I have anything open targeting your audience. Also—you know that I work at a digital agency, so why would you send me a remnant print special or your hottest postal deals? (I know why—because it’s an automated message and you haven’t segmented your database.) It may seem minor, but it tells me that you don’t really understand my needs.
Even if you’ve got the greatest, most targeted audience and the most whiz-bang promo options on the market, don’t underestimate how far your ease-to-buy factor goes toward getting my ink.
Of course, there are two sides to every partnership. If you can do this for me, here’s what I’ll do for you: I’ll call YOU back. I’ll take the time to update you on my accounts and what I’ve got coming up. I’ll give you more than 4 hours notice on that hot proposal (most of the time!). I’ll bring you bigger budgets and deeper engagements. And when it’s neck and neck and I’ve got two great options on the table, you’ll be the one I recommend to my client.
And, not to mention, I’ll love you for it.
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