• Woe The Digital Sale: The Badgering Salesperson
    Question from the mailbag: Do salespeople know the definition of badgering: "to harass or urge persistently; pester; nag" on dicitionary.com? None of those words describe anything positive, yet recently my team was badgered by a salesperson who just would not stop. Even after hearing the specific rationale of why the site in question was not appropriate for our client, the salesperson still called team members one-by-one and over and over.
  • Catch Me If You Can
    Frank Abagnale Jr. was an airline pilot, a lawyer, a doctor, a Lutheran and a self-made millionaire all before the age of 19 -- or so he would have you think. If you've see the movie "Catch Me if You Can," you're familiar with the true story of this infamous con man played by Leonardo DiCaprio. While the extent of his deception seems somewhat inconceivable, it is a story that is still being played out every single day. I'm talking about well-meaning companies that have spent years building their brand and their reputation, choosing to engage in authentic online interaction …
  • Where To Find A Competitive Advantage
    Thousands of media executives are going to dozens of conferences this fall, but they won't find what they need most. Publishers, producers, sales executives, and marketers attend conferences to learn about changes in the industry, to find out what other media companies are doing, to find out about the next big thing. It's certainly important to understand how the industry is changing, and how technology is changing and what your competitors might be doing. But I'm here to tell you that you won't find the competitive advantage you need at a conference.
  • SFP 30: Not A Sunscreen, But A Self-Fulfilling Sales Prophecy
      I recently posted about inventory strategies and specifically about "leftover" or unsold inventory and   suggested 3 reasons why there are leftovers.  The first reason is the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy or SFP.   What is the SFP?   SFP refers to the fact that it is "easier" to sell things that you have sold before than it is to locate and suggest new alternatives.  Thus, what you have sold before is replicated for the next campaign.  All you need to do is change the flight dates and resend the IO.  No fuss, no muss.   What's wrong with this, …
  • The Dirtiest Word
    It has become the cheap word that every ad network, rich media company, technology provider, publisher, and agency drops when they attempt to sound sophisticated. It makes its way into every media plan, and sneaks onto every vendor Web site. So what's wrong with optimization? Optimization is like love. It is an easy thing to say, and much harder to put into practice.
  • Woe The Digital Sale: Poorly Prepared Salespeople
    I work at an independent agency and consider myself more open than most to taking vendor meetings. However, why is it that sales reps come in and ask "So, who are some of your clients?" To add insult to injury, they share presentations that look like they were written by a first grader with no relevance to any of my clients' needs. Why is it that my time has to be wasted by these ineffective meetings? What happened to making a good first impression?
  • The Biggest Problem With Online Video Is Video
    S.L. Price, journalist for Sports Illustrated, called the Taylor Dent-Ivan Navarro match this past Saturday the most exciting match he has ever witnessed in his 19 years covering the U.S. Open. It was unbelievable tennis tennis fans will talk about for years. Equally unbelievable is that the majority of the match could only be seen by those in attendance or visiting USOpen.org.
  • Finishing Well
    We work in an industry obsessed with start-ups and entrepreneurial initiative that drives individuals and organizations to constantly push for the next Google, Twitter or iPhone killer. We set aside the accomplishments of yesterday to focus on what's next and what could be. In our quest to create new ideas and strive for what's next, one thing gets lost in the evolutionary life cycle for companies, products and even employees: finishing well.
To read more articles use the ARCHIVE function on this page.