An advertising sales representative is a professional salesperson who focuses on selling different types of advertising to clients. The forms of advertising involve every type of media option, ranging from print ads to electronic media like television and radio, to online advertising. In order to successfully sell advertising to clients, sales reps must take the time to research potential clients, get an idea of their advertising needs in light of the customer’s goals, and come up with advertising campaigns that are likely to please the client while also staying within the given budget for advertising.
One of the first things any advertising sales representative must do is develop leads that have the potential to grow into customers. The lead generation aspect of the profession means taking the time to determine if the type of advertising offered by the representative would be of use to a given business. This makes it possible to qualify those leads and avoid spending a lot of time pursuing accounts that are unlikely to lead anywhere. For example, an advertising sales rep for a national magazine will probably not consider a local business that serves a clientele based in that local area a qualified lead, and will seek opportunities elsewhere.
Knowing the background of a potential client is essential if the advertising sales representative wants to build rapport that opens doors and allows dialogue. Here, the advertising sales representative needs to spend some time getting to know what type of advertising the prospect has used in the past, and what seemed to generate attention and increase sales. That information can be used as the springboard for developing a new ad campaign that incorporates some of the more attractive elements of those older campaigns while introducing new elements that are likely to capture the imagination and attention of even more consumers.
Listening to prospects articulate their own goals and what they see as essential in the overall campaign is also essential if the advertising sales representative wants to land accounts. Some potential clients will want to include advertising that has worked well in the past in certain media, even if that particular medium is no longer primary. When this is the case, the job of the advertising sales representative is to respect those wishes and include that element while also finding ways to interest the prospect in broadening horizons a bit. For example, if the prospect has done well with television advertising in the past, note how combining that type of advertising with a great web site and online ads can make it even better, by including the web address in the television ads.
One very important thing that any advertising sales representative must keep in mind is to respect the boundaries of the prospect when it comes to the content of the advertising. For example, while a campaign that makes use of double entrendre and is a little racy may be fine with one client, another may find the approach to be inappropriate for the image that the prospect wishes to project. Keep this in mind when designing a campaign and the chances of earning the client’s business will increase significantly.