Intelligence

Lots of new technology company’s launch in advertising every month.  DSP’s, DMP’s, targeting platforms, social platforms, rich media and ad-servers; its almost too many to try and keep up with.  To break through the clutter of the marketplace and secure adoption with agencies and brands can be an arduous task (I know since its what I do for companies), but there’s one very valuable tool in the marketing of a new ad tech company that I can share; it’s your sales people.

Your sales people are crucial hires for more reasons that you probably even know.  The obvious reason is they bring in revenue.  They are responsible for monetizing your platform, they create relationships and they create capital, which your company uses to grow.  All that is extremely important, but you should never overlook just how important they are for the image, perception and awareness of your brand.

Sales people are your first impression in the marketplace.  Your execs may be fantastic, but 9 out of 10 of your customers will not meet the company through your execs, they will meet it through your sales people.  You need to arm your sales people with the right kinds of messaging, a single point of view regarding how your services fit into the marketplace, and the tools they need to create lasting relationships.  Everything they do, everything they say, and every action they take in the marketplace is a reflection on your company, especially in the early days . 

To that end, it is extremely important that you do your homework when interviewing and potentially hiring sales people.  Not only should they be intelligent, energetic and fun, but they need to be responsible, professional and full of integrity.  When you review a potential candidate, don’t forget to check their Facebook page, their LinkedIn page and do a Google search (especially a Google image search) to see what comes up.   You want people who are fun, but not fun to the degree where they could misrepresent you publicly in some manner.  Everyone knows the role of a sales person is to create relationships and sell your product, but relationships are a delicate thing and you want to be able to retain those relationships in the long term. 

Its also good to find out were a sales person has been before, how their previous position ended, and what kind of relationships they are going to take with them in their next roles.  Too often, there are sales people with a history of jumping around and selling their wares as “the best thing since sliced bread”.  After too many of those jumps, their relationships on the agency and client side are toast because everyone knows they’ll be somewhere else in 6 months.  They lose credibility, and once a sales person loses credibility, they’ve lost everything they have that allows them to sell.

Credibility and the ability to create and foster mutually beneficial relationships; these two characteristics transfer over to a company very quickly if the sales person has them as strengths.  In that situation, your marketing efforts, whatever they may be, have an easier time being successful. 

When a VP of Marketing or a CMO enters into a new job with a new advertising technology or media company, they typically will sit down and create a marketing strategy, but they should also sit down and review the assets of the sales team and determine if those assets are in line with the marketing of the company.  If there’s a Chief Revenue Officer or VP of Sales in place, this should be done in conjunction with them, and it should be done right away. 

Sales and marketing typically go hand in hand, but too often it’s about the numbers, and not enough about the characteristics of the teams.  If you’ve got a good plan, but the team isn’t right, nothing you do will be successful.  At the very least, success will be a more difficult up-hill climb than it needs to be.

As for the rest of the secrets I know, those are staying with me for the time being.

How are your sales teams measuring up?