local media insider

It's midnight. Do you know where your major accounts are?

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Quick, create a list of all the accounts who are spending $5000 a month in your market.

If this doesn't phase you, now try figuring out the last time they had a real needs analysis with a sales representative.

No problem?

Ok, lets move on... did that sales representative create a competitive multi-media plan?

How are we doing?

Most media companies have accounts spread on a variety of lists and among sales people with very different skill sets. And figuring out how to make sure sales reps are fully in the game this year when so much money is shifting from traditional to digital and promotions is a huge challenge.

At the Arizona Star, Ad Director Chase Renkin, decided the problem was serious enough to redistribute accounts throughout the company - an enormous task - so that a specialized team goes after the big accounts. It's a radical solution, but one, combined with a number of other changes, that has been paying off so far.

A number of media companies report that simply offering services such as behaviorial targeting or contest sponsorships that come with e-mail lists, are convincing large accounts to shift more revenues from a competing media into a digital buys in 2012. These new relationships are succeeding even though the competing media can offer, essentially, the same services. Ouch.

We are interested in hearing from other sales managers who have come up with ways to identify and track major accounts, so that opportunities for large digital buys are not overlooked. If you have a good system, send me an email at alisacromer@gmail.com, and get a free subscription if we share it with LMI members.