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As a professional OOH salesperson, do you have an intentional method to how you manage your book of business? Have you broken down your clients into strategic categories with a defined approach as to how you are going to manage those relationships?
It’s a bit of a rhetorical question…after 45 years of doing this, I know the answer is the majority of you do not. If you fit in that category, how is it that you attack your sales week, sales day with confidence… assured that you are effectively servicing ALL of your clients and maximizing the potential in your territory?
Unfortunately, most don’t have a plan as they begin their sales week, month, quarter. Let alone a strategic account management plan. We teach a very systematic, process driven approach to OOH sales that is structured in a framework that stresses maximum efficiency and effectiveness while allowing for each person to retain their individuality. In other words, it is “rules based” not a bunch of scripts to learn. One of those rules is ‘Decide what you want, build a plan and you can bet on the outcome’.
We can all agree that if a goal without a plan is just a wish, then a sales goal for an OOH territory is just a wish if we don’t have a plan. “I’m going to go out this week and give it all I’ve got” may be admirable, but it isn’t a plan! What is our strategy for working that set of accounts? The prospects in my area?
At the IBOUSA conference in Houston last week we were honored to speak to the record crowd as we have for the last 15 conferences in a row. Part of what we shared from the stage was an account management tool that all of our clients have found to be extremely valuable. I know when you start throwing around terms like “strategic account management” it can sound like it takes a lot of effort, is very involved and is complicated. It is NONE of those things!
It really is as simple as breaking down a book of business into basic categories of clients. Not business categories, things like which clients just need to be kept doing what they are doing? Which clients have additional opportunities? Who have we lost that we should be attempting to get back? Who are our ideal target market prospects we have identified? Have we created very specific criteria that define where each of our clients should be classified? Have we defined an approach as to how we are going to exercise specific behaviors/actions to tactically achieve optimum results in each account management category?
Aristotle said: We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit”. I ask you, what habits have you established for yourself when it comes to being the best consultative OOH salesperson you can be for your clients? Is it your goal to just give it your all this week and react to whatever comes your way? Hoping that means you did a good job for your clients, your company, yourself. Or will you proactively “decide what you want, build a strategic account management plan and bet on the best results you or your clients have ever seen?
Need help with sales skills or coaching to take your out of home company to the next level. Learn more about OOH Sales Mastery at oohmastery.com or Contact Dan Nausley at dan.nausley@sandler.com, 423.702.5579.
Lisa & Dan Nausley of Sandler Chattanooga have developed the OOH Sales Mastery Program after more than a decade of training/coaching scores of OOH Operators across the country in sales, leadership, and executive coaching.
