Читать книгу Media Selling - Warner Charles Dudley - Страница 164

Carl Zaiss and Thomas Gordon point out in their excellent book, Sales Effectiveness Training, that old selling models do not work in a highly competitive, digital‐oriented, and data‐flooded business environment.

Rather than being seen as the manipulators and hard closers of the past, media salespeople need to be perceived as trusted and respected partners who provide insights and get results for their customers. Modern media salespeople must concentrate on long‐term, trusting personal relationships with buyers and clients. Remember, the biggest competition for media salespeople is algorithms, so developing emotional intelligence is vital to differentiate you from the AI used in algorithms.

The Zeiss and Gordon non‐manipulative advice might have been suitable for selling in the 1990s, but after the disrupting influence of the Internet and after 2003 when Google introduced its online auction AdWordsⁱ that featured a cost‐per‐click (CPC) pricing model, just being non‐manipulative is not enough. Media salespeople have to be able to analyze data in order to come up with insights and solutions and to educate prospects about the benefits of their product.