Getting every sales channel motivated to become the ‘Market Leader’ is very important. For the purpose of this post I am describing the sales channels as:

• Print/Broadcast Sales Team (Geo and Category)
• Digital Sales Team
• Call Center

Not everyone on your sales team is ready to help you earn the ‘Market Leader’ status. From past experience, I would make an educated guess that 75% of your print/broadcast team and your call center are not and will never be equipped to sell at the level you need them to. Your digital team is in much better shape. Half of that team will help you accomplish your goal.

Developing your sales channel starts with marketing your products internally to your staff through sales kickoffs, training sessions and sales blitzes. Make sure everyone has equal opportunity to successfully sell.

After 4 weeks gather your sales team and quiz them on your products (print and on-line). This will give you the opportunity to see what they know and what they are talking to your advertisers about. You will find out that a high percentage of even the successful sales executives didn’t retain the product knowledge.

Follow up training is a good next step. Some sales executives may need individual attention. You only have a limited number of sales positions so every sales position needs to be filled with someone that is going to help you achieve your goals.

The goal of the quiz is to help segregate your sales team into-

• Multimedia sales
• Print or Broadcast Only sales
• On-line Only sales
• You are fired!

Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your sales force will only make you a better team and help you figure out where to plug in a Tiger Team that can help you move the needle where you are weak.

This level of focus will move you one step closer to ‘Market Leader’ status.

Note: We will discuss how the Self Serve Interface fits into the plan for your sales channel in a future post.