Quick Take: The Future of Media Sales

Today, in this Quick Take episode, we’re wrapping up our coverage of The 5th Annual Media Sales Report by spending a few minutes to think about what this year’s findings can tell us about the future of media sales industry 

In short, you’ll find that while obstacles are ever-present and, in many cases, more difficult than ever, media sales managers and salespeople alike seem to be up to the challenge.

Links:

The 5th Annual Media Sales Report

Matt Sunshine

The Center for Sales Strategy

Episode Transcript

Matt Sunshine (00:15):
Welcome to improving sales performance, a
podcast highlighting tips andinsights aimed at helping sales
organizations realize, and maybeeven exceed, their goals.
Here we chat with thoughtleaders, experts and gurus who
have years of sales experiencefrom a wide range of industries.
I'm your host, matt Sunshine,ceo at the Center for Sales
Strategy, a sales performanceconsulting company.

(00:37):
Today, in this Quick Takeepisode, we're wrapping up our
coverage of the fifth annualMedia Sales Report by spending a
few minutes to think about whatthis year's findings can tell
us about the future of mediasales.

(00:58):
In short, you'll find that,while obstacles are ever present
and, in many cases, moredifficult than ever, media sales
managers and sales people alikeseem to be up for the challenge
.
With that, let's get started.
So, again, digging into themedia sales report this being

(01:25):
the fifth annual media salesreport is one of the things I
really look forward to everysingle year.
I look forward to the end ofthe year when we start building
the survey and sending it out,and seeing the responses come in
and I try not to peek as theycome in, because I really want
to wait until you see the bignumbers and everything, but it

(01:47):
is always fascinating to me toget a good read on.
What are salespeople and salesleaders in the media industry?
What are they thinking, how arethey feeling, what are some of
the things that are causing themto have pause and what are some
of the things that are makingthem be excited and optimistic

(02:07):
about the year ahead, in thiscase, 2024?
And we've been fortunate to doa whole series of podcasts that
really focus on breaking out anddissecting the media sales
report.
I hope that everyone has had achance to either has had a

(02:29):
chance to listen to them or willfind the time to listen to them
, because, I will tell you, itis extremely insightful
information.
But while the media sales reportis filled with let me say a
different way while the mediasales report is loaded with

(02:54):
information, filled withinformation I think it'd be
smart to pull back and look atthe media sales industry and
just okay, well, what's going on?
What are we seeing in thereport?
But how does that relate to theindustry as a whole?
And the industry is filled withuncertainty, perhaps as much as

(03:19):
it's ever had.
I've been at this a long time.
I wouldn't want to say it'smore or less, but I'll say
there's as much uncertaintytoday as ever before.
Even in spite of that, theresults from this year's survey

(03:40):
paint an overall optimisticpicture.
People are not blind to thechallenges ahead.
They're not blind to thechallenges ahead, but they feel
informed, empowered and excitedabout the opportunities that

(04:01):
they have to make an impact, andI think that's great.
So, overall, my take is thatwhile it is clear vision on the
challenges, it's optimistic onthe results, and while things
like recruitment are as tough asever and new business

(04:22):
development is becoming moredifficult and salespeople are
having trouble convertingprospects or getting
appointments, there's still anoptimism of okay, we're gonna
meet this challenge head on andwe know what we need to do and

(04:43):
we know how we're gonna do it.
So there's a nice balance.
But take every detail from thisyear's data and remember the
following.
Remember the following 70% ofmanagers are using sales talent
assessments in the hiringprocess.
7 out of 10 are using salestalent assessment in the hiring

(05:08):
process and 86% find them to beaccurate or very accurate in
predicting the future.
Anytime that you hire asalesperson, anytime you hire a
salesperson, you're taking achance, you're making a bet
Right.
They gotta have the rightskills, they gotta have the

(05:29):
right experiences, they gottahave the right fit with your
organization and what else.
They have to have the righttalent and, in our opinion, you
can't sacrifice any of those.
They have to have the rightskills, they have to have the
right experiences, they have tobe a good fit with your

(05:50):
organization and you know whatthey have to have the necessary
talent that they need to have inorder to be successful.
And the good thing is, 86% ofsales managers think the talent
assessment that they're using isaccurate or even very accurate.
So that's awesome.
And 7 out of 10 are using atalent assessment.

(06:11):
If you're not using a talentassessment, you should be.
You should be.
If you wanna hear about ours,give us a call.
We'll help you.
We'll talk to you about it.
If you're not using ours, usesomeone else's, but use a talent
assessment.
Second thing, I wanna leave youwith.
Most salespeople 4 out of 5,81% better than just over 4 out
of 5, say they have access tothe resources needed to exceed

(06:35):
their sales goals.
Again, that's that optimism,right?
It's like, at the same timethat they're saying, oh, it's
harder than ever to get a point,man, it's more difficult to
close business but at the sametime they're saying that 4 out
of 5 are saying you know what,though?
I have the resources I need tohit my goals.
That's awesome, great job.

(06:55):
And last, and it can't be statedenough 93% feel supported by
their manager.
93% of salespeople better than9 out of 10 of salespeople feel
supported by their manager.
That's pretty awesome.
So that's where, when I saidthis is gonna be a tough year,

(07:17):
people are open to it.
They're not eyes closed,they're not being blindly
optimistic.
They're being realist aboutwhat the challenge is ahead.
There is a very optimisticpicture being painted, and the
reason for that optimism is thatthey do feel supported by their

(07:37):
sales managers.
They do feel as though theyhave the resources and, probably
because they've been selectedbased on the talents that they
have, they probably feel asthough they have the confidence
to have success.
So, with all those amazing datapoints, almost anything is

(08:01):
possible, right?
There's no wonder that nearly 3fourths of the sales managers
out there 72%, so just about 3fourths are optimistic about the
future of the industry.
Again, like I said, they're notblindly optimistic.
They're actually informed andoptimistic, and I think informed

(08:24):
and optimistic is exactly wherewe want people to be.
So that's what the data showed.
I'm excited for you guys to havea chance to read through the
media sales report.
I think you're gonna find it tobe extremely valuable.
Lots of amazing takeaways, andI'd be interested to hear what
your takeaways are.
Please share.
All right, everyone.
Thanks so much.

(08:44):
This has been improving salesperformance.
Thanks for listening.
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Visit our website,thecenterforsalesstrategycom.
There you can find helpfulresources and content aimed at

(09:05):
improving your sales performance.