Like most business owners across the country, I am inundated with phone calls and e-mail inquiries from vendors of all varieties: print and broadcast advertising sales reps, office supplies and office outlets, telecommunications companies, IT vendors, professional printers, and the list goes on and on and on. Typically, I receive at least five of these calls every week.
To my credit, I am usually rather polite when I interact with these individuals, although I tend to keep my conversations and e-mail exchanges with them relatively brief. In addition to this being the most professional way to handle these situations, I also reason that just because I don't have a distinct need at the moment does not mean I won't have one in the future — and therefore, it's worthwhile for me to have a short discussion with a rep to assess his service's value and usefulness to my marketing consulting practice and to my clients. For that reason, I usually keep the rep's contact information on file for reference purposes. And in the marketing realm, one never knows when a different, or even unusual, need will arise; I've seen it happen way too many times in the past.
But lately, I've been struggling with the professionalism and expertise, or lack thereof, of sales representatives in the marketing and PR service provider space. When I first began my career WAY back in the early 90's, the account managers from these companies were some of the most knowledgeable, sophisticated, and service-oriented sales professionals around. They knew their offerings backwards and forwards; they proactively provided excellent strategic counsel on how different products could be used to the benefit my clients; and they were responsive, communicative, easy to work with, and flexible with respect to pricing. In short, they made my life easier, and they truly provided value across the board. In fact, many of the professionals I worked with at Business Wire, MediaLink (now Synaptic Digital), and others are still with their respective employers to this day, and I am pleased to call many of them my friends...not just business associates.
However, today, the landscape in this area is much different. Turnover is extremely high. Most new reps don't come from traditional marketing or communications backgrounds, let alone with previous business experience, so they don't possess much industry insight. New account execs are young and immature, and they speak and write like it. Sales training is minimal, and it shows when the rep approaches a prospect like me. Sales and marketing collateral materials are amateurish and poorly-constructed. When these people call me, I run for the hills because I know the conversation we're about to have will be a really painful one.
Case in point. An Atlanta, Ga.-based rep from an undisclosed PR service provider recently called me to pitch me on his company's service. I spent over 45 minutes with him -- spread across three phone calls -- attempting to understand the basics of the service, how it differed from other press release distributors, and its value, benefits, and pricing. Even worse, the follow-up materials he sent me via e-mail made zero sense, and still did not clearly describe the offering. Bottom line: he couldn't answer any of my questions, and his default response was: "We're better...just take my word for it." It was apparent this gentleman had little, if any, training from his employer on how to properly sell the service, and he was ill-equipped to answer pointed questions, particularly from someone like me who has close to two decades of experience. It was shameful and pathetic. I almost felt sorry for the guy. Needless to say, I didn't buy. And he never called me again. Here's another example. A new rep from a well-known broadcast monitoring vendor called me last month. Unfortunately, he is the sixth rep assigned to my geographical area in the last five years. Come on! How is this company supposed to build lasting relationships with clients when the turnover is this high?
This is typical these days. Now, of course, there are exceptions out there, and I still know and interact with many excellent and very successful reps who have been with their respective companies for many years. They know their stuff, and they know how to sell, and that is precisely why they're successful.
The irony of all this is that the marketing and PR service provider space is extraordinarily competitive, so one would think that reps would be extremely sharp and aggressive to generate sales of a given service over another. Not so.
To my credit, I am usually rather polite when I interact with these individuals, although I tend to keep my conversations and e-mail exchanges with them relatively brief. In addition to this being the most professional way to handle these situations, I also reason that just because I don't have a distinct need at the moment does not mean I won't have one in the future — and therefore, it's worthwhile for me to have a short discussion with a rep to assess his service's value and usefulness to my marketing consulting practice and to my clients. For that reason, I usually keep the rep's contact information on file for reference purposes. And in the marketing realm, one never knows when a different, or even unusual, need will arise; I've seen it happen way too many times in the past.
But lately, I've been struggling with the professionalism and expertise, or lack thereof, of sales representatives in the marketing and PR service provider space. When I first began my career WAY back in the early 90's, the account managers from these companies were some of the most knowledgeable, sophisticated, and service-oriented sales professionals around. They knew their offerings backwards and forwards; they proactively provided excellent strategic counsel on how different products could be used to the benefit my clients; and they were responsive, communicative, easy to work with, and flexible with respect to pricing. In short, they made my life easier, and they truly provided value across the board. In fact, many of the professionals I worked with at Business Wire, MediaLink (now Synaptic Digital), and others are still with their respective employers to this day, and I am pleased to call many of them my friends...not just business associates.
However, today, the landscape in this area is much different. Turnover is extremely high. Most new reps don't come from traditional marketing or communications backgrounds, let alone with previous business experience, so they don't possess much industry insight. New account execs are young and immature, and they speak and write like it. Sales training is minimal, and it shows when the rep approaches a prospect like me. Sales and marketing collateral materials are amateurish and poorly-constructed. When these people call me, I run for the hills because I know the conversation we're about to have will be a really painful one.
Case in point. An Atlanta, Ga.-based rep from an undisclosed PR service provider recently called me to pitch me on his company's service. I spent over 45 minutes with him -- spread across three phone calls -- attempting to understand the basics of the service, how it differed from other press release distributors, and its value, benefits, and pricing. Even worse, the follow-up materials he sent me via e-mail made zero sense, and still did not clearly describe the offering. Bottom line: he couldn't answer any of my questions, and his default response was: "We're better...just take my word for it." It was apparent this gentleman had little, if any, training from his employer on how to properly sell the service, and he was ill-equipped to answer pointed questions, particularly from someone like me who has close to two decades of experience. It was shameful and pathetic. I almost felt sorry for the guy. Needless to say, I didn't buy. And he never called me again. Here's another example. A new rep from a well-known broadcast monitoring vendor called me last month. Unfortunately, he is the sixth rep assigned to my geographical area in the last five years. Come on! How is this company supposed to build lasting relationships with clients when the turnover is this high?
This is typical these days. Now, of course, there are exceptions out there, and I still know and interact with many excellent and very successful reps who have been with their respective companies for many years. They know their stuff, and they know how to sell, and that is precisely why they're successful.
The irony of all this is that the marketing and PR service provider space is extraordinarily competitive, so one would think that reps would be extremely sharp and aggressive to generate sales of a given service over another. Not so.
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