The Drift

February 8, 2008 - Volume 15, Issue 3

Digital... or Sales?

By Doug Weaver

At the iMedia Brand Summit earlier this month, my partner Scot McLernon and I hosted a breakfast discussion about finding and developing Digital Sales Talent in today’s market. Near the end of the program, a very provocative question emerged:

When it comes to Digital Sales, which part matters more: Digital or Sales?

There’s more at stake than semantics. And just saying “well, both!” doesn’t really get it done either. There’s been a simmering talent crisis in our space for several years and it’s just reaching a vigorous boil. Recruiters, HR executives and Sales VPs have engaged in a bidding war for the “experienced digital seller” and have driven salary and package expectations through the roof. Meanwhile, there’s a rapid migration of traditional media sellers to the Digital side that’s running smack dab into a very steep learning curve. So which do we hire? What do we teach? And how do we bring along the generation of young would-be digital sellers just entering the workforce?

Sometimes the best answers are questions. Here are five: 

  1. What’s the Real Value of Experience? So your candidate’s got 7 or 8 years of digital experience. Doing what? If he’s been harvesting RFPs and optimizing plans for post-click DR metrics, that experience may actually be counterproductive. You might pay top dollar for those extra 3 or 4 years of experience, but does this candidate have skills that adapt for the future of your business?
  2. What’s the Work Going to Be Like? I’ve long advocated that we’re coming upon a fork in the road. Part of our business will be transactional – the buying, selling, trading, optimization and reinvestment of standard media units. The other side will be “Marketectural”… a heavily consultative sale that demands high-level contacts, business acumen and critical thinking. Be honest about where your business is going and hire the skill set you really need. (Hint: very few people or companies are really good at both.)
  3. What’s Going to Be Lost in Translation? Having been charged with “digitizing” hundreds of magazine, cable, newspaper, broadcast and radio sellers over the years, I can say with confidence that online is in no way a “typical media sales job.” There are certain concepts that just don’t translate from the offline world. (When is an impression not an impression? When you jump from TV to the web.) Such are the small details that can create massive frustration and marketplace confusion if left unchecked.
  4. Where Else to Look? No question that the two main species in our near-term ecosystem will be the online-homegrown and the traditional-transplant. But smart sales leaders are opening up non-traditional channels. Those with backgrounds in consulting, technology, promotional sales and even events each bring some valuable skin to the game. And maybe the essence of managerial genius in our world will be the ability to organize many varied skill sets and backgrounds into one cohesive unit.
  5. What About the Kids? I’ve recently counseled several college seniors who considered careers in our business. The results weren’t good. When they compared online advertising to other fields, they saw an industry whose core values were hard to translate; whose career path was hard to discern; and where they wouldn’t get even the kind of routine training they’d receive if they took an entry level job on Wall Street. Can you translate the value of a Digital Sales career to a Millennial? We sure need to learn how to.

Digital…or Sales? Or something else. Perhaps there’s no clear answer. But without these questions front and center, we’re just reacting to the talent crisis instead of managing it.