In September, Greg Sterling of LSA and Neal Polachek of BuzzBoard released a free white paper titled, “Local Media Sales 2020: Platforms, Profits or People?” which explored the future of the local digital media sales landscape.  To expand on the topic, they, along with Kerry Baldwin of Web.com, held an LSA webinar yesterday.

During the webinar, the group discussed how the local sales force of the future will be structured and examined what market segments can be addressed by telephone sales and which ones require outside reps. While there didn’t seem to be just one answer, some interesting takeaways emerged:

• Sales reps need to be savvier. SMB’s expect the rep to understand their business/industry. Sales automation tools and more extensive training required;
• SMB’s expect complete knowledge of digital landscape – including for products/services rep may not sell;
• No simple formula for determining whether to use outside v. inside sales;
• Despite sales rep training discussion and focus, not enough focus on sales-management training;
• Data/automation can and should be used for pre-call planning;
• The digital landscape is ever-changing. Be vigilant on new trends and flexible in adapting.

Check out the entire presentation below:

For access to all of our past webinars and a look at what’s to come, visit https://bit.ly/LSAwebinars.