In exploring the issue of the perks that digital ad buyers get, I went to SellerCrowd, a site for digital ad sellers, to get their take. SellerCrowd uses a LinkedIn log-in system in order to verify that its members are in ad sales. All members are given pseudonyms to protect their identity. Below are the responses.
I’m working on a story for Digiday on things ad sellers have to do in terms of perks for buyers. I’d love to hear the kinds of things you do to get the attention of buyers in terms of tickets to games, “jeans night,” etc.
Answers
Apollo24: jeans party, sunglass party (we just buy sunglasses), dinner/drinks, spa outings, sport games, concerts, trapeze school, DJ School, cooking class
Cinnamon86: jeans parties are the end of this industry. thanks for fueling the fire
Mercury55: ha! they are kind of been there done that. spa events can be good for a small team. Also scavenger hunts within agencies are good. You can also do pub crawls. BIG budgets could be trips to the Super Bowl.
Minotaur28: Jeans Night seems light … I built a deck at a buyer/planners lake house one weekend.
Beethoven52 I rarely entertain buyers until we have done business. I get the business by doing the research it takes to be a valuable partner/asset for the client. Sets the precedent right from the beginning that you actually care about client objectives first and foremost- then celebrate once both parties have worked hard to achieve. Old school, I know. Works for me.
Mimosa18: I agree. A good product will sell itself, and taking clients out “shopping” tells me either you’re a bad sales rep or your product stinks. People buy from you because they like you and/or need your product. I can’t honestly believe that if you buy someone something expensive that they suddenly like you. Sounds more like they’re taking advantage of you.
Apollo24: call it what you want but when you spend 3+ hours at a spa with a client, or play a 5 hour round of golf, you get to know them and build a relationship … then you get the meeting and you can sell the value of your product. not all meetings are taken bc of spending on them but for some clients, it is what it is …
Beau21: wow – you do that before even getting a meeting? before they even know who you are? yikes. a big reason why the industry is broken. you must work at mediabrix.
Apollo24: usually when there is already business but leverage for larger, more strategic meeting with sr. level agency and/or client contacts and of course more business
Mercury83: Offer bribes to get meetings – and meals don’t work anymore. Like: “How about I come in and bring everyone on the team a $25 iTunes card for a lunch & learn” . Agency peeps make no money and hold our mortgage payments in their hands – considering we have fairly indiscriminate T&E budgets, you gotta use what works.
Saffron45: no need to bash on here beau21…spending money on clients in a thoughtful way to get experiences that they will remember having with you does make a difference. Right or wrong, building a relationship with them is tough, so getting them to take time out of their day to spend with you has to be worth it to them.
Dur4 They buying parties have gotten really sad and out of control. Even though people at my organization do these, I refuse. They just seem wrong. Often when people do them, some members of the agency team swoop in, buy the item, and leave immediately, skipping drinks/dinner before or after. Its a disgrace.
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