We asked our team what they do to set themselves apart as sellers and here is what they had to say!

• Mike Dean – I’ve never wanted to be the cheesy salesperson. Transactional selling has often been a challenge for me, so I think the best approach is always being real and building a personal relationship with your clients. That relationship needs to be built upon trust and transparency. I want my clients to know they can always get in touch with me on my personal cell—I literally don’t care what time they call me. Then, from there, it’s about continuing to give them raving fan service and getting referrals. At that point, the hope is that the new referral should already have some trust built in.
• Mike Scarpace – I find the most success when I build a relationship with a client outside of the business relationship.  To me, that means taking the time to understand what that person enjoys outside of work and sending small gifts or notes on birthdays, holidays, promotions, etc. I also like to understand their business, whether it relates to what I’m selling or not, as I believe it makes you a more informed and a better seller. Lastly, I’m a big believer in less talking and more listening!
• Jaimie Hefelfinger – I have always tried to differentiate myself from the competition by being a resource for my client rather than just a rep. I want my clients to come to me with questions on digital and the advertising industry as a whole, as opposed to just questions about specific tactics or products. I do that by keeping up with interesting topics and sending relevant articles or resources to my clients. I also stay close and continue that education after a campaign goes live. Don’t disappear only to pop up when it’s time to ask for the renewal! Use reporting to keep in touch and tell a story about what your team is doing on the backend. I am not someone that gets excited over spreadsheets, so I try to visualize and contextualize the data. Never underestimate the power of a chart or spelling out the major takeaways. Lastly, don’t be afraid to admit when you don’t know something. While you think it may hurt your credibility, honestly approaching the subject and telling them that you’ll find the answer is always a better option than trying to fib your way through a response. Be a resource, be there for the whole campaign, be honest, and be yourself. Those are the keys!
• Andy Bryant – In my experience, most reps are just trying to get a “yes,” close a deal, and make money. I try to have much higher standards for myself and potential partners, and I place a premium on having honest conversations around setting reasonable expectations as it relates to a prospect’s business goals. I’d rather not win business that isn’t a good fit, then dedicate my teams’ time, resources, and energy on putting together work I know will eventually not make sense for the client—or for my team in the long run—just to get a signature on a contract.
• Alyssa Hamm – I approach sales through education and relationship building, and I am totally comfortable with the sales process taking longer because of it. In my mind, if I can become someone’s go-to resource on digital and have a friendly relationship where we can talk about things other than media, I know I have built trusting, long-lasting relationship. Those types of relationships tend to lead to sales and, more importantly, renewals. The key is to avoid talking about what you have to sell until you truly understand what your potential partner needs, because only then can you make a solid recommendation. This is different than most sellers, who consistently lead with “Here’s what I can do for you today.”
• Will Bolles – When it comes to differentiating yourself with reporting and campaign management, I think the most important thing is to ask your advertiser what it is they are looking for ahead of time. By asking the right questions, you may uncover that your advertiser previously worked with a provider that offered no transparency into media and strategy. If this is the case, be sure to inform them that they will have insights into full campaign details such as domains, creative, performance and optimizations via campaign reporting. This should allow for more renewals, as transparency is key in this day in age of digital advertising. If they did previously have transparency into campaign reporting – asked them what they liked and didn’t like. This will help you to frame reporting to best fit their needs, which will help prevent any sort of surprises when the campaign is live.