10/23/14: Post updated to include a link to download Stacey Sedbrook’s presentation this week to the Inland Press Association. 

“Change is hard. It takes a lot of effort. Sustaining change is even harder.”

BIA/Kelsey’s Stacey Sedbrook offered a sales transformation clinic this week at the Inland Press Association’s annual conference in Chicago.

The success or failure of any transformation effort is rooted in basic human behavior. Sedbrook led off her talk by breaking down how people respond to change. Understanding and anticipating these reactions will improve the odds for success.

Leaders who can execute and sustain a change initiative are the ones that “remove obstacles,” Sedbrook said. These obstacles can be legacy systems, cumbersome processes, or people who resist change.

“Whenever I work with a client, I ask them three questions. ‘Are you ready for change?’ ‘Are you willing to invest in change?’ You need to invest both time and money. The answer to this question is always, ‘Yes.’ The truth is almost always ‘No.’ And finally, I ask, ‘Are you willing to make the hard personnel decisions?’ Because sometimes that is what it takes.”

Sedbrook is VP of Strategic Sales Consulting at BIA/Kelsey. She helps companies improve their digital sales performance. Inland Press is a trade group that represents smaller newspaper publishers, organizations that often struggle with change.

Sedbrook’s talk touched on the full spectrum of transformation success drivers — platforms and technology, channel structure, bundling versus a la carte, compensation, the product mix, leadership.

One of the most overlooked success drivers is internal communications. “Most organizations under-communicate by 10X,” she said. “For any transformation effort, you need a communications plan.”

By erring on the side of over-communicating — via newsletters, town hall meetings, podcast and so on — you reduce the fear, mistrust and uncertainty that so often gets in the way of change.

Sedbrook said sustaining transformation largely involves overcoming No. 7 on the list of typical responses to change — the tendency to revert to old behaviors. This is achieved by leaders keeping up the pressure and urgency (which involves communication), driving the effort against clear short and long term KPIs and removing obstacles to change.

“You have to be consistent and persistent,” she said.

We will share additional details of Sedbrook’s Sales Transformation Playbook in upcoming blog posts and BIA/Kelsey reports. Click here to download a copy of Sedbrook’s presentation to the Inland Press Association.

The post The Sales Transformation Playbook appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Q. Sales force transformation is a buzz phrase that a lot of companies have seized on. What does it mean to you?

A: It is a buzz phrase, and people are using it interchangeably. In reality, transformation impacts two key things: infrastructure and implementation. For any sales organization, you always are going to want to start with infrastructure and how it impacts implementation — things like communication, fulfilment and escalation.

Q: How smart do media companies really need to be about this? Won’t vendors do it for them?

A: To some degree, we see many companies hoping that third parties, like digital agencies, will handle everything for them. In reality, when you are selling and fulfilling digital, there are a lot of things you need to learn to do on your own. There is no such thing as “do it for me.” There is only do it with me.™ A lot of organizations aren’t prepared for that.

Q: In his book, The Innovator’s Dilemma, Clayton Christensen said that disrupters need to establish their new business separately from the old business. Many media companies originally took his advice to heart, but have now merged their digital and traditional units. What is your position?

A: It really depends on what your revenue expectations are. Companies can sell their own digital assets or they can sell audience extension products. For that, they don’t need to hire a dedicated sales force. But when you set your sites higher and are selling more sophisticated products like SEO, SEM, Video and mobile, you will need to hire people who are more knowledgable about the digital space because it’s a different type of sale. And regardless of sales structure, digital revenue should be managed at a higher level by someone who is dedicated to digital. A VP of Advertising is always going to have to spend more time on products and services where there is a critical mass and revenues.

Q: Is it now possible to bypass Feet on the Street? Can you do it all with telemarketing?

A: Again, it really depends on the product or service. Telemarketers can sell small transactional products like directory and email marketing, and websites and packages that might range from $300 to $500. A digital package with a low cost of entry, and a clear value proposition, is easy to sell over the phone. But it is very hard to sell custom services from the sales center. That’s been the focus on a number of digital agencies that have highly trained sales people to sell these services, and others to manage them. Agencies like ReachLocal, Local Edge and Smart Reach Digital are building customer service teams and account management teams.

Q: Are we dating ourselves by talking about “advertisers?” Should we really be talking about “marketers”?

A: It is definitely much more strategic to talk about marketers and marketing. Clients really want us to offer marketing strategy. They don’t just want someone selling them a 1/4 page ad, or a coupon. We need to be mindful that a good marketing campaign involves a lot more than what you are selling. Our clients need to understand where to spend their money first.

Q: You’ve been a digital sales leader with the whole gamut of local media leaders, ranging from Citysearch to top newspaper and radio groups. What will you be doing as BIA/Kelsey’s new VP of Strategic Sales Consulting?

For me, it is really about change management. What we’ve found is that change management never happens successfully unless it starts at the top, where BIA/Kelsey’s client relationships are. The rest of the management team is critical to implementing the change but they need to know their executive team is committed to the effort.

We really like to focus on understanding the needs of the whole organization, and then assess their needs at the middle management level for digital product training and their value proposition for digital. This helps to increase their speed to market. You know what we find? Too many organizations underestimate the level of time and commitment these efforts require.

The post ‘It is Really About Change Management': Q&A with Stacey Sedbrook, VP, Strategic Sales Consulting appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Q. Sales force transformation is a buzz phrase that a lot of companies have seized on. What does it mean to you?

A: It is a buzz phrase, and people are using it interchangeably. In reality, transformation impacts two key things: infrastructure and implementation. For any sales organization, you always are going to want to start with infrastructure and how it impacts implementation — things like communication, fulfilment and escalation.

Q: How smart do media companies really need to be about this? Won’t vendors do it for them?

A: To some degree, we see many companies hoping that third parties, like digital agencies, will handle everything for them. In reality, when you are selling and fulfilling digital, there are a lot of things you need to learn to do on your own. There is no such thing as “do it for me.” There is only do it with me.? A lot of organizations aren’t prepared for that.

Q: In his book, The Innovator’s Dilemma, Clayton Christensen said that disrupters need to establish their new business separately from the old business. Many media companies originally took his advice to heart, but have now merged their digital and traditional units. What is your position?

A: It really depends on what your revenue expectations are. Companies can sell their own digital assets or they can sell audience extension products. For that, they don’t need to hire a dedicated sales force. But when you set your sites higher and are selling more sophisticated products like SEO, SEM, Video and mobile, you will need to hire people who are more knowledgable about the digital space because it’s a different type of sale. And regardless of sales structure, digital revenue should be managed at a higher level by someone who is dedicated to digital. A VP of Advertising is always going to have to spend more time on products and services where there is a critical mass and revenues.

Q: Is it now possible to bypass Feet on the Street? Can you do it all with telemarketing?

A: Again, it really depends on the product or service. Telemarketers can sell small transactional products like directory and email marketing, and websites and packages that might range from $300 to $500. A digital package with a low cost of entry, and a clear value proposition, is easy to sell over the phone. But it is very hard to sell custom services from the sales center. That’s been the focus on a number of digital agencies that have highly trained sales people to sell these services, and others to manage them. Agencies like ReachLocal, Local Edge and Smart Reach Digital are building customer service teams and account management teams.

Q: Are we dating ourselves by talking about “advertisers?” Should we really be talking about “marketers”?

A: It is definitely much more strategic to talk about marketers and marketing. Clients really want us to offer marketing strategy. They don’t just want someone selling them a 1/4 page ad, or a coupon. We need to be mindful that a good marketing campaign involves a lot more than what you are selling. Our clients need to understand where to spend their money first.

Q: You’ve been a digital sales leader with the whole gamut of local media leaders, ranging from Citysearch to top newspaper and radio groups. What will you be doing as BIA/Kelsey’s new VP of Strategic Sales Consulting?

For me, it is really about change management. What we’ve found is that change management never happens successfully unless it starts at the top, where BIA/Kelsey’s client relationships are. The rest of the management team is critical to implementing the change but they need to know their executive team is committed to the effort.

We really like to focus on understanding the needs of the whole organization, and then assess their needs at the middle management level for digital product training and their value proposition for digital. This helps to increase their speed to market. You know what we find? Too many organizations underestimate the level of time and commitment these efforts require.

The post 'It is Really About Change Management': Q&A with Stacey Sedbrook, VP, Strategic Sales Consulting appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.