Media ad sellers work in a complicated space, which is a challenge for revenue leaders. There are endless numbers of potential advertisers, but a limited number of hours in a day and sellers on a team. To cut out the clutter and focus on the right customers, winning media companies create revenue segments.
Revenue segments are the defined group of prospects and clients that have the attributes to create an opportunity. Grouping your target customers by similarities allows for a more effective go-to-market channel design. Many models focus on firmographic variables, such as company size and location. While this might be easier to implement, a more sophisticated and profitable approach is to factor in behavioral attributes that get at the buyer’s needs and tendencies.
The first step to creating more effective revenue segments is identifying potential opportunities by answering such questions as:
- What is going on in the marketplace?
- Where does our media organization fit in the ecosystem and what’s our strategy?
- Who are my customers and what are their buying preferences?
The goal of this exercise is to get an assessment of the market and provide a foundation for the go-to-customer model. Here are a few ways to help answer those questions:
- Gather data and analyze the total, serviceable and obtainable market
- Interview and survey customers to learn about their attributes and their preferences
- Determine how your customers make purchase decisions
This intelligence will enable you to align customer personas to effectively target opportunities for your sales organization. The next step is figuring out how to align coverage of the segments within the sales structure between key account managers, field and inside sales teams.
How the Alexander Group Can Help
Meeting customer needs and growing revenue is a big challenge right now in the media industry. The proliferation of digital options and changes to customer buying preferences mean ad sales teams need to adapt.
If you need guidance in assessing and transforming your sales organization, please contact the Alexander Group’s media team.
Want more insights? Explore Alexander Group Resources.
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About the Author
Matt Bartels is a principal in the Chicago office. Matt is a leader for the firm’s Media and Implementation & Change Adoption practices. He also has widespread experience in a variety of industries, including technology, manufacturing and health care. Matt has a proven record of working with clients to develop actionable growth-oriented strategies, go-to-customer transformations and productivity enhancements. In addition, Matt is an expert in global and domestic sales compensation design. He is a leader in the revenue growth space, and a frequent speaker and author of thought leadership content.
