It seems that a lot of account executives don’t get the “sell the client, tell the agency” concept. They believe that the ad agency is their friend and if they schmooze and mollycoddle, they’ll be rewarded with an ad campaign. Well, if your publication happens to be the one that the agency has selected as part of their media plan, building the agency relationship is time well spent and calling on the client would not only be unprofessional, but most likely a fatal mistake.

But what if you represent the majority, one of the many publications that the agency has rejected? What if you’ve been faithfully sending your media kit to the agency but your magazine never makes the cut?  Do you continue to beg at the agency's door, in the hope that somewhere down the road your fate may change? Or do you take control of your sales and earnings by calling on the client?

While the answer is obvious, many salespeople resist this course of action because they fear that calling on the client will piss off the agency. In some circumstances they are right. If you just had a meeting with the agency and they said "No," and you follow up by contacting the client, the agency will become irate. They don't like it when someone calls on their clients.

But you can avoid this situation by taking ownership of the client, by calling on the client before calling on the agency. Doing so gives you the right to continue to deal with the client even after you've met with the agency because it is your client. Also keep in mind that clients have a lot of influence over agency decisions. While you might find it impossible to convince the agency to embrace your book, if the client likes your magazine, the agency will quickly add it to its media plan. So always try to call on the client first. 

What are your prospects looking for? They’re looking for solutions to their business and marketing challenges; they are not looking for advertising. They want to work with someone who can make suggestions and offer new ideas, preferably an expert in their industry and they’ll gladly pay a premium to anyone who can increase their probability of success and reduce their risk of failure. They want to work with a specialist who understands their industry’s unique problems.

So instead of randomly calling on everyone who would benefit from advertising in your publication, focus your selling activity by calling on one industry at a time.

By calling on prospects in the same industry you will quickly become familiar with common industry trends and challenges, you’ll learn to speak the industry jargon, and you’ll uncover their specialized advertising and marketing needs. In short, by talking their language, you’ll be perceived as the industry expert your prospects are looking for.

Wouldn’t it be nice if all you had to do was to send your information-packed media kit to every ad agency and watch the insertion orders roll in? Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way, so as a rule of thumb, you should only send a media kit if you cannot arrange a face to face meeting.

Media kits don’t sell
Advertising agencies don’t have the time to study the hundreds of media kits they receive each year, so most of them never get read. And even if your media kit does grab their attention, do you really believe they’re going to read the entire package and analyze the data in the hope they’ll find a fit between your publication and one of their clients? At most, they’ll give your media kit a cursory glance. If the pertinent information doesn’t jump off the page, the kit will be discarded. 

Your media kit must focus on one client
Don’t send a generic media kit and expect the ad agency to study it and find a fit with one of their clients. If you’re sending a media kit to an ad agency, the information in the kit and accompanying cover letter must be tailored to address the marketing needs of one specific client. So only include the marketing data that is relevant.

Don’t post your media kit on your website
For reasons just mentioned, don’t post your media kit on your website If you insist on following this practice, then at least password protect it. You can give your existing clients access to your media kit by providing them with the password but have everyone else that wants to view your media kit fill in a short “Password Request” form. Your salespeople can then follow up on these leads.

They don’t want to know about your magazine
Unless you can demonstrate a strong fit between your publication and the agency’s client, don’t even try to solicit an ad; if there is a strong fit, it’s your job to prove it. So instead of telling the agency about your magazine, show them exactly how your book will help them move their client’s business ahead.

Don’t repeat what’s in your media kit
You're wasting their time telling them what they already know.

They want more market information
Ad agencies work on numerous accounts at the same time, which means they can only dedicate limited resources and time to familiarize themselves with each of their client’s markets. More often than not, they’ll welcome an industry expert that can provide valuable solutions, ideas, statistics and insights that will give them a better understanding of their client’s marketplace. Position yourself as the industry expert they’re looking for by telling them something they can’t hear from any other source.

They want claims to be supported by stats
An ad agency is accountable, so they can’t afford to make flippant decisions; they need very, very strong reasons for everything they do. Your job is to give them those strong reasons, so, whenever possible support your claims with statistics.

They don’t want to hear about other magazines
Don’t waste their time telling them what other magazines can’t do; instead focus on telling them what you can do and how that will benefit their client.

They don’t want to buy an ad
Although your book may reach their client’s target market, as part of their overall marketing plan, placing an ad in your publication may not be all that important, so don’t call on them to sell an ad. Instead help them put together a plan; a strategy that will allow them to meet their client’s marketing goals. In other words, stop selling magazine ads and start offering multi-tiered solutions.

If you can show the marketing manager, sales manager or president how your publication will help them increase sales and reach their marketing objectives, they’ll want to do business with you and that will force the advertising agency to look at your publication, even after they’ve finalized their media plan.   

Your objective is to sell the client and tell the agency; at the very least, you have to stimulate conversation about your publication between the client and the agency.  

Only call on the agency if the client refuses to commit to your advertising strategy without the agency’s involvement.