Sales is a people-to-people skill—but sales reps can’t lean on their social skills alone. Sales intelligence tools enable sales reps to connect with the right people at the right time.
In the advertising industry, contacts change frequently and campaigns shift. Sales reps need to put quality time into researching their prospects and identifying whether they fit their ideal customer profile (ICP).
When reps can easily find relevant and timely information on brands, they can prepare tailored pitches for more qualified prospects.
But ad sales intelligence isn’t only for ad sales reps: agency executives and marketers can use these platforms to optimize media spending, monitor competitors and uncover new opportunities.
Make sure you are choosing the solution that is right for your business.
What is Ad Sales Intelligence Software?
Sales intelligence tools help sales teams gather information on prospects and customers. With these tools, sales leaders can better understand their markets, access buyer intent data and other account details that could help convert future customers.
Ad sales intelligence tools are tailored for ad sales teams, along with agencies and marketers.
They address the specific needs of ad sales reps and other advertising executives because they give information on brands’ advertising spending, campaign strategies, contacts, contracts, media buying periods and more.
Within these tools, users can create lists to organize their prospects and prioritize their biggest opportunities.
Before making any effective sales pitch, sales reps need to do their homework on who they’re reaching out to. Ad sales intelligence software makes this process more efficient and effective.
Top 5 Benefits of Ad Sales Intelligence Software
1. Ad sales intelligence tools tell you who to contact
Ad sales intelligence platforms enable ad sales reps to effectively prospect for new business and connect with the right buyers. They issue reports on spending trends in major industries, allowing teams to uncover unique opportunities.
Once a sales rep has identified the brand that fits their ICP, they can access the key contacts at that company. These contacts can be added to a list of prospects.
Quality software will provide accurate contact information for key decision makers representing the brand. The data should be regularly updated because contacts tend to change regularly.
2. They give you insights on when you should reach out
This type of software offers reps insights on brand media planning and buying periods. They help reps stay ontop of upcoming RFPs. Instead of being alerted of an upcoming RFP only a few days ahead of time, reps will have sufficient time for forward thinking.
3. They give you context to perfect your pitch
When reps have data on past spending data, information on cross-channel spending, big picture industry insigts and a brand’s creative approach, they have what they need to put careful thought into their custom pitch.
Instead of having to jump around multiple tools or do hours of manual research, ad sales intelligence tools bring all the latest data into one platform.
You can see a wide variety of useful data, including recent creative, investment in high CPM campaigns (OTT, Podcasts, YouTube and Facebook) and campaign durations.
You’ll have all the information needed to research, plan and pitch your prospects.
4. They help you leverage existing relationships
Within this type of software, you can see who holds the purse strings—and sometimes their past history. With this feature, you can leverage your existing relationships to write a compelling cold email that’s more likely to get opened.
5. They enable you to outperform competitors
You can only gain the advantage on your competition when you have accurate, trustworthy and recent data at your fingertips.
Top performing sales reps don’t succeed by guessing. They use data to guide them as they pursue opportunities, build pitches and keep customers happy.
How to Choose the Right Ad Sales Intelligence Tool For Your Team
Your team has decided it’s time for an ad sales intelligence platform—or time to switch platforms. How do you ensure you’ll get the best results from a new tool? Start your research with five essential questions.
1. Can I trust the information provided?
Do you know how the information is sourced? And how recent it is or reliable?
When data is aggregated from outside sources, problems start showing up in the data, primarily with data accuracy and timeliness.
MediaRadar employs its own internal team, to research, compile and verify all of the data that comes into our system. We consistently ensure our data is of the highest quality by combining proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning with an in-house human verification process.
2. Is it easy to use and understand?
You can have the most powerful tool on your hand, but if it isn’t intuitive and easy for your sales reps to use, it will be a wasted investment.
The tools should be helpful for reps—not an additional headache to deal with in their stressful jobs.
Not only should the user experience be great, but the data should be easy to understand. Ad sales intelligence software should give you context and insights about the data.
3. Do the software take data privacy seriously?
Industry standards are changing constantly—and you want to choose a platform that goes above and beyond the basics.
Ask the vendor if they are a US Privacy Shield Program (US version of the EU’s GDPR) Participant. Are they also compliant with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)? This is critical, because any large company that buys contact information, is required to comply with CCPA law, California’s law governing individual user privacy.
The software must also be able to show how they obtain the names their sales reps call upon and that their sources are compliant as well.
MediaRadar goes even further, allowing users the option to correct, add or remove their name from our database. Furthermore, we also collect written consent from contacts in the database.
4. Can I customize the platform to fit my needs?
Ad sales intelligence tools can be used across roles. With a tool that can be customized to different positions, you can run analyses that are tailored to your needs and goals.
Sales reps can engage in personalized prospecting, using the tool to filter prospects on factors that matter to them.
Media planners can use the tool to research their competitors and industry trends to find the next biggest opportunity.
The tool needs to be able to provide relevant information that will help you accomplish your unique goals.
5. Is the solution just software or does it act as a partner?
Is this a software that is great at onboarding, but then disappears? Or are they truly invested in your success?
At MediaRadar, every client has a dedicated, personalized account management team. As your partner in success, MediaRadar shares best practice advice, industry articles and custom reports designed to help grow your business.
MediaRadar’s client services team is honored to have won the prestigious Stevie Award® for outstanding customer service 9 years in a row.
A reliable ad sales intelligence tool allows you to identify and pursue high priority opportunities. Make your perfect pitch with relevant data and a team supporting you all the way.
