Billboard Insider interviewed Andrea Messimer Henley earlier this week.  Andrea has 20 years experience in out of home advertising sales and has been a frequent Billboard Insider contributor.  Andrea is a Director of Client Relations for Wilkins Media, the largest independently owned out of home media specialist in the US.

Andrea tell us about Wilkins.

I am really enjoying my new role at Wilkins Media, where I am a director of business development.

I have felt for some time that collaboration partnerships are not only the future but are essential in the way business will be done as the industry evolves.

 Having multiple OOH mediums available for a client provides a far more robust campaign, that in my opinion, offers far more impression’s and a much broader audience base.

What mistakes do out of home companies make when they deal with an agency?

Often times out of home companies do not provide enough data to support their proposals. 

Don’t assume agencies know all of your offerings.  Wilkins, for instance, has partnerships with over 3000 vendors. It’s impossible to keep up with all of them. Set up sessions to educate agencies on what is new in your market, company, industry trends. 

Outfront Media highlighted weakness in the national out of home market on it’s first quarter earnings call.  What are your thoughts for increasing sales in a difficult market?

National Sales tend to fluctuate year over year and are difficult to influence as a vendor.  The media strategies and plans are pre- determined by the agency’s in advance prior to RFP’s. Plans also get modified and media budgets change.

Stronger local sales efforts can make up for unpredictable national sales. On a local level you have more input and control of the sale outcome. In addition to renewals you have the ability to present new avails, additional markets, new  technologies; to both local clients and agencies; which provides a continuous revenue stream and will close the deficit of national sales.

I’ve learned a few things over the years:

• Slowdown and ask detailed questions to fully understand the client objectives for the overall campaign. 
• Don’t just look at what is on the request. Dive in deeper so that you can make additional recommendations, based on experience and market knowledge.  It’s simple, agencies can’t pitch or buy anything they aren’t aware of. 
• Work with the mind set that you will have to replace 50%-60% of your entire book of business year over year. That way you always keep your pipeline full and you will continue to grow your business. 
• Nothing is guaranteed. 

What do you want to learn at next week’s OAAA show?

I’m interested in learning more about the programmatic platforms.  I’d like to know the pros and cons of each. 

Some of the speakers are from social media platforms, I’ll be interested to hear their advice would they give to the OOH industry, on how to continue to grow and improve and what kinds of integration strategies they can offer as a value add to the industry as technology takes on an even more prominent role in our business.

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