On today’s Billboard Insider podcast we talk with out of home sales expert Kevin Gephart.  Kevin has 37 years experience selling advertising including 12 years selling our of home advertising.  He co-published The Ultimate Out of Home Sales Guide together with Billboard Insider.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:43 — 32.6MB)

Some highlights of our interview.

On the importance of qualifying prospects

We had a phenomenal rep in our sales department.  She was fearless.  She would get on the phone with anybody.  I heard her back in the corner saying these incredibly brilliant things to these prospects on the phone and she was getting very frustrated and I had to tell her she’s saying all the right things to all the wrong people.

Figuring out who your ideal customer profile is seems very basic but I will tell you that when you work in a large company in a larger market they are going to say go after 3M, they’re based here, you got Best Buy, go after those people.  Those companies are very encumbered with ad agencies and with multiple levels of marketing people.  You won’t crack those companies in your lifetime.  Similarly, the one and two poster for 4 week customer is not going to pay the bills…

Somewhere between the one at a time and the Fortune 500 companies is the sweet spot.  For me it was multiple locations retail and it was also regional brands.  There are a lot of regional brands.  Regional coffee companies, candy companies, snack food companies, beer companies, liquor companies.  These regional brands will really be excited about what we can do for them…

The other thing you want to do when you qualifying is be sure that you find a company who’s big enough to matter but also small enough or accessible enough for you to get to the business decision-maker.  If the business decision-maker is in Schenectady and you’re in Baton Rouge it’s not going to work.  Make sure you know who you’re ideal customer is and have access to them.

The myth that sales stops with the sale.

You renew an annual contract 52 weeks a year…Sell 52 weeks a year.  We all face cancellations.  I have a chapter in the book about what to do when you get the dreaded cancellation phone call.  But we should know if we’re adequately checking in with the customer we should never be blind-sided by cancellations.  It happens but it should be a rarity…

You can purchase a hard copy of the Ultimate Out of Home Sales Guide for $69.95 by emailing info@billboardinsider.com.

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