Online Advertising Sales Training

Objective

Loot is an established classified advertising newspaper that has been published for over twenty years. Together with loot.com, the newspaper and website reach over 2.8 million readers each month. To ensure that advertisers understand the benefits of both print and online advertising, Loot needed to ensure that their sales teams were able to sell these benefits with a high level of knowledge and credibility. 

Furthermore, the sales teams had to be able to compete for business in a busy media landscape that presents an ever-increasing number of opportunities for advertisers. The advertising sales teams at Loot had a range of online sales experience, and the training had to cater for this variation in skill sets.

Methodology

Enhance Media produced a online advertising sales training course to meet the needs of the print and online sales objectives across two sales teams based in Manchester and London. Enhance Media worked closely with Loot Directors to ensure that the course fulfilled all the objectives required. 

The course was delivered through a series of one-day workshops, in which the sales teams, their managers and other commercial managers attended training sessions to develop their knowledge of online advertising and the skills required to sell this form of advertising. These sessions were interlaced with a variety of group exercises in which attendees consolidated their established print sales skills and their newly found online sales skills. 

The training sessions were supported by a bespoke presentation and attendee workbook, and were supplemented in the month following the training with access to the Enhance Media email support facility.

Results

A series of six one-day workshops was conducted over a two week period, and was attended by over sixty sales staff, managers and commercial staff from two sales offices in Manchester and London.  All delegates provided written feedback on the training course, and rated the course content at 4.5 (out of 5) and course delivery at 4.7

The training courses were also delivered to the Digital Media team at Loot.com to ensure that all stakeholders in the company's online activities had a firm understanding of online advertising sales.

Sales managers and other commercial staff reported that the sales teams had the confidence and ability to take their combined package of Loot and Loot.com into the marketplace with a fresh outlook on the competition and a level of knowledge that had previously been unattainable.

Loot ‘s online sales revenues had grown substantially to their highest levels ever in the two months following the training course.

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