Advertising Sales Champions

Valerie Salembier THE ADVERTISING SALES CHAMPION By Selling Power Editors

Selling advertising space for USA Today must be one the most stressful selling jobs in the world - except if your name is Valerie Salembier. Valerie and her staff of 115 sales and marketing executives were responsible in 1987 for selling over 4,000 advertising pages (at $38,000 for a black and white page and $49,600 for a color page). Valerie had extensive publishing experience with Inside Sports, Ms. Magazine and Newsweek when she joined USA Today in November 1983. Her outstanding sales record helped her advance to the position of senior vice president, advertising sales. PERSONAL SELLING POWER has collected and condensed her unique secrets to sales success: 1. REJECTION STIMULATES CREATIVITY "In the early days, most sales calls were rejection experiences, because we did no have any of the standard measurements that advertising agency executives wanted and demanded. However, when we made sales calls on clients directly, we met with far more success; we could get people excited about USA Today. It was tough, but looking back, I love the idea that I have been instrumental in watching something go from zero to a very major success story." 2. HOW TO GET LEADS "To be successful, one has to create one's own opportunities." "We tear sheet every single day. We rip The Wall Street Journal apart until it is mere scraps of paper. We do the same with the weeklies and business magazines. We also have great hunches about which products and services might look good in USA Today." 3. SELL THE KEY FEATURES AND BENEFITS "Our number one benefit is the editorial product. It's so strong and so well received and so inviting, that it is the best sales tool of all. Number two is the quality of the audience - our demographics. Our readers are the movers and shakers in the country. Number three, we are very competitive with the business magazines and the news weeklies. In fact, our numbers are better. Number four, our ads look good. If an advertiser runs a four color spread in USA Today, it's like owning their own billboard." 4. INTEGRITY "We have one hard and fast rule: don't promise anything that you can't deliver. Our mission is to sell the product and with the greatest integrity. There is nothing more horrible than promising an advertiser a certain position or a certain percentage of response. You never get in trouble for telling the truth." 5. MOTIVATION "When you are selling a daily product, you've got to have it within you to be out there every single day. We have very stringent guidelines for hiring salespeople. We look for high energy, high enthusiasm and high belief in the product." "We hire people who can make a commitment to personal excellence. You either have the strength to work in this kind of pressure-cooker situation, or you don't." 6. TEAM EFFORT "We worked on one particular sale for over one year. It was the result of a glorious team effort. Even the treasurer of Gannett was involved. We sold a tabloid size ad to Shearson Lehman Brothers to run every Monday for one year. This is one of those great examples where everyone was pitching in to make something happen and the goal was realized. When we got the order, we popped champagne corks...we were like 10 year olds..." 7. VALERIE'S PERSONAL SELLING POWER "I run a minimum of three miles four times a week. That's how I keep my sanity under the most stressful conditions. "I am a season ticket holder to Madison Square Garden boxing. I go every other Thursday night. It's incredibly dynamic, it's sexy, it's very passionate. The beauty of the competition is quite compelling. There are elements in boxing that are really fascinating, because they relate so well to selling: the ability to take abuse, the ability to accept failure, the ability to tolerate pain and block it out, and to move forward to the face of incredible adversity. In selling, you are being knocked down every day. And you certainly have the victories. The victories are so important... "If I would call myself anything, it would be a professional manager. But I am also a scrapper, a feisty person. I think people who are inherently competitive have a better chance to win in sales.