Is Your Digital Sales Manager Great?

During Call In Day this week, someone told me that in their market at least 3 TV stations are looking for Digital Sales Managers. The ads in the trades seem to confirm that this is a tough job to fill. It seems there are a lot of people who talk a good game, but don’t have the drive and sense of urgency to turn their knowledge into sales growth. And, with all the pressure from our companies to grow this side of our business, it’s critical.

So how do you know you have the right leader?

In the last 6 weeks I’ve had the chance to be around some absolute digital superstars. I won’t mention their names because you’ll all be like vultures, but these people are great. They work in large markets and smaller ones. Some were Digital AE’s, most were Sales Managers. And all of them possessed 3 things:

#1 – They bring a tremendous amount of ENERGY to their work. They are passionate about these products, totally believe they work, and are positive, upbeat people.
#2 – They have the abilty to ENERGIZE the other people on their teams. These stars have done a great job selling and continuing to sell the other AE’s they work with. And they realize that is job #1.
#3 – They sell (with and without the AE’s) products and grow the business. They are EFFECTIVE.

Energy. Energize. Effectiveness. That’s a great way to rank any manager on your team.

PS: As I wrote this, I wondered if because this job is so critical, we should TEST every finalist on their sales aptitude. My 20-year-old daughter understands digital media and loves it. She’s a great personality. But she’d be the first to tell you that she doesn’t think she can sell.Knowledge and passion for these products isn’t enough.