How Bloomberg Media revamped its sales

Mark Joyella of Adweek writes about how Bloomberg Media overhauled its sales efforts, leading to its revenue increase.

Joyella writs, “Making that shift meant retraining the company’s entire sales force, replacing single-platform selling with multiplatform. Two years ago, a client would have to navigate a confusing, cumbersome network of sales people—working with a different rep for each platform.

“Fixing that was ‘not an easy thing to do,’ said COO Jacki Kelley. ‘You’re really teaching a lot of new skills to a lot of people.’ That involved an extensive period of cross-training—and exams. ‘Yes, there were tests,’ Kelley said. ‘To reinforce to a print executive that yes, you really are an expert now on digital.’

“‘When you can surround a target audience from television through digital through live events, through (the) magazine, you can go very far,’ Smith said. ‘We’re working with our clients to give them that type of access.’

“Smith, who was poached from The Atlantic, came with a success story: turning a 154-year-old magazine into a modern digital player, and in the process, reversing the company’s losses. At Bloomberg, Smith again emphasized digital, redesigning the company’s website and launching regional homepages in Europe and Asia. ‘We pivoted our company really aggressively towards the digital future … it’s by far our largest channel in terms of size of audience and revenue,’ he said.”

Read more here.