Sales and sales during Corona

Posted On March 16, 2021

This month we interviewed our Head of Sales, Kamil Friebel, to find out how selling DOOH advertising space has changed during the pandemic, as well as to ask what advice he can give to others in the industry.

Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the read!

“Kamil, what do you like most about selling DOOH, and what do you find to be the most challenging?”

• To start with, it is basically fun to sell products that you stand behind or which you see as the innovation drivers of an industry. That makes it easier to convince people, if any is needed at all.

• Secondly, the topic is still relatively new and I personally enjoy explaining new technologies / products to customers and then getting them excited about them.

• The challenge is certainly first of all to differentiate between a one-to-one medium such as a mobile phone and a one-to-many medium such as a DooH screen and all its special features such as billing on gross contacts and not impressions.

• The next challenge is to explain that DooH screens fit perfectly into a customer journey, as they address the user either on the way to work, on the way home or while shopping.

• The last point is about further technical explanations regarding audience data, i.e. how is it possible to use audience data, whether 1st or 3rd party data.

“Did the Corona crisis affect your sales and did you have to adapt your usual sales style?

• Definitely, Corona was a blocker for the whole industry in the beginning. Campaigns were stopped, budgets were lost and a kind of “panic” broke out because nobody knew what to expect from the lockdown and what would happen. But with time and experience, the first solutions came there in the form of e.g.: discounts, because the customers naturally asked themselves why they should still pay the same CPM when there are fewer people on the road.

• The selling style has not changed significantly. To be honest, the focus in this case should also not be on unrestrained selling, but rather on advising or consulting, so that the budgets could be shifted to a later date or another medium.

“How do you see Corona influencing the future of DOOH?”

• It won’t have a big impact on the advertising form itself, but rather on the way it can be booked. Corona has shown the importance of dynamism, flexibility and response times, so I think it has or will have an impact on targeting and dynamic pricing.

“Do you have any advice for people trying to continue their sales in these difficult times?”

• Regardless of Corona, you should regularly put your product to the test to see if you are up to date and can meet all expectations.
• It is important to be able to react dynamically to market conditions. With Splicky, we were able to shift budgets from DooH to mobile or CTV, for example.

Thank you Kamil for your insights!

The most important takeaways for today are dynamism and optimism.

Why not apply them to your daily life? 

Always be flexible and ready to adapt.