This blog post is sponsored content by a 2019 Connectiv Executive Summit sponsor James G. Elliott Co., Inc.

The publishers that I've seen who put together an advertiser advisory board or a reader advisory board always do better than those that don't," said Ryan Dohrn, founder/CEO Brain Swell Media, during his recent session at SIPA Annual 2018 titled How to Make it Easy to Buy From You and Close More Sales.

Are you following up? According to one study, more than 70% of sales leads are lost simply because the sellers don't make contact quickly enough after an initial contact.

In the last 10 years, as legacy businesses fell out of favor and sales became harder, many organization have moved to “selling more stuff.” “Well, that print campaign we sold didn’t work? Let’s try this digital display campaign. That didn’t work either? Let’s try native advertising or this new lead gen push….” and on and on.

SIIA’s TechChats provides a look into some of the most successful executives in our industry. Hear how many of them got to where they are today, what is shaping their businesses and the industry today, and special advice they would give to others trying to grow a successful company.

Having an effective go-to-market model for marketing and selling Managed Services is critical to enabling successful growth. Many companies have solid Managed Services offerings, but don’t realize their full growth potential because of problems with their Services selling model.

A group I've written about before—Museum Hack—is revitalizing art institutions by telling vivid stories to their audience. "Storytelling establishes a universal way of communication," they write. "And because it invites audiences to fill in the blanks with their own experiences, it helps to set emotional connections..."

"Highlight people in your sponsorship packages," Ryan Dohrn, founder and CEO of Brain Swell Media, told a group at an excellent Pre-Conference Workshop last week on Selling Integrated Advertising and Sponsorship Packages.

"An audience wants to know, 'Where am I going to make money?' Making money from external sponsors and advertisers is a huge relationship game. It's important to establish a revenue model beyond subscriptions and be specific in your planning. Being random costs you time, energy and money. Prospecting is a dying skillset, and it is so valuable to sales success."

In speaking last week with Michelle Godwin, head of enterprise sales for London-based Incisive Media, the biggest takeaway is their commitment to face-face communication—both in holding on-site product how-tos, and especially in challenging sales people to schedule five face-to-face meetings a week.