In a separate session apart from the sales staff, those responsible for creating speculative ads, be it a separate creative department or the ad production staff itself, learn how to dramatically improve the effectiveness of their layouts.
We've found that in many instances where a salesperson is dissatisfied with the work of the creative/production staff, the problem often stems from a salesperson's unreasonable expectations. Some salespeople underestimate their own role in developing a solution for an account, assuming that the "information analysis" and "strategic planning" performed, if any, is a layout function, more suitable for an artist. The artist, whose primary qualification is usually an ability to make things look better, rarely has enough information about the account, or the strategic planning process to develop a successful layout.
You've seen this dynamic in action if you've ever heard a salesperson offer little more direction to an artist other than "be creative". Oddly enough, these are the exact same salespeople who, when later viewing the finished ad, says "this isnŐt what I asked for at all!".
Once the sales staff is trained in one of their critical roles as ad strategist, the artists are then taught how to take the salesperson's strategy and develop it into a finished layout.
To ensure that both salesperson and artist are truly working together as a team, artists also learn what information the salesperson should be retrieving from the account, the analysis that needs to be performed on the information before the artist begins work, and ultimately, how the salesperson intends to be selling the strategy to the prospect.
Both the creative staff and the salespeople learn the same terminology, dramatically improving their communication. A special "spec ad request" form and others are introduced that take advantage of this new understanding.
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