If technology makes buying easier, what happens to sales teams?
The future won't belong to those who sell media, it'll belong to those who help businesses grow. The opportunity is not just the technology, but what it frees sales people to do...
When I wrote recently about radio’s programmatic moment, the discussion was focused on the technology. Automated buying platforms like Resonate (Pattison Media/Canada), AudioGraph (iHeart Media/USA) and AdPower (Global/UK) are designed to make radio easier to buy, easier to include in media plans, and easier to integrate into modern advertising campaigns. I’m excited about these innovations and truly optimistic about their impact on radio revenue.
However, there was a conversation happening offline, not in the comments, about something important… What happens to sales teams when radio becomes easier to buy? What role do account executives have in an automated, technology-enabled, media company?
The answer could feel a little uncomfortable. If inventory can be purchased through a platform, proposals automated, reporting generated instantly, and campaigns launched with a few clicks, is there even a need for an account exec?
Maybe we can find some solace in history…
When online trading first emerged, it didn’t eliminate all financial advisors, but it did change what clients needed from them. When travel booking moved online (hello Expedia!), the best travel agents didn’t disappear. They became trusted guides (my mum and stepdad are off to Portugal with a jam-packed itinerary thanks to their travel agent). When cloud accounting software arrived, it didn’t eliminate accountants. It automated much of the bookkeeping and compliance work, allowing accountants to spend more time helping clients make better business decisions. When e-commerce transformed retail, the strongest store associates didn’t become less important. They became product experts, consultants, and relationship builders who could provide something websites couldn’t – you only need to spend 5 minutes in Aritzia to realize the vital selling role a store associates plays! (BTW I’m the passenger in all Aritzia visits but it’s fascinating to watch.)
Technology doesn’t eliminate value, but it does change what type of value is needed. It stands to reason that as technology reduces the cost and friction of transactions, trust often becomes more valuable, not less.
A local business owner isn’t lying awake at night wondering about CPMs, impression delivery, or how quickly an ad insertion order can be processed. They’re wondering whether they should open a second location, how to compete with a national chain, how much to invest in marketing, and how to generate more customers.
Technology can provide information, recommendations and analysis, but judgement still requires context, experience, empathy and an understanding of variables that aren’t easily modelled. Judgement requires us to make hypotheses about the future based on our lived experience and knowledge. That is the human edge (certainly for now). In a world where information becomes abundant and technology removes friction, judgement becomes increasingly valuable, right?
When I think about the account execs I’ve worked with over the years, they’ve always been pulled between two areas; admin and advisory. The admin part included things like creating proposals, coordinating campaigns, managing orders… there’s strangely a lot of paperwork and processes to launching a campaign. The advisory part included understanding a client’s business, identifying the opportunity, creating and providing solutions and building strong relationships in order to become a trusted advisor to clients. The technology tools we’ve been discussing are exceptionally good at the admin pieces, and let’s face it many of the best account execs will tell you that they aren’t! However, the tech is not yet as strong in the advisory role.
As automation removes friction from the buying process, the successful salespeople of the future will be the ones who understand how a local business grows. They will intimately understand customer acquisition, audience behaviour, conversion, loyalty, and measurement. They will be able to connect marketing activity to business outcomes. They will ask better questions and provide better answers. Ultimately, they will spend less time selling media and more time helping businesses grow…. That’s the trusted advisor role!
The best salespeople used to succeed because they were persistent, relationship-oriented, highly organized, and excellent negotiators. Those skills still matter, but they are no longer enough on their own. The best salespeople now combine relationship skills with commercial curiosity. They understand data, audiences, and marketing strategy. They embrace technology rather than fear it.
Most importantly, they are able to translate complexity into clarity for clients who are overwhelmed by choice, and that’s important because the client’s world has become dramatically more complicated.
There is another area where great account execs continue to create enormous value… ideas. Technology can automate transactions, reporting, targeting, and optimization. What it struggles to do is create locally relevant ideas that genuinely connect businesses with their community. Technology isn’t creating the promotion that gets people talking or that charitable initiative that builds genuine goodwill. These types of opportunities require imagination, creativity, and a deep understanding of both audiences and local businesses.
In many ways, as media buying becomes more automated, creativity may become one of the most valuable services you can offer a client.
Long gone are the days when businesses had relatively few choices. Today they are confronted with an overwhelming number of options. Search, social media, streaming audio, podcasts, connected television, influencers, AI-powered marketing tools, email marketing, websites, digital display, radio and more. Argh… the challenge for any business is knowing what to do.
I believe that the more options available to businesses, the more valuable trusted advisors become. While technology makes media easier to purchase, it also increases the importance of people who can help clients navigate complexity and make better decisions.
Salespeople may become the closest thing many small businesses have to a marketing department.
The real value is to truly embrace the role of trusted advisor or “marketing strategist” to customers who are overwhelmed and want clarity. Local businesses don’t need another salesperson competing for budget. They need someone they trust who can help them make sense of it all. I suspect this may be one of the greatest opportunities local media companies have… the chance to truly work for, and advise, clients instead of trying to sell them something.
I believe the most successful media companies won’t choose between technology and people. They’ll use technology to remove friction, and they’ll empower salespeople to do what they do best… help businesses grow.