Anatomy of a Sales Planner

Anatomy of a Sales Planner

Over the course of years in the online advertising industry, I was fortunate enough to work with some amazing mentors who groomed me for success. Here are some things I learned.

Sales planners are cheerful and social. Why? Because they are connecting multiple teams and coordinating between them. Their hand anatomy has evolved in a way so it handles typing over 50 words per second on average, which has proven to be necessary for handling enormous piles of emails on daily basis. They work with:

So, when you look at how many people sales planners are interacting with it, it absolutely starts to make sense why they have to be sparkly bubbles of joy. Well, how else do you keep everyone on your good side!

So if you are worrying whether your interpersonal skills are up to par, worry no more! It’s something you can work on! For starters, I would suggest you read the book “How to Talk to Anyone”. Main points are outlined here.

Sales Planner exhibit professionalism at all times:

If you would like to improve your professionalism, I would suggest that you learn more about written communication first, as that is how most of the communication is done nowadays. A great book is “How to Write It” and here we share some of the main points.

Their nervous system is slightly different compared to an average human being. It has developed in a way so that it handles enormous amounts of information from various sources at the same time. It’s highly focused on producing flawless media plans getting the most out of online media campaigns.

Sales Planners are great negotiators. Oftentimes, Sales Planners have to work out solutions to all types of business problems, CPM increases, inventory shortages, launch issues, poor placement performances etc. This is where two things are crucial technical knowledge and negotiation persuasion skills. To illustrate, sales planners have to make a case and lead their audience to follow their line of reasoning.

So, to make their case sales planners need to use industry benchmarks, competitor’s performance stats, and industry research and spin the numbers relentlessly until they can make their case. So, to be a great planner you need to be informed, you need to know where your next gem of wisdom will come from. You my friend, you need to be the wisest of all and absolute information snob-know-it-all. In case you have no idea what any of this means, here are some great sources of information. So, read up!

Sales planners are money loving creatures. They stay on top of trends such as movie and gaming releases and keep salespeople informed what their next agency pitch could be. Sales planners should be on the lookout of what new business opportunities are out there and keep the sales team in the loop. This may be one of the sure ways to score your next raise or promotion. If you are wondering where to get some of this information, then search no more!