Advice on hiring a salesperson to sell advertising

August 21, 2019 8:14 AM

I'd like to hire someone to sell screen ads for an independent movie theater. The ads play as a slideshow before the movies start. Seeking advice on compensation and related.

I'm the owner of a struggling independent movie theater. We need extra sources of income to survive. I'd like to increase the number of screen ads that we show before the movies start. We are located in an urban environment and are surrounded by small businesses, such as restaurants, tattoo shops, bars, etc. -- a few of which already contract with us. I'd like someone to walk into neighborhood businesses and try to sell screen ads. I'm not much of a salesman, so I'd like to hire someone to do this.

I can probably post a message on our Facebook page and recruit someone from the neighborhood. I'd like to set the compensation at the minimum amount that would still be in an acceptable range. Should I pay the person strictly on commission, or a small hourly salary plus a commission?

Also, I can envision complications with figuring out the commission. We sometimes get clients who want to run an ad for just a short period of time, as a test. Depending on the results, they may then be willing to contract for a longer period of time at a discounted rate. How do I handle commissions in this case?

Another complication is that I anticipate the businesses will ask for statistics about how many people will see the ads. Sadly, our audiences are modest (and dwindling), and the numbers would probably not be terribly impressive to potential clients. I don't exactly want to lie to people, but I'm looking for some way to spin our own marking message in this case.

Any other relevant advice would be appreciated.

posted by JD Sockinger to Work & Money (5 answers total)

Best answer: Pay strictly on commission, and pay only after the advertising has run and been paid for. That avoids all complications of cancelled schedules and bad debts, and costs you nothing up front.

This puts more risk on the salesperson, so this means you need to pay a larger commission percentage than you otherwise would. Also, there is a potential windfall for the salesperson when there are long-running ads for which they need to do no further work.

So I would structure this as quite a high commission for the first week or two. Depending on the cost, maybe as much as 50%, which still leaves the theater 50% in incremental revenue, and then a declining percentage for continued runs, like 25% for the next X weeks and 10% after that. Put the agreement in writing and specify that all commissions stop when the salesperson stops selling for you (or, say, three weeks after they stop to cover anything they may have in the pipeline).

Don't sell with audience statistics and don't promise or sell specific results. Deflect those questions. Instead, sell the value of the theater as a local cultural institution, the value of the films you make available, the value of the audience who comes to see it, etc. The advertiser is helping to support this theater as a community asset, primarily, and they receive on-screen branding in return. Branding ads don't necessarily create store traffic or "results" but build value for the advertiser in terms of name recognition and public appreciation for their support of the theater. That's the motivation that should be pitched to the advertisers, and that's how the message in the ads should be framed. Really, it's sponsorship, not advertising.

Another thought: If you're targeting businesses up and down the street, instead of static screen ads, consider pitching short video featuring all of your paying sponsors and thanking them for their support. The video shows the exteriors and interiors of the establishments with some voice-over about them. It will be more entertaining and command more attention that standard static screen ads, and produce more mentions by your patrons at those establishments. As sponsors come and go the video is easily edited to add or subtract participants.
posted by beagle at 8:36 AM on August 21, 2019 [7 favorites]

If you haven't already, you should talk to Spotlight Networks for an out-of-the-box cinema advertising solution.
posted by eschatfische at 10:10 AM on August 21, 2019

Selling eyeballs on your screen may not be the greatest value to sell. But, if you combine it with an advertising page on your website, with links to their site, and visa versa, that would help both of your search engine rankings and give a salesperson a more to sell. There's other promotions you could be doing with local businesses. Perhaps it's not so much your own salesperson that you need, but rather a relationship with a local marketing firm that can put together package deals.
posted by Sophont at 11:16 AM on August 21, 2019 [1 favorite]

Look for somebody already selling to your target audience and position this as something else they can sell to their existing customers. Maybe a local yellow pages rep, office products, or any other industry where the rep is very local neighborhood focused.
posted by COD at 5:13 PM on August 21, 2019

I've bought similar advertising from local places for my business. The only real way for me to track business coming from those ads, is to offer a special deal or coupon with a keyword unique to the place of advertisement. So, for instance, the café down the street would offer "second drink half off if you mention the coupon code JDSockinger's theater". They, of course, would have to track that traffic on their own. But for me that's been very effective.

Maybe also think of the way to monitor/approve the quality of the ads being shown? Most local businesses will have a tiny budget for getting their ads made, and the resulting ads can look really really bad, which doesn't reflect well on your theater...

You could also consider selling physical advertising, like a book of coupons for local businesses that you give to customers together with their entry tickets?

I don't know about where you are, but for me here, it's common for restaurants to offer "movie deals", a fixed-menu option including a movie ticket, with a discount on the total package, and where they make sure you'll get your food in time to make the movie. I see lots of people going on dates and purchasing that menu.
posted by PardonMyFrench at 10:56 PM on August 22, 2019