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As B2B publishers and salespeople, when are the right times to give thanks?

On Thursday, November 28? Yes.

On the day a great deal closes? Yes.

When our teams are performing on target? Yes.

When sales are taking place as part of a defined process? Yes.

When we are recognized by owners or investors? Yes.

When our salespeople recruit others to join our teams? Yes.

When key success factors have been defined and exceeded? Yes.

When we have hit our quarterly and annual targets? Yes.

All yes.

But the greatest cause for thanksgiving in our industry is the delight of our customers. Everything above comes back to the customer.

When our conference rooms and exhibit halls are full, when our site licenses are renewed, when advertisers don’t have to ask for another media kit – at times like these, our clients are evidencing our real success, and these are the best times to celebrate.

We live in a time of evasion.

Whatever your politics, Presidential candidates are deflecting your questions.

A question to Kamala Harris at a CNN Town Hall:

“If you could accomplish only one major policy goal that required Congressional action, what would it be and why?”

Harris: “Well, there’s not just one.  I have to be honest with you… There’s a lot of work that needs to happen.”

A question to Donald Trump on Joe Rogan’s podcast:

“Give me proof that the 2020 election was stolen.”

Trump: “We’ll do it another time.”

Good salespeople are artists when it comes to answering questions, and evasion is at their disposal. Publishers understand, and they can guide these responses.

A prospect asks, “how much does it cost to sponsor a webinar?”

The evasive answer: “it depends on a number of factors.”

The direct answer: “$13,000.” Even better: “Typically $13,000. Can I ask you some questions and give you a more specific quote?”

The buyer, like the voter, appreciates the direct answer. Publishers should guide salespeople to answer questions directly. Evasion likely leads to fewer sales.

As publishers and sales executives, we naturally welcome high value deals in any form. Still, there are instances in which an initial opportunity should be declined and reframed.

In advertising – your potential client’s brand conflicts with yours. Its marketing department requests a media kit, and calls to express interest in display ads or newsletter ads. A sponsored email should make more sense. The advertiser would provide the html for the email, leaving your company name less noticeable in the footer.

In events – a group registers to attend your event rather than pay to exhibit. They would pitch conference attendees on the exhibit floor, detracting from booth traffic. Attendee lists should be reviewed to prevent this from happening. Registrants such as these can become prospects for higher-priced sponsorship sales.

In content – subscribers to your paid newsletter work for a competitor. Your data, content or sources can be lifted and used elsewhere. At a time when paid content is challenged everywhere by free information, a close inspection of subscriber files makes sense, if even by email suffix. With some conversation, cross-marketing arrangements could follow with competitors reading your content.

Warren Buffett compares a company’s competitive advantage to a moat surrounding its business. On occasion, repositioning high value sales can help B2B publishers widen these moats, increasing revenues in turn.

Salespeople working as employees for B2B publishers typically receive 2/3 of their compensation from base salary and 1/3 from commissions.

Balances differ publisher to publisher. Commission rates can be impacted by what’s being sold, the salesperson’s quota, expectations set by other salespeople, the salesperson’s record, and other factors.

After a salesperson hits quota, commissions typically increase in tiers. If a salesperson has a quota of $500,000, the commission rate could be 20 percent up to quota, ramping up to 30 percent of sales afterwards.

Commission rates are much lower for salespeople who are renewing existing clients rather than finding new logos. Many publishers bifurcate these roles, with salespeople hunting for new business only.

The balance between base pay and commission shifts when publishers use contract salespeople, in part because doing so requires no payment of benefits or overhead.

Salespeople working on contract are frequently asked to sell on commission only. These arrangements are rarely successful for either the publisher or the salesperson.

I sat in on a sales call recently that was led by a veteran salesperson of a B2B publishing company. I have been selling in this industry for ten years, and this was one of the most impressive and effective calls that I have seen.

He controlled the meeting with a near lack of personality.

Like a courtroom attorney, he asked penetrating questions and shifted his line of questioning based on the responses he received. He showed no emotion. He understood, summarized, and then framed the prospect’s responses in terms of his company’s services. He closed.

No joking, no sports talk, no ebullience – only business.

We have a stereotype of salespeople who are sycophantically trying to connect with their prospects. I’d suggest that efforts like these quickly become obvious to prospects and counterproductive to publishers.

Personality in high value sales by B2B publishers is overrated. Too much personality suggests too much need. Too much objectivity is preferable to prospects and publishers alike.

A sales axiom: “no” doesn’t mean “no,” it means “not now.”

This plays out every day for B2B publishers, who can need between eight and 15 touches to close a high value sale.

This figure seems reasonable for a single sale. But what happens when a salespeople are working pipelines of 100 prospects? Can they reasonably manage 800 total touches? 1,500?

We persist by

Prioritizing: work the accounts that best match buyer personnas and drop unlikely buyers out of the pipeline

Staggering:  space out the about the number of prospects entering a sales sequence at the same time

Sequencing: define timeframes for steps in the sales sequence and end sequences sensibly

Contracting: shorten the sales cycle by challenging buyer behavior and overcoming objections earlier in the sales process

Restarting: let six months pass, understand prior objections, and begin the sales process again

Closing: nothing shortens the sales cycle like a signed agreement.

Thoughtful follow-up may be the most challenging and the most important part of the sales process. Persistence is fundamental to high value sales for B2B publishers, and these strategies can help to manage it.

I sent this email to a publisher last week.

I’m no expert in the aaa industry. I have read through your media kit, though, and I think a call would be productive if you are looking for some sales support. Can I interest you in a Zoom meeting during the week after Labor Day? If you let me know a time that works best for you, I’ll send an invite. 

I would take that email back if I could. Grounding sales efforts in knowledge of prospect’s business is always useful. Keeping the email brief increases the chances that it will be read and responded to.

Still, I would now write this email to

I see that your bbb conference is taking place in March, and that you’ve already sold sponsorships to ccc and ddd. Would you add a senior salesperson on contract for more of these sponsorship sales?

In fewer words, I would have described my knowledge of the prospect and my own value proposition better.

Our website says

Sales campaigns involving conference sponsorships, site licenses and group training rely less on email marketing, and they need different approaches. We have our own approaches that supplement the sales efforts that our clients already have in place, increasing their revenues while saving time, effort, and expenses – guaranteed.

Email marketing suits B2B publishers perfectly for lower balance sales. Sales intelligence software, CRMs, social media, sales sequences, and cold calling can be effective for lower balance accounts. Business Development Representatives can also be effective in finding interest from long lists of prospects. We use more traditional selling techniques to identify new leads, secure video conferences, present agreements, and close sales. We do this as an extension of a client’s sales team, adding to existing sales efforts with a different approach.

This is certainly not brief enough to capture attention in a sales email or LinkedIn message. We have too much to read as it is.

My prospect responded much more briefly and much more effectively to my initial email.

Paul – Thank you for your note. We have an internal sales force and do not use agents in the US, though we appreciate your interest.

This wasn’t the news I wanted to hear, but my prospect’s brevity was brilliant. I know exactly where his company stands. His response was direct and polite.

In these ways, brevity for the buyer and the seller is especially useful in the B2B publishing industry. We strive to use words judiciously in sales, as we do in editorial, marketing, and other contexts as well.

There are many forms of trust in high value sales for B2B publishers. You may already be thinking of some that are not in this blog. Let me describe three that are top of mind.

Trust Between Salespeople and Buyers

This is the most obvious form of trust in high value sales for B2B publishers. Buyers must understand what’s specifically being sold, and it’s up to salespeople to establish trust that leads to this understanding. Without it, prospects are unlikely to buy; worse yet, they are likely to be angry after sales have closed.

Trust Between Publishers and Salespeople

This form of trust is straightforward. Publishers must educate salespeople on every detail of the service being sold. Salespeople should trust that they are representing publishers entirely. Compensation should have absolute clarity. In these ways and others, trust between the publisher and the salesperson must be complete.

Trust in Salespeople Individually

I think this is the most important form of trust in high value sales for B2B publishers, and perhaps one that is least discussed.

Salespeople must trust in themselves to understand the content being sold – and know it cold. Especially when the publisher’s content is highly technical, the expertise of the editorial team may not have fully transferred to the sales team. Salespeople must trust themselves to close this gap in order to close sales.

Salespeople must also trust in themselves as they approach high-level decision makers at prospect companies. They must trust in their optimism and good-natured professionalism as purchase decisions take more time. This trust applies not only to specific opportunities, but also to their pipelines as a whole.

This is a complex topic. Let’s discuss.

Happy New Year and thank you for getting started with me on a new year.

My 2025 blogs will be different than those I wrote in 2024. You might ask why, since my most recent blogs (with your help) had great engagement:

Celebrating High Value Sales for B2B Publishers – 43% opens, 3% clicks

Evasion and High Value Sales for B2B Publishers – 46% opens, 4% clicks

Reframing High Value Sales for B2B Publishers – 54% opens, 11% clicks

Commissioning High Value Sales for B2B Publishers – 54% opens, 11% clicks

Personality in High Value Sales for B2B Publishers – 40% opens, 3% clicks

So why change the format?

In the second half of last year, I developed a new approach that I’m calling LinkedIn Proxy Sales. This service is all that I’ll be writing about and doing in the new year.

LinkedIn connections and followers are undervalued on LinkedIn. We see their posts on our feeds, and may receive InMails from them periodically, but once someone becomes a connection, we can lose contact with them for years.

Mining your lists of connections, followers, and leads can develop exemplary target lists. With a proxy, you can identify them and express tailored value propositions. This takes a LinkedIn relationship from more of a passive content marketing approach to more of an active sales approach.

Here’s to a healthy and prosperous 2025, when you can be sure to hear more from me more about LinkedIn proxy sales.

Say you’re a potential conference sponsor choosing between two events.

The first provides specific pricing information as it describes sponsorship benefits. The second does not.

Both will allow you to generate leads and promote your brand equally. As you research both events online, you see pricing described in two different ways.

Both approaches then ask potential sponsors to provide contact information so a salesperson can be in touch.

To answer this question quantitively, A/B testing, pipeline metrics and conversion rates are necessary. B2B publishers can do this internally.

B2B publishers use both strategies. Which is most effective?

Engaging prospects without providing pre-defined pricing allows the salesperson to understand the potential sponsor’s motivations and interests, adjusting pricing accordingly. For sponsors ready to make an immediate purchase decision, salespeople can present the best possible price. For noncommittal buyers, sales can be closed at a lower price point.

With this approach, a media kit provides guidelines for salespeople in their negotiations with potential sponsors, rather than commitments that publishers make to prospects up front.

The same goes for other high value sales for B2B publishers, including site licenses, group participation in events, company training, etc.

To answer it qualitatively, I’d answer this way.

The best price is always the highest price that a prospect will pay for a service. Involving salespeople immediately in the understanding and negotiation of these prices maximizes profitability even in high margin sponsorship sales.