So this is a subject which is not typically spoken about because some decision makers are fallible to
to the vice of sex appeal when it comes to making poor business decisions. When I refer to "Sex Appeal" this term by itself very subjective in nature. Some will admit that they have purchased media because the sales person who was selling them the goods was attractive and charming. Was the decision a smart one? As in maximizing their dollar to reach their target customer in the most effective way? HELL NO! I've been in sales for over 20 years and have worked with countless business owners and buyers. Let's clarify. Business owners are not always buyers and vice versa.
When I refer to buyers I am not necessarily referring to those who "Buy" media at an agency level but rather the individual in a company who is "In Charge" of buying media. We would hope that agency media buyers would not be subject to anything more than metrics, value, demo, grp's, cpp, cpm's etc. when making decisions on behalf of the agency's clients.
There are the sales people or media planners who put their whole heart and soul, expertise, wisdom and knowledge into a brilliant media plan. It would be a media plan which would make all the difference for a client and take them to the next level of business activity and success only to be trumped by the fact that they were not valued as much as the bimbo trollop who came in and showed her cleavage.
When one comes across a scenario such as this there are a couple roads to take....the high road which is to subtly, gently, then directly shake up the clients senses to demonstrate in a non-insulting way that their penis has over powered business logic. The low road is to agree with the client's decision and then walk away.....this is the cowards way out and you are not doing yourself or the client justice by letting go and shaking your head. Your job as a media sales consultant is to use logic combined with metrics, exceptional creative along with a hyper targeting media buying strategy targeting their demos and to show them the light!!
Many years ago I was in competition with another media rep who possessed different physical assets than myself and because of this was favoured by the male client. In a nutshell I won the sale, but what was frustrating was the mere fact that I had to work 4 times as hard to win the sale even though I delivered an amazing presentation with robust value and the audience which I could deliver was more in line than my competitions. Please note I referred to this experience as frustrating and nothing more.
I use to wonder how some really stupid media people survived...the fact was that they were not stupid.....they knew how to use their personal appeal which over powered a client's pure logic without any media planning sense . Please note I did not say "Sex" appeal here...as some of these gals and guys were not in the least bit sexy but rather demonstrated whoreish and slut like qualities in nature. They were good people with naturally skewed intentions. Ok, so now that I made somewhat of a point I hope I have inspired the above average media planners and sales people to rise above the "others". Take control of the sale and do an exceptional job super serving your clients with all the God given knowledge you've built up from your years of experience. Work with the clients who value your business and show a receptiveness and potential to grow their business...the other business owners or buyers who possess a less finicky and flaky business acumen can be fired, by you at any time.
