Thanks David.
Your answers make sense. As is often true when b2b struggles with something, the root of the problem is in the company's culture.
Stil, I'm glad to hear some companies are adopting workable methods of organizing the multi-platform sale. I just hope such practices spread before more publications perish in the crossfire of "internal competition."
Publishers? or do you mean "owners" -- because I don't know any b2b firm that still values "publishers" -- instead they promote salespeople with no management experience to the post of "associate publisher" until they threaten to leave, then give them the "publisher" title.
What they get are sales folk that don't know how to budget, how to motivate people, any background other than sales within their own territory, and a history of working other people for their own gain (which is a fine trait, actually, if you are a salesperson).
So, why blame "publishers" for a failure to know the net: there simply are not many "publishers" left in b2b.
At 101communications, (now 1105 Media) we combined web and print sales long ago, so sales people sell both. There are still generally separate dedicated sales people who handle events, since most companies have different budgets and different people buying events. But the key is that all the sales people report up to the same executive, who oversees the market, and thereby can make certain that sales presentations, when appropriate, are integrated, to serve the advertiser. Pretty straight forward. More people should do it. It works.
Jeff:
Thanks. A few questions: do your salespeople have separate targets for print and web? Are commission structures different for each medium?
David
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