Alix Wiseman, head of sales rights at Aardman – creator of Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep – tells Salestarget.co.uk about selling the world’s most loved pieces of plasticine.
1. What was the first thing you sold?
Lemonade and blueberry muffins from the roadside – it’s something of tradition among children in the US. I was born in New York - I’m half American, half Scottish. We’d sell them for 10 cents each and then spend the money at the Candy store.
2. Did you intend to go into sales when you started your career?
No, it was an accident. I wanted to pursue a professional singing career but although I took it very seriously by taking voice lessons, I realised that talent is only half of the battle, that you really need complete ambition, a total desire to succeed. Instead I decided I’d follow my father into publishing – he launched Time Life in Latin America, which is where we moved to when I was a child. I also wanted to work internationally because I speak French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.
Like 80% of women starting in sales I began as a PA, which is annoying because most men can walk in as a junior sales executive. I was also annoyed because although I was clear about what I wanted to do, eight out of nine recruitment consultancies told me “beggars can’t be choosers”. Well, excuse me, but consultancies work for you! It was the ninth agency, which realised that I was serious and had something to offer, who found me a job at Channel 4, and within 12 months I was a full-fledged programme sales executive.
3. What’s the single most important quality you need to succeed as a salesperson?
To know what your clients want. To try and push something on them they really don’t need is insulting their intelligence. You may know your products, but they know their business better than you. You also have to believe in what you’re selling – you don’t have to love it, but you do have to believe in its quality.
4. What is the one thing you would love to sell?
Time: it’s the most important commodity of all, particularly because of the pace at which we now live.
5. What is the last thing you’d want to sell?
Double glazing. I’m sure that it’s a very noble job but I have my reservations mainly due to my perception of double-glazing sales to be incredibly challenging and hard-sell.
6. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
That “no” rarely means “no, not ever’, but it’s a very difficult call, particularly early in your career. If you push too hard at the wrong time you can not only lose a sale, but a client, and if it’s a top five customer that’s not only a crisis for you but for the business. For people starting out in sales it’s better to err on the side of caution, or get the advice of a manager, before really pushing.
Increasingly I ask permission before coming back – so if client says “no” I ask “can I come back to you with this in a year?” or before a meeting ask “I’d like to raise this with you, but if not can we move onto something else”. It’s treating your client with respect they deserve.
7. What advice would you give to someone following in your footsteps?
Be honest and ask yourself whether you’re really a person for sales. Do you carry your passions openly? Are you extroverted? Are you willing to work outside of your comfort zone? If not, don’t do it. I’ve trained up a couple of shy, unassuming people who wanted to work in television sales but it never works out. I think that sales people are born, not made – there’s an element of performance to it.
8. What did you buy with your first bonus?
A honeymoon, three weeks in Thailand. It was big bonus.
9. Who do you most admire in your industry?
Michael Grade. I was at Channel 4 when he was chief executive there. He wouldn’t have known me from Adam but he was really exciting to work for, inspiring, a true entrepreneur, a real media mogul.
10. How would you sell ice to an Eskimo?
I wouldn’t even try. These are people with 15 different words for snow and ice, and it would be insulting for me to presume that I could advise them on how best to use it. Besides I have an aversion to snow - I like to look at it, but being brought up in a hot climate means I never know how to dress for it. I hate the cold.
11. How important is image for a salesperson?
It’s essential that a sales person is presentable, approachable and personable. I’m not that bothered by a person being dressed formally – in fact suits are increasingly outdated in the media world, especially for women, although it’s still important to look smart.
What’s more important is being seen as an approachable, open person – in the States in particular you speak to so many people who are trained to be droids, unable to answer in any way outside of the corporate guidelines. It’s far more effective allowing sales people to be people, with a smiling face and open attitude.
12. What is the single most important skill you need to close a sale?
It’s another one of those skills that only comes with experience, that is knowing when to really take the initiative when you’ve got positive feedback, keeping the momentum going. Don’t wait to be asked – send the proposals. Don’t wait to be to be emailed, email them. And if the emails don’t gets replies pick up the phone and call them. In media in particular you can’t afford to wait because the landscape can change so quickly.
13. Has anything ever gone wrong?
There’s one client, years ago, to whom I sent out a proposal and accidently added a nought, so it was €200,000 instead of €20,000.
14. What happened?
They agreed to it. They never said anything about it, nor did I.
Carrying on from that I think it’s important that you admit your mistakes. I once worked for a business where I made a really bad error. My manager told me “at this firm we never apologise”. I disagreed with him and phoned the client up to say sorry. It worked because I showed them respect, and that client has followed me since, even when I’ve changed companies.
15. What’s been your biggest success?
Easy – Shaun the Sheep and Timmy Time: We’ve sold them to stations in 170 countries, and they’re in the top five most popular programmes for their particular age ranges in about half of those territories. It helps that the humour is universal and the language is not much more than baas.
16. How has sales changed from when you started out?
For me the media landscape has become so much more complex. When I started out there were just a few terrestrial channels: it’s now pay TV, satellite, digital, online, cable. It’s also far more complex in terms of protecting and selling intellectual property. It’s a far more fragmented landscape, and one where we earn less per client, but it’s also one that’s far more varied, with greater opportunities and far more exciting.
17. What are the current challenges facing your industry?
In children’s television it’s finance, finance, finance. Getting financial backing for animation is terribly difficult, because although it can be hugely profitable it’s also very expensive to produce. And in Britain we’re not helped by the government with the same tax incentives as they are in say, Germany, France or Ireland. If we’re not careful we really do run the risk of seeing a good part of this industry moving overseas.
18. How has the digital age changed sales?
There’s two ways of looking at that for us – online and digital television. Digital television has certainly meant more revenue streams and the number of eyeballs that we reach, although how much we get from each has dropped considerably. As regards online, new platforms such as iTunes and BT Vision have enabled us to reach a wider audience, which provides great support for merchandising campaigns. Services such as iPlayer have also revolutionised audience reach with both positive and negative effects on our bottom line.
19. What will never change?
People sitting on the sofa together, watching television. One of the things we have noticed is that, no matter what the economic climate, adults will insist on buying things to stimulate and educate their children. Even in war-stricken areas we’ve found that adults will go without many things but will put their children’s interests first. During recession you may not be able to afford a new extension or kitchen but, by God, you’ll take the kids to see The Lion King musical.
20. Who is the best salesman ever, real or fictional?
Jesus: whether you believe in him or not, he’s sold an idea or philosophy that’s had a greater affect than anything else any other individual has achieved. If you want proof then the Bible is still the best-selling book in the world.
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