WESTERVILLE, Ohio – Sixty-eight percent of surveyed local advertising sales managers expect at least some revenue growth in 2009. The majority of respondents in the 2009 AdMall Local Advertising Sales Outlook – 35% of managers and 27% of account executives – predict 2009 sales revenue growth of 1 – 5 percent.
Setting aside the obvious local and national economic conditions, sales managers cited staff concerns – not competitive pressures – as their biggest challenge. Managers have to find ways to motivate sales teams and get salespeople outside their comfort zone in order to have a successful year.
When broken down by industry, advertising sales managers expect increased growth in several sectors, with the biggest increases expected in the healthcare, restaurant, and retail sectors.
“Once you get past the automotive sector and all the bad economic news we’ve been hearing, there are substantial pockets of opportunity for local advertising sales in 2009,” said C. Lee Smith, AdMall president and CEO. “Resilient and consultative salespeople will find success helping advertisers navigate effectively through the current economic climate.”
Other key findings:
* 19% of sales managers anticipate a decline in advertising revenues in 2009.
* 17% of sales managers expect revenue growth of 6 – 10% over 2008.
* 56% of managers and 45% of advertising executives expect decreased revenues from the automotive market.
More results from the 2009 AdMall Local Advertising Sales Outlook are available on the Media Sales Today blog at http://www.mediasalestoday.com.
ABOUT ADMALL
AdMall is the leading local sales development system for media advertising sales professionals, with a proven track record of providing significant incremental revenue increases. AdMall provides detailed business intelligence for over 370 business types, and online advertising intelligence for more than 100 content classifications. Over 2,000 media properties nationwide arm their sales staffs with AdMall including television, cable, newspaper, online, direct response, out-of-home, radio, cinema and magazine. AdMall is a division of Sales Development Services (SDS), Inc. – a Westerville, Ohio firm founded in 1989.
ABOUT THE SURVEY
The 2009 AdMall Local Advertising Sales Outlook was conducted December 22, 2008-January 9, 2009. The sample size for this survey was 1,890 AdMall clients across the United States, including 289 advertising sales managers and 1,126 account executives.
