Burt: The Sales Approach that Actually Works in Adtech

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Shay Brog, CEO of Burt Intelligence, explains sales approach that actually works in adtech. Three main points:

1. Cold outreach doesn’t work for adtech companies selling publishers. There are too many vendors, too few publishers, and not enough time to implement new solutions.

2. Events, content, and PR are the top of the funnel of the consultative selling model that works in adtech. You get in front of people and show them you’re knowledgeable; then, when you talk to them directly, you focus on their specific needs, not cookie-cutter solutions.

3. Customer success is the flipside of consultative selling. When you go out of your way to solve customers’ problems, you earn long-term relationships and build a reputation for excellence in the space. This makes selling far easier.

JZ: As a CEO and longtime sales leader, how do you approach growing Burt? What are some of the principles others in adtech might be able to follow?

SB: This business is built on personal relationships. The product needs to work, of course, but that really isn't enough. Some companies in the space have products that actually don't really work or didn't work for extended periods of time and are still able to be quite successful. So, the approach is to bring it all to market and tell our story by highlighting the great things we've done with our publishers and the folks who love Burt and see us as an extension of their team. Our customers really value the support and solutions engineering that we bring to the table. We’re integral to how they work.

We’re working on doing a better job of sending that message to the market: We stand for excellence and service, and we stand with publishers.

By attending events, doing more interviews and press releases and coming up with messaging that is consistent and relatable, publishers should become more familiar with us, and that validation should make selling easier.

JZ: In other words, the product won't sell itself, and even if you have the best product, the market won't necessarily understand that. If you agree with that, then it becomes a question of, especially if you've been around for a while, what do our customers love about us and how can we reflect that back to the market?

SB: Exactly. That's the process we're going through. It is talking to our existing customer base and understanding how they describe the value. Coming into Burt, I'll be honest, I didn't know who Burt was. But I knew two things. First, I wanted to work with a company oriented around publisher success. Second, I wanted to work on something that wasn't smoke and mirrors, that was delivering real value. Just hearing some of the names of the publishers that we work with, ComScore top 50 publishers, I knew we had to be generating value, especially because they’re cutting us a check; we’re not paying them a revshare. Even before I knew anything about our products and service, that made me want to work for Burt, and part of my role is translating that same credibility and enthusiasm to the market.

JZ: On the one hand, it’s great to be able to point to the real value of helping publishers identify issues they otherwise would’ve missed and saving them, say, several thousand dollars in a day. That’s a great thing to be able to do. At the same time, that's not sexy. I think companies in our space need to have two tracks of communications. One is simply stating the value to customers. The other is communicating the mission to influencers, the media, investors, and other companies in the space. That is what gets people, besides those who are ready to buy right now, excited.

SB: Yeah, definitely. Here's the problem I can solve for you today, and then here’s where I’m going, and the problems I’ll be solving for you tomorrow.

JZ: You've built or helped build revenue teams at three or four organizations in this industry. Do you have a sales playbook, and how has it differed across companies?

SB: Selling to publishers is a very unique niche. It is not like selling to brands or agencies, and it's not like selling a consumer product. There's not a lot of patience for mass tactics like cold outreach that do work in other spaces. I don't think publishers want any cold outreach, frankly. There's also only so many solutions they can integrate in a given month, quarter, year.

So, the question becomes: Why you? Generating urgency is every salesperson's problem. But I think there's a unique perspective on this on the publisher side where so many vendors are out there trying to sell publishers, even sell them on solutions where vendors are paying publishers. Plus, there just aren’t a lot of publishers that move the needle for adtech businesses. We're talking somewhere between 1,000 and 3,000, all of whom are approached all the time by a lot of folks. Hitting the pavement with 12 salespeople and sending 50,000 cold emails will get you nowhere.

Instead, it’s about being known — getting in front of them and showing them you're knowledgeable. Take a consultative approach. Probe, and figure out what their challenges are and if it’s even a fit. I have long-term relationships in this space with folks I haven't actually sold in a while because I didn't think it was a fit. I think every good salesperson in adtech is developing relationships over a long period of time because this is a relationship business. And at some point, these people are just your friends.

JZ: And you genuinely want them to be successful. You're not trying to just get one over on them.

SB: Yes. The other point is to make your customer successful. Make your point of contact look good in front of their boss. Help them grow because you genuinely solved their problems instead of just showing them the basics of how to use the product. My teams in the past have helped publishers troubleshoot random CSS problems on their sites that had nothing to do with us. We were just trying to be a good partner. This is the type of proactivity that convinces people that you actually care about their success.

JZ: The partner-vendor distinction always sounds cheesy, but the thing is, any CEO or revenue leader has been through this where businesses lose sight of the core thing, which is that we only have a right to exist if we are genuinely delivering value for our customers that outstrips the price. I know as the founder of a small agency, there are times where it's not that you mean to stop doing that, but you're focusing on this or that, and you take your eye off that ball. You always have to come back to: Are we offering the best possible service? Are we generating that value?

SB: It's hard to force personal relationships. You can't really make the customer your best friend if they don't want to be, but certainly try. Be out there; let them see that you're working hard for them. That goes a very long way. I think in this particular space that is uniquely structured, where there's a fairly small number of targets that get hoovered up by the same vendors, you distinguish yourself that way. Publishers all talk among themselves, and they share experiences about who's been a great partner and who hasn't. That’s why customer success is integral to selling.