Advertising Sales Agents

• Explain to customers how specific types of advertising will help promote their products or services in the most effective way possible.
• Provide clients with estimates of the costs of advertising products or services.
• Locate and contact potential clients to offer advertising services.
• Process all correspondence and paperwork related to accounts.
• Prepare and deliver sales presentations to new and existing customers to sell new advertising programs and to protect and increase existing advertising.
• Inform customers of available options for advertisement artwork and provide samples.
• Prepare promotional plans, sales literature, media kits, and sales contracts, using computer.
• Deliver advertising or illustration proofs to customers for approval.
• Recommend appropriate sizes and formats for advertising, depending on medium being used.
• Draw up contracts for advertising work and collect payments due.
• Obtain and study information about clients' products, needs, problems, advertising history, and business practices to offer effective sales presentations and appropriate product assistance.
• Write copy as part of layout.
• Consult with company officials, sales departments, and advertising agencies to develop promotional plans.
• Identify new advertising markets and propose products to serve them.
• Determine advertising medium to be used and prepare sample advertisements within the selected medium for presentation to customers.
• Attend sales meetings, industry trade shows, and training seminars to gather information, promote products, expand network of contacts, and increase knowledge.

Source: O*NET OnLine information for Advertising Sales Agents.

• Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
• Negotiation - Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
• Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

Source: O*NET OnLine information for Advertising Sales Agents.