How to become an advertising sales representative

The Advertising sales representative is responsible for meeting and exceeding monthly sales goals, building, maintaining and managing a customer list, prospecting and developing new business. The advertising sales representative is often the link between the newspaper and the community. Advertising sales representatives must develop excellent communication skills. They must also possess the ability to work as a team player with production, editorial and marketing departments. Advertising sales representatives develop and coordinate advertising campaigns, which are created to encourage consumers to purchase particular products or services. Duties and tasks advertising sales representatives may perform include discussing with clients the products to be advertised and obtain important product and company details, budget and marketing goals and marketing research, they must brief other specialists in the agency, such as creative team, media planners and researchers on client wishes in order to develop a detailed advertising campaign. Advertising sales representatives present draft campaign suggestions to clients along with a summary of the cost involved, and negotiate and arrange for modifications, they supervise and coordinate the work of the creative and production departments so that the campaign meets deadlines and budget requirements, they must also keep in contact with the client throughout the project and deal with problems as they arise. They are the go between clients and the sellers of advertising space to make sure that the advertising campaign reaches the target market. Their work is usually carried out under the pressure created by the need to compete for clients' accounts and to meet their requirements within strict deadlines. Advancement usually takes the form of being assigned higher profile clients, bigger campaigns or sometimes being promoted to sales manager.

To become an advertising sales representative it is not as important to have a degree, but is important to have previous sales experience. It is a good idea to take some courses so you understand the workings of the advertising industry. Prepare yourself for a fast paced career that requires allot of sales, negotiating and communication skills.