Flashback: The ‘ishtehar chahiye’ concept has been replaced with ‘partners’

A couple of decades ago, media releasing agencies had it easy. There was only one state-run television channel, a few reputable English and Urdu publications and evening newspapers.

At that time, sales was mainly carried out via faxes or placing material in a drop box. The few salespeople had a basic educational background. Their briefing constituted of going to advertisers and saying “ishtehar chahiye” (need an advertisement). Advertisers didn’t care about these salespeople.

Meeting a media salesperson was a waste of time. It was a routine: a shabbily-dressed person enters the room and asks for an advertisement.

If the advertiser turned their request down, the salespeople would find their way around the issue, fuelling their perception as persona non grata.

Media sales weren’t a covetable career. Parents preferred for their children to become a doctor, engineer or a chartered accountant or to do a MBA. There was no growth in media sales and it wasn’t professionally managed either.

In the late 1980s, advertising agencies were introduced to the concept of GRPS. The term was unknown in Pakistan until advertising agencies with foreign affiliations started sending their executives for training on how to utilise the electronic media. When the first private television channel Network Television Marketing (NTM) was launched in Pakistan, it inducted fresh blood and experienced staff. As an entertainment channel, NTM was an unheard of concept. It cultivated untapped talent, which would have been ignored without it. For the first time, the state-owned channel had real competition.

NTM’s sales team comprised educated candidates and fresh MBA graduates. The professional setup of sales had made the best use of the data that was available, along with the research that was conducted by research agencies.

Clients were interested to meet them as they actually provided solutions. Unfortunately, there were no new entrants in the print media for many years.

They didn’t have any competition and their management were not interested in training the marketing and sales staff.

By the mid-1990s, word spread that an FMCG group was making inroads in the Urdu print media. The launch of Daily Express provided opportunities to the stagnant job market, and several journalists moved to the organisation for personal growth. But at that time, Express was a drop in the bucket, as it was only launched in Karachi. Other news organisations didn’t take the competition seriously.

It was a challenge for the Express sales team to compete with the giants. The key to success is finding the right people for the right job. Express’ marketing and sales team was groomed and trained by Lakson Group’s marketing team. The training was focused, and not on the traditional “ishtehar chahiye” angle. Employees were trained to be presentable, communicate well, know their product and be briefed about the client. They were not regular salespeople but partners who can help clients achieve their objectives by advertising in Express. Daily Express is now the only Urdu newspaper to be printed from 11 cities in Pakistan and was awarded the “Mass medium award” by the Pakistan Advertising Association.

A salesperson at a print media organisation is not merely there to sell ad space. A salesperson can provide solutions to the client and can furnish them with their main appetite called “DATA”. Today, a salesperson suggests everything from creative advertising options to conducting exhibitions and conferences and unconventional ideas. The role of a media salesperson has changed dramatically. While I still feel that clients are often hesitant to meet salespeople, I would like to assure product and brand managers that these partners can give them great input. As the literacy rate in Pakistan increases, the importance of the print media and newspaper reading habits in Pakistan will also increase, and these salespeople can steer clients into the future.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 12^th,  2011.