Since viewing Making-A-Murder on Netflix I’ve gained a new appreciation for how the decisions we make impact the way others perceive us.  The post that follows offers a snapshot of the decisions we as a company make in our quest to Make-A-Digital-Media-Sales-Superstar.

“All due respect to counsel, the state is supposed to start every criminal trial swimming upstream. And the strong current against which the state is supposed to be swimming is the presumption of innocence” -Dean Strang, co-defense counsel for Steven Avery, Making-A-Murderer

“All due respect to other media platforms, the seller is supposed to start every sales meeting swimming upstream. And the strong current against which the seller is supposed to be swimming is the need to differentiate”  -Dave Shamberger, president, Winstar Interactive

30,317 IOs processed! We’ve been at it for quite some time. Starting in the mid 90s we began the quest to identify, understand, target, recommend and deliver on the goals and objectives set by our client marketers using a wide assortment of digital marketing solutions.

Through it all we’ve learned much of what we do is dependent upon many factors some of which we control and some of which we do not. We’ve learned new things, adjusted old things but have always remained true to our goal of making the next digital media superstar.

Identify…Identify…Identify

What’s with IDENTIFY? For us it’s been the golden ticket to finding our employees, our products and our clients.

Our typical employee arrives many times without an existing crm lists (or rolodex for all you old timers like me), high profile diploma or advanced technical degree. They are always passionate, intelligent and ready to be a team player. Our most successful employees have made their impact within the first 2 minutes of meeting them. Of course, we typically like to cross our t’s and dot our i’s so it’s not uncommon for these employees to suffer through a series of interviews and situational conversations. J

Advancing our product integrations and uncovering new tech stack solutions is critical to our existence.  Companies that define direction through their ability to identify as an expert in their industry will find success. We have always operated in this manner and will continue to do so moving forward within an industry that changes as frequently as a baby’s onesie.

Clients… there’s way too many digital marketing tools, platforms and solutions to choose from. We seek to align with marketers that clearly communicate their objectives, target audience and pain-points.  Armed with this information our team can make an appropriate recommendation and eliminate wasteful media and unnecessary discussions.   

Passion…Passion…Passion…Passion

C’mon why would Passion be so important that I’ve added a 4^th one?

When I joined the Winstar team I was introduced to “Passion” in August of 2006. We were on an all-team conference call with roughly 25 or so people from all over the country. Throughout the call I heard folks referring to “Passion” but I never really connected the dots until we arrived down in Palm Beach for our annual meeting. There I met the man behind the source of Winstar’s “Passion”. It came in the form of an operations guy who managed and processed every IO and billing since 1996. In his presence whether you were shopping for the team dinners, slicing luncheon meat in the kitchen or choosing the events for the night, this guy conveyed passion.

Today, that operations guy who earned the nickname “Passion” is now my business partner. Through his leadership we recognize the need for “Passion” in everything we do as a team and as a business.

Intelligent…Intelligent…Intelligent

Umm, nobody told me there was gonna be math in sales?

Of course things like being able to recite Finnegans Wake or achieving a 4.0 from Harvard or Princeton are important. When we talk intelligence in our business we think of things like hardwork, clever, intuitiveness and perception. Most importantly, we recognize it’s the role of our team to completely understand the capabilities of the product offered along with being able to effectively communicate how our solutions align with the goals and objectives defined by our clients 

Team…Team…Team…Player

Boss doesn’t always know best.

When we were kids playing sports we can all remember hearing coaches yell things like “There’s no I in team”, “It’s not about you its about US”, “Trust your teammates” or “You’re not fast enough to run the ball Dave” Ok maybe that last one is just about me but you get the point. Many years ago, my first digital media agency meeting was at Mindshare NYC, 7^th Ave & 36^th St. At that time I was working for another company as a regional digital ad rep. To tell you the truth I don’t recall which client we were discussing, I think it was a spirit brand but not certain. In any case, the meeting was held in a room up a couple floors from the lobby. I remember the room because it had pillows from floor to ceiling on all 4 walls. The meeting went something like this… sales rep presenting to a group of media planners with stops along the way for open discussion. This was my first of many agency meetings over the next 20 years and the basis for our commitment to teamwork and open dialogue.  To this day, I always mention to anyone joining Winstar that we operate similar to an agency in that we work as a team in everything we do. If you are not comfortable with open team communication and decision making then this may not be the environment for you.

The blueprint above is our vision for the making of a Digital Media Sales Superstar. Let us know your thoughts. I look forward to your comments.