3 months in, social distancing and remote work has become the norm, and all industries are feeling the impact of COVID-19. Commercial teams are also facing new challenges. We interviewed Cecilia Iglesias (Head of Sales Argentina at EPL MEDIA) and Juan Prieto (Programmatic Monetization Director at E-Planning)
While team and client meetings have turned into video calls and technology has become the exclusive means of contact between those of us who work together, there is no doubt that the pandemic has accelerated the digitization process in Argentina and around the world. . However, in the current context, the concept of “being connected” also presents new challenges. This is especially relevant in work areas where personal encounters previously played a fundamental role in strengthening relationships and fulfilling tasks and objectives.
In this sense, one of the clearest examples are the commercial teams who, today more than ever, are faced with the need to be close to and accompany their clients, but often cannot due to the mandatory quarantine. We talked about this with Cecilia Iglesias, Head of Sales at EPL Media, and Juan Martín Prieto, Programmatic Monetization Director of E-PLANNING.
“During April and May we felt the impact. Given the uncertainty of investing without being certain about what the return would be, brands decided to take a conservative stance and pause their campaigns,” Iglesias tells us. “In this context, for us, the fundamental thing is to be close to our clients and agency teams. Today we can no longer organize lunches or breakfasts, but like everyone else, we find other ways to replace those activities and keep the commercial link alive. ”
The scenario is different however, for the group led by Juan Martín Prieto, since in his case, the members of his team are located in different parts of the world. “As several of our collaborators and clients are distributed in different parts of Latin America, the United States and Europe, we already have in place very solid dynamics of remote work. Perhaps the greatest challenge is that now everyone worldwide is under this mandatorily, when before, for example, we also had the possibility of traveling or organizing face-to-face meetings ”.
With the focus placed on adding value to communication strategies and plans, as well as providing solutions so that advertisers can optimize their investments, both leaders agree that it is essential to be close to customers and accompany them in navigating this particular context. “For us, from E-PLANNING, it is very important to transition from the place of being only providers of a service or monetization platform, and build a relationship that has allowed us to position ourselves as a strategic partner for our clients. This is one of the many factors that gives us the possibility of remaining competitive among the main players in the industry for more than 20 years,” says Prieto. The EPL Media team also identifies with this transition and finds it to be a great motivator in their daily tasks. “Our great challenge is to be able to adapt to the needs of each industry and work alongside the agencies and advertisers in the different phases, with a commercial strategy based on the re-segmentation of accounts, and understanding the individual needs of each client ”, adds Iglesias.
Continuing working on and reinforcing the values that the team has, accompanying and working alongside clients, and building the right types of relationships are some of the positive steps that both team leaders identify in the dynamics of their teams . “Technology, quality inventory and data are what makes us stand out. Currently we auction more than 40 billion monthly impressions in the main publishers of Latam and US Hispanics, with a reach of 88% in Argentina and 54% in the USA (USH),” Iglesias and Prieto tell us. “Without a doubt, a very special moment, with volatility in the markets never seen before, but we can thank the great management of our commercial force, the nature of the exclusive agreements that we manage with the main media buyers worldwide, and the great technological developments that we sustain constantly. We have kept our objectives in place and have high expectations for the final stretch of the year. ”
