How to sell anything - Kamil Friebel, Head of Sales, Jaduda GmbH

If you follow my experience, you should already know that I do not have the expertise to teach anyone how to attain success in sales. Having said that, although I recognise my limitation in this area, I have been lucky to have worked closely with some of the brightest sales leaders in the tech and advertising industry. One of such people is Kamil Friebel. Kamil is the Head of Sales at Jaduda GmbH & Splicky - a pioneer in the field of programmatic digital out of home (DOOH).

  At first, my interest in wanting to speak with Kamil was borne out of curiosity to gain more insight into how he and his team could easily sell non-tangible products (mobile and DOOH ad campaigns). Believe me, selling an advertising campaign is not like selling a tangible product (like an iphone for example). For most advertising campaigns (unlike your iPhone), the buyer is not usually able to physically touch or perceive the actual product before paying for it. In my opinion, this makes it a lot more challenging to convince business owners or ad buyers to pay for a product they have no guarantee of the product impact before making huge financial commitments. But Kamil successfully sells ad campaigns daily to large and small businesses around the world. Hence, I wanted to know how he does it.

As you would expect, our discussion was primarily supposed to focus on the advertising industry. But at the end of the interview, I got a lot more than I expected. After speaking with him, I said to myself "I think I now know how to sell anything." so enjoy!

Question 1: Who is Kamil Friebel?

Kamil: Well, I am the Head of Sales at Jaduda GmbH and Splicky. I have been with the company for over four years now. And to be honest, I have always worked in Sales. I started my career with an agency, afterwards, I worked for Axel Springer for about five years before joining Jaduda GmbH.

Question 2: How did you venture into sales?

Kamil: I became a salesperson by accident. When I finished my education, I didn't know what to do or which direction to go. I got my first job interview in finance. I did believe that I had some considerable knowledge of that field, but the interviewer said to me, "you are definitely not the finance guy. You should be in sales because you are quite extroverted." So, I started to apply for sales positions and got my first job at a job agency. I was there for about two years. I later switched to print media sales and started selling newspaper advertisement. Then online ads, and now mobile and Digital out of home (DOOH).

Question 3: How challenging can it be selling digital advertising campaigns?

Kamil: First, you must know the product that you are selling and have a clear identification of the product. For instance, I have been in media sales for almost ten years now, so I understand the media landscape. I might not know how to sell cars or insurance, but I do know how to sell for the media. This doesn't mean I can’t sell cars or insurance, but these industries require a different standard and set of skills. Generally, when you sell for the media, you first have to understand the client. You have to know their key performance indicators (KPIs), what could be the reason why they might need to do a particular ad campaign. And sales of digital media technology require more than the general media sales skills. It needs a little more work. You have to be able to teach the client, help him understand the best position for his advertising campaign, figure out if he/she needs mobile advertising or DOOH, and even choose the best targeting options.

Question 4: In your opinion, what are the set of skills required for one to be a successful salesperson?

Kamil: For me, it doesn't matter your educational background; anybody can attain sales success. First, you should try to understand the market and the industry you are selling in. You must be smart and tough. Most importantly, you have to be able to speak to people and be elaborate when discussing. That's all you need for a start; the rest is just learning, learning and understanding over time. At the end of the day, succeeding in sales is mainly based on the mentality of the individual. With the right mindset, anyone can attain sales success.

Question 5: What are your projections for your industry in the coming year?

Kamil: What I think will be influencing the advertising industry in the next couple of years will be augmented reality. This will become more important in advertising and specifically in our industry (DOOH). At the moment, we already see clients like BMW and IKEA producing apps for augmented reality. The question those of us in sales and the mobile advertising industry will be dealing with is, how can we use augmented reality for advertising? Now, no one knows. Also, I think programmatic advertising will become more critical in the next years. Now, we have more than 50 percent of mobile ad spend going to mobile going to programmatic advertising. This trend is likely to increase even more in the coming years. 

Thank you!

Coming soon! Part 2: How to sell anything - Ian Unger, Head of International Sale at Jaduda & Splicky