A-B-C Revenue Generation: Do the Little Things Well

In baseball, lots of singles and doubles are more prevalent than a grand slam. More games are won with what former Yankee's Manager Joe Torre called "A-B-C baseball," a reference to doing all the little things right in the game.

On a hunch, while at the min day Summit in New York, I bumped into Hanley Wood President Peter Goldstone, and asked him what percentage of ad sales came from grand slams (major accounts). "Great question," he said, "we're doing an analysis right now and more and more it is the smaller accounts -- no doubt we need to do much more for this audience." Philippe Guelton, COO of Hachette told me it was dependent on the title, with Car & Driver supported mainly by eight large accounts, while the ratio was flipped for shelter magazines.

As large ad expenditures ebb (hopefully for just the short term), it is A-B-C baseball that will increase web revenues. But setting up an ad department predicated on selling grand slams is not the way to get there. "We had to reduce the cost of sales," explained Jeff DeBalko, Chief Internet Officer for Reed Business. "We can't be flying people around the country for $30,000 accounts."

Look for inside sales departments and self-serve ads to be the new norm, with many of the execs telling me that they are looking to set up directory listings. The key, said Jim Spanfeller, CEO of Forbes.com, is to look for ways to monetize differently. "Move your brand to the web," he told the audience, "not necessarily your product."