No one media organization has completely solved the challenge of traditional to digital sales transformation — but there is an emerging set of common traits and best practices. On Tuesday, we presented some of these elements on a Local Media Association webinar, “Taming the Local Sales Machine.”

The webinar presentation was based on a talk Jed Williams and I gave in February at the Key Executives Mega-Conference in Las Vegas. The conference was a joint effort of the LMA and the Inland Press Association.

To prepare, Jed and I spoke with several local sellers, including newspapers (given the audience) and pure plays, to find out what was working and not working in local sales transformation.

The result was a set of “Common Traits of Successful Sellers” spelled out in the image below. These traits are not all present in all successful sellers, but most of those getting traction in the local marketplace share most of these traits. If we were to pick one that was an absolute requirement it would be “Leadership Commits.” Without this, transformation efforts are dead in the water.

The webinar also shared a few “Actionable Ideas for Sales Transformation” that we picked up in the course of our interviews. These include methods for enforcing accountability, using data to drive sales efficiency and using sales prep platforms to convince buyers they need to keep pace with their competition. We will summarize all of these findings in a Briefing for BIA/Kelsey clients.

Those who missed the webinar can access a replay on the LMA archive.