Transforming ad sales from legacy media to digital aint easy. This can be seen in the relatively low success rate among media companies that sell both. This was the topic of a panel at the recent BIA/Kelsey ENGAGE (video below).

But despite the low success rate, transformation is attainable. Moreover, the current large scale consumption shifts to digital media make it imperative — even if margins, culture, and innovator’s dilemma stand in the way.

According to Stacey Sedbrook, the enormity of the challenge requires tackling it in parts. This includes interlinked components like culture. In fact, most of the magic of sales transformation is in people strategies like hiring and training.

UnderAmor’s Warren Kay agrees, espousing the need to cultivate and reward high performers, while weeding out the under-performers. This requires thick skin and rigor to have a perennially churning and improving sales machine.

“You have to feed your eagles and starve your turkeys,” said Kay. But how is that done effectively? The panel discussion can be seen in full below.