Take on 2016 by capitalizing on high-value sales opportunities, including leveraging programmatic to new heights and, of course, improving interpersonal relationships with prospects and customers. As the sales, and revenue generators, of our firms, locking in the fundamental habits below will allow us to remain successful even as the bumpy digital landscape continues to evolve.

Let’s take a closer look at how all of this possible:

1. Understand advertisers’ buying trends
Wouldn’t it be great to have a crystal ball so you could see what your prospects want and when? If only ad sales was that easy. Yet, there are other instructive ways to give your prospects what they want. Before you pitch, get to know which product lines they are focused on, what type of advertising they value and understand the goals of their campaigns. Once you have this information, it is important to document it. Whether you put this information in your CRM, notebook or Excel document doesn’t really matter. What’s important is to be able to easily reference this as you build out your individual account plans. Just watch the effectiveness of your next pitch soar.

2. Adopt high-CPM ad units
Choose high-CPM ad units that are most valuable to you and your digital business. This means adopting native, whole-page takeovers and online video. Given that video ad prices are capable of commanding 10x higher than the price of display ads, web publishers should leap at the opportunity. The bottom line is that high-CPM ad units are the most profitable sources for publishers, but also more valuable to the advertiser—and that’s how you should approach it in your pitch.

Among these high-CPM options, native ads probably stand out the most. It has attracted a ton of hype, and yet, only 4% of total online advertisers placed native ads from January-November last year (a total of 7,220 brands across the sites MediaRadar tracks).

3. Take advantage of programmatic
Ninety-five percent of all national consumer magazine media companies have already started selling programmatic, according to MediaRadar data.* Programmatic advertising has made it much easier for marketers to purchase advertising and expand reach. Publishers can also manipulate programmatic advertising to their advantage to leverage their audience and grow profit.

4. Identify up-selling opportunities
The probability of closing a new prospect is 5-20%, while the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60%-70%! Yet, upselling is something that reps sometimes lose focus on as they want to hunt and close a new account. As sales leaders, it is important that we focus on helping reps identify upsell opportunities and set goals for each account. By inspecting what we expect in weekly meetings, we can coach our reps to get stickier with our clients and become a more integral part of their business and success.

5. Increase client engagement (also known as “Old Faithful”)
No matter what changes happen this year in the industry, focusing on continuing to earn our client’s business is how we create lasting partnerships. People buy from people. Statistically, 38% of clients don’t renew due to lack of relationship. Make sure to engage with your clients before, during and after the sale. Proactively reach out to clients so you can get a better idea of their needs and address concerns. This will help you build confidence, show them that you are there to help and excel in the above mentioned four tips.

*Data source: MediaRadar 2015

**Data source: https://www.groovehq.com/support/upsells

Jen Wilga (@JenniferWilga) is a dynamic sales champion who is leading MediaRadar’s global expansion efforts. She joins the team with over 20 years of experience in SaaS solutions. Prior to joining MediaRadar, Jen played a critical role in developing and executing the sales strategy for Careerbuilder’s HR SaaS solutions. Jen received her BA from Misericordia University.