What Does an Advertising Sales Agent Do? (With Salary)

Updated 20 February 2023

Advertising sales agents work with various clients and companies to sell advertising space to companies and businesses. They often contact potential clients and present advertising spaces to them to pitch to them about the spaces that can be utilised for advertisements. Knowing in detail what an advertising sales agent does can be beneficial to starting your career as one. In this article, we discuss what does an advertising sales agent do and show how to become one.

What does an advertising sales agent do?

If you're interested in this career path, you may wonder, 'What does an advertising sales agent do each day?' Advertising sales agents work in a variety of industries, including radio, retail, Internet, television and many others. They often sell advertising spaces in these industries by pitching and making sales presentations to potential clients. Working as an advertising sales agent can be a challenging job as they spend a lot of time travelling to clients to pitch to them and form business relationships with them to hit sales quotas.

The common job duties of an advertising sales agent include:

finding and contacting potential clients to sell advertising spaces
preparing and presenting sales presentations on advertising spaces to new and current clients
advising clients on which advertising spaces they can use to promote their products and services effectively
providing budgets and estimates of advertising spaces to clients and negotiating deals whenever necessary
processing paperwork related to their clients' accounts
providing samples of advertising proofs to clients for approval
preparing sales promotional plans, media kits and sales contacts for clients
keeping up on industry trends by researching new products and advertising formats
building and maintaining working relationships with new and current clients

What skills does an advertising sales agent require?

To become an advertising sales agent, you may develop a set of hard and soft skills. Here are some of the common skills that a successful advertising sales agent may have:

Creativity

Being able to think of creative ideas can help you in your career as an advertising sales agent. Clients are often looking for the advertising spaces and formats that can help their products and services stand out. Your job as an advertising sales agent is to constantly think of creative ways your potential and current clients can be interested in utilising for their marketing campaigns.

Determination

Advertising sales agents work in a highly sales-driven environment. They constantly contact clients through email, phone or even face-to-face visits. They may practise cold-calling at times to sell and pitch their advertising spaces. Sometimes, potential clients may not want to buy your services for various reasons. During such times, it's important to have resilience and stay determined to keep up with pitching to new clients to get more sales and achieve quotas.

Interpersonal skills

Advertising sales agents are constantly communicating and connecting with their clients. Since there is a lot of communication involved, companies may seek candidates who have a pleasant personality and outlook while being able to communicate with clients well. Effective communication and interpersonal skills can also help an advertising sales agent sell their products and services to clients better. A good interpersonal skill to have is persuasion as well, since advertising sales agents may encourage clients to purchase an advertising space.

Ability to work independently

Advertising sales agents travel frequently to meet clients to pitch to them or network with them. Because of that, they may spend most of their working time out of the office and not at their desk. The ability to work independently is useful here, since you may require setting your own schedules and working without a lot of supervision. You may also think quickly in business meetings with clients. This may involve coming up with plans and solutions quickly by yourself without your supervisor being around.

Keen eye for detail

If you're planning to become an advertising sales agent, it may be useful for you to be detail-oriented. When planning and selling advertising spaces, it's important to be able to spot the needs and wants of your clients. Keeping an eye out for new advertising trends can help you in your career as well since you can use these new trends to come up with new ideas to attract your clients to use your advertising spaces. It can be useful for you to do marketing research regularly and keep an eye on new advertising and commercial trends in the market.

Typical work environment of an advertising sales agent

The job of an advertising sales agent can be busy, and the bulk of your job income may depend on your ability to keep and expand your client base. A company may set monthly sales quotas for you to hit. Some professionals thrive when working toward a quota, so consider your personal interests and work habits to determine if this is the right environment for you. This career may involve working hard to hit your sales quotas and KPIs.

Advertising sales agents also require fitting their schedules to their clients, which means they do not have any regular office hours. While having no fixed schedule, advertising sales agents work long and varying hours.

Requirements to become an advertising sales agent

If you're interested in becoming an advertising sales agent, it may be good to know that the requirements to be one are not very strict. Here are the basic requirements to be an advertising sales agent:

Education

A diploma is usually enough for you to get an entry-level job in advertising sales, but some employers may prefer candidates with at least a bachelor's degree. You can consider obtaining a bachelor's degree in marketing, business studies, advertising, communications or business communications. All of these degrees equip you with advertising and sales knowledge that can be useful for you to find an entry-level job. Obtaining a bachelor's degree typically takes about four years.

Training

Most of your training may happen on the job. If you already have proven sales experience before, getting a job as an advertising sales agent may be even easier for you. The experience you get during your job counts as good training for you. In many roles, you may work under an experienced advertising sales manager. The manager may teach you how to make sales calls, contact and follow up with clients and make sales presentation decks.

After learning the basics, your manager may let you take the steps to make your first sales call and sales presentation to a potential client. Through that experience, your manager may also advise you on ways to improve your communication skills during calls or presentations. After a period of time on the job, you may be able to work independently and close client deals on your own.

How much does an advertising sales agent earn?

The average salary of an advertising agent is $49,000 a year. This salary is usually based on a basic salary and may vary based on the industry the advertising sales agent is working in. Advertising sales agents may also make more money based on the commission they earn when they close deals with their clients. As they work longer in the field, the basic salary and commission they earn may increase as well.

Example job description of an advertising sales agent

If you're looking for a job as an advertising sales agent, you may see job ads on job portals looking for potential candidates to fill the role. Here is an example of an advertising sales agent job description you may see online:

Lee Chung Advertising and Co. is looking for a highly motivated and experienced advertising sales agent to join its expanding team. The successful candidate should be good at communication and love engaging with others often.

Job responsibilities:

Contact potential clients through cold calls and emails to form sales leads
Prepare and present sales presentation decks to them and give them an overview of the advertising spaces the company has and is selling
Assess the needs of clients and advise them on the spaces they should purchase
Negotiate with clients to find a favourable price for the client and company
Manage paperwork and processes to close sales leads
Research on new advertising trends and techniques in the company to increase customer base
Work with the marketing and PR department to come up with better advertising strategies
Attend regular workshops to increase selling skills and knowledge of the advertising industry
Maintain positive working relationships with clients

Salary figures reflect data listed on Indeed Salaries at time of writing. Salaries may vary depending on the hiring organisation and a candidate's experience, academic background and location.

What Does an Advertising Sales Agent Do? (With Salary)