Reporting for Media Sales That Tracks Every Plan Issued and Every Rate Conceded

Media businesses are rich in delivery data and poor in commercial data. There are precise figures for what ran, when and to whom, and vague impressions about how many proposals are outstanding, what rate is actually being realised and which advertisers have quietly stopped booking. The reports below deal with the second category, which is where the season is decided.

Proposal ageing and conversion

Every plan issued, by executive, with days since issue and since the last follow up, plus conversion by advertiser category. It decides which proposals are chased this week. A bad number is a long list of plans with no response and no follow up logged, which is the most common way advertising revenue is abandoned rather than lost.

Forward inventory fill

Sold against available inventory for the next two to six weeks, by property and placement. It decides where the team concentrates now. A bad number is a fortnight approaching with substantial unsold inventory, because at that point the choice is between a deep discount and losing the revenue entirely.

Realised rate against card

Achieved rate as a share of card rate, by executive, agency and category, across a rolling period. It decides where discount authority sits. A bad number is a steady, modest concession appearing on nearly every booking, which costs far more over a season than the occasional large negotiation everyone remembers.

Advertiser retention by season

Brands that booked in the equivalent period last year and have not booked this year, ranked by previous spend. It decides the call list. A bad number is several substantial advertisers on that list whose absence nobody had noticed, which happens far more often than sales heads expect.

Loss reasons and category concentration

Why plans did not convert, from a closed list, read beside the share of revenue coming from the top advertiser categories. It decides where new business effort goes. A bad number is heavy concentration in one or two categories during a good year, which is precisely when nobody wants to discuss it.

Proposal ageing. It requires one habit, which is logging every plan when it is issued, and it produces a follow up list on the first day. Realised rate against card is second, and it needs card rates stored properly so that comparison is automatic rather than assembled by hand each month.

In a business with this much delivery data, commercial reports have to justify themselves clearly. Each of these ends in a call, a rate decision or a concentration of effort.

Every proposal logged when issued, with advertiser, agency, value and executive. Card rate stored alongside the negotiated rate rather than replaced by it. Advertiser and agency held as separate records so mix reporting is possible. Campaign end dates recorded for extension work. Loss reasons from a closed list. Outstanding balances visible against the advertiser so the sales team is not the last to know.

Monthly revenue against target, meetings held per executive and elaborate audience decks appear in most sales reviews. Revenue against target is an outcome, not a lever, and by the time it is red the month is gone. Meeting counts reward diary activity. Audience data belongs in a pitch rather than in a sales management pack. Keep the reports that produce a list of advertisers to call and drop the ones that describe how busy everybody has been.

It does not schedule or traffic campaigns, serve advertising, measure delivery or raise invoices, and your accounting system continues to hold the financial record. This is the commercial layer that tracks proposals, rates, bookings and advertiser relationships across a season.

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