Proof of Performance
I am having a truly hard time understanding sales reps who don't want to carry through with "proof of Performance" for one reason or another.
An out door rep didn't want to take pictures of my boards every month. Especially bulletins. "One picture after posting should be enough," he said. Well, he's wrong. If I am buying billboards, whether they be panels or bulletins, and I'm buying them in a market in which I do not live, I need pictures every month to assure me that these boards were, indeed, up. If it was a market in which I lived, I could take the pictures myself, although I shouldn't have to. Pictures are "proof of performance" for out door billboards. Without these pictures, I cannot authorize the invoice for payment. These pictures should be taken from an "approach view". Close-ups don't do us any good — they could be any of our billboards since we're using the same copy in fifteen different markets, and we wouldn't know the difference! Each picture should be labeled with the address of where the board is located. If I have 25 boards up in Richmond, don't send me 25 pictures without identifying which board is which. I'm crazy enough already. Furthermore, don't argue about this with me. As a buyer, I am entitled to these photographs. It is part of the sales rep's job to see that I get these pictures. Don't send me a photo of my bulletin in February with snow on the ground and send me the same pictures for May's "proof for performance." It won't work.
One of my newspaper reps doesn't understand why an electronic tearsheet won't suffice as his proof of "performance." While some agencies do accept electronic tearsheets, Media Buying Authorities, does not. We must see the reproduction of the ad, and the only way to see that it is from and actual tearsheet. We're not being tough-nosed. We're being practical and thorough. Just how much trouble is it to snail mail out a tearsheet after the ad has run? After all, the ad cost my client a 'pretty penny.' A tearsheet is the least the newspaper can do...and without one, our agency will not authorize payment of the newspaper's invoice.
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