Case Study

Building a Consultative Sales Team in Eastern North Carolina's OOH Market

IndustryOut of Home Advertising / Local Media

EngagementSales Training & Enablement, In Person Program

Training DatesJune 22 to 24, 2026

MarketEastern North Carolina · Wilmington, NC

The Challenge

Local Media Outdoor operates across Eastern North Carolina, serving advertisers in and around the Wilmington market with a portfolio of outdoor advertising assets. Like many independent OOH operators competing in large geographic territories, the organization faced a challenge that had nothing to do with inventory quality: building a sales team that could sell consultatively, manage large territories with discipline, and execute the kind of consistent process that protects pricing and drives renewals.

Terry Harkins, General Manager, and Jeannine Dodson, Area Sales Manager, recognized that the team needed more than motivation. They needed structure. A repeatable sales process. A shared language around discovery, value articulation, objection handling, and closing. And they needed that process delivered in a way that would stick, not just another training that faded the following Monday.

The engagement was specifically designed to address the realities of OOH selling in a large, competitive Eastern NC territory: how to prospect with intention, how to lead with needs instead of boards, how to use data and audience insights to build proposals that tell a story, and how to protect rate in conversations where price pressure is a constant.

The Approach

Graviss Marketing delivered a three day, in person Sales Training and Enablement program in Wilmington, North Carolina from June 22 to 24, 2026. The program was interactive, applied, discussion led, and roleplay based, structured to move participants from foundational context through advanced execution across three concentrated days.

Day 1, Monday, June 22: Market Context, Product Knowledge and Value Translation

The program opened by grounding the team in the current OOH landscape, digital growth, measurement evolution, and how independent Eastern NC operators compete effectively against national players and across media channels. The curriculum covered industry resources and reference tools, static vs. digital OOH strategy, and a dedicated module on value articulation and storytelling. The goal was to ensure every participant could speak to their inventory's value in the advertiser's language, not in impressions or faces, but in outcomes.

Day 2, Tuesday, June 23: Outreach, Discovery, Value, Objections and Negotiation

The second day covered the core of the consultative selling system. Pre call preparation and outreach cadence opened the session, followed by the Customer Needs Analysis (CNA) framework, the highest impact module across the program. Participants worked through how to replace inventory first selling with a discovery driven approach anchored in advertiser goals. The day continued with leveraging data and audience insights for proposal alignment, objection handling with live roleplay, negotiation and rate defense strategies, key account growth and expansion tactics, and an applied session on AI tools in the sales process.

Day 3, Wednesday, June 24: Application, Execution Discipline and Commitments

The final day shifted from curriculum to application. Daily, weekly, and monthly execution habits were established. CRM discipline and Apparatix integration were addressed directly. Participants identified specific gaps in their current tool usage and committed to correcting them. Pipeline health and revenue math gave the team a framework for understanding their numbers, not just their activity. The program closed with each participant naming specific behaviors they would change starting Monday.

What the Team Said

“Professional, organized, and well thought out. It helps keep things in perspective and not take shortcuts.”
Brandon, Sr. Account Executive, Local Media Outdoor

“Very logical and insightful in helping develop a sales process that is manageable and will help me be more successful.”
Jeannine Dodson, Area Manager, Local Media Outdoor

“This training works through the entire sales process seamlessly while working from the why to the how without ever sounding like a rehash. It's a refreshing back to basics with emphasis on CRM and AI.”
Jennifer de Beaumont, Account Executive, Local Media Outdoor

“To be open to new and old ideas and ways to revisit and rethink client relationships and situations.”
Will, Sr. Account Executive, Local Media Outdoor

Key Outcomes

10/10likelihood to recommend, rated by every survey respondent

The Outcome

All four survey respondents rated the training a 10 out of 10 for likelihood to recommend and 5 out of 5 for overall quality. The scores were consistent across roles, from account executives to the sales manager, which reflects depth of impact across experience levels.

The CNA and Discovery module was named the highest impact content by multiple participants. Features vs. benefits was identified independently by two respondents as a specific, memorable shift in how they would approach conversations going forward. The Day 3 content on execution habits, CRM adoption, and AI integration produced the highest concentration of Monday commitment statements. Participants named specific, measurable changes rather than general intentions.

When asked what they would change starting Monday, participants named specific, measurable actions:

Brandon: better CNAs, preparation for appointments, overall mindset shift
Jeannine Dodson: always asking and confirming next steps, AI tools adoption
Jennifer de Beaumont: more CRM notes, more prospecting, more face to face presenting
Will: more organized, disciplined, and inserting new habits and thoughts

Two curriculum additions were surfaced through the survey process and will inform future programming: territory management in large, undefined geographies, and deeper applied content around key account growth and expansion strategy. These gaps represent opportunities for a follow up engagement or supplemental session as the team continues to develop.

For Local Media Outdoor, the engagement produced a shared sales language, a repeatable discovery process, and a clear set of individual execution commitments. The foundation is in place. The next phase is reinforcement.

Prefer a PDF?

Download This Case Study (PDF)