Selling ads and marketing assets for massive corporations can feel soul-sucking if that’s all you see. Pushing deals, hitting numbers, landing big-name clients—it can start to feel too transactional, even awful. But brands don’t hire you. People do.
A lot of business leaders say sales is about relationships, but when it comes to business development, they focus on the company as the client—not the person. That mindset should shift.
If you truly believe in building relationships, your sales pipeline should be about people. What do the people in those companies need to succeed? How are you investing in them? Your approach should be about helping them win in their career—not just closing a deal.
And that doesn’t stop once you land the job. Too often, people think about the person only until the contract is signed—then suddenly, it’s all about the brand. But your real job? Making your client’s life easier. Making them look great internally. Helping them succeed in a way that actually matters to them.
When you focus on the person—the producer, the marketing lead, the creative director—it’s energizing. You’re not just delivering a product; you’re helping someone navigate their job, their challenges, their wins.
Think about your client as a person, not a brand. It’ll change how you sell. And it’ll make the work way more rewarding.