At the PPA Independent Publisher Conference one roundtable, hosted by John Cheney, CEO of Workbooks, covered ways that publishers could enhance their operational efficiency. 

The four key areas discussed were: 

1. How to align commercial teams and subscriber teams  

2. How to harness AI 

3. How to implement CRM 

4. How to get people to use the system 

How to align commercial teams and subscriber teams  

One participant kicked things off by saying they’d never found a software tool that could do everything, manage sales, marketing, production, and events. 

The danger of this is systems and software are not prioritised, and people are ‘thrown’ at the problem. And as publishing is a people business, when there is a need for more resources, the default is to hire more people. Not many are systems thinkers. 

Recommendations 

• Define or look at your Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to get everyone on the same page. 
• Every time someone asks to hire someone new – direct them to the SOP. This highlights whether they are following it, or is a new hire just making up for efficiency gaps? 

How to harness AI  

Participants agreed that AI can improve processes that are well understood. But if they are not (as seen in the first discussion) you can run the risk of creating a monster. Most publishers don’t have big IT teams or defined budget for consultants to plan big projects.  

Recommendations  

Get the basics right first. If you are serious about using AI to create commercial efficiencies, you need to take time to look at four key areas of your business. 

1. How do I plan to grow revenue? 

2. How do I improve customer relationships? 

3. How do I reduce operational costs? 

4. How do I improve decision making? 

How to implement (or switch) your CRM 

The discussion here centered on what publishers are doing currently. One said the process of implementing a new CRM system was so painful they never want to do it again, no matter how lacking in functionality they might be (it took seven years to roll out). 

While others have made do with no recognised system, using a variety of homegrown tools to manage advertiser relationships and their subscriber base. 

While different departments don’t have the answer – they only see what they see, which isn’t holistic and unlikely to give joined up efficiency (and as a result, better profitability).

The view was buying tech is the easy part. Getting the process right is the hard part! 

Recommendations 

• Be ruthless in terms of your prioritisation. The objective is to get everything in one place but be clear about what’s most important to the business.  
• A Shared Success workshop (such as those run by Workbooks) helps bring different stakeholders together to map out their needs and agree a plan. 
• Use one firm for the software and implementation to keep the processes roll out streamlined. 

How to get people to use the system 

One participant commented: “Publishers are generally creative people, they don’t want to do admin. We’re not excited about the tech, only the outcome.” While another said the trouble started at the top, with their CEO refusing to use the CRM system. 

The advice shared was that surfacing information as dashboards was vital to drive adoption, as these are visual and bring data to life.  

Make it about the carrot and the stick: 

1. The carrot: put a screen on the wall in the office so all the commercial teams can see how they are doing in real time, generating a competitive atmosphere. 

2. The stick: ensure all commercial teams run their 1-1 meetings based on the data in CRM, so they have to use it and keep it updated.