Recruiting and retaining sales staff at a newspaper is a particularly challenging task these days. That is because the marketplace is brimming with competition for top sales teams and newspapers are getting such a bad rap in these tough times.

In this video/audio interview, host Tim Shoults speaks with Daniel La Porta, Vice-President of Sales for Glacier Media. Daniel says sales people have a lot of different employment options available and need reassurance about the newspaper industry.

This compendium and downloadable white paper provides a concrete overview on the subject.

Section 1 VIDEO

Lecture 1 How to Recruit + Retain Talented Sales Professionals?

Section 2 WHITE PAPER

Lecture 2 How to Recruit + Retain Talented Sales Professionals?

Section 3 TRANSCRIPTION

Lecture 4 How to Recruit + Retain Talented Sales Professionals?

SALES STAFF: FINDING AND KEEPING TOP PERFORMERS

When people think newspapers, the image of a newsroom, buzzing with editors and reporters, comes to mind. But another crucial part of the business is the advertising department where sales professionals have their own stories to tell.

Recruiting and retaining sales staff at a newspaper is a particularly challenging task these days. That is because the marketplace is brimming with competition for top sales teams and newspapers are getting such a bad rap in these tough times.

Daniel La Porta, Vice-President of Sales for Glacier Media, says sales people have a lot of different employment options available and need reassurance about the newspaper industry.

u201cWe need to continue pushing the fact that newspapers are still well read within Canada. Itu2019s about painting a picture that is not all doom and gloom.u201d

La Porta says, it is also important to remind potential employees, u201cWe have a number of other products we can sell. Itu2019s not just limited to the newspapers.

u201cWe have a full suite of digital products. We have events. We have magazines. We have many different avenues that small- and medium-sized businesses can advertise in.u201d As a result, there is scope to earn greater incomes for sales staff.

So, where to look for these people? When recruiting, it makes good sense to look for people with experience in organizations that feature superior training programs. u201cIf you are a Xerox-certified sales rep, you had to have gone through some pretty intense training to get to that position, so I look for organizations that I know have good training.u201d

La Porta also recruits from organizations where he can find people who have sold products similar to what they will be selling at Glacier. u201cSo, maybe they have sold some type of advertising, and are well trained.u201d

Beyond that, La Porta pursues those who possess innate characteristics that will automatically make them good candidates. Self motivation is especially important. Generally, those who are self motivated are either income or accolade-driven, or they may be motivated by both factors.

u201cThese are things that are hard to demand or to teach if they are not innate,u201d he says.

Millennials sometimes get a bad rap when it comes to self motivation, says La Porta who, as a rule, has found people in that age group not significantly different from those of any other generation.

In his experience, however, the young recruits who boast Masters degrees in business, or similar academic achievement, occasionally u201cfeel, once theyu2019ve accomplished something in their educational career, there is the feeling of u2013 I hate to use the word — entitlement, that they are entitled to make that move in their professional career.

u201cThey come into an organization thinking, u2018where is my car and office?u2019 and I tell them, u2018youu2019re going to have to work out of your car before you are given a cubicleu2019.u201d

On the other hand, La Porta has come across scholastic achievers with a history of having taken on a part-time job while at school. u201cTheyu2019re hard workers and nothing is being given to them for free. It is these people, the ones who feel they have to earn their keep, that I am looking for.u201d

La Porta has considerable experience in hiring people but says many Glacier managers do not. Among the key questions that should be put to potential new hires, says La Porta, is about what motivates them.

Another is about how their performance was measured at their last position. u201cIf they donu2019t know that, to me, it is a sign that the person wonu2019t understand that, in sales performance, you are measured every day.u201d

Different managers may have different ways of measuring sales performance, of course. But the business website Info Entrepreneurs, at http://www.infoentrepreneurs.org/en/guides/recruit-and-manage-salespeople/, suggests an analysis of the salespersonu2019s u201cconversion ratesu201d u2013 the number of visits, contacts or phone calls it takes to arrive at one sale to a customer.

The website cautions that, if sales targets are not being met, the performance of the sales person may not be the problem. Rather, their sales territory may be too broad; the product being sold may be problematic; the broader market may be experiencing a slump; or perhaps the sales person has not received the right marketing support.

In considering the personal qualities of a person seeking sales employment, the Info Entrepreneurs website recommends that managers look for resilience, someone who bounces back from rejection; someone who has a competitive character and wants to get on with things; a persuasive candidate who is keen to bring others around to their viewpoint; an assertive individual who can make their point firmly without aggression. Other key attributes are sociability, enthusiasm and, again, self motivation.

The website adds that a candidateu2019s personal image should not be underestimated. u201cAsk yourself whether you and your customers would be comfortable with this person as the public face of your business.

u201cAre they appropriately dressed? Do they listen well and speak articulately? Do they ask intelligent questions about your business.u201d

And cautions the website, u201cMake sure you are aware of the law on discrimination.u201d

Once someone has been hired, La Porta says it is important for them to take seriously the training they will receive before approaching customers. And self development is also crucial, with several free online tools available. u201cFor example, Google offers all their certificates at no cost. u201cSo, you can become Google Adwords-certified, Analytics-certified, Play Store-certified.u201d

La Porta says sales managers should be continually encouraging their staff to be learning. u201cIn fact there should be something formal, on a weekly basis, in the sales manageru2019s meeting, that should be around teaching something new or evaluating something they already know. u201c

Training should focus on three dimensions u2013 training around the products being sold, a ongoing process because the products are changing all the time, especially on the digital side; training around the sales process itself; and thirdly, personal development or employee training.

La Porta notes that philosophies about the How-To of selling are shifting, as a 2011 book by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson has been making the rounds.

Titled, The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer, it turns on its head the longstanding sales technique of first, assessing a customeru2019s needs and then, drawing up a sales proposal. The Challenger Sale perspective has the salesperson researching customersu2019 needs beforehand and approaching them by telling them what they need. La Porta suspects this model may have merit, especially for digital product sales.

Interestingly, great sales professionals do not necessarily become great sales managers, though often it is the talented sales people who are tapped to become managers.

u201cIn my experience,u201d says La Porta, u201cprobably about 50 per cent of the time we manage to turn a very good sales rep into a very good sales manager. Other times it has been a complete failure.u201d

He laments that some such managers will blame their sales team for poor performance instead of buying into the notion that ultimately they themselves are the ones responsible for the teamu2019s success.

Retention of good people is a challenge, says La Porta, since there will always be some other employer can afford to pay them more. But employees do not always leave because of financial considerations.

u201cIf you look at all the stats on why people leave, believe it or not, the No. 1 reason is that they donu2019t like the person they are working for. u201c

Entrepreneur.com says the top workplace factors that prompt sales professionals to leave their jobs are salary and compensation, career growth and opportunities and company culture.

The website — https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/234990
states that indeed money is not always crucial, with 71 per cent of those polled saying they would accept less money to work at a company with a great culture and 78 per cent saying they would accept lower earnings to work at selling a product that is particularly compelling.

The average tenure of sales employees at a company is pretty short, with less than one third staying beyond five years. The website says women, more than men, cite the importance of having a good relationship with their direct manager. Meanwhile, men more than woman say they would forgo higher wages to get an opportunity to sell a particularly compelling product. Employee perks and benefits are more important to women than men. Commissions are more valued by men.

According to La Porta, it is essential for managers to clearly communicate with staff on a regular basis — u201cdo they know how they are performing, are they having fun?u201d

And if someone resigns, that should never come as a surprise.

Right now, one of the biggest hurdles in developing the skills of sales staff is in addressing employeesu2019 apparent reluctance to engage on the digital side. u201cI need to convince our people that, when you are not selling digital youu2019re actually doing your customer a disservice.u201d

Obviously this is an issue that must be addressed with more training on the product side. And, u201cthat will have to go on forever because thereu2019s never going to be a time when everyone is an expert on digital.u201d

To Recap:

u2022 Hire great sales staff from organizations that sell products similar to your own and that boast excellent training opportunities;

u2022 Look for people who are self motivated, eager to learn and enthusiastic;

u2022 Ensure new employees fully understand the importance of having their sales performance measured regularly;



u2022 Be aware that, if sales people like the product they are selling and enjoy the company culture, they are likely to stay with the job longer, even if they are not earning as much as they might elsewhere.