Mustang Daily
California Polytechnic State University CNBAM Best Newspaper Marketing/Promotion Plan “Who are you?” That is the worst question to be asked when you are supposed to be the one entity that represents the entire campus. The Mustang Daily created a marketing campaign so the question was no longer “Who are you?” but “How can I get involved with the newspaper?” We had three areas to focus on: increase readership, increase reader involvement, and increase advertising business. We accomplished this by creating a slogan, attending campus and community events and getting our readers involved via surveys and house ads. We passed out 1,500 t-shirts with our name and slogan at every campus and community event we attended. We ran a house ad campaign that caught people reading the Mustang Daily. We also ran testimonials from local businesses to increase business awareness. The slogan we used to promote all aspects of the paper was, “Free & ...” The last part of the slogan alternated in the following ways: Free & Reliable (News, sports and more) Free & Available (More than 40 newsstands on campus) Free & Flexible (We work within your advertising budget) Free & Recyclable (Promotes reading and recycling the paper) Free & Solvable (Check out our puzzles on the game page) Free & Removable (On the back of t-shirts) Free & Readable (The newspaper itself) With the new campaign our presence is everywhere. As a result, students are wearing our t-shirts, newsstand waste has decreased because of increased readership, and advertising sales show at least a 10% increase from the previous year. It has been a total success and we plan on continuing this marketing strategy into 2009.
January 2008
Promotional Calendar
“Read and Be Read” started. Person spotted reading the Mustang Daily won an MD t-shirt and got their picture in the paper. This promotion runs three times a week.
February 2008
14th Valentine’s Day “Little Love Notes” printed
March 2008
13th St. Patrick’s Day “Little Lucky Notes” printed Facebook group created to enhance online presence and interactivity in order to direct people to our mustangdaily.net webpage.
April 2008
Readership Promotions Month 9th Housing Fair: Our Housing Edition, which was published on March 14th, was redistributed. An additional 2,000 copies were printed for the event. Candy, pens, and newspapers were distributed. Green Edition: 20% of proceeds from this edition were donated to an environmental campus group called The Empower Poly Coalition. 17th Open House Weekend: We put balloons on the newsstands to draw attention and to promote the paper to all potential and incoming students during campus tours and Open House weekend. T-shirts were also passed out to anyone caught reading the Mustang Daily. 18th Open House Fair: We had an interactive booth set up with games and giveaways. Attendess played pin the Tail on the Mustang and candy, pens, and t-shirts were given away as prizes. Our Open House Edition was redistributed at the event. Our newsstand was present with the Mustang Daily newspapers stocked inside. Gifts certificates donated by local businesses were given away as prizes at the booth.
May 2008
Business Promotions Month 12th Chamber of Commerce Event, Mixer Showcase ’08: We had a booth set up with media kits, Marketing information, t-shirts, candy, and pens given away. Big editions displayed, newsstand present with daily newspapers passed out. Spread awareness of the Mustang Daily in the business community. 18th Rock the Vote: We had a booth set up with media kits, marketing information, Pin the Tail on the Mustang, t-shirts and pens given away. Our newsstand was present with the Mustang Daily newspapers stocked inside. Got the Mustang Daily involved with political awareness. Monthly Newsletter started. It was distributed at the Chamber Mixer and also each rep took them out to clients on their account list. It recapped events we have attended and what we are doing to promote/enhance advertising and gain readership.
September 2008
WOW Block Party attended. T-shirts given and newspapers redistributed. Our newsstand was present with the Mustang Daily newspapers stocked inside. Football Season Promotions: Attended four football games throughout the semester and launched our t-shirts to the fans at half time. Testimonials started: Clients provided testimony about how advertising in the Mustang Daily has worked for them. They were also used for marketing purposes to encourage other businesses to advertise in the Mustang Daily.
October 2008
Political Advertising With the election in November political advertising was in full swing. The Mustang Daily took full advantage of the political advertising dollar and sought out campaign groups and private parties who wanted to promote their candidates. A double-truck directory ran with all advertisers sending a political message. House Ad Campaign: Expanded on marketing campaign and promoted “Free &...” readership, advertising, game page and newsstand availability.
November/ December 2008
Best For Cal Poly: Voting ballots available at our booth during UU Hours. T-shirts given to everyone who completed a ballot. UU Hour created greater student awareness of the Mustang Daily. Being present at UU hour resulted in 500 ballots being turned in as opposed to last year, when only 300 were turned in.
T-Shirt Design
Pens
Business Promotions Monthly Newsletters
Business Promotions Monthly Newsletters
Readership Promotions Read & Be Read 2x6 ad ran 3 times a week
Advertising Promotions Testimonials Full page ad
Readership and Business Promotions Best For Cal Poly Full Page ballot ad
rock the vote
Events Open House - April Rock the Vote - May Football Games - September WOW Block Party - September
Newspaper Promotions House Ads Free & Solvable 1/4 page Free & Flexible 3x4 Free & Available 3x4 Free & Recyclable 1/4 page
Mustang Daily
California Polytechnic State University CNBAM Best Sales Incentive When the Mustang Daily decided to do a sales contest we had three things in mind, be creative, keep it simple and of course increase sales. With the three elements in mind we created the heADs Sales Contest. The contests purpose was to increase the end of the year and summer sales and to partner new and old account executives in order to train them for the next year. The strategy was to have the teams combine their points from their goal sheet in order to get articles of clothing and accessories for their bald heads and stick figure bodies. The top three teams with the most clothing and accessories at the end won a monetary bonus. First place split $300, second place split $150 and third place split $100. Many times contests are too complicated, the rules distract from the contest itself and account executives get caught up in the details instead of the sales. In order to make our contest successful both in sales and in fun we asked ourselves a few questions before beginning. What do the account executives find funny? What do we hope to gain from the contest? What will be the incentive? After those questions were answered, heADs was created! Our sales contest created team bonding, trained new account executives, created friendly competition, documented personal sales success, created a fun and energetic office and it increased summer revenue by 204% with a spring quarter increase of 2.5%. The Mustang Daily went from having only four summer contracts in the summer of 2007 to having more than 12 in the summer of 2008. It was fun, hugely successful and had a great incentive! We plan on doing it every May in order to boost our summer and spring sales.
Phase 1
Phase 3
Phase 5
heADs Sales Contest Phases Phase 2
Phase 4
1st Place $300 BONUS
2nd Place $150 BONUS
3rd Place $100 BONUS
Goal Sheet Points 10pts each: Summer contracts sold 3pts per team: Face-2-Face calls done together (mark on call sheets) 2pts each: New Clients Sold 1pt each: Ads sold weekly
Every 10pts gets your team a piece Starts May 5th – Ends May30th Week One: 5th-9th Week Two: 12th-23rd Week Three: 19th-23rd Week Four: 26th-30th
TEAM:
WEEK:
Finals Special: 5pts each / Graduation Ads sold (business): 5pts each ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Summer Contracts (business/amount): 10pts each ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Face-2-Face Calls Done Together (business/date): 3pts each ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ New Clients Sold, haven’t advertised in one year (business/date(s) ran): 2pts each ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Ads Sold weekly (business): 1pt each ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Week Total____________________
Semester Sales Goals Sales goals are based upon previous sales from a year prior with a two percent increase. The sales goal number is also based on the Account Executive’s territory. This means that each Account Executive will have a different sales goal according to their territory. If an Account Executive meets or exceeds the specified sales goal for their specified territory the Account Executive will receive a 2% commission of their total sales for the Fall 2008 semester. This commission is determined upon payment by all clients as well as less than 5 demerits. Demerits are expressed in the job expectations and include missing sales meetings, no call no shows, not meeting the cold call and walk-up requirements. Each Account Executive will receive a sales goal thermometer to keep track of your sales throughout the semester. The Account Executives who reach or exceed their sales goals will be announced at the end of the semester banquet.
Certificate of Achievement is hereby granted to:
Helen Sim
for exceeding the semester sales goals by 25%
Fall 2008 Sales Manager Sarah Oak
Hoops! Sales Contest
The Hoops Tradition... Central Michigan Life’s Hoops Promotion is an annual sales contest for our advertising department. Entering it’s 6th year, it is considered the premium sales contest for the school year. There is more emotion wrapped into being crowned the Hoops winner than there is money earned. Basically, the advertising representative who wins the contest becomes a “Hoops” sales legend, complete with a special banner hung for posterity in the sales conference room, a special trophy and a basket-cutting ceremony at our newspapers’ annual banquet. The Hoops promotion runs in conjunction with the annual NCAA basketball tournament, and matches advertisers with teams in the tournament. A luck of the draw can make or break it for each of our advertisers, and for our advertising representatives. It is a great exercise in communication and organizational skills based on preparation work and explaining the contest and how it works to advertisers. Account representatives earn points and money based on creating a target list of clients, creating spec ads, making sales calls, making sales, and moving through the tournament with their advertisers. There are also extra points earned based on enthusiasm for the contest (ex: making a longer target list than required, making more spec ads than required minimum, decorating the conference room in the spirit of the contest, assisting others with ideas for their ads). The contest winner isn’t necessarily the one who sells the most ads. The Hoops promotion will generate 60-70 additional ads for us over a two week period, for $20-$25,000. The advertising representatives will average their regular commission at 7.5% percent, plus $25-40 in bonuses, which really isn’t a lot. The Hoops promotion proves that motivation does not always come in the form of money, and that special recognition goes along way towards sales success.
2008
Hoops! Sales Contest Step up to the line and give it your best shot! Central Michigan Life’s annual HOOPS! promotion is a winning combination for you and your advertisers.
HOOPS! Offers a great rate, and a chance to win free ads along the way, giving your advertiser more frequency, and better results! For you, it rewards additional revenue for commission and bonuses.
Deadline: Friday, February 15, 2008 List of 10 target advertisers for promotion to managers. Friday, February 22, 2008 Spec ads finished. Copies due to managers. Friday, February 29, 2008 All contacts made to advertisers. Results to managers. Monday, March 10, 2008 Final deadline for promotion.
Bonus Program:
March 2008 Sales Contest
5 points per advertiser = $5 per adv. Sold The more you sell, the more you make!
Commissions 7.5% on all revenue sold in promotion. Total $ only limited by your efforts. Advance w/your Customers $1 per advertiser that advances each week. Sell this program to lots of advertisers = lots of $$$ you make!
Team Bonus: Team w/MOST ADS (# of advertisers x # of ads) Commissions GETS $10 PER TEAM MEMBER BONUS! YOUR ADVERTISER WINS! $20 BONUS‌because you are A WINNER too!
Hoops! Sales Contest Frequently Asked QUESTIONS
WHAT IS HOOPS?
HOOPS is an advertising promotion tied into the excitement of NCAA basketball tournament play, and designed to help advertisers understand the benefit of frequency advertising. The minimum commitment is two (2) ads, with the opportunity to purchase four (4) ads at a substantially lower rate than contract. In addition, advertisers can earn free ads based on what teams they are matched up with, and how well those teams advance through tournament play. (This is where the frequency opportunity kicks in!). Advertisers are assigned bracket placement, prior to NCAA placement, by number draw 1-64. The men’s bracket is the primary game, the women’s game is the second chance game.
ARE THERE AD DESIGN OR PLACEMENT REQUIREMENTS?
Advertisers ads do not have to be basketball related, and they do not have to go on the basketball/sports pages. They can request other placement. Frequency contract advertisers like this promotion as well, they can bump up their ads sizes for two issues, and play to win ads too!
DOES AD SPACE QUALIFY TOWARDS CONTRACT INCHES?
No. This is a special promotion, at special rates, and rewards the advertisers with a lot of free ad space. This is in addition to their contract. This is a great promotion for new and non-contract advertisers to test frequency. Contract advertisers can participate by bumping up the size of their ads by 15” for two issues, their choice of dates. (They can buy one ad 15” larger in March and April, or two ads in March or two in April.) CAN THEY RUN LARGER THAN 15”? YES! Absolutely. Advertisers can run any size ad they want, as long as it is larger than the minimum 15” at the special rate for 2x or 4x. They also will benefit by “winning” the larger ad.
HOW MANY ADS CAN THE ADVERTISER POTENTIALLY WIN?
Each advertiser can win up to 5 ads. Advertisers have an opportunity to double their chances to win by playing both brackets. (Ex: If advertiser’s team does not advance in men’s bracket, they could still move forward in the women’s bracket. If the advertiser is lucky and both teams advance, advertiser can only win one ad each round, not two.) If the advertisers team, men or women’s, makes it to the finals and wins the championships, the advertiser wins a FULL PAGE AD! Two businesses could potentially win a full page ad one through the men’s brackets and one through the women’s brackets. CAN ADVERTISERS CHANGE THEIR AD COPY? YES. All PAID ads can be changed. The FREE ads have to be a repeat from the previous ad. Minor corrections such as coupon dates can be corrected, but please design the originals ads with the possibility of repeats in mind.
CAN ADVERTISERS COMBINE FREE ADS TO MAKE ONE BIGGER AD?
NO. Advertisers must use their free ads as determined each week. They will not see the benefits of frequency advertising if they hold off. Sales representatives are responsible in making sure advertisers run their free ads. “Forgetting” to run ad and attempting to double up advertiser the following week will eliminate sales representative from contest. WHEN MUST THEY RUN THEIR FREE ADS? Advertisers have to run their free ads according to the schedule provided on the sales flyer, within one week (3 issues) of winning. The tournament winner(s) has until the last issue in April to use their full page advertising space.
ABC Marketing/ B-Tan Dominos Pizza Gratiot Community Hospital Heritage Automall Hungry Howies Pizza Independent Bank Krapohl Ford La Senorita’s Little Caesars Pizza Papa Johns Pizza Ric’s Food Center Sterling University Housing Sunsations Tanning The Forum Apartments University Events Wayside Zabro’s Pizza
2003
ABC Marketing Big Mike’s Party Store B-Tan Campus Salon Cheers CMCH CMU Athletics CMU Int’l Education DJ Auto Edgewood Apartments Fabiano Brothers Holiday Inn/Boomers Independent Bank Intimate Ideas Krapohl Ford Max & Emilys Restaurant O’Kellys Papa Johns Park Place Apartments Pickard Party Store Shabooms Student Book Exchange Sunsations Tanning The Forum Apartments Timber Tree Apartments University Meadows Apts Wincel Cellular
2004 CMU Alumni Relations CMU Bookstore CMU Graduate Studies CMU Leisure Services Copper Beech Townhomes Dairy Queen Dominos Pizza Edgewood Apartments Ethnic Creations Gordon Food Service/GFS Gratiot Community Hospital Hungry Howies Pizza Independent Bank Intimate Ideas Lets Do The Dishes Los Palominos Mt Pleasant Meadows Old Mission Party Store Olson Tire Papa Johns Pizza Park Place Apartments Pita Pit Shabooms A Time Worth Scrappin Quality Apartments Regenerations Soaring Eagle Resort Student Book Exchange Student Government Tallgrass Apartments The Forum Apartments Timber Tree Apartments University Meadows Apts Wincel Cellular
2005 Big Apple Bagel B-Tan C&S Sports Center Canterbury Apartments CMU Admissions CMU Bookstore CMU Career Services CMU Health Services CMU Leadership Institute CMU SAPA CMU Student Employment CMU Student Government CMU Volunteer Center Country Place Apartments Gordon Food Service/GFS Hungry Howies Pizza Jarrett the Jeweler Jimmy Johns Logos Galore Mirage Tanning Olson Tire Service Papa Johns Pizza Pickard Party Store Pita Pit Ric’s Food Center Ruby Tuesday Student Book Exchange The Bird Top Dog Car Stereo Tuffy Auto WCMU/PBS Wincel Cellular Yorkshire Apartments
2006 Apartment Mgmt Group BioLife B-Tan C&S Engraving Canterbury Apartments CMU Bookstore CMU Career Services CMU Leadership Institute CMU Student Employment CMU Volunteer Center Dragon Express Fazoli’s Herbs Etc Hungry Howies Pizza Logos Galore Max & Emily’s Restaurant Mountain Town Station Olson Tire Papa John’s Pizza Park Place Apartments Pita Pit Pizza Hut Poole Chiropractic Qdoba’s Ric’s Food Center Shabooms Subway Tallgrass Apartments ToDblD’s Party Store Tuffy Auto Village@Bluegrass Apts. Yorkshire Apartments
2007
Hoops! Sales Contest Qdoba Apartment Mgmt Group B-Tan CMU Bookstore CMU Career Services CMU Graduate Studies CMU Health Services CMU ORSP CMU Panhel/IFC CMU Psychology Dept. CMU Student Employment Copper Beech Townhomes Emma’s Basement Boutique Fazoli’s Grondins Holiday Inn/Boomers Hoop-T Rides ICCU Lets Do The Dishes Max & Emilys Restaurant Papa Johns Pizza Poole Chiropractic Ric’s Food Center The Bird ToDblD’s Wayside
2008
Catch the college basketball playoff fever! Be a part of the action by advertising in the Central Michigan Life college basketball playoff special pages! All you have to do is purchase a 15 inch ad in the first two issues!
• Wednesday, March 12 Tournament Section • Wednesday, March 19 Sweet Sixteen Pages
e f i L n a g i h c i M l Centra
• Wednesday, March 26 Final Four Pages • Monday, April 7 Championship Pages
Keep Up With The Hoops! Win up to $2500 in FREE ad space!
Before the national drawing of the brackets, you will draw for one location on the NCAA men’s bracket and one location on the women’s bracket. You are then assigned the appropriate teams from your bracket location based on the NCAA bracket pairings. Each time your men’s or women’s team** wins in the tourney you win a
FREE pickup of your 15” ad! PACKAGES:
Free-throw 15” ad/2 sections
$145 each
(save $115.00)
Slam-dunk 15” ad/4 sections
$130 each
(save $290.00)
FREE AD SCHEDULE Advertisers winning past the first 32 team elimination point, receive a free ad each time they advance!** Only one ad per play-off tier. If both your men and women teams advance, you will only receive one ad. • Advance to Sweet 16 - One ad between March 24 - 28 • Advance to Elite 8 - One ad between March 31 - April 4 • Advance to Final 4 - One ad between April 7 - 11 • Advance to Final Game - One ad between April 14 - 18 • Win Championship - 1 FULL PAGE Ad by April 28
DEADLINE: Mon., March 10, 2008
Central Michigan Life 436 Moore Hall, CMU, Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859 Phone: 989.774.3493 Fax: 989.774.3040 Email: advertising@cm-life.com
DIVISION 4b: Best Sales Incentive Program The ongoing challenge in sales is how to get the staff to produce more results through the use of incentives that are attractive, interesting, exciting and motivating. Here at Louisiana State University’s Office of Student Media, we use a mixture of motivational incentive tools to get our staff to operate a maximized level of performance. Our approach in 2008 included nine different approaches: 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Individual bonus for reaching sales goal • 4.5% above their normal commission rate for newspaper sales • Implemented year-round Team bonus for exceeding group sales goal • Extra 6% if met team goal for Freshman Guide • Thermometer goal posted in office charted sales progress weekly • Freshman Guide was up 15% over LY • Extra 6% if met team goal for Football Guide • Thermometer goal posted in office charted sales progress weekly • Football Guide was up 14% over LY Posted Team Thermometers to visualize sales progress on special publications • Special sections, magazine sales, online sales, and particular paper sales that should have special focus (first & last paper of the semester, valentine’s day edition, play-off papers, last day before Mardi Gras, first day back from spring break, total column inches for a particular month or period, etc.) Past Sales Records • We have posted Sales Records to Beat in the office • They are updated as we break new records • We pass out certificates for all reps who contributed to the new record • The certificate naming all involved reps is also posted Increased percentage paid on integrated packages to encourage more long-term sales • Increased commission by 4% • Total commitments from clients increased by an additional $65,000 in contracts as compared to last year’s contract commitments Paid mileage for meeting minimum face to face meeting requirements • The minimum requirement for reps is 3 a week. If they meet this collectively in a month’s time, they can get reimbursed mileage for all their sales calls in that month. • The flexibility of the 4 or 5 week period allows them to work around their school and project schedule to have slower and heavier weeks • This chart is posted every week in the office for everyone to see & compare • A few of our brightest reps have caught on and they always meet the minimum. • How did we arrive at the magic number of 3? • Our local professional media outlets require their sales staff to have 10 meetings a week, figuring our students work part time, then 5 would be the acceptable number. We set the MINIMUM to work here at 3, reps who are really getting after it exceed this requirement with no problem.
DIVISION 4b: Best Sales Incentive Program 7.
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Monthly contesting for prizes • The prize is usually a gift card for food, clothing, or gas • Gift Card in the amount of $20 - $25 dollars • Special promotions may offer $50 in cash • Progress on contest is always posted Occasional Team Contests for prizes as a team • Surprise balloons with prizes inside • New insertion order for new business = a free gift card • Office pizza parties (earn “slices” towards whole pieces depending on ad sizes sold) • Winning team prizes for team contests • A “night out” paid for by student manager • Progress on contesting is always posted. Monthly Pacing Chart Bonuses • We have put the focus on making sure our reps are looking more LONG TERM at their performance, and looking ahead to where they should be • Updated numbers are posted on the 1st and the 15th of every month so everyone can see each other’s numbers • Additional 2% commission is paid on all sales within the month, if an individual goes into the month at 80% to budget • Another 2% commission is paid on all sales within the month, if an individual goes into the month at 100% • If the TEAM goes in at 80%, everyone will earn an extra 5% commission instead of the individual 2% challenges • This has been a very useful motivational tool, implemented mid fall – and reps are really motivated by the extra incentive • While all other media companies in our city and national peer institutions seem to be struggling, we are pacing ahead • Local is up 19% over last year • On Campus is up 47% over last year • National is up 16% over last year • Special Sections are up 4% over last year
Thermometer Sample, Meeting Reports for mileage tracking & Sales Records to Beat & Certificate of Achievement
Posted Contest Challenges & Individual Tracking
Balloon Surprises and Individual Prizes
In Spring 2008, The University Daily Kansan created the Kansan Raffle sales incentive. This incentive was held throughout the entire month of February. The purpose of the incentive was to increase sales and productivity in different areas of the newspaper. It was also meant to increase motivation in a creative and competitive way, rewarding staff members with something they would be interested in working for. At the beginning of the incentive, an office bulletin board was decorated to house the rules of the incentive for the next two months. On this board, different goals were posted, along with the number of raffle tickets the sales person would receive for completing the goal. The raffle tickets were given to the sales reps by the business or sales manager, the receivers name was written on it, along with what was done to receive it, and the ticket was placed in the “treasure chest� that was designed for the incentive. The treasure chest was a large cardboard box, decorated as a treasure chest with a slot in the top for the tickets. At the end of the incentive, this box was over halfway full with the small, 4x2 paper tickets. The goals were switched out each week in order to attain increased success in different areas of the Kansan, as well as keep the staff members interested in the incentive. For instance, some of the goals were bringing in new business, selling color, selling online, cold calling, creating spec ads, being in the office during certain hours when productivity was low, selling ads into special sections for that month, as well as many more. The goals were created with every person on staff in mind, as to include not only sales reps, but graphic designers and classified account executives as well. At every Monday staff meeting, a name was drawn out of the raffle. Whoever won for that week was rewarded with a $20 gift card to a business and client of the
Kansan. Using the idea of simple probability, employees knew that the more raffle tickets they had in there, the better chance they had of winning. Throughout each semester, managers have found that the biggest motivator for sales representatives at the Kansan is gift cards and cash, so we knew they would respond well to this. This was an area of staff meetings that employees looked forward to each week during February. The staff was excited at the possibility of winning an extra $20, which is a lot for college students. During Spring 2008, the staff was going up against the biggest Spring the Kansan has ever had. Upper management knew that with the very new staff we had, it was important to be creative in motivating these first time sales representatives, as well as the team of new managers. At the end of this incentive, the staff finished 10 percent over the previous February, coming in at $155,352.55 for the month.
Best Sales Incentive Program
The University Times
UNC Charlotte
My sales team is highly competitive so in order to hold their interest we have to come up with fun and exciting competitions. One of our most recent and most successful was our Turkey Shootout. We decided on the Turkey Shootout because Thanksgiving was approaching and we figured this would be a great way to capture the team’s attention. Each account executive was fitted with a riffle and pilgrim hat, and was assigned the task of “bringing home the turkey.” Each account executive was competing to gain the highest sales for the month of November. The executive who sold the highest dollar amount had the privilege of not only capturing the turkey and a $50 bonus, but increasing their chances of being nominated as Sales Representative of the Year. The idea came about when I realized that with this tough economy, we needed a way to boost sales and motivate our sales staff. My first step was to speak with the creative department and brainstorm some ideas. There were various ideas that came to mind but none were better than the Turkey Shootout. Once we came up with the idea we needed a way to visualize it for the sales staff. We decided the best way to do this was to create a large board that could be easily seen and read. The board was decorated in seasonal colors. We next created small figures that represented each sales representative. In order to add a personal touch we dressed each figure in pilgrim clothing and pasted a picture of their own face on the figures. These were pictures that had been taken at the beginning of the
semester. Our initial thought was to set goals and each time a rep reached that goal, move them up on the board. We decided against this because we wanted to be as specific as possible with the numbers. We laminated each figure so that we could write their actual sales to date, allowing them to easily track their progress. This helped motivate the account executives because they knew how much they needed to catch up with the leader at all points. In conclusion, our incentive program provided a great way to motivate our sales staff. Every time an account executive came into the office, the first thing they would do is check the board to see where they were in relation to the rest of the staff . The winner of the Turkey Shootout was Brittany Falzone‐D’Andrade, senior account executive, with a grand total of $4482.41 in sales. The only problem this posed that that our score board only went up to $4000! It was a great month for Brittany and for the University Times. Another great benefit of the Turkey Shootout was that it cost our staff nothing, as the $50 bonus pay was already in our budget. Our production team used supplies that could be found throughout the office. All in all, the Turkey Shootout provided a great way for our team to participate in friendly competition and allowed our staff to select the individual that should be nominated for Sales Representative of the Year.
November 2008 Turkey Shootout Winner!!! $10,000.00 $9,336.48 $9,000.00
$8,000.00
$7,000.00
$6,000.00 Brittany Falzone‐D'Andrade November Total Sales
$5,000.00 $4,482.41
November Local Sales
$4,000.00
$3,000.00
$2,000.00
$1,000.00
$0.00
THE PITT NEWS INCENTIVE PROGRAM At The Pitt News, compensation and incentive programs depend heavily on the concept of teamwork. Individual reps are awarded commissions based on whether they reached their own monthly quota, and are recognized for their contributions to the team with best salesperson of the week, month and semester awards. Other monetary bonus offers are outlined on the following memo from our Sales Manager. The incentive program that motivates the staff the most, though, is the program that costs the newspaper the least. To drive our Points Program, we split our staff into two teams each semester and appoint team captains, who are second or third year sales representatives. Captains assist our Sales Manager in motivating, instructing, mentoring and sometimes disciplining their less-experienced teammates. Teams are named by group consensus, and good-humored posters and memos abound to encourage members to beat the other team. The Point Program encompasses every aspect of the Account Executive’s job. Reps get points for landing new business, selling full pages, making cold calls, turning in daily call reports, selling color etc. Conversely, points can be lost by not performing the required job duties. The Sales Manager tallies and posts points on a daily basis, and reports on the running score at each weekly sales meeting. Rewards for the winning team are distributed on a monthly basis. The Sales Manager draws up a coupon sheet, which is given to each team member. Coupons are for a variety of services and items: a day off work, a clean desk thanks to the Sales Manager, free color to give to a good (or difficult) customer, a roll of quarters, the rep’s favorite candy. The winners enjoy a pizza (which they eat in front of the losing team, more often than not). Most importantly, the winning team is featured in a quarter page advertisement in The Pitt News. Simple but very effective, the Points Program succeeds in driving sales representatives to sell more and procrastinate less, in an effort to support their team. While individual recognition is always welcome, team spirit seems to work in building rapport, selling more space and having more fun.
•Get a customer on a 30 X contract •Sell a full page Card Values: Ace: $15 1-9: The dollar amount of the card. Face Cards: $10 Joker: $20 Team Competition: The sales staff will be split into two teams. The teams will compete, based on the same point system as rep of the week, for an entire month. At the end of the month, the team with the most points wins. The winning team gets their picture in the paper, a pizza party and office coupons….and most importantly, a month of bragging rights! BONUS OPPORTUNITIES Bonus for beating your quota: For every dollar you sell that’s over your quota, you make 10% straight commission. The amount you go over is also calculated into your 5% of your territory’s revenue that you would normally get in your pay. Bonus for being the rep who beats monthly quota by the highest percentage: $50.00. Bonus for being the rep who beats the semester’s quota by the highest percentage: First Semester: Free semester’s books at The Book Center Second Semester: $400.00 Bonus for the rep who sells the most (in number of ads, not dollars) into the Welcome Back issue: Free books for first semester.
The Pitt News – Sales Incentives/Bonuses Rep of the Week: The rep of the week is determined based on the point system outlined below. The winner is announced at the weekly sales meeting and he/she receives a trophy and a certificate! Call or Email*: 1 point Prospecting Report: 2 points Visiting a Customer: 3 points Appointment with a Customer: 5 points New Customer or Revived** Account: 15 points Each New Contract: 20 points *One point per unique customer per day. Several calls/emails with the same customer in one day only counts as one point. **An account is revived if there has been no advertising activity for one year. Copy all daily logs, prospecting reports, insertion orders for a new customer and new contract for points. All paperwork must be turned into Justin by 5pm on Friday in order to receive full points. Rep of the Month: The rep of the month is selected by the Board of Managers. The recipient of this award receives a $100 Visa Gift card and will be announced at the sales meeting. This award is based on qualitative work, and is not necessarily tied to the point system.
Cards: Cards have a dollar value that is placed in your paycheck as a bonus at the end of the pay period. See Justin to pick your cards. A rep can select a card from the deck when they: