4. c. Sales Increase of a Special Section Since the CNBAM conference of 2006, when I organized a session on Housing Fair events and found out that some schools host multiple fairs, I have been trying to convince the powers that be here at the IDS to add a second fair and printed guide. During the publication planning meeting for the 09-10 school year, the three student managers added their voices to the argument, and we got it scheduled for this year. The Fall Housing & Living Guide, which did not exist in 2008, brought in an additional $17,567. The Housing Fair event, where extra copies of the Housing & Living Guide tab are handed out to attendees, brought in an additional $15,712. The naysayers said that the attendance might be low. We had record attendance. The naysayers worried that it might adversely affect the usual spring semester guide and fair. We reached our combined goal of $39,000 and sold out the booth space for this semester. The naysayers worried that it might adversely affect classified line and classified display revenue. It has actually helped. We had surveyed our housing clients to find out the ideal timing for our housing fair. We found that there were as many clients that wanted it late October/early November as wanted it at our usual time of late January/early February. Our strategy was to send out a combined sales flyer for both guides and both fairs (see wording on attached sales flyers explaining the addition of a second guide and fair). Sell once for both was our philosophy. Our Housing Fair Coordinator, a Travel and Tourism major, still did follow up for the spring fair while the sales reps who handle each housing client followed up on the Housing & Living Guide and did a tag-team effort with the Housing Fair Coordinator if she was having trouble getting a response, a contract or checklist returned, etc. Due to the incremental revenue, and the positive response from advertisers, all concerned have already decided to push for having both in fall as well as spring semesters. The final decision will be at our upcoming publication planning meeting, but I’m confident that we will not pass up this golden opportunity again.
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