Consulting services are offered on a wide variety of subjects related to magazine publishing. These services are priced on an hourly or project basis. These services are offered for all levels of the publishing organization from sales to administration to sales management and publisher.

1. Advertising Sales – Custom design of sales programs and/or advice on specific subject. Some topics that consulting services are available for ad sales training include but are not limited to:

a. Developing a Sales System and Organization - This could include evaluating and implementing a new software or web based database program for organizing sales, circulation and/or financial data or it could simply be setting up an internal sales system that streamlines the sales process.

b. Prospecting - How to find new potential customer - researching and prioritizing potential customers.

c. Selling Up - How to get more from your current customers.

d. Selling Integrated Programs - Print, electronic, events.

2. Advertising Sales Management - Great management of the sales team is probably the most important aspect of a winning sales team. Topic specific services are provided in:

a. Hiring Sales Staff - Getting the right people is three quarters of the success.

b. Compensation Plans - Develop a winning plan that motivates sales people without breaking the bank.

c. Training - Sales representatives must be trained, not just once but on a regular basis.

d. Reporting - Sales reps should be required to report on their activities either through written or electronic call reports or in meetings. We’ll help you develop a reporting system that will work for both sales and management.

e. Sales Projections - Do you know how much advertising you will sell next month or six months from now? Accurate sales projections allow managers and publishers to achieve financial goals. We can help you develop an accurate sales projection system that will leave you with no financial surprises.

f. Evaluating Sales Performance - It is important to do regular performance reviews of all employees. We will develop a performance review system that is based on measurable data and not just opinion.

g. Share of Market Analysis - Market share is the only true way to analyze how your publication is performing against its competitors which is especially important in difficult economic times. Do you know if your publication has a higher percentage of advertisers this year than last? Page counts just don’t tell the story nor do they tell you which of your sales reps is doing a great job and which ones are failing. We will develop a system for you to keep track of your share of the advertising dollars on a monthly basis by sales rep.

h. Conference/Event Development - Have you been thinking about getting in to the very lucrative conference world but don’t know where to begin? Or does your present conference/event need some help? We will conduct a complete needs analysis to determine if your conference idea is a winner and then help you from beginning to end in designing and organizing the event.

i. Research - The key to sales success is being armed with lots of data about the market, your readers, products and the like. We provide research services where we will do a needs analysis of what type of data you need and conduct the appropriate research to achieve those goals. This research will be done by mail, by email, web based, telephone survey or focus group.