DMs Recommend New
Circulation Sales Jobs

by Marian V. Needham
BNG Local Service Representative

A fourth district sales advisor will be added to the circulation ranks this month if Guild members agree to two Buffalo News requests. Circulation district managers, during a meeting in late January, accepted the paper's proposal, but the matter also requires approval from local members.

The News wants to make the district sales advisor positions permanent and add a fourth position.

In August, The News and Guild made an agreement to fill three new positions on a six-month trial basis. The trial period expires in early February, so a decision must be made on making the positions permanent and on adding a fourth slot. The tentative agreement reached last summer calls for a maximum of four positions to be filled outside the district managers' bidding procedure. Any positions in addition to the four would be subject to the bid. The positions are union-covered jobs paid at the circulation DM (Group A) rate.

District sales advisors focus exclusively on building the paper's circulation. They work with dealers and carriers doing door-to-door solicitation. They also staff booths at malls, grocery stores and flea markets and have initiated a program that combines forces with community fund-raising groups that sell the paper and receive a commission for their organizations.

The News has asked the Guild to consider making the district sales advisor positions permanent, instead of extending the trial period. The suggestion has appeal because it would allow the districts vacated by the sales advisors to be available to all DMs in the next bid.

District managers who attended the January meeting recommended the local allow all four positions to be filled permanently prior to contract ratification. The DMs also passed a resolution calling for Guild negotiators to work with circulation management to develop guidelines to coordinate the district sales advisors' marketing initiatives with the ongoing sales and service efforts of each DM team. The local will act on those recommendations at its Feb. 6 meeting.

"During departmental bargaining, The News said if the sales advisors pan out and help build circulation it could mean the addition of more positions," said Dick Fay, DM vice chairperson. "The work all the DMs did during the past contest, and with the additional help of the sales positions, the contest was successful and we improved the circulation base. The News has added a temporary position that we expect to become permanent and we look forward to more of the same sorts of results."

"Developing a position with a straight focus on sales was instrumental in getting us over 275,000 (in daily circulation)," said David W. Perona, Buffalo News circulation director, in explaining the need for the sales advisor jobs. "They are an important extension of the sales effort we already have with our district managers and telemarketers."

"I like the job," said Kevin Hinterberger, who has served as a district sales advisor since last August. "You can try different things you couldn't do as a DM, like going into a mall and soliciting new customers. As a DM there's a lot of service and collection work and no time for new sales tactics. It opens up new avenues and it's good for The News."

At their January meeting, district managers also passed a resolution encouraging the local to look toward negotiating a long-term contract.

"If we negotiate a contract every three years, it gives The News an opportunity to erode the things the Guild has achieved for all members," Fay said. "DMs value the bidding system and other benefits the union negotiated, and we don't want to have to fight every three years to keep them."

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