“A sales transformation effort at one of the largest newspapers in the country is no easy task—and Scott Edinger helped us move from a transactional sales organization to a consultative one.”

Sales Development Leader

Sales Transformation Fuels Growth

The Need:

The Los Angeles Times was a stalwart as a print media platform, offering traditional marketing opportunities for advertisers. But as digital advertising opportunities continued to rise, the newspaper’s sales team faced challenges in keeping pace with an evolving media landscape.

The team could overcome these challenges by:

• Creating a fundamentally different sales strategy focused on a broader set of capabilities
• Shifting from transactional ad space sales to consultative support on marketing solutions for clients
• Transforming the advertising sales team from a print-only success to a multi-platform consultative powerhouse
• Increasing revenue and profit margins as print declined and digital advertising was on the upswing

The Solution:

Scott worked with sales leadership to help the team move into a new era of advertising sales.

The solutions included:

• Crafting and communicating a new sales strategy that helped sellers understand their roles in growing the business
• Customizing and implementing programs for consultative selling skills, empowering them to function as marketing partners to their clients
• Working with leaders on communicating and driving the new strategy through the business
• Guiding senior and mid-level managers to develop sales talent and coach their teams to effectively execute on their skills
• Advising sales leaders on updated compensation plans, management systems, and sales metrics
• Transitioning the team to proactively pursue opportunities based on a client’s overall marketing plans

The Results:

• The LA Times halted the profit margin decline, holding at a respectable 15%, while total revenues grew as a result of expanding business with new digital solutions.
• The margin success helped position the paper for acquisition at a price of $6.5B by the Tribune Company (Chicago Tribune) as market consolidation continued in the industry.