About the Company
The Tampa Bay Times, which is Florida's largest daily newspaper, has been part of the Tampa Bay community for more than 130 years. Locally owned and independent, the Times has long been celebrated for its outstanding and credible journalism, practiced with integrity in the public interest and has been ranked among the Top 10 newspapers in the country. It has chronicled the Tampa Bay region’s growth with outstanding journalism, winning 14 Pulitzers and numerous other awards along the way.

The Role
The Sales Assistant will be responsible for the development, service and administration of advertising accounts within the team’s assigned category and geographic boundaries. Sales development & service will be accomplished through incoming and outbound telephone calls. Emphasis will be on providing outstanding customer service by determining client needs & working with team members to find customer driven solutions thereby building revenue & achieving plan. The administration of accounts will be accomplished by assisting the outside sales staff with planning, organizing, prioritizing & executing work flow to meet team goals and deadlines. Work from home two days a week, work in the office one day a week!

Duties and Responsibilities

• Through the use of strategic planning, achieve individual and team revenue goals.
• Develop and service customers over the phone.
• Able to quote rates & has working knowledge of customers’ rate structures & programs.
• Utilize internal resources such as Research and available software programs & websites to develop customer presentations for increased team revenue.
• Research and generate new business leads for the team.
• Track competitive media activity & request market share information from Research Department. Consistently work with Research to provide Sales with current research & data for use in the sales process.
• Understand and enforce all advertising, credit, and company guidelines. Research and troubleshoot billing issues for the team. Negotiate credits to mutual satisfaction of the company and the customer.
• Share responsibility with other Sales Associates to handle all incoming calls in a professional manner.
• Complete new customer setup form, when applicable, for processing by the Credit Dept. staff.
• Receive and prepare work orders for processing by the Ad Order Entry staff.
• Process ads for team, provide layouts as needed or requested by outside sales reps, submit spec requests & display orders via the Work Flow Coordinator, forward PDF proofs to clients, call customers for proof corrections & make corrections via computer system. Troubleshoot production issues through the Work Flow Coordinator for the team.
• Coordinates & handles internal workflow & troubleshooting on direct mail, web advertising & promotions/events sold by the team.
• Handle administrative functions, including but not limited to: coordinating sales call appointments, typing business letters, compiling media kits, creating power point sales presentations, pulling revenue numbers & applicable reports for the team, coordinating mailings, processing monthly co-op memo bills & calling Manufactures for co-op pre-approval on display ads.
• Respond to requests from management in a timely, accurate fashion.
• Able to manage priorities set forth by the sales reps on a daily basis.
• Complete all duties assigned in a timely fashion and within assigned deadlines.
• May be required to work over-time hours occasionally to meet deadlines or finalize important projects on a pre-approved basis.
• Meet all advertising and production deadlines.
• Handle accounts, as assigned to the Sales Associate by the Sales Manager, over the telephone.
• May serve as backup for other territories or offices as assigned by Sales Manager.
• Other job duties or responsibilities may be assigned by the Sales Manager.
• Other duties as assigned.

Education and/or Experience

• High school diploma or general education degree (GED) with two (2) years related experience preferred.
• Must have great attention to detail and time management skills.
• Must be organized, proficient typist, able to meet deadlines and able to relay ad schedules as ordered.
• Able to complete work on several projects simultaneously, assigned by more than one category manager at a time.
• Good math skills, strong written and verbal communication with ability to speak comfortably with executive level clients.
• Knowledge of products, policies and procedures.
• Sales acumen to include ability to recognize sales opportunities and a desire to act upon those opportunities.
• Confident professional with the willingness to take initiative, work independently and make decisions when category managers are not available.

INDTBT

Benefits for Part-Time Eligible Employees

• Weekly payroll
• Flexible work environment
• Business casual dress code
• Potential for internal growth opportunity