Publisher Mark Winkler sent the following memo to Desert Sun staff today; it follows his promotion to publisher in September, after Richard Ramhoff left amid flagging advertising sales. Winkler came to the Palm Springs, Calif., paper from outside Gannett; he had been a MediaNews Group marketing and sales executive. A Gannett Blog reader provided a copy of his memo moments ago.
To: The Desert Sun Staff
Fr: Mark Winkler
Re: Advertising Sales Reorganization 12/13/2010
In my communications to you, I have mentioned that we would undergo a significant advertising sales and marketing reorganization during the fourth quarter of this year. This is necessary in order to create the appropriate structure to best represent the products and services we have to offer to our customers, as we move forward. Today, members of the senior leadership team had meetings with the associates in that business unit to advise them of the structural changes in our sales and marketing organization and the new positions, configuration and role that each associate would have moving ahead.
It must be noted that the new organization will function in a more focused and streamline arrangement, and thus some positions and headcount were eliminated. While changes of this magnitude are never easy, they were necessary as a result of a detailed review of our sales and marketing environment, current business conditions, and sales opportunities not yet realized. We are confident that our newly formed organization will flourish and thrive in the new world. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
On behalf of the operating committee, I want to extend my appreciation for the contributions of those individuals who were affected by these changes and wish those departing the organization the best in their new endeavors.
Mark Winkler
Got a memo? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.
Monday, December 13, 2010
20 comments:
Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Brace yourselves when they start laying off sales people you know its about to get ugly. Got to love this memo though. There's not even an attempt to sell the next 'big thing' to save Gannett. Nope, not even a peep. Just a good old fashion layoff cuz' business is down and we can't fix it. Have to admit it's refreshing in its candor, even if it does BS its way to the main point!
ReplyDeleteWhat is remarkable about this memo to me is its timing. Did they not notice that it is Christmas in two weeks. Time was that companies waited until after Christmas to declare bad news to employees, just so they could have a decent holiday. So way to go, GCI. Spoil a Christmas season and create some very nervous people for what looks to me as plans not yet completed.
ReplyDelete9:59. This, unfortunately, is the Gannett way. But hey, it won't phase anyone attending upper management's special "invitation only" holiday party at the Crystal Palace.
ReplyDeleteI was just comparing that memo with the upbeat talk Craig gave to stock analysts last week. Am I the only one that finds this memo as reflecting disappointment in ad revenues? The memo citing "changes of this magnitude" also sounds particularly ominous compared to what Craig portrayed of the company's fortunes.
ReplyDeleteWow. I thought Palm Springs escaped.
ReplyDeleteThe important question is who in Palm Springs picks Dickey up at the airport and carries his clubs for the golf tournament this year? Is the asskissing protocol memo going to be updated?
ReplyDeleteFinally - cutting unproductive sales representatives!! Good! Your paper is probably like ours - with several lazy sales reps who stopped working hard years ago and who are content on their current salaries. You know the types - uses all their sick days, cut our early, comes in late because they were "Cold Calling" yet you never, ever see a new client, constantly complains when told the need to sell more, etc. There is a lot of wasted dollars in our sales department and I bet in your sales department too!
ReplyDeleteJim: Is this the beginning of the 5,000 in 2011 we've been reading about? Or don't we know?.
ReplyDelete10:28 I don't think so. Winkler had, indeed, said he would be shaking up the advertising department. And Laura Hollingsworth predicted that when she said the paper had left money on the table under Ramhoff.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete9:59: I've seen people on this blog argue that it's heartless to lay off people after the holidays, when they've spent dollars they can no longer afford without prior notice. So, honestly and curiously -- when is the APPROPRIATE time to lay people off?
ReplyDeleteI don't know which I'd prefer, being called headcount or FTE.
ReplyDeleteFor a company involved in publication, I find it particularly unusual to invite "grinch that stole Christmas" or "Scrooge" comparisons by announcing layoffs in the weeks before Christmas.
ReplyDeleteThere is no "appropriate time" to do this, but there certainly is an inappropriate time that anyone involved in framing public messages should realize. Of course, if they control the media in the areas affected, then they can frame the message anyway they want.
4:50 a.m. Personally, I prefer the term used by a pro wrestling blogger - "Future Endeavored."
ReplyDelete10:21pm, you surely are describing the situation at the courier post!
ReplyDelete"Some positions and headcount were eliminated?"
ReplyDeleteAnd Happy Holidays to you, too.
2:01 -- I think the appropriate time would be after Dubow, Martore and company agreed to work for nothing more than their base compensation ... no bonuses, no stock options, no country club memberships. Just base pay like the little guys they're laying off.
ReplyDeleteEach would still be making plenty, as they bring in more than $500,000 a year in base pay, more than most of their employees will make in the next 10 years.
They make huge salaries because they are supposed to be extraordinary, yet the company has continued to sink under their command. The only thing they can say in their defense is, "We haven't done as bad as some of our competitors in the same field." But that's not much of a defense. In fact, if they were their own employees they would likely be let go for "poor performance."
After all the folks in upper management have cut their compensation to base pay, it would then be appropriate to initiate layoffs. Before that ... there is never an appropriate time.
Hey 10:21pm sounds like you know the Arizona Republic, the sales department was and is still very much like that.... LOL
ReplyDeleteWhat makes this dude think he can cut peoples pay by 1/3 and ask for a 5 million dollor house?
ReplyDeletenice fake smiles too! We thought Dom was A nightmare...
ReplyDelete