Tuesday, May 15, 2012

DealChicken | A switch to commission-only sales?

In a possible sign of distress for Gannett's online coupon site, a reader notes that DealChicken in Louisville, Ky., is now advertising for part-time, commission-only account executives. (Here's the job description.)

That could mean prospects have sunk to a point where it's no longer cost effective to maintain a salesforce getting paid a guaranteed wage.

My reader also notes the site is offering a too-good-to-be-true-sounding five-day getaway to Hawaii valued at $659 for only $75.

Are you seeing anything like this in your market?

18 comments:

  1. What?!?!?!

    A sign of trouble?!?!?!


    I thought the Chicken was going to usher in a new era at GCI.

    So you're telling me that since the industry leader(Groupon) is struggling, that even the mighty Chicken is susceptible to failure?

    Jump ship while you can, folks.

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  2. Jim, from my observation, I'd have to say that the employees of Gannett were right about the failue of this venture proving once again that the people running the show at the CP don't have a clue about Gannett's products and what works and what doesn't. It didn't take very long for the chicken to fly the coop.

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  3. It is too good to be true. It includes a $139 per person "reservation fee," which brings the total cost up to $353.

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  4. At our station Deal Chicken is really classing up the joint. We have a banner haphazardly hung between two pine trees out front. I love the artistic use of bungee chords.
    It really yells 'We're classy' to all the traffic on Garners Ferry Road. I'm sure the unevenly hung banner has been responsible for tens of new signups.

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  5. Someone had to dress up as the Chicken in our town's parade as part of the newspaper's entourage. Probably an employee's kid, I bet.

    How degrading.

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  6. Can't wait for my next deal chicken turkey deal to a massage parlor, sushi bar, another massage parlor or another sushi bar.

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  7. How many millions of dollars worth of advertising has deal chicken received in the form of house ads at gannett papers? Shouldn't it be an insanely successful business, at least according to what a gannett sales rep would tell an advertiser?

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  8. Wait you mean the powers that be had another great idea fail? Bonus time I'm sure.

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  9. How many times do we have to tell Corporate that just because something is successful in one market doesn't mean it will be in another? It's time to STOP trying to make every paper the same. Let's get some leaders who know how to lead and stop the one-size-fits-all approach to things.

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  10. Not just in house ads. Deal Chicken at my station has a bigger outside media budget then the station does. Yep, we're spending more on a product that's going to make the company only a fraction of what a half a point increase in a key demo will bring in.

    I think they should rebrand Gannett to "Bring Out Your Dead"

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  11. I think 8:39's sense of humor is badly needed on this blog.

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  12. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  13. mastery of English aside. Them cords make the station look like a trailer park.

    Wait....I should probably say manufactured housing neighborhood.

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  14. I would have to say that the opposite is true... Some very sucessful ventures offer commission only positions.

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  15. They are doing this in every market so they can go to running a different deal 7 days a week. Its not possible for a sales rep to sell 7 new deals a week. So instead of hiring appointment setters that many digital teams have, they chose to hire high turn over commission only reps.

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  16. They need to run 7 deals for 7 days a week becuase they cant sell anything. Outside of a few (rare) really good sellers, the site manages no profit. Its now, lets throw as much shit at the wall as possible to try and make revenue. Their short-sightedness is finally catching up with them. Commission only reps that know what they are doing wont be working here as they see 7% of nothing is nothing. They had a chance to be different, but politics and a lack of any kind of creativity has put the chicken one step closer to the fryer.

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  17. I do not agree with the hiring of commission only reps. The reason why i think they did this is because since they are not paid a salary their focus will only be on calling on places that will make them a lot of money. Hence, internal conflict between the full time and part time reps. What a circus this is becoming!

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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."

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