Sales Manager
Laura Diane Moore
January 2008

My first day on the job was January 9th.  I spent the first two days with the Events Manager going over responsibilities and procedures and learning as much as I could about the advertising, commercial membership and booth sales end of things before she left for a week to go to a conference.

Legacy Magazine deadlined on the 12th.  In order to get an accurate list of advertisers for that March/April issue, all the renewing 2008 advertising contracts had to be signed, sealed and delivered.  That meant getting the new interactive ad rate card live and on-line.  That involved the help of the Publications Manager and the IT manager. 

90% of those contracts are now in, with the remaining 10% to be closed out this week.  A few advertisers chose not to renew at this time creating an immediate need to start prospecting for new advertising clients. 

We have had a few new commercial members join recently, so that seems like an obvious first place to look (for new advertising business).  Beyond that, there are many ideas that we (the Executive Director) and myself are formulating for growing the advertising base of Legacy.  I will faithfully report those to you here as they get more fleshed out.  Suffice to say that our vision for Legacy as being the National Geographic of the interpretive world is what drives us to explore new horizons and possibilities.

It was decided to continue offering the “Green Pages” as an adverting vehicle for any member and we will be able to upgrade that publication to “full color” without having to alter the current pricing (that was approved by the Executive Director).  The pricing on recycled paper has dropped enough to make that possible.  That publication will be included in the May issue of the Interpreter as a “stand alone” pull-out section, giving it good “shelf life”.

I have met with the Financial manager and she has given me a list of advertisers who are not yet “paid in full” for their 2007 advertising—this list also included two companies that still owe us their booth fee from the 2007 Wichita workshop.  I have spent some time contacting all of those delinquent payers and getting those accounts paid up.

In an informal meeting between myself, the Exec. Dir and the Publications Manager, it was decided to create a CD-ROM with The Interpretive Sourcebook Collection: 2002-2007.  This is a collection of Interpretive Sourcebooks from NAI National Workshops from 2002-2007.  Each Interpretive Sourcebook includes 80 to 100 articles in 13 different tracks by presenters at the NAI National Workshop.  It will be offered for sale in the on-line store for $25 members; $30 nonmembers.  It can then be used as an “incentive” piece to upgrade commercial membership status, or as a “thank you” or in other promotional ways yet to be discovered.  Our cost for producing those CD’s on an “at need” basis is less than a dollar, so when they sell, or are used in a negotiation, they are nearly a pure-profit item.

I will be attending the IEG Sponsorship Conference in Chicago in March where I will have face-to-face time with major potential sponsor representatives.  I have begun to outline my presentation for that event and will ask for some help from the Publications Mgr and IT manager to create some compelling promotional pieces as “leave behinds”.  My goal is come away with strong connections and a clear bridge to securing several major, national sponsors for the Portland workshop.  I’m reluctant to put a $ goal on what I can mine from that conference, but if it pans out the way they promote it, it should be substantial.

Speaking of the national workshop, there are eight booths reserved so far.  The goal is to have 120 booths at the trade show in Portland in November.  The Events Manager and I will be traveling to Denver Feb. 24-28 for the APPL conference.  Historically, that has been a good show to recruit from for exhibitors.  I have begun to make calls to vendors who were at that show last year to introduce myself and to set up the expectation of their seeing me in Denver.  We hope for good things from that show.

I have begun to investigate the possibility of having a major, national subscription agency pick up Legacy/the Interpreter/Journal magazine in order to boost subscriptions.  In particular a service that sells subscriptions to libraries looks very possible.  That is a place that we feel there is good growth potential for these magazines and that should be fairly simple to do. 

I attended a CIH workshop last week taught by Tim and Lisa here at the National Office.  I dutifully took the exam and believe I will be a certified CIH by the time you read this.

Thanks for listening!