In November 2012, the entire sales operation converted over to the business unit model.
Today, the roster of business units includes: a health and wellness team; a transportation team; a real estate and finance team; a fashion, beauty and arts team; a home services team that includes everything other than real estate; a food team; an advocacy and education team; and a community publications team.
Several other teams handle business development, advertising operations and special sections.
For example, the transportation unit not only includes cars, but boats and marine transportation businesses as well as the ancillary businesses connected with automotive, such as detail shops, car washes and tire centers. Our industry has been having a fifteen-year discussion on how to fix itself.
Part of that process included examining Daily News coverage of the community.
That meant eliminating the routine in which an account executive had a 9 a.
Those days are gone.
Neill and his top sales executives spent months on the evaluation before sharing the plan with the entire sales staff.
The real estate unit was broadened not only to include the sale of property, but other businesses intertwined with that, such as banking and finance.
With the units in place, the sale staff needed to be re-organized.
The Daily News has a sales staff that numbers 106, with about half working in direct sales and half in support services.
Late in 2012, the paper embarked on a four-month evaluation of the business units that led to significant changes in both the sales units and the staff assignments.
