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Up to 128 Johnston Press jobs at risk in sales restructure

A regional publisher could make up to 128 staff redundant as part of a restructure of its sales and customer service operations.

Johnston Press could lose up to 15pc of its total sales force as part of the changes, which are being brought in as the company aims to move towards “desk sales and self-service.”

The move comes after JP announced the  £3.6m sale of the Telegraph House office of Sheffield daily The Star, which currently houses 400 company staff.

The company says it now plans to invest in a new media sales centre at an as yet unspecified location in the city.

The York Street office of The Star, Sheffield

The York Street office of The Star, Sheffield

The restructure was announced on Thursday afternoon by chief executive Ashley Highfield in a memo to JP staff which has been seen by HTFP.

In it, he said the company will “fundamentally shift our sales model more towards desk sales and self-service” over the next few months, with local display, features and entertainments (LDFE) sales teams switching to focus on “highest value” customers as part of a smaller team of “highly trained and high-performing reps.”

Added Ashley: “Our low to mid-value accounts will be served by the media sales centre (MSC). As part of these changes, we will expand our ‘self-serve’ and call centre capabilities. Many of our customers are increasingly leaning towards online and telephony engagement and we need to respond to their preferences and requirements.

“We will be investing in the MSC in terms of modern office accommodation, products, services, training, systems, and in people. This will enable us to provide an advanced customer contact centre capability that delivers a great customer experience and supports revenue growth.

“We have therefore started consultations today with LDFE field sales and customer service colleagues, and Motors & Property managers. We expect up to 128 sales and service colleagues (15pc of the total sales force) to leave the business as a result of these changes.”

The consultation process is likely to be completed by the end of August.

A spokesman for Johnston Press told HTFP: “One of our key strategic objectives is to transform the business for growth and, in light of this, we will be making a number of improvements to our sales and customer service operation.

“We aim to provide the best possible support to the evolving needs of our diverse customer base, whether they are our biggest customers who buy the most digital services, the SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) who like to book their advertising through the call centre or our smaller customers who like to ‘self-serve’ – by booking their advertising online.

“Further to our recent announcement confirming the sale of our Sheffield site, we will be investing in our media sales centre – not least in new, modern office accommodation, but also in new staff, products, services, training and systems – to provide an improved customer contact centre capability and enhanced service to the customer.

“This realignment of the sales and customer service capabilities means that we will focus on fewer, higher value, key accounts in the field and, thus, this means that we have started a consultation process with our field sales employees.”

28 comments

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  • July 24, 2017 at 10:50 am
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    128 sales jobs is a huge number but with ad revenues scriss the bigger groups being so bad it needed a tough decision to be taken to drastically reduce overheads,and as bitter a pill as this may be to swallow it’s sadly long overdue and shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone,not just at JP but across all of the big groups and across the entire regional press commercial spectrum,
    TM are conducting a full commercial audit and common sense says the other big regional publishers are likely to follow suit,to do nothing at a time when revenues are in free fall is no longer an option.

    Ad reps and particularly the many ad managers are highly paid via good salaries, bonus schemes and other packages at a time when ad sales are at record lows and showing no sign of recovery so reducing the number of staff and their associated costs was an obvious decision to take.
    Whether a desk service and a self service sales facility is the answer is anyone’s guess but it’s hard not to see the sense in cutting out numbers in a department who’s sole purpose is to sell as opposed to the non sales job cuts we have all become very used to which only affects the quality of the end product.

    The best commercial sales people will always find another sales job, as for the managers……

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  • July 24, 2017 at 11:24 am
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    Overpopulated ad sales departments producing less and less and rooms full of managers having meetings about who knows what have been too common for too long, take out the costs of the under productive ones and there are substantial savings to be made with little or no effect on the bottom line of the business ( and I’m not just talking about JP here)

    I’m no fan of AH but all credit to him in tacking the real issue others are seemingly keen to avoid

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  • July 24, 2017 at 11:39 am
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    Seems like a numbers game for Augusts report. I don’t think you can cut sales staff and maintain the current figures. I bet they didn’t think about the current newspaper demographics, lots more older people buy the papers than the younger generation. So older ones unlikely to use web based self service adverts. If they could do that, they may as well use the free Facebook marketplace or Facebook targeted ads.
    More job cuts, revenue goes down and the cycle continues. Glad I’m out of regional press.

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  • July 24, 2017 at 11:40 am
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    Jazzie. I agree. Journocide has cleared nearly all the good hacks and subs, now all that is left to shed is ad jobs. After that?

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  • July 24, 2017 at 12:32 pm
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    When times were easy, these sales people were hailed -and paid- as heroes and heroines for bringing in so much income. But as soon as the economy got tight with advertisers and the ads stopped rolling in, everyone else paid the price by losing their jobs. Could it be simply that many of the sales people were actually not that good and the ads would have arrived at the newspaper even without them?

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  • July 24, 2017 at 1:11 pm
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    @ paperboy
    it is alarming to see not only how few quality journalists are left but also just how many ad reps, managers and those with fancy titles who seem to spend all day writing ‘reports’ but produce nothing are actually left in the industry, too few of the former, far too many of the latter in my experience
    And the quote from Dave S
    ‘…I don’t think you can cut sales staff and maintain the current figures…’
    The current revenue figures are so bad and continuing to drop that it’s hard to argue against alternate methods which might produce results

    As I said the sooner all regional publishers run complete and thorough commercial sales audits the better chance of regrowth and the rebuilding what remains of the industry.

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  • July 24, 2017 at 3:24 pm
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    The old adage ‘Sell yourself out of recession’ still holds true. Changing how sales people work or changing the people themselves might not be a bad tactic but cutting sales staff is the last thing a failing company should do.

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  • July 24, 2017 at 4:22 pm
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    How to manage decline the JP way, cut, cut and cut some more. Self -service and ringing a call centre at the other end other country to speak to someone who’ll be dealing with many many titles. As is common, local newspaper companies all follow each other, so expect the same from NQ et al.

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  • July 24, 2017 at 5:11 pm
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    I am one of the 128 under consultation and work in the customer service role. We have been predicting this would happen for a while. The South was the best performing division for years, but since the company centralised and assimilated all its staff to work the same as the North our profit has plummeted. I think JP has completely lost the whole point of being a local newspaper for local people and businesses. Clearly being assimilated by the Borg has not worked out well for all involve.

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  • July 24, 2017 at 6:02 pm
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    I agree observer50 the strength of a papers content and reader numbers sold the paper and with little competition, this gave a false impression of how much actual selling took/ takes place by those paid to sell.

    The industry has carried far too much commercial deadwood for too long,and for what? The worst ad revenues ever, but like the best journalists,the most competent and professional sales people have long since moved on, often to competitor publications, allowed to go or moved on at the time you really need them most,as the steady and consistent decline in ad revenues is showing.
    Electric pics;
    You cannot keep going with huge teams who’s job is to sell but who clearly aren’t doing so, whether it’s their fault for lacking sales ability or the market itself the facts speak for themselves, huge ad sales staff overheads and costs which outweigh the revenues being returned.

    The review is timely

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  • July 24, 2017 at 6:12 pm
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    I can’t agree with any of this. It is singularly the most absurd strategy i’ve ever heard.

    Many of the salespeople who are left in that business work hard to bring in revenue against the backdrop of ever-falling sales, appalling digital response/CTR’s and ridiculous KPI’s that change every 5 minutes.

    I’m sure customers will delight in ringing a call centre for advice on what works well in their local area. In my final year with JP i don’t remember one single ‘ring-in’.

    As for the high performers dealing with high value customers, these are in rapid decline and a rare commodity. The papers just don’t deliver response anymore.

    It is a slow, managed, sad decline and the company will just accelerate the road to oblivion by doing this or will contract to the size of an advertising agency.

    The city will of course approve, but long-term prospects are bleak and my thoughts are with those who will lose their jobs.

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  • July 24, 2017 at 8:22 pm
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    What many people on here don’t realise is that ad staff numbers have suffered much more than editorial in most of the big groups. It’s just that staff turnover and performance reviews have seen them leave one by one.

    It’s hard flogging a dead horse, but the reps that really understand digital (don’t just tag an ad onto a print one) are going to be useful for the future. The digital issue, however, is that very few of the managers have a clue about it.

    Moving more low value accounts (is that the ad equivalent of sub-core?) to the call centre won’t work. Yes, they’ll reduce costs, but at the expense of revenue.

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  • July 24, 2017 at 9:58 pm
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    Sales people who arent selling aren’t sales people, no more than managers who fail to manage can be called managers, in no other industry would people failing to do their jobs have been allowed to carry on in their roles for so long, the big problem now is with so many good sales people since left the industry and so few top commercial people willing to join or return where does this leave the future of advertising going forward?

    Carrying under performing staff for so long has been a big cause of much of the industry’s problems so this move is necessary however I don’t think self service is the answer.
    Worrying times in ad departments across the uk

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  • July 25, 2017 at 12:31 am
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    Could we see ‘trading suspended’ on LSE after JP results release next week. The words ship and sinking come to mind.

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  • July 25, 2017 at 6:48 am
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    How I read this is they’re doing away with face to face ( field) sales calling, instead developing an office based call centre and DIY ad booking facility on line.

    On the one hand it will save a sizeable amount on cars and mileage claims ( exes too maybe) on the other it will depersonalise contact with JP.
    not everyone be happy calling in or going on line and could feel if their business isn’t valued they’ll go elsewhere .
    AH also seems to have overlooked the number of smaller local publishers/ competitors who will be happy to pick up the pieces left by JP and indeed call on their SME businesses face to face.
    A very risky strategy and one which could lose even more revenue not to mention good will but a move that was inevitable and desperately needed.

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  • July 25, 2017 at 9:41 am
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    I believe this a national thing with JP. The South was certainly a fantastic performer for JP for a long time until it got messed up. The miracle is that JP survives.

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  • July 25, 2017 at 10:12 am
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    You have groups like Illiffe re-opening closed local offices and buying new ones. You have small independent publishers growing and achieving increases in circulation and sales.
    Why?
    Because of the understanding that this is a local based buisness and always will be.
    This is not and will never be a buisness that succeeds through distant centralisation. The product will always be a local creation and anything else becomes generic fodder.

    Alas I’m afraid that anyone with true drive and vision is gone from most of the large groups now. The task of looking at such large geographical areas without real idea people on the ground with the incentive given to achieve something is long gone and the centralised dirt cheap distribution and management network they have will only ever deliver the bare minimum.

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  • July 25, 2017 at 11:02 am
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    Voice of reason
    I wonder how many of the people at risk raised these concerns with their managers at the time rather than saying it as it is now?
    From my experience I’ll bet very few for fear of being seen as negative or ‘not on board’
    Also if I were a TM advertiser I would feel insulted to be seen as SME and not worthy of the best service possible, as has been mentioned already there will be plenty of other papers who will value this raft of accounts which collectively will amount to a substantial sum of money after all busibesss start small initially then grow.
    Too many under performing sales people yes but this new and impersonal approach isn’t the answer to regaining lost revenues

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  • July 25, 2017 at 11:18 am
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    You have to be pretty sure of yourself and how in demand your product – paper is to expect businesses, who are being bombarded by sales reps (in person or face to face) constantly throughout the day, to contact you to advertise, it just won’t happen
    When there was no competition it was easy, now there are more and better options you have to show you’re the best and demonstrate how
    Lack of readers, lack of advertising and ooor content are the obstacles the sales people will and are facing.
    Maybe just ditch the managers and reinvest their salaries in employing top quality business minded sales people…. if you can get any prepared to join an industry in serious decline
    Good luck to all affected

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  • July 25, 2017 at 11:27 am
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    They’re all blending into one grey uniform group of companies!
    . Apologies I meant JP not TM

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  • July 25, 2017 at 3:05 pm
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    The biggest mistake was forming Retention and Acquisition teams in the advertising departments. Retention reps did what the job said – retaining and up-selling regular customers where possible. For months the Acquisition teams brought in very little new revenue – a massive waste of manpower over those months. Couple this with management bringing in ever-changing KPI’s and reps being treated like school children – reading through spreadsheets on a daily basis on conference calls when the whole idea of recording information is that it is there at any time for people to look at it. Dwindling circulations should be a massive concern – the paper I worked on only sells a fraction of what is quoted on the media sheets. Sales staff morale is at rock bottom, and has been for months and I can’t see any way it will improve.

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  • July 26, 2017 at 2:47 pm
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    A .H Has not got a clue about the people at the sharp end ie sales and what they have to go through to sell space. All that’s rammed down their throats is sell on line. Never mind that the majority of customers don’t want to know. It’s people like him and his unrealistic Ad Directors with their unrealistic targets who don’t know the customers who pay their wages and really don’t give a toss about their staff. I would suggest they get of their backsides and try and do a sales role for a month. They wouldn’t last a month. A.H’s decisions over the past few years is partly why he has demoralized and unmotivated staff.

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  • July 28, 2017 at 6:46 am
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    Fodder, the factors you mention about ad managers, ad directors call them what you will,must be common to other publishers as I hear this all the time these days from the ad reps I work alongside, out of touch and filling their days hiding in meetings, emailing spread sheets and unable to sell themselves and so forth however costs have gotten completely out of control with high overheads not being justified by the declining revenue returns which for any business sends alarm bells ringing so something needs to be done, let’s hope AH and his ‘decision makers’ look at what those who are in consultation bring in against what each person incurs in costs then maybe some of the managers ( I use the term loosely if yours are anything like the ones here) will be the first out the door.

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  • July 28, 2017 at 7:11 pm
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    Well I’m one of those sales reps affected and me personally the last two months have brought growth in from last year I think that we will lose a lot of our mid spending clients who do require a rep as this has happened with our low spend customers the reps up north who I know for a fact can get these customers to spend and to put you right I’m not overpaid an average field sales wage is 25,000 I’m on a lot less than that. I love my job and don’t want to lose it and some of the comments on here I find a bit harsh its peoples lively hoods your talking about

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  • July 29, 2017 at 11:49 am
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    Norridge, Ditto you are so right. JP like all companies who have lost sight of what their core market is they knee jerk and blame situation on the people who have had the right ideas but not been able to implement them. As they have been tied up with endless changing strategies and the endless meetings trying to convince totaly confused, demoralised staff this is the new way ahead. It is a case of the “blind leading the not so blind”

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  • August 4, 2017 at 8:08 am
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    Having worked in this industry for 25 years and I am one of the retention staff under consultation , I read the comments with interest.
    It’s the hardest I’ve ever known it and I can only speak for my team who constantly hit targets month after month, not all individuals hit every month but we pull together as a team to get us home
    When the changes came in last year it became even harder
    Customers that you had a good rapport with were transferred to acquisitions because they hadn’t spent only to find after 12 months no one has contacted them
    Smaller spenders transferred to call centre teams and again the same, the call centres get all incoming enquiries and even when they are bigger spenders they keep them, so they don’t need the small spenders to hit targets
    My colleagues who are under consultation are all top salespeople and who take pride in their job.
    Like me they love the job have great relationships with their customers and work hard for the customers to give the best service and always put the Customer first
    Working under difficult circumstances we are still hitting targets so what does that’s say !
    Local people need local reps not someone miles away who doesn’t understand what’s going on in the local area
    Scary times indeed

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