If you’ve ever been in sales, you know first-hand that one of the most powerful ways to go from good to great is having a strong sales manager. The best sales managers are active listeners and innovative thinkers. They know how to inspire and motivate their teams. So, is there a secret that only these superstar managers know?

This article provides valuable insights for local media salespeople in newspapers, magazines, billboards, TV, and digital platforms. It covers recent developments in the automotive industry, including tariff adjustments, technological advancements, and production shifts. Understanding these changes can help media sales professionals tailor their strategies to better serve automotive clients and capitalize on new advertising opportunities.

Performance is the conversation of the moment. Some leaders are concerned if remote and hybrid workers are getting their work done. The changes to how work gets done in the last several years have also made us question the performance metrics we’re using to gauge success. These are conversations we should have but aren’t the only levers of performance.

AI tools are helping media sales and local marketing teams improve their work. They support sales management, content creation, ad optimization, and customer engagement. These tools speed up tasks and help teams connect better with local audiences.

Mel Karmazin was a transformative force in American media, known for turning radio and satellite broadcasting into high-profit, advertiser-driven platforms. Rising from humble beginnings in Queens, he built Infinity Broadcasting, led CBS and Viacom, and later revolutionized SiriusXM by bringing in Howard Stern. His relentless focus on ratings and revenue, combined with a deep respect for talent, made him a standout leader in a creative industry. Karmazin’s story is a masterclass in sales-driven leadership, adaptability, and operational excellence. His legacy offers powerful lessons for today’s media sellers and agency leaders navigating a rapidly evolving landscape.

We work for decades, yet for most of us, there are a handful of moments in time that define the course of our leadership career. Unfortunately, these moments — opportunities or crises — don’t come with a caption suggesting, “Hey, pay attention and embrace this mess because it’s going to turn out to be important to you.” For individuals who choose to lead, it pays to see the signposts. Here are three significant moments in the career of everyone who leads that merit your complete engagement.

Consumers plan to spend the same or more this holiday season despite financial pressures, but many feel overwhelmed by promotional noise and are abandoning purchases out of frustration. Generative AI is emerging as a “holiday helper,” giving shoppers curated recommendations and clearer choices—if retailers feed it structured, consistent content. At the same time, physical stores are reclaiming center stage as experiential hubs and omnichannel switchboards, from community-driven formats to BOPIS, returns and in-store events that build confidence and connection. For local media sellers and agencies, the opportunity is to help retailers simplify decisions, turn stores into local events, align AI and in-store promises, and ultimately sell confidence rather than just more clutter.

Nov 13, 2024 | Media, Retail, Advertising and the Economy, Industry Press Highlights Executive Summary: In 2024, Mattel and Hasbro, the industry giants in the toy market, lowered...

What restauranteurs and their employees had to endure during the pandemic and inflationary periods is a testament to the American entrepreneurial spirit and the resilience of local restaurant owners and franchisees. Most of the data indicates the restaurant industry has fully recovered but challenges remain, including high food and labor costs and many potential guests who don’t have the discretionary income to visit their favorite restaurant or experience new eateries.

As you read this, many of the people on your team may be plotting their escape. A recent Gallup poll found that 54 percent of workers are “psychologically unattached to their work and company” — and that makes them very hard to rally to your cause. Across the American economy, those disengaged employees translate into billions of dollars of losses.

Dale Carnegie’s journey from farm boy to global authority on communication offers timeless lessons for anyone in advertising or media sales. His story reveals how empathy, listening, and relationship-building—not just data or persuasion—drive real influence and long-term client trust. Carnegie’s principles, like making others feel important and speaking in terms of their interests, are directly applicable to pitching, negotiating, and retaining clients in today’s competitive media landscape. Reading his story isn’t just inspiring—it’s a masterclass in the human side of selling that every ad professional should revisit.

BrightEdge’s 2025 industry report shows that AI-driven search is growing rapidly, but organic search remains the dominant driver of conversions and brand visibility. While AI referrals account for less than 1% of total traffic today, they are doubling month over month, signaling a major shift in how consumers discover products and services. For local media sales reps and ad agencies, this means combining traditional SEO with strategies that help clients appear in AI-generated results—through structured data, authoritative content, and local media mentions. The report emphasizes that local credibility and trusted content are becoming essential signals for AI models, giving local publishers and agencies a competitive edge. The key takeaway: success in 2025 requires selling not just impressions, but discoverability across both search and AI ecosystems.

Miles had just been promoted to his first position at the director level after two short years of working for a large manufacturer in a complicated, heavily regulated industry. What surprised him most about the culture of the company is how project oriented the firm had become during his tenure as a manager. Common practice was to assign a project team to study the details to the nth degree. Miles felt the phenomenon of analysis-paralysis was slowing down decision making, and he was not alone in this opinion.

These are examples of objections we often hear in the middle to the end of the sales cycle. One thing that hasn’t changed in the wake of COVID-19 is the necessity of sales professionals to respond effectively to buyer objections. Objections are explicit communications from a prospect that they are resisting or not planning to move forward with a purchase, which become a barrier to advancing and closing the sale.

People and, therefore, consumers are complex creatures.  It’s even more the case today, as the world, in general, and the lives we live, specifically, bear little or no resemblance to the world and the lives of our childhood, whether we are Baby Boomers or Millennials. The rapid technological transformations we are experiencing today and those that will overwhelm and amaze us during the remainder