Sales trainer Amy Franko shares highlights from a webinar she presented recently for SMM Connect on the most important metrics for sales managers to monitor. Before we dive into that, I speak with Amy about her shift from B2B sales in the tech world to starting her own sales consultancy. She talks about how she goes to market and how companies can be smarter buyers of sales training.

Home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) are surging again in 2025–2026 as homeowners sitting on record equity and ultra-low first-mortgage rates look for smarter ways to fund renovations and consolidate high-interest debt. HELOCs growth is a great opportunity for local media. Unlike the pre-2008 era, today’s growth is driven by more disciplined, prime borrowers and stricter underwriting, making HELOCs a strategic tool rather than a reckless ATM. Banks, credit unions, and fintechs are all racing to capture this demand, but local media are uniquely positioned to help them win by combining trusted storytelling with data-driven targeting of equity-rich homeowners. For local media sellers and agencies, this creates a timely opportunity to build HELOC campaigns around real-life use cases—“don’t move, improve,” credit-card cleanup, and life events—while pairing brand messaging with performance channels. Ultimately, the HELOC revival reveals a middle class trying to regain control in an anxious economy, using their homes not to splurge, but to stabilize their financial lives.

Most media have recovered as well as could be expected since the start of the pandemic, despite significant losses of ad spending and shifts in people’s media use. TV was able to benefit from its ubiquitous position, as viewers, including young adults, planted themselves in front of their TVs for news and entertainment to fill their additional time at home. Eventually, digital media benefited significantly (and still is), as well as many retailers from

Convenience stores, like most other businesses and retailers, have remained committed to serving their customers better, even as they’ve had to adjust to the pandemic, supply-chain and labor challenges and inflation, driving many to reinvent themselves. Changing consumer spending habits have provided C-stores with many opportunities to become something more than a grab-and-go foodservice location. They are also proactively embracing and adding new retail technologies to improve service while reducing costs.

This interview guide helps local media managers assess next-gen sales candidates across key traits like digital fluency, data literacy, storytelling, and competitive drive. It organizes questions into categories such as planning, motivation, tech comfort, and local market passion, with a 5-point scoring system for consistent evaluation. A new section highlights red flags like disorganization, tech aversion, and a transactional mindset. It also includes a comparison chart outlining the strengths of top performers versus the weaknesses of underperformers. Together, these tools help hiring teams identify candidates who are not only skilled but also adaptable, strategic, and aligned with the future of local media sales.

You’ve just tipped over halftime in 2023. How will your year end up? A lot of the next five and a half months, especially Q4, depends on how you motivate sellers now – deep in the summer grind. There are numerous diverse ways to encourage and motivate salespeople now. Here are some examples that might be helpful so you have more options.

This assessment highlights the top 10 AI tools in 2025, including ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, and Google Gemini, each offering unique strengths across productivity, creativity, coding, and research. Tools like ChatGPT and Claude excel in conversational versatility and document analysis, while Copilot and Gemini shine in enterprise and productivity integration. Pricing ranges from free tiers to premium plans around $20–$49/month, depending on features and use cases. The comparison also outlines key weaknesses, such as limited customization or ecosystem dependency, helping users choose the right tool based on their goals and workflows.

Business Background

• The combined market size for Pilates and Yoga studios in the US is estimated at a substantial $14.7 billion in 2024 [IBISWorld, Pilates Yoga Studios in the US industry analysis].
• According to Yoga Alliance, an estimated 38.4 million people in the US practice yoga regularly, which is roughly 10% of the population [Grand View Research, Yoga Market Size, Share, Growth Trends Report 2030].
• Demographics are evolving: While traditionally female-dominant, the gender gap is narrowing with more men attending classes, particularly those focused on strength and athletic aspects.
• Age is becoming less restrictive. Yoga studios offer classes designed for all ages, with programs specifically tailored to seniors and children.

Major ad agency, Publicis Groupe’s claim that 86% of its first-quarter 2026 revenue was tied to AI-powered capabilities signals that artificial intelligence is no longer an experimental side project in advertising. For local ad agencies and media sellers, the message is clear: AI will increasingly shape planning, targeting, creative, optimization and reporting, but human judgment will still determine whether campaigns actually work. Radio, TV, cable, print, outdoor and digital sellers should use AI to become faster, smarter and more consultative—without surrendering the local knowledge and trust that remain their competitive advantage.

Fred Smith founded FedEx in 1971 with a bold vision to create a reliable overnight delivery service using a centralized hub-and-spoke model and a dedicated fleet of aircraft. Despite early financial struggles—including a now-famous trip to Las Vegas to keep the company afloat—Smith’s leadership and commitment to innovation helped FedEx become a global logistics powerhouse. His people-first philosophy, technological foresight, and customer-centric brand strategy revolutionized the shipping industry. Today, FedEx is a cornerstone of global commerce, and Smith’s journey offers powerful lessons in resilience, operational excellence, and visionary leadership for business and media professionals alike.

In a challenging economy, newspapers and their websites remain one of the most trusted and effective platforms for reaching engaged, optimistic, and influential consumers. According to The Media Audit, newspapers reach over 40% of adults daily, with readers spending more than an hour each day with content and showing 10% higher financial optimism than the general public. For advertisers, staying visible in this trusted, community-rooted medium is not just smart—it’s essential for maintaining relevance, credibility, and market share.

As is often the case, it is difficult to evaluate properly the big events and latest trends in our lives because we find ourselves in the middle of the history being written. Social media certainly qualifies. Its global reach and nearly universal appeal has reduced most geographic borders to mere imaginary lines on a map. It has provided billions of individuals with a forum to share their lives,

A new report from Borrell Associates reveals that recently established local businesses are breathing new life into traditional media mdash;including radio, TV, print, billboards, and direct mail mdash;with a notable increase in ad spending. Radio leads the way with an average advertiser spend of $48,060, topping even television. The growth in small business formation post-pandemic has created an influx of new advertisers who often favor traditional media channels for their perceived effectiveness and hands-on support. This shift signals a vital opportunity for local media sales reps to reconnect with Main Street and capture growing budgets from newer, often underserved advertisers.

The media has been filled with stories about a so-called “retail apocalypse,” citing the large number of store closings, abandoned and eerily quiet shopping malls and the explosion of the Amazon phenomenon (and online shopping in general) as some of the primary reasons. It’s true that retail has been battered and bruised during the past years, especially 2017, but just as life must evolve to sustain itself, so must retail.

Industry Press Highlights, Media, Retail, Advertising and the Economy