newsclips november + december 2012

November 2012 1 www.ocna.org

newsclipsNOV/DEC 2012

WHAT’S INSIDE:

MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF THE ONTARIO COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION

ADVERTISING ALERT: Mortgages, Loans and Financial

Services. See Page 7

HOLIDAY PARTIES AND COMPANY LIABILITY

Tips to make sure everyone has a safe and joyous holiday party.

See 0

SUPERCHARGE YOUR BUSINESS NEGOTIATION

Creating a good plan is key when dealing with business negotiations.

See Page 12

It seems everyone in the industry is talking about all the changes occurring within Sun Media, as the company restructures in an attempt to reduce its operating expenses by $45 million.

The reorganization has resulted in many changes made in October, November and December. Namely the closing of newspaper titles and printing presses, as well as a reduced workforce. Sun Media has stated that it will reduce the number of employees by 10% overall or approximately 500 individuals. All positions have been impacted across the company, including many of the Ontario publishers and regional publishers.

The newspapers that have ceased this year are the Markdale Standard, Dunnville Chronicle, Amherstburg Echo, James Bay Northern Voice, West Niagara News, Ottawa Capital City News, Kitchener/Waterloo K-W Review, Guelph Review, Windsor This Week and Leamington Post/TriTown News Sun continues to publish 55 traditional weekly newspapers in Ontario as well as its daily titles. In fact, four shoppers in Windsor, Kitchener/Waterloo, Guelph and Ottawa were converted to traditional community newspapers earlier this year.

The other conversation at the water cooler is about the pay walls Ontario daily newspapers are creating and how long it will take for the public to buy into this concept. Toronto will be an interesting city to follow. The Globe and Mail is live with its program and the Toronto Sun is effective in December. The Toronto Star and National Post are expected to launch early in 2013 but have not released what their print/digital vs digital only rates will be, or how many free articles per month readers will have access to before they have to pay.

The jury is still out as to how much impact this will have on third party aggregators since most content will still be available online.

In this information world when the public often doesn’t know (or worse, care) about the difference between facts versus and opinion or quality journalism versus blogs, the challenge for newspapers will be to change the public’s perception that news should be free. They will need to convince readers of the value of the product they are receiving and paying for, and it can be done. All of Ontario’s paid circulation weeklies will be watching closely.

INDUSTRY CHANGESBY ANNE LANNAN OCNA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

SALAM TORONTO WINS ETHNIC MEDIA AWARDSalam Toronto’s Editor-in-Chief Mohsen Taghavi accepts a National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada’s newspaper award from Ontario Lieutenant Governor David C. Onley on November 9th, 2012. Salam Toronto was given the award for best editorial, free expression, concept and visual presentation.


NEWSCLIPS VOLUME 02, ISSUE 043228 South Service Rd. Suite 116Burlington, ON L7N 3H8p.905.639.8720 f.905-639.6962e. [email protected] w. www.ocna.org

OCNA BOARDPRESIDENT Mike MountFIRST VP INTERIM

Rick Shaver

SECOND VP Gordon CameronSECRETARY/TREASURER

Dave Harvey

PAST PRESIDENT

Don MacLeod

DIRECTORS Dave AdsettAndrea DeMeerAbbas HomayedRay StantonJohn Willems

OCNA STAFFEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Anne Lannan

CONTROLLER Todd FreesMEMBER SERVICES

Karen Shardlow Kelly Gorven

NETWORK CLASSIFIEDS

Carol Lebert

ACCOUNTING Lucia ShepherdAD*REACH Ted Brewer

Carolyn PressErica Leyzac

INDUSTRY NEWS

IN THIS ISSUE...04 ................NEWSPAPERS CANADA INDUSTRY AD CAMPAIGN07 ..........AD ALERT: MORTGAGES, LOANS + FINANCIAL SERVICES

08 ................................................OCNA’S SUPPLIER SHOWCASE09 ..................DIGITAL CIRCULATION FOR U.S. PAPERS SOAR?10 .........................HOLIDAY PARTIES AND COMPANY LIABILITY12 ...................SUPERCHARGE YOUR BUSINESS NEGOTIATION14 ....................ADVERTISING THE SALE OF CEMETARY PLOTS15 ..................HOW TO FIX A COMMON COMMUNICATION FLAW

We’ve Moved!Our new address is:

3228 South Service Rd. Suite 116Burlington, ON L7N 3H8

Please update your records accordingly.

TIME TO REVIEW DID NOT RUN ORDERS BY ANNE LANNAN OCNA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

As we plan for the new year, take some time to review your track record for ads that Did Not Run (DNRs) to determine why they did not run and what can be done to reduce their incidences in 2013.

AdReach represents more than 300 newspapers in the province and certainly understands that mistakes do happen, but it is still difficult to see all the missed revenue for newspapers because

of things that could have been avoided.

AdReach works with agencies and their production houses for matters such as Late Material / Missed Deadlines and is as proactive as possible to have them send the artwork well in advance. We also understand how frustrating it can be for the production team to be waiting for one last ad before they can send their paper to the printer. We strive to keep in close communication with both parties when this happens.

Insertion orders are sent either by fax or e-mail to our ad managers, in the manner they choose. The one condition we place on the e-mailed insertion orders is that this address must be monitored every day. Out of Office notifications are not acceptable. In other words, if you are going to be out of the office, someone else has to be responsible for monitoring your Inbox, or messages have to be automatically forwarded to someone else.

The association encourages newspapers to follow the industry best practice of generic e-mail addresses, eg [email protected], instead of [email protected] so if John leaves all your contacts have to be notified to change their systems and update the address. When using generic addresses, like production@, all you have to do when staff changes is enter a new password and your customers aren’t impacted.

Continued on Page 5 >>>


ASSOCIATION NEWS

MEMBER NEWS

Ken Nugent will retire at the end of December. Ken has been a significant contributor to Metroland’s Senior executive team and has been instrumental in Metrolands growth. Ken’s passion for the media industry has been a driving force in his success over the past 40 years.

Effective January 3, 2013; Dana Robbins will succeed Ken in the role of Vice President/Regional Publisher of the Peel and South-Western Ontario Region.

KEN NUGENT RETIRING

Lynne Turner, Editor and General Manager of Mount Forest Confederate, Arthur Enterprise and Fergus Elora News Express celebrates 35 years of working in the newspaper industry.

LYNNE TURNER CELEBRATES 35TH ANNIVERSARY

LAKE ERIE BEACON WINS A ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION MEDIA AWARD

The Royal Canadian Legion awarded the Port Stanley Lake Erie Beacon with a Media Award at their Honours and Awards Banquet held on October 29th, 2012. The Royal Canadian Legion Media Award has been established by Dominion Command of The Royal Canadian Legion to recognize individuals or organizations from the media who show their support by publicizing the activities and work in the community of Legion Branches, Zones, Districts and Provincial Commands. The Members and Officers of The Royal Canadian Legion commend the outstanding generosity, support and assistance that The Lake Erie Beacon has provided to Last Post (Ont. No. 410) Branch. Signed by Gord Moore, Dominion President. Dated 26 September 2012.

METROLAND AQUIRES ST. THOMAS ELGIN WEEKLY NEWS Metroland recently acquired the St. Thomas/Elgin Weekly News, a 30,000

Thursday distribution newspaper in St. Thomas, Ontario. It is an excellent fit with Metroland located only 16 km from its significant London operations. Along with the Weekly News they are also gaining a monthly magazine, Elgin This Month, and Web site www.theweeklynews.ca

The newly acquired properties will become part of the Metroland Southwestern Ontario Division, reporting to Ken Nugent and Doug Rowe. The previous owner of the newspaper, Terry Carroll, will continue to run the day-to-day operations of the business as General Manager.

Better Newspaper Competition Awards Gala

Mark your calendars:Friday March 22, 2013

Hilton Garden Inn, Vaughan, Ontario

The top three winners of each category will be announced on our website in alphabetical order on February 14. First, second and third place will be announced at the OCNA Awards Gala.

Dave Martin, Sales Manager with Petrolia Topic, celebrates his 20th anniversary with the newspaper.

PETROLIA TOPIC EMPLOYEE CELEBRATES 20TH ANNIVERSARY

Marla Dowdall recently took on the role of full-time Editor of the St. Lawrence EMC. Marla has worked for the Performance Group (now part of the Metroland family) for several years as a Reporter and Assistant Editor at the Smiths Falls head office.

NEW EDITOR FOR ST. LAWRENCE EMC

Harrow News welcomes Lonna Arnold as a part-time sales employee.

HARROW NEWS GETS NEW EMPLOYEE


ASSOCIATION NEWS

OCNA’s Board of Directors is pleased to welcome the following newspapers

as probationary Active Members:

Newspaper Circulation OwnershipGrimsby/Lincoln/West Lincoln NewsNow 22,500 IndependentKing Connection 7,342 MetrolandOshawa Express 35,000 Independent

Ceased Publishing:

Amherstburg Echo (As of October 2012)Dunnville Chronicle (As of November 2012)

Grimsby West Niagara News (As of November 2012)Renfrew Country Pulse (As of November 2012)

Toronto Bloor West Town Crier (As of November 2012)Toronto North York Town Crier (As of November 2012)

Guelph Review (As of December 2012)Kitchener/Waterloo, K-W Review (As of December 2012)Leamington Post & Tri-town News (As of December 2012)

Ottawa Capital City News (As of December 2012)Windsor This Week (As of December 2012)

Toronto Beach Riverdale Town Crier and Toronto Riverdale-East York Town Crier have merged to become Toronto Beach-Riverdale-East York Town Crier

Newspapers Canada (a joint initiative of CCNA and the Canadian Newspaper Association) has developed an advertising campaign highlighting the newspaper industry and its strength. This powerful yet light-hearted campaign has been run in media industry publications in print and online as well as in member publications.

Many people have misconceptions about the roles newspapers play and this communication is designed to remind advertisers that 80% of Canadians read a newspaper each week.

The campaign can be found on the Newspapers Canada site at: www.newspaperscanada.ca/industry-campaign.

The French version at:www.journauxcanadiens.ca/campagne-de-l-industrie.

If you have any questions, please contact Suzanne Raitt at: [email protected]

NEWSPAPERS CANADA INDUSTRY AD CAMPAIGN


ASSOCIATION NEWS

Dear OCNA members:

The Ontario Community Newspapers Association is pleased to provide its members with an industry advertising campaign – fully adaptable to include newspaper flags.

The campaign includes a series of seven ads and an editorial and has been designed to remind readers and advertisers that Community Newspapers are the original Local Social Network. What to do:

1. Go to www.ocna.org and log into the Member’s site (user: member, password: ocmb2010) Under the left hand navigation bar under ‘member’, go to the OCNA Programs & Services folder. Here you will find the folder ‘2011 Social Media Ads’ which contains a subfolder for each of the ads and contains the necessary fonts and graphics.2. Download the files. Ads have been created in CS2 – InDesign. If you do not have InDesign at your newspaper, please contact OCNA Member Services Coordinator Kelly Gorven at [email protected] and send her your newspaper flag. She can then send you PDFs of the ads customized for you.3. The seven ads reflect – news, entertainment, advertising, sports, seniors, community events. Respecting copyright, trademarks, and libelous material, you may change the text and images to better reflect something in your own community, without having them look like an ad for a specific local advertiser or event.4. Translation – member newspapers publishing in other languages may translate the ads.5. The bubble ‘Did you see in the paper…’ can be used as an online icon on your web site if you would like to have it link directly to your ad material or editorial.

A special note of appreciation to the Marketing Task Force for their input in this campaign.

INDUSTRY AD CAMPAIGN Did you see in the paper...

about the wine tasting event on Saturday?

See youthere!

Community NewspapersYour Local Social Network

The reason for DNRs that needs to be addressed at papers is the simple Misplaced Booking. There are three steps set up to ensure this doesn’t happen. One, the insertion has

been successfully sent to the paper via fax or e-mail. Two is the Ad Reminder that papers receive on Friday so they can cross reference their orders. Three is that material is in the AdLine, so production staff should be asking ad managers for the orders if material is sitting there for them. Please note for newspapers publishing late in the week: any last minute insertions received on a Mon/Tues will not show on the previous Friday’s Ad Reminder.

Attention to detail is key for individuals in both sales and production. Insertion order numbers are very similar so care needs to be taken when reviewing orders and material to ensure they match.

Advertising in community newspapers brings results for

advertisers. We need to ensure we minimize barriers for agencies and advertisers who want to do business with us. At the local level an advertiser many never run into an issue with the newspaper, but at the association level when we are dealing with 300+ newspapers and large campaigns from agencies, even a few problems with DNRs can quickly become a barrier.

Mistakes happen – we have a great team at AdReach and even we make mistakes. Reviewing how and why they happen in order to reduce their incidences or minimize them can be done by all parties involved. Vacation and sick day coverage, technology changes, staff training, production processes, etc. can all be reviewed. Make one person responsible for communication with OCNA and AdReach so any changes that happen at your paper, from new distribution areas, to changes in format or deadlines, to contact changes, become top of mind for that person to keep us posted. Any suggestions about how AdReach can better work with our members are always welcomed.

PREVENTING DID NOT RUNS>>> Continued from Page 2


OCNA can provide you with laminated, business card-sized Press Cards.

Cost is $10 each for the first three, and $5 for each one

thereafter.

Contact Kelly Gorven at [email protected] or call 906-639-8720 x239 for a Publisher’s Authorization Form and instructions on

how to send photos.

GET YOUR PRESS IDENTIFICATION

CARDS

3 3

Dec. 19, 2012 Date


ADVERTISING ALERT:

Loan providers often find January to be popular times to advertise for individuals in need of financial assistance. Here is some information to help educate your sales team on what to look for when accepting these types of ads.

Source: Mortgage Brokerages, Lenders and Administrators Act http://www.fsco.gov.on.ca/en/mortgage/Pages/default.aspx Scope: Ontario Last updated: December 2012

The Financial Services Commission of Ontario licenses mortgage brokers, agents, brokerages and administrators in Ontario. Licensed mortgage professionals have met specific education, experience and suitability requirements. When accepting ads from this group ask for their Licence # and search it on this web site for verification.

A person who acts as a mortgage agent or broker as of July 1, 2008 without being licensed is guilty of an offence under the Mortgage Brokerages, Lenders and Administrators Act, 2006, (MBLAA), and may be prosecuted for such violation.

Source: Payday Loans Acthttp://www.search.e-laws.gov.on.ca/en/isysquery/339f9700-be56-4584-8873-602116b9fbb6/3/doc/?search=browseStatutes&context=#hit1Scope: Ontario Last updated: December 2012

This Act applies to advertisers who promote loans to your readers. They must be licenced through the Ontario Ministry of Consumer Services. When accepting ads from these companies, you should ask for their licence number and search it online at http://www.consumerbeware.mgs.gov.on.ca/esearch/start.do for verification.

No person or entity shall act as a lender unless the person or

entity is licensed as a lender; and no person or entity shall act as a loan broker unless the person or entity is licensed as a loan broker.

If the Registrar believes on reasonable grounds that a licensee is making a false, misleading or deceptive statement relating to a payday loan or a payday loan agreement in any material published by any means, including an advertisement, circular or pamphlet, the Registrar may,

(a) order the cessation of the use of the material;(b) order the licensee to retract the statement or publish a correction of equal prominence to the original publication; or(c) order both a cessation and a retraction or correction.

OFFENCEA person or entity is guilty of an offence who, (a) furnishes false information in any application under this Act or in any statement or return required under this Act; (b) fails to comply with any order under this Act; (c) contravenes or fails to comply with any section of this Act or the regulations; or (d) attempts to commit any offence mentioned in clause (a), (b) or (c) above.

CORPORATIONSAn officer or director of a corporation who fails to take reasonable care to prevent the corporation from committing an offence mentioned in subsection (1) is guilty of the offence.

PENALTIESA person or entity that is convicted of an offence under this Act is liable to, (a) a fine of not more than $50,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than two years less a day, or both, if the person or entity is an individual; or a fine of not more than $250,000, if the person or entity is not an individual.

MORTGAGE, LOANS AND FINANCIAL SERVICES

Happy Holidays from OCNA & Ad*Reach

Best wishes for the Holidays and a Happy New Year from your team at OCNA & Ad*Reach.

The OCNA office will be closed from December 24-26 and will also be closed on January 1. If there are any urgent matters you can contact

Anne Lannan at 905-220-4443.


SUPPLIER SHOWCASE

OCNA’S SUPPLIER SHOWCASE

OCNA acts as a gateway to over 300 community newspapers in all areas of the province. Promote your information to our

members here. Send your updates to [email protected].

ADWORKS: TOOLS FOR EFFICIENT PRINT AND DIGITAL AD SALESAdWorks® is a fully featured advertising management system designed for daily and weekly publications. It provides all of the tools necessary for efficient print and digital ad sales, accounts receivables, powerful live reporting, messaging and built-in integration with many ad layouts and classified pagination systems, including Adobe InDesign, Quark, AdForce,

Classforce, ALS, CLS - all in one complete system.

A few powerful, time and money saving features:

E-mail Invoices and Statements - Give your customers the option to receive invoices and statements by e-mail. While posting invoices and statements, let AdWorks automatically PDF invoices and batch e-mail elected customers. AdWorks will notify you of undelivered and discontinued e-mails prompting for printed copies.

Real Time Credit Authorization - AdWorks gives you the option to authorize credit cards in real time, either per transaction from the ad entry window with the customer on the phone or in a batch at the end of the day. No phone lines, modems or exporting to third party applications required.

Consolidate Your Newspapers to Save Money and Maximize Revenue - AdWorks is designed to leverage your group strengths by sharing resources, and reducing costs by linking multiple ad databases together across your newspaper group. This enables cross-selling and group reporting. AdWorks is built to handle hundreds of remote ad reps, newspaper branches and office connections.

About News-Net Inc.News-Net Inc (www.news-net.ca) provides first-class software solutions, programming, integration and development to over 1,500 newspapers throughout North America. A trusted supplier to the publishing industry since its inception over 25 years ago, News-Net has continually grown market share and develops affordable cost-cutting and leading-edge technologies for the publishing industry.


TECHNOLOGY

BY KEVIN SLIMP INSTITUTE OF NEWSPAPER TECHNOLOGYDIGITAL CIRCULATION FOR U.S. PAPERS SOAR?

KEVIN SLIMP serves as the director of the Institute of Newspaper Technology. He is a faculty member of the University of Tennessee College of Communication and Information and makes his home in Knoxville, Tennessee. Kevin’s insight on technology is highly sought after at various industry events across North America. www.kevinslimp.com

This headline appeared in my e-mail yesterday from Newspapers & Technology, a highly respected newspaper industry online publication:

Digital circ for U.S. papers soars

As I read the story, based on daily circulation for the 613 newspapers reporting to the Audit Bureau of Circulations for its latest six-month report ending Sept. 30, 2012.

The first thing I noticed was that circulation held steady over the six months since the previous report. Daily circulation was down 0.2 percent, while Sunday circulation was up 0.6 percent.

But what kept drawing my focus was the headline:

Digital circ for U.S. papers soars

So I looked more closely. Digital circulation sits at 15.3 percent today. A year ago, it was roughly 9.2 percent.

According to the story I was reading, “ABC said digital-only subscriptions are on a sharp incline, with the organization reporting that digital circulation now accounts for more than 15 percent of newspapers’ total circulation. That’s a jump of almost 10 percent over year-ago figures.”

The numbers confused me. I couldn’t figure out where the 10 percent increase was.

I went to ABC’s website and looked for myself. I found the numbers from six months ago showing that digital circulation was 14.2 percent of total circulation six months earlier. That means it increased from 14.2 to 15.3 percent in six months.

Still today, I read more headlines in newspapers around the world about how digital circulation is soaring among U.S. newspapers.

I contacted Susan Kantor, ABC’s director of communications. We looked at the numbers together. Sure enough, I had my facts straight.

If I’m reading the numbers correctly, digital circulation rose from 9.2 to 14.2 percent in the previous six months, then went up from 14.2 percent to 15.3 percent in the most recent six month period.

Wouldn’t the headline be more accurate if it were:

Digital circ increases take nosedive

The truth is that over the most recent six months, print circulation stayed relatively steady. The percentage of circulation attributed to digital devices rose from 14 to 15 percent, a very slight increase.

At this rate, digital circulation will be higher than print circulation in just 17 years.

Of course, if the decreases in the rate of digital circulation figures correlated with the numbers for the past year, dropping from a five percent increase the first six months to a one percent increase in the most recent six months, it could take thousands of years for digital circulation to reach 50 percent of total circulation.

Just to make sure I hadn’t confused the facts, I contacted David Anderson, professor of mathematics at The University of Tennessee, I asked if he would look at these numbers with me and see if I was off base.

When I shared the numbers with him for the past year, then looked more closely at the differences between the first six months and the last six months, he was surprised. He said he thought print newspapers were almost gone, from what he’d read in the media.

I asked him, if the rate of digital circulation increase, decreased in the future at the same rate that it decreased between the last two ABC reports, if that indicated that it could take thousands of years for digital circulation to overtake print circulation.

While he didn’t think it would take that long, he did agree that the numbers from the last two reports could correctly be used to infer that.

Thus the headline could just as easily read:

Print is king for next millennium

Let’s get something straight. I’m not so naive that I think it will be thousands, or even hundreds, of years before most of us get our news using means other than print. But at the same time, we do a huge disservice to our readers and ourselves when we play with headlines like this.

Here’s the story as I see it: ▄ Was there an increase in

digital circulation over the past six months? Yes, from 14 to 15 percent of total circulation.

▄ Did print take a nosedive over the past six months? No, print held up just fine.

▄ Did daily newspaper circulation drop over the past six months? No, overall it held steady.

Perhaps this is the news we should be sharing with advertisers and readers.


HUMAN RESOURCES

A TWOGREYSUITS ARTICLE

As the holiday season is now upon us, many employers will be hosting office parties. We offer the following pointers and remind HR Power Centre members that they can download the Drug and Alcohol Use Policy which will help everyone enjoy a safe and joyous holiday party. This policy also deals with how to properly manage an intoxicated employee who attempts to drive home. Any non-members wanting this policy or for members quick access, send an email to [email protected] and we will respond by sending you the policy.

Employers may be held responsible for other consequences that can arise from alcohol consumption at work related events. For instance, in a case that has gone before the courts an employer was liable to pay damages for injuries sustained by an employee who had been the driver in a single car accident that occurred after the employee had been drinking at an office party.

Despite the fact your office party may take place outside of working hours, employers and employees should be mindful of the fact that an office party is still a work-related activity. For employees, business codes of conduct and appropriate behaviour are still applicable, even if your office party is not at your business premises. For employers, you may be liable if you fail to take reasonable steps to protect your employees against sexual harassment or other offensive conduct that may occur during these events.

Employee’s negative behaviour at off-site meetings, conferences, and weekend retreats can be the subject of scrutiny, even if the conduct took place ‘off-duty.’ Work-related activities are considered part of the ‘work environment.’ For example, sexual harassment complaints can arise from off-site parties and attract liability. Any breach of company policy during holiday parties may be cause for discipline, depending on the circumstances and seriousness. Employers will want to remind employees of acceptable and appropriate behaviour at these social events, and that any complaints regarding inappropriate behaviour will be followed up by the employer. Here are some suggestions to manage your risk this holiday season:

▄ Send a reminder to employees by e-mail specifying that codes of conduct still apply at holiday parties, that excessive drinking is discouraged, designated drivers encouraged and that under no circumstances should employees drink and drive.

▄ If possible, hold social events outside regular working hours, off premises and at a time in which employees will not be paid to attend.

▄ If alcohol is going to be served, attempt to limit consumption by avoiding ‘open bars.’

▄ Provide drink tickets, have a cash bar, or have the bar cease serving at a certain time.

▄ Ideally, it is best to have a professional bartender serving alcohol who is experienced in identifying intoxicated persons. Make it clear to the bartender, or other server, that he or she should not continue to serve employees who are visibly impaired.

▄ Offer food and non-alcoholic beverages. ▄ During the event, have announcements reminding

employees not to drink and drive. ▄ Distribute free taxi passes, and deal with intoxicated

employees immediately, not when they are about to leave.

▄ Designate someone at the party to monitor drinking and assist if someone is impaired.

▄ Ensure it is clear that attendance at social events is clearly voluntary.

▄ Reinforce the nature of the celebration by avoiding denominational entertainment, music or announcements during the event that have a religious overtone.

Your friends at TwoGreySuits wish you a safe Holiday party and happy holiday season.

This article is part of the TwoGreySuits Employee Performance Management Series and is offered by our partner, the TwoGreySuits HR Power Centre as a free service to our members.

The HR Power Centre and HR Hot Line is a one-of-a-kind product specifically designed to get you the answers you need fast, in hundreds of different HR situations.

Signing up is simple and free for OCNA members. Just visit https://www.twogreysuits.com/sign_up/regform/index.html?r=OCNA complete the signup page and you’ll have immediate access. Why wait? Don’t let important people management issues go unresolved when you can deal with them today.

HOLIDAY PARTIES AND COMPANY LIABILITY


IMPLEMENT SOCIAL MEDIA POLICIES THAT WORK FOR YOUR COMPANY Social Media is here to stay and companies are struggling to react to the phenomenon. When you sign up for the TwoGreySuits HR service that OCNA is offering to our members absolutely free, you’ll have access to a full suite of Social Media workplace policies…they’ll help you position the social media reality positively for both your company and your employees.

Have a look at the video and then explore the HR Power Centre at www.twogreysuits.com. It contains everything you need for effective p eople management. And, when you need answers fast, you can talk to a senior HR Professional 24/7 through the HR Hot Line.

Signing up is hassle free. Just click on the URL below and you will be taken to OCNA’s customized sign up page. Fill in the information and you will receive immediate access to the HR Power Centre.

Sign up here.

For more information, call us at 905 639 8720.

HUMAN RESOURCES

ALBERTA 2013 NEWSPAPER SYMPOSIUM

Unleash your superpowers and attend the 2013 Newspaper Symposium, February 1, 2, 2013 at the Delta Edmonton South.Register by January 18, 2013 to take advantage of the early bird registration fee of $175 plus taxes, per person. This fee includes Friday’s banquet, all coffee breaks, Saturday’s breakfast and sessions. If you register five people, you will receive the 6th registration FREE!

The Delta Edmonton South will be home for the event. They have extended a room rate of $135.00/ night plus applicable taxes. Please book your room by January 4, 2013 to ensure availability.

www.awna.com/symposium

If you have any questions, please contact Maurizia at: 1-800-282-6903 Ext 225 at the Alberta Weekly Newspapers Association.


BUSINESS

SUPERCHARGE YOUR BUSINESS NEGOTIATION BY PATRICK TINNEY MANAGING PARTNER CENTROID TRAINING & MARKETING

“None of us is as smart as all of us.” - Ken Blanchard

Anyone who has ever been involved with a multi-million dollar sales negotiation knows that it can be an arduous drawn- out affair. Depending on

the complexity of the negotiation and all of the items the client has on their objective list these negotiations can take months to complete. In most cases the salesperson on the account carries the largest responsibility for making sure the negotiation process moves forward at a timely pace. However, the sheer girth of the data and client issues that have to be captured can take an inordinate amount of time. Add to this that every issue the client- raises generally has a dollar value attached to it. And, of course while our side is doing its best to offer client-driven solutions there will be pressure to propose company-driven solutions based on our forward planning.

The theme of this column is a good plan. All we have to do is get a few of our smart people and put them into a room and whammy....negotiation preparation problems solved on our side. In theory this should work. In practice it can actually frustrate everyone including the customer because the whole process actually slows down.

What we really want to do is supercharge our business negotiation teams. Throughout my career I have been involved in some really complicated client negotiations requiring crack negotiation teams. Here are some of the things our teams did to reduce negative risk and raise our chances to consume a larger piece of the negotiation pie.

1. Admit Your Strengths: Marcus Buckingham wrote a great book ‘About Our Strengths’. He argues successfully that too often we in Western and Japanese Corporate Culture spend too much time focusing on our weaknesses. Therefore, if we are in a multi-million dollar pressure cooker it is just plain smart to say in a team setting that “this is what I am really good at…so give me the following items to close on quickly with the smartest solutions on hand.” Convince the others in your group to admit their strengths and break the work to be done into consumable pieces.

2. Choose The Right Leader: Being a leader and doing the most work do not necessarily mean the same thing. We mentioned earlier that the salesperson generally picks up most of the work in a customer negotiation and this is generally true. However, what if the thrust of our objectives and forward planning are based on research or analytics? What if it is based on a creative or production based process that the salesperson just does not have deep expertise in? The right leader then becomes the person who can drive the negotiation team expeditiously even if they do not directly appear in front of the client and are possibly hidden behind ‘firewalls’ during the face-to-face client negotiations.

3. Set Internal Timelines: The short lesson here is that if your negotiation team is not on a assignment completion timetable, your team will inevitably misuse time and drift.

4. Encourage Creative Thinking: While I worked with some incredibly creative negotiators over the years one person is an absolute standout… Don Fisher my manager on the Retail Team at The Southam Newspaper Group. Don had the ability to offer macroeconomic insights into the retail industry while thinking bottom up with creative client incentive plans. He mashed merchandising, sales and accounting to create a superior negotiation formula with incredible regularity. Don would draw the best product, trend and research ideas from those he worked with and then quietly drew his charges into what I refer to as a ‘positive risk’ zone. The client proposals that came out of the environment Don created were second to none. He would also work to release steam and conflict within the team. On more than one occasion I can remember him saying “you know …I just love it when customers hit us over the head because when they stop it feels sooo good!” Too funny!


Copyright Centroid Marketing 2012 PATRICK TINNEY is the founder of Centroid Training and Marketing, a consulting firm helping organizations make and save money through consultative selling, sales prospecting and business negotiation training.

Prior to Centroid, Patrick held various corporate sales and management positions at The Southam Newspaper Group, CanWest Media and more. Over his 30 year career Patrick has concluded multi-million dollar media sales and negotiation solutions. For more on Patrick visit centroidmarketing.com

BUSINESS

5. Second Set Of Eyes: When there are millions of dollars on the line, the multitude of moving parts in a negotiation can create an unwieldy mass. Be smart and add a second set of critical eyes to your negotiation team. I cannot tell you how much time and money this has saved me and the businesses I represented over the years. The best person in this important role that I’ve worked with is Debra Rother, currently a senior manager in Canada’s Magazine Industry. Debra possesses four great gifts. She is a Spartan editor. Debra can analyze a client proposal and simultaneously offer client and senior management recommendations with confidence. She asks tough questions. And, Debra has a solid moral compass. All of the above traits are those of a trusted advisor when the negotiation team is getting bogged down in a huge negotiation.

6. BATNA-RAMA: Since none of us is as smart as all of us why not have several BATNA (Best Alternative To A Negotiated Agreement) in reserve. When you have a smart business negotiation team giving their very best to a good cause…make sure they all have an opportunity to vote on and rank this team’s ideas and proposals.

7. Expect The Unexpected: Just because we’ve put smart people to work on our negotiation objectives doesn’t mean the other side has not done the same or even raised the bar. There is a lot of warm and fuzzy conversation about Win/Win in business negotiations but let’s be honest and realize that both the client’s procurement team and our sales negotiation team get yearly raises and bonuses based on meeting and exceeding company negotiation objectives. I am a great proponent of signing deals that stand the test of time and maintain great customer relationships. I am also a great believer in meeting and exceeding my negotiation objectives.

8. At The Bargaining Table: There are literally dozens of business negotiation strategies available to us in a bargaining session. Having a sharp team presenting and negotiating only increases our strategy repertoire allowing different team members to play different but complementing roles at the bargaining table.

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ADVERTISING

ADVERTISING ALERT:

Source: Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act 2002 http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_02f33_e.htmScope: OntarioInfo: http://ofsa.org/FBCSA_2002_388880.htmlThis Act came into effect in July 2012, and has replaced the former Cemeteries Act.

WHO CAN SELL?Previously only those licensed could sell a cemetery plot. Now any rights holder can sell – as long as they comply with the bylaws and regulations of the associated cemetery. Individuals are now advertising this. There isn’t anything in the current regulations about how they can advertise.

DISCLOSURE ON RESALE OF RIGHTS: 115. (1) For the purposes of clause 47 (2) (a) of the Act, an interment rights holder or scattering rights holder who sells the rights shall provide the following information to the third party purchaser upon selling the rights:1. The interment or scattering rights certificate endorsed in accordance with subsection(2) by the rights holder selling the rights and by the cemetery operator.2. A copy of the current cemetery by-laws.3. In the case of the sale of interment rights, a written statement of the number of lots that have been used in the plot to which the rights relate and the number of lots that remain available.4. In the case of the sale of scattering rights, a written statement of the number of scatterings that have occurred on the scattering grounds to which the rights relate and of the number of scatterings that remain available.5. Any other documentation in the rights holder’s possession relating to the rights.(2) The endorsement on the certificate provided to a third party purchaser under paragraph 1 of subsection (1) shall include,(a) a statement, signed by the rights holder selling the rights, acknowledging the sale to the third party purchaser;(b) the signature of the cemetery operator confirming that the person selling the rights is shown as the rights holder on the records of the cemetery;(c) the date on which the rights were sold;(d) the name and address of the third party purchaser; and(e) a statement of any money owing to the operator in respect of the rights.

(3) After an interment rights holder or scattering rights holder sells the rights to a third party purchaser but before the purchaser exercises those rights, the purchaser shall provide the cemetery operator with,

LICENSED OPERATORS FALSE ADVERTISING:27. No licensee shall make a false, misleading or deceptive statement in any advertisement, circular, pamphlet or material published or distributed by any means relating to the sale or provision of any licensed supplies or services. 2002, c. 33, s. 27.Order of registrar28. (1) If the registrar believes on reasonable grounds that a licensee is making a false, misleading or deceptive statement in any advertisement, circular, pamphlet, brochure, price list, contract, letterhead or similar material published by any means, the registrar may,(a) order the cessation of the use of such material;(b) order the licensee to retract the statement or publish a correction of equal prominence to the original publication; or(c) order both a cessation described in clause (a) and a retraction or correction described in clause (b). 2002, c. 33, s. 28 (1); 2006, c. 34, Sched. D, s. 19 (1).

PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL, ETC.119. (1) Every operator shall ensure that the following information appears in any sign or written advertisement, brochure, price list, contract, letterhead, pamphlet, circular, or other written material, other than business cards, used by the operator to promote the sale of licensed supplies and services:1. The operator's name.2. The operator's business name, if different from the operator's name.3. The name of any person who directly or indirectly controls the operator's business and who directly or indirectly controls another business that sells licensed supplies or services and that has a business premises within 100 kilometres of the operator's business location, except if the business is a cemetery owned by a municipality or a religious organization. O. Reg. 30/11, s. 119 (1). (6) When advertising a price, an operator shall include an explanation of all of the conditions of sale that relate to the advertised price and a full description of the supplies and services that are included in the advertised price. O. Reg. 30/11, s. 119 (6).

SALE OF CEMETERY PLOTS


The flaw: You’re meeting with a prospective client, but you seem to be communicating on different wave lengths. When you mention a key sales point, your prospect barely acknowledges it. And when he or she talks, you feel like the entire conversation is off topic. The experience reminds you of the two proverbial ships passing in the night, with neither crew being aware of the other.

The fix: The problem may be a matter of complete disinterest – a result of trying to sell the wrong thing to the wrong person. But as long as you’ve done your homework on the prospective advertiser’s business, it’s more likely a clash of communication styles.

These days, there’s a lot of talk about personality types and behavioural styles. There are many systems to categorize the ways we think and act, including the DiSC profile (with four categories) and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (with 16). While these systems are useful, sometimes it’s better to take a simpler approach. In a sales situation, an understanding of right/left brain differences may be all you need to keep the conversation on the right track.

Research has revealed the two sides of the brain account for different modes of thinking – and each person shows a preference for one of the two. Left brainers are more logical and analytical than right brainers; they tend to look at parts, rather than the whole situation. Right brainers are more creative and intuitive; they are likely to see wholes, rather than individual parts.

Left brainers like numbers and charts. Right brainers like words and ideas.

A typical left brainer likes an organized workspace, a desk that is free of clutter. A right brainer doesn’t mind a little clutter.

Most accountants, media buyers and computer programmers

are left brainers. Most creative directors, writers and teachers are right brainers.

Now this doesn’t mean that right brainers can’t balance a cheque book, or that left brainers can’t play the piano. It just means these two styles have different ways of looking at the world around them. And different ways of communicating.

When you’re talking to a prospect, look for clues. If he or she has the opposite thinking style from yours, you have to be the one to make the adjustment. If you want to advance the sale, don’t expect the other person to adjust to you.

When you’re meeting with a left brainer, focus on numbers and statistics. Use charts to illustrate readership figures. Show how ad responses can be measured. Pay special attention to the individual ingredients of a proposal (remember, they like to look at parts).

When you’re dealing with a right brainer, don’t drag them into what I once heard described as ‘the deep, deep woods of Spreadsheetville.’ Cover the numbers, of course, but place more emphasis on the creative angle – what the ads will look like and what they will say.

Neither side is wrong. They’re just different. The best sales people understand how to adapt.

ADVERTISING

(c) Copyright 2012 by John Foust. All rights reserved.

JOHN FOUST has conducted training programs for thousands of newspaper advertising professionals. Many ad departments are using his training videos to save time and get quick results from in-house training. E-mail for information: [email protected]

HOW TO FIX A COMMON COMMUNICATION FLAWBY JOHN FOUST RALEIGH, NC

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newsclips november + december 2012

Documents

ontario publishers

toronto star

traditional weekly newspapers

ottawa capital city

west niagara news

guelph review

leamington posttritown

free expression