Sales Executive

Position applied for:

ADVERTISING SALES EXECUTIVE

DESIREE REDDY (known as Tanya Reddy)

P O Box 23 Richards Bay 3900

CONTACT INFORMATION

Name: Desiree Reddy

Contact number Cell 072-***-****

Email: ***********@*****.***

Work telephone: 035-***-****

Work website: www.zululandobserver.co.za

Physical address 76 Goldfern, Brackenham, Richards Bay

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Title Miss

Surname Reddy

Name Desiree

ID number 660-***-**** 082

Date of birth 25-04-66

Gender Female

Nationality South African

Home Language English

Other Languages Afrikaans & isiZulu

Driver's Licence Code 08 (own reliable vehicle, Mazda 2)

Dependents None

Children Two (daughter 31 years old, PA at MacLabour Consultants; son 27 years old, Priority Banker at ABSA Fourways, Sandton)

Employment Equity Indian

Interests My quiet time, Church, spinning and my family

Highest standard passed: Matric

Last school attended: M L Sultan High School, Stanger

Subjects taken Mathematics; Accountancy; Art; Biology; English & Afrikaans

Tertiary education M L Sultan Technical College, Durban Fashion Design diploma (incomplete)

WORKING EXPERIENCE

Current position: PREMISE MARKETING CONSULTANT

Having such a long line of work history experiences, it will benefit the reader if I focus on the last 15 years.

2002 to 2016 Zululand Observer, Empangeni

My career here started in the Classifieds Department selling Main Body advertisements for our isiZulu publication namely Umlozi Wezindaba.

September 2002 achievement: Sanlam Awards Runner-up 8 Page and smaller feature on Drug Awareness (ABC Supplement)

This lasted approximately 6 months as I was then given my own portfolio of

Motoring in Classifieds plus all Congratulatory Features for clients celebrating business milestones.

From here, I was promoted to the Vacancy Portfolio which entails liaising with

Clients at all levels from government departments, major corporates and standard business, meeting extremely high targets.

Each portfolio served me well.

2006 achievement: Caxton Annual Awards on my first time entering I emerged 2nd nationally in Classifieds

October 2007 to January 2010

Head-hunted by Desiree Erasmus (a then Media 24 editor) who was preparing to launch another community newspaper in the Zululand area, I was asked to design and manage their Classifieds Department and establish a client-base for their Main Body Advertising Sales. This entailed massive cold-calling, building new client-relations, aligning contracts, maintaining and servicing the advertising needs of clients and building an entire

Classifieds system that was non-existent.

February 2010 to Current

Head-hunted again by my current employer the Zululand Observer to form part of their Main Body Advertising Marketing force draw-card benefits was definitely the enticing factor.

My Roles & Responsibilities

What do I do at my current position? I sell into 7 Publications/Newspapers in our stable of publications and into different supplements, features and magazines within the brand,

with the help of an Assistant.

Each newspaper has a different target audience.

Our Eyethu brand offers a mix of 40% isiZulu and 60% English while the rest are 99.9% English.

Here are a run-down of our newspapers to give you a brief insight into the market I work within

1. Zululand Observer Monday - 9450 copies weekly SOLD at R4.00 a copy

2. Zululand Observer Weekend (Thursday) - 18 000 copies weekly SOLD at R4.00 a copy

3. AgriEco 20 000 copies published every first Friday of the month and inserted into the Zululand Observer Weekend edition

4. Baywatch Eyethu Wednesday - 30 700 copies weekly FREE

5. Zululand Eyethu Thursday - 12 200 copies weekly FREE

6. Northern Eyethu - Last Tuesday of each month, 16 000 copies FREE

7. Eastern Watch 11 650 copies, 3rd Monday of each month

We have deadlines every day so I handle pressure extremely well and always meet deadlines.

Also liaising with clients at all levels or on a one-on-one basis (appointments/cold calling) and telephonic sales when features are sold. I enjoy great success on all these Sales Platforms.

My task entails meeting with the client; creating a marketing proposal to suit client needs and utilizing their budget to the max to a mutually beneficial position.

Negotiate contracts; booking repeat advertisements for a year in all publications; finding new business; drawing-up feature ideas and concepts; setting the 'price to client' for

profit from sales per page; selling the concept at appointments or on email/

telephonically.

Help the client understand what is required from the advertisement placement/s; writing

the buy-lines; drawing up the initial draft of the advertisement to forward to the design room; proofing the advertisement for correctness; create/write body copy; creating banners and converting articles and advertisements into sold space as advertorials.

Major brands that I service here at a local level are Volkswagen Richards Bay better

known as Midbay Motors Richards Bay, Citroen Richards Bay, Peugeot Richards Bay,

Audi Richards Bay, Bosch (Car Service Centre), Spec Savers, Spur and Panarottis - liaising mostly with agencies to source copy and meet corporate identity standards and to

mirror their corporate image onto the local community we serve.

All the above then falls into press-deadlines that need to be met timeously by other production departments.

Chasing targets is my adrenalin - achieving my targets 95% of the time (my Advertising Manageress can vouch this, Yolande Veldsman 083-***-****).

The Managing Director of the Zululand Observer, Regina Anthony says 'I am a force to be

reckoned with and I get our tills ringing.' I value Mrs Anthony's statement.

Taking orders from my superiors I meet that with total dedication.

More about me as part of a Workforce

I add value to any Team and I work very well with all Departments - not just saying this

as a point to be mentioned but I often bring calm to tense situations and help motivate those around me.

I thoroughly enjoy what I do and count myself one of the blessed few to be in a

rewarding career.

Why am I looking for another job?

Seriously looking for a challenge within the industry, I am looking to move up in the newspapers, magazines and media industry. With this comes a more prestigious client,

the ones you serve. I don't enjoy working inland, the weather is too cold. I love the coast and I want to be part of a Team that sets the trend. So yes, I am heading to the top - I see your Establishment offers that and more...a slightly different world but as many would say 'upping my game!'

I am looking to offer you my best sales and marketing experience and can start my permanent position with you in 6 weeks from signing the contract.

There are no draw-backs to me relocating. The world is my oyster.

If I were to describe myself in a few words in my work-scenario

Target-driven and focused, I thoroughly enjoy the sales process and customer orientation enjoy great conversations with my clients plus constantly re-inventing the sales pitch,

with the focus being warming up the sale or closing the sale.

I work very well with a team and independently (I worked without supervision for 2 years from a satellite office to increase the Baywatch Eyethu portfolio. Starting with a target of R141 000 per month which has now grown to R249 200 per month) I believe that you

make no enemies, you will have to face that individual on a sales-level again!

I love learning all the time and believe in rest and relaxation to recharge!

OTHER

On Saturday mornings from 9am to 11am I teach Grade 1 to Grade 3 at a Richards Bay orphanage (House of Shalom, director: Saras Govender 083-***-****). I sometimes also assist Grade 3 and 4 following the Department of Education syllabus.

References available on request

Contact this candidate