20 Under 40 - 2001 Profile: Niki W. Gladys

PRESSTIME

By Presstime Magazine

First Published: November 2001

Niki W. Gladys is goal oriented. The retail sales manager for the San Jose Mercury News requires team members to identify their three biggest opportunities; outline strategies and time frames; determine when to start selling into the special sections; and decide how they will use their resulting year-end bonuses.

"If plans are not reviewed, all that work gets lost," she says. Sticking to a strategy, especially in down cycles, "helps reps know they're in control and not at the mercy of the market."

It pays off, too. Her retail-sales team was performing 19 percent over goal before September, and though sales have dropped since then, the team still sits 12 percent above goal.

In 2000, the Mercury News launched a San Francisco edition. Gladys led the team targeting restaurant, entertainment and theater advertisers. In one year, the category's revenue increased 47 percent.

Late last year, the newspaper introduced a Sunday Arts & Entertainment section. Most advertisers already had schedules in place. To entice them to shift dollars, Gladys matched, dollar for dollar, any increase in a client's fourth-quarter 2000 expenditures. The Mercury News cleared an additional $80,000 for the quarter.

This year, Gladys' team created an advertorial called Fall Arts and Dining. It generated $40,000 in incremental sales for August.

Now, Gladys' influence extends beyond her team. Her sales plans, for example, have become part of the newspaper's retail strategy and are used by all teams.

Gladys nurtures an escape-artist side of her personality, too. She loves to read novels, paint, sketch and hike. An avid traveler, she wants to visit every state. Twenty down, 30 to go!

Education: 1990, bachelor's degree in business administration, marketing major, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo.
Career: 1990-92, sales and marketing manager, St. Louis Daily Record; 1992-94, advertising representative, The Oakland Press, Pontiac, Mich.; 1994-present, account executive, category advertising manager, local retail advertising sales manager, San Jose Mercury News.
Personal: Age, 34. Born, Dearborn, Mich. Married, husband John M.
Diversions: Reading, travel, painting, sketching, hiking.
Connections: San Jose Mercury News, 750 Ridder Park, San Jose, Calif. 95190, (408) 920-2752, ngladys@sjmercury.com.