Position Plus Points: Good money, stability, autonomy, and a great support team of graphic designers

Lots of adjectives are used when sales advisers search for words to describe what a person needs most to clinch a deal. Friendliness, service, innovation, and charm come to mind. But they often leave out the virtue that veteran daily newspaper advertising sales consultant Tim Sears says is the most vital of them all.

"It's patience," he says simply. "If you lack patience that's a real pitfall." Asked why a person needs to be so patient, Tim says that nobody can expect to understand a customer's business and know how he or she and their company can play into that right away.

"You really need to take the time to get to know them and their business if you are going to successfully anticipate your customer's needs. Without patience, you will fail."

Tim has had 14 years of top-of-the-chart sales with the Times & Transcript daily newspaper in Moncton to support how sound his advice is. And before that, the energetic 48-year-old gained more sales experience, working first with the Atlantic Lottery Corporation and then with Coca-Cola Ltd.

Born and raised in Moncton, Tim graduated from Harrison Trimble High School, an alma mater he loved so much that he was easily persuaded recently to serve as master of ceremonies for their 30th anniversary reunion. After high school, he obtained his Bachelour of Business Administration degree from the University of Prince Edward Island.

Tim is openly grateful that his career has allowed him to work in three significant corporations, but he says coming to Brunswick News was the best step in his successful career.

"I have been lucky in my life to be able to work my way into big, well-respected organizations. I wasn't a rookie when I joined the Brunswick News-owned Times & Transcript; I had nine years of sales experience."

Tim says what attracted him to BNI at this point in his career was the company's excellent reputation as a good place to work, and its stability with a lengthy heritage in the communities it serves. He also enjoys the fact that while goals are set for sales representatives, they have a great deal of personal autonomy about how they get the job done.

"I have been lucky in my life to be able to work my way into big, well-respected organizations. I wasn't a rookie when I joined the Brunswick News-owned Times & Transcript; I had nine years of sales experience."

"It's just a great company to come to work for. When they offered me a job, I actually said 'can I start earlier'?"

For the new person in the sales department, there was no uneasy time. He said he was given a territory and some accounts to work.

"I showed enthusiasm and everything has worked out really well for me," he added. "My personality helps. I'm eager, persistent and somewhat creative, and those things led me to a few extra accounts and more after that. I would always volunteer to take more on. I have understood from the start as well the effect that we have on our customers and the effect our customers have on us. Together we can take their message to a mass market."

Tim has acquired a bit of a reputation in his department as an early bird. It is not at all unusual for him to enter his work area at least a couple of hours before his colleagues come in.

"I enjoy coming in early and getting my paperwork done so I can make my way through the day and focus on my sales. I can honestly say the last 14 years have gone by very quickly."

When Tim is not working, he enjoys spending time at his Pointe du Chene cottage with his wife Chris, an emergency room nurse whose job involves different shifts. They've been married 16 years, and have been together for 23 years. In the summer he tries to play golf regularly and enjoy time at Parlee Beach and in his beloved cottage, which he calls his summer sanctuary.

Recently he also rekindled a long-time hobby of his, woodworking.

"Back at home in our garage I work on it in my spare time from about November to early spring."

Tim, who is self-taught in his art, says he has a great setup in his garage, including a woodstove and cable television. When he's out there working, he leaves a light on outside so friends will know he's home and come in and watch and visit.

"The newspaper business is not monotonous at all. It's constantly changing and it is important in the business world. Customers see us as a huge partner in bringing them success. "

He evolved from his original projects of making shelves and mailboxes to creating exquisite keepsake jewelry boxes that are made out of hardwood and are very unique. They are on display and for sale at Sandstones, a gift shop in the Blue Cross Centre on Moncton's Main Street. He also makes a specialized line of small and unique cutting boards.

While newcomers can expect to make between $40,000 to $50,000 in the business, Tim says commissions pay off as a person gains customers and territories.

"The newspaper business is not monotonous at all. It's constantly changing and it is important in the business world. Customers see us as a huge partner in bringing them success. All media is exciting, whether its print, radio or television, we are taking the news to the streets. And at the Times & Transcript, we're the number one medium to address this."

Tim says he normally works days and about 50 hours a week, especially during the peak seasons. He does take work home with him some days to stay on top when business is really booming.

"It varies for different people, but my busiest times are from March to June and from late August to December and I have to keep up with the work. Like it or lump it, accountability is part of a sales representative's job. You can't be private. You and everyone else in your department knows your sales targets and they know if you've made them or not."

Tim says the pressure of that accountability doesn't both him, because if you work hard at customer service, you can meet your goals.

Tim's quick guide to being a daily newspaper advertising sales consultant:

• Skills needed: Patience, creativity, energy, organization, listening
• Pluses of the position: Good money, stability, autonomy, and a great support team of graphic designers
• Negatives of the job: During the busiest times, you have to take some work home with you to keep up the pace, but the sales are also the best at this time.
• Advice to someone hoping to do this work: Champion your customer. And use your computer wisely as a tool for helping you stay in touch with even more people than you can physically see in a day.
• Salary: $40,000 - $80,000 plus
• Pace of the day: Get your paperwork done during the hours when your customers are less likely to want to meet with you; keep that time free for meeting old customers and courting new ones.
• Most unique aspect of this career: If you are patient and really understand your customers' businesses, you can actually come up with enough ideas and campaigns that you can literally make your phone ring with people wanting to buy.