Position Plus Points: Opportunity to be creative, great personal satisfaction from helping local companies appreciate the advantages of internet advertising.

Vibrant and energetic, Kimberly Harriman is unabashedly enthusiastic when she talks about her job as multimedia sales representative for Brunswick News Interactive.

"I love what I do," she says. "I believe that you need to love your job to be good at it. And since you spend more time at your work than anywhere else in life, you'd better be good at it."

That's the kind of engaging attitude she's brought to her work, selling multimedia advertising. Kimberly's office is located in Saint John, in the Telegraph Journal building, but she has customers in many nearby communities on all sides of the city.

Although only on her job for just under a year, Kimberly has a background of in sales and business, and it has helped her develop a philosophy of business.

"Sell on your customer's needs, not yours," she says. Of the skills she uses most for her job, she says being a great listener is paramount.

"You really have to understand people's needs. I think it has really helped me to move into sales after some years of running my own business, because I know how frustrating it can be if someone tries to sell me something without even bothering to understand my business or my needs."

Her best advice to anyone considering a career as a multimedia sales representative is first to educate themselves about all aspects of effective Internet advertising.

"For many local clients, it is still a new experience, and they want to talk to someone who is knowledgeable about how this new advertising idea can really work for them. The hardest part is getting someone to try multimedia advertising for the first time. Once they see how effective it is, the next campaign goes much easier. All of the national companies have made moves to the Internet because they know how well it works, but at a local level, there are still clients who will be trying it for the first time."

"The BNI brand has been around for a long time, and the people in New Brunswick know we're going to be here tomorrow. So even if the Internet is a new vehicle for advertising, we offer stability and security to clients."

A native of Charlotte County who grew up in the region between St. Andrews and St. George, Kimberly graduated from Fundy High School in 1992. She then trained to become a medical transcriptionist.

For the decade that followed, Kimberly worked in the medical industry, specializing in ophthalmology. But she had a strong entrepreneurial pull and decided that she would like to go into business for herself. She trained and became a licensed esthetician and started her own business at home.

"Being at home 24 hours, seven days a week, was not what I expected," said Kimberly, and soon the extremely social aspects of her personality sought a change. So she took a sales position with a beauty supply company and became to travel all across the province.

"I fell in love with sales," she confessed. "I never would have guessed it. But I was born to sell and I knew right then and there that I wanted to continue in a sales career."

The mom of an eight-year-old daughter, Jillian, what she knew she didn't want however, was a sales job that took her away from home several nights a week. So she saw the job as the multimedia sales representative advertised on Brunswick News' CareerBeacon site, and applied at the urging of a friend. She landed it.

Kimberly says it is important for her to keep up with the constantly changing information about Internet advertising, including on line statistics and marketing trends.

"This is a position in which you really have to keep yourself educated. You can never be satisfied and decide that you know it all."

Starting salaries for multimedia sales representatives in Brunswick News start with a base draw of $30,000 for the first three months and between 10 and 15 per cent commission. A more seasoned sales representative can expect to earn between $40,000 to $50,000 within a year or two and those at the top of their game can earn up to $80,000.

"It's really what you make it," says Kimberly.

She describes the work environment as "fabulous," noting that while all the representatives tend to be competitive and self-motivated, they are excellent team-mates.

"There is no in-fighting or anything like that. I just love our sales meetings; I really look forward to them. It's very reassuring to know you are part of such a great team."

Kimberly normally works a day shift of 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday.

When she's not working, she and her daughter enjoy life in the outdoors, with golfing, kayaking and skiing popular pastimes. Kimberly is happily helping her daughter get into golfing this summer.

"And when a client gets an immediate response to an ad, I have such a feeling of satisfaction," she said.

"And we like to spend time with family and friends," she says.

Kimberly says what she likes best about her work life now is that it lets her express her creativity.

"And when a client gets an immediate response to an ad, I have such a feeling of satisfaction," she said.

One of the things that attracted her to come to work for Brunswick News was its stability as a company with century-old daily newspapers and a host of both new and heritage weekly papers.

"The BNI brand has been around for a long time, and the people in New Brunswick know we're going to be here tomorrow. So even if the Internet is a new vehicle for advertising, we offer stability and security to clients.

"And its comforting to be in a company that's growing," she says, noting that Brunswick News Interactive has grown more than 156 per cent this year to date over the 2007.

"Users trust our Canadaeast Website. They come back every day to read the news. Our traffic growth is phenomenal. And we are always adding new products so there are always new opportunities to target."

Kimberly's quick guide to being a regional multimedia sales representative:

• Skills needed: Ability to listen, ability to keep learning and educating yourself about the Internet
• Pluses of the position: Opportunity to be creative, great personal satisfaction from helping local companies appreciate the advantages of Internet advertising
• Negatives of the job: Finding ways to dispel insecurities about doing business in a new way on the information highway.
• Advice to someone hoping to do this work: Sell on your customer's needs, not your. Keep yourself educated about your product, so you can be knowledgeable with your clients.
• Salary: $30,000 starting - $50,000 - $80,000 based on commissions
• Pace of the day: Allow time to keep abreast of all the latest traffic statistics and new products. Pace yourself to make regular sales goals.
• Most unique aspect of this career: Demonstrating how well a new way to advertise works and can enhance local business is tremendously interesting and satisfying.