Sheriff Magazine

A Jump in Ad Revenue

Prior to 2008, advertising sales for Sheriff Magazine were being handled internally by a staff member, but sales were disappointing, according to Susan Crow, Director of Publications and Marketing for the National Sheriffs’ Association. “We had someone in-house that was selling advertising, but it wasn’t being done very well,” she said. “It was a salaried position so there wasn’t really any incentive to try to sell many ads, like there would be for a position involving commissions.”

Mitch Mohanna, owner of Mohanna Sales Representatives, contacted Susan and discussed the benefits of using the Mohanna team to sell advertising for the magazine. “Mitch made himself known to us and continued to contact us for a couple of years,” she said, “so we set it up with them on a trial basis and we’ve been with them ever since. After being with Mohanna for nearly four years, our advertising revenue has increased as much as fifteen thousand dollars per issue. The additional revenue has kept my budget from being a pull on the organization to actually paying for itself.”

In addition to selling advertising for Sheriff Magazine, Mohanna Sales Representatives also sells banner ads for the National Sheriffs’ Association website and for its e-newsletter.

An Extra Staff Person

Beyond the very tangible benefits of providing additional revenue to their organization, the Mohanna team brings value to the National Sheriffs’ Association in a variety of other ways. “They’re almost like an extra staff person,” Susan said. “Because they act on our behalf, I am totally confident of their ability to speak to any of our potential and current advertisers. I know that they will speak well to them and treat their needs very expeditiously. I’m confident that our advertisers are being taken care of and I don’t have to do that—which is a huge benefit to me because I don’t have the time.”

The Mohanna team also travels on the association’s behalf and they pay their own travel expenses, which is a huge plus to Susan and the association’s management. “That makes a big difference,” she says. “They come to our annual conference too, which is nice because Ellen [Mohanna’s rep on the account] can talk to our exhibitors and sell to them too, and talk to them about anything new we have coming up.”

Value-Added Benefits

Another big plus for the National Sheriffs’ Association in using the Mohanna advertising sales team is in regards to the value-added benefits they promote to current and prospective advertisers. Susan speaks with Ellen frequently about various revenue-generating ideas and value-added benefits that they can offer to advertisers. However, she is quick to point out that Ellen generates most of the ideas concerning creative and revenue-generating offers to the advertisers. “She comes up with a lot of ideas on her own which I’m very thankful for,” Susan said. “She’ll come to me and say, ‘Hey, how about this’ and I’ll think, “Wow, that will be great!’ I love Ellen!”

Ultimately, the management and staff of the National Sheriffs’ Association are very happy with the way things are going with Mohanna Sales Representatives. “I guess the main thing is that they’re an extension of our staff and they really represent us well,” Susan said.