PAN’s Walters scoops international win
Advertising manager Rita Walters credits co-workers for her honour.
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Updated: July 23, 2009 3:41 PM
Rita Walters remembers being ticked off about the whole situation.
There she was, portfolio in hand, all fired up for her introduction to the world of sales.
It was chilly out, but she hopped out of the car without hesitation, fully expecting her husband, Bob – whose idea it was for her get into sales, selling coupon space on the back of cash-register tapes – to show her the ropes.
Bob, however, had other ideas. He refused to get out of the car, insisting the best way for her to learn was to jump right in.
“My back got up,” said Walters, thinking back to that pivotal day about 30 years ago. “I got angry and I thought, ‘I will show you.’”
She stormed off, determined to sign every retailer in that Calgary mall onto the project. She didn’t leave, despite dropping the entire portfolio on her first attempt to sell the idea, until she had everyone onboard. Not once did she update Bob on her progress.
“I made him sit in the parking lot for more than three hours,” said Walters, laughing.
Over the years since, sales has been a mainstay for Walters, who is now ad manager for the Peace Arch News. (She and Bob celebrate their 32nd anniversary in November.)
And though sales wasn’t the career Walters had planned on – she remembers teenaged dreams of becoming a stewardess – it quickly became her passion.
Last week, that passion was recognized on a scale Walters is still coming to terms with. She was named the Suburban Newspapers of America 2009 Advertising Director of the Year. It is a North America-wide award.
“I was totally blown away,” said Walters, of the news she received out of Pennsylvania July 17. “I’m so very honoured and so humbled.”
Beyond the experience gleaned in Calgary, Walters’ climb up the sales ladder includes four years with the Medicine Hat Shopper in Alberta, where she was consistently recognized as a top seller. She has been with PAN 18 years, and took over leadership of its nine-member sales department a decade ago.
Her responsibilities centre on revenue generation, from coming up with new ideas to motivating her team. It’s also about helping advertisers be successful in growing their businesses, she said.
Walters credits her success to her stubbornness, competitive nature and love of the job. At the same time, she recognizes success is not a one-woman show.
“I feel that everybody in this paper has a huge part in my being nominated for this, and winning,” said Walters.
Black Press Lower Mainland president Randy Blair describes Walters as “richly deserving” of the distinction.
She “is a consummate professional who leads her sales team by example... (who) possesses a wealth of advertising knowledge and takes great pride in her team’s ability to consistently achieve their revenue objectives,” Blair said.
Walters will accept the award Sept. 23 during the SNA’s Fall Publishers’ and Advertising Directors’ Conference in Kansas City, Mo.
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