Over the past week, I learned of the passing of local sales rep Linda Mrok.
I worked with Linda at the East County Times newspaper in Essex in the late 2000s. Linda went on to work at the Avenue News and the Dundalk Eagle.
To say Linda could sell was an understatement. I was told one time that Linda was responsible for nearly 50 percent of the sales at a publication and she was one of four sales reps.
And Linda wasn’t one of those shaddy sales people that could sell waterfront property in Arizona.
She would sit down with business owners and map out a strategy to help them advertise.
As Pam Spittel said in the article, Linda became friends with her advertisers.
She knew the right formula on how frequently they needed to advertise, the size of an ad and the right amount of information in the ad for the full effectiveness.
I would hear Linda on the phone with a client, “you can’t put 10 pounds of stuff in a five pound bag.”
She did a great job of getting local and small businesses to advertise in the local newspaper and it worked.
There were times when we would butt heads. I was in editorial and she wanted to promote advertising stories.
I would go into a meeting mad at her. Then I would walk out out of that meeting satisfied, but she still got her way. She was that good.
Linda was very family oriented. She always talked about her family and was proud of her children and grandchildren, who have to be grown at this point.
There was an announcement in the April 17 Avenue News that Linda had retired but there was no picture of her or any pictures of a going away party.
That was concerning. Then I saw the news of her passing in the local papers last week.
It was sad to hear of her passing. Prayers go out to her family.