Editor’s note: This post was originally published by poynter.org. 

Some of the best-positioned people to help grow news media revenue may be sitting nearby. 

They are journalists.

Journalists are creative, learn fast, consume a lot of information, interact with a variety of people, keep good notes and understand to be good they must keep learning and growing.

And yet, they don’t necessarily see themselves in advertising or media sales positions when they start looking for a new challenge. They often skip over sales positions, which can be lucrative, engaging, rewarding and financially support the very institutions they have spent time working for in other capacities. Some don’t see how their skills can transfer to media sales even with proper training and opportunity.

Taking the time to recruit, train and retain former journalists may provide an additional pipeline of knowledgeable media sales professionals that many organizations need as news companies seek to improve and create more revenue streams.