Quick Printing

JAN 2015

Quick Printing is the resource for the Commercial printing, visual and graphic arts industries. Since 1977, Quick Printing has focused on improving efficiency and increasing sales and profits in the print shop. Industry experts share their ideas and

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Sales Clinic MyPRINTResource.com Quick Printing | January 2015 31 Dave Fellman is the president of David Fellman & Associates, Cary, NC, a sales and marketing consulting frm serving numerous segments of the graphic arts industry. Contact him by phone at 919/363-4068 or by e-mail at dmf@davefellman.com . Visit his website at www.davefellman.com . Rose-Colored Bi-Focals W hen I was a kid, "You must need glasses!" was a pret- ty common insult. I remem- ber saying it to other kids, and once to a Little League umpire. (That got me thrown out of the game!) It turns out, though, that printing salespeople do need glass- es. Specifcally, they need rose-col- ored bi-focals, because success in the modern marketplace requires good near vision and far vision, and a fair share of optimism. Near Vision It has been my experience that most salespeople don't focus very well on what's right in front of them. There is usually some oppor- tunity to gain more value from cur- rent customers. Notice that I didn't say gain more business, but rather gain more value. I believe that ev- ery current customer provides you with three levels of value: the value of what they're buying from you now, of what they could be buying from you, and of infuence. Working backwards, the value of infu- ence is all about testimonials and referrals. When's the last time you actually asked one of your custom- ers for a testimonial or a referral. When's the last time you got a real referral out of whatever networking group(s) you belong to? The value of what they could be buying from you is mostly about the breadth of your product line. Have you talked to every custom- er about every element of your product line? I'm not talking, by the way, about that one conversa- tion where you blasted out a list of everything you sell. I'm also not talking about the time you said "think of me for anything that in- volves printing." I'm talking about having specifc conversations about each individual element of your to support your position. And please understand that a handful of hand-picked samples isn't going to accelerate the process. But how about supporting the samples with a description of your quality-con- trol processes and procedures, and then some testimonials from cur- rent customers? Any one of those may have some effect, and any two are almost certainly better. But why not all three? Rose-Colored I read a study recently which noted that optimists tend to be more suc- cessful than pessimists. I hear a lot of pessimism from printing sales- people, though. Now maybe this is colored by that fact that most of my business involves working with underachievers, but I'm hearing a lot more about what's not working than about what is. Here's a fact. There are people doing very well in printing sales, even in a highly competitive market in a diffcult economy. Why? I think better vision—near and far!—is probably a big part of it. Do you need new glasses? Success in the modern marketplace requires good near vision and far vision—and a fair share of optimism. By David M. Fellman product line. Because the more you try to cover in any one conversation, the less likely it is that they'll hear most of it, let alone all of it. Now let's talk about protecting the value of what they're buying from you now. The most obvious way to lose a customer is a quality or service failure, but more cus- tomers are lost because of some- thing less obvious, even though it shouldn't be. You know that your competitors are calling on your cus- tomers, right? That means you have to be calling on them too! But more than that, it means that you have to be calling on them and bringing value, not just taking it. "Do you need any printing today?" is not a value-based selling strategy. Far Vision We live in an age of almost-imme- diate gratifcation. As an Amazon Prime member, for example, I can order just about anything from Am- azon and get it shipped to me free within two days. But while you can buy very quickly, you can't always sell very quickly, especially when that involves building trust to the point where someone is willing to take the leap of faith that it takes to place a custom order with a new supplier. And make no mistake, that's a signifcant leap of faith! With better far vision, you might realize that it's going to take time to get people to the point where they'll seriously consider buying from you. You'll also realize that while there are no shortcuts, there are accelerators. For example, don't just talk about your quality and service; provide some evidence

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