Business Management - Marketing/Sales

Imagine giving a client a price AFTER the job ships and having them balk. What do you do? Well, what PI Blogger Bill Farquharson did is a story that taught him a valuable lesson, gave him a great memory, and is the subject of this week’s blog.

Sometimes it seems as if everything is doom and gloom in the printing industry with ongoing reports of plant closures, shrinking margins, and dwindling print volumes. But then I get a chance to chat with someone like Bill Wieners, president of Digital Lizard, about how they started as a $4-5M digital printer in 2011 and have grown an average of about 65 percent a year over the past four years.

How long can you go without complaining? If your reaction to that was, "What does that have to do with sales?" then you have already failed! So much of sales is mental. Attitude is everything. Find out more in this week’s sales tip from Bill Farquharson.

Having been there, I’ll testify to the fact that print customers have left printers because they get unacceptable treatment. Too often, they’d much rather switch than fight. The reality is, customers like coddling, whether we’re guests at a hotel, diners at a restaurant, or clients of a printer.

Selling against uncertainty and understanding the dynamics you are facing is discussed in this week’s Short Attention Span Webinar with Bill Farquharson and Kelly Mallozzi.

First impressions can really make a difference to the print buyer. The first elements of the sales message can either make a buyer choose on price, or it can make them want to use your company even if you are more expensive.

As some of you may know, the whole Mallozzi circus (and thusly Success.In.Print as well) is pulling up stakes early next week. We will be relocating the whole shebang to Connecticut. Chicago’s loss is the East Coast’s gain.

Print service providers are given the opportunity to earn the trust of designers every day, by doing their homework and listening to the needs and ambitions of their customers.

Being upfront with your print customers usually works best. If a proof is running late, or a delivery date can't realistically be met, or that special paper hasn't yet arrived, don’t hide it. Tell your customers. They’d rather find out there’s a potential complication and hear how you’re resolving it than find out after the fact that you knew all the while there was trouble brewing.

To kick off the year, Publishing Executive—Printing Impressions' sister publication—surveyed magazine publishers to find out what trends and technology they think will have an impact on the industry in 2015. The responses reveal where publishing is headed. The survey gathered information on where publishers expect growth for their businesses, what tools they plan to invest in and where they’d like further education.