Business Management - Marketing/Sales

The potential for digital packaging is great, and while there are many obstacles, these can all be overcome. Commercial printers would also like to get into packaging, but commercial shops have some additional challenges. Commercial printers generally do not have the finishing equipment: folding, scoring, diecutting. Perhaps more significant, brand owners generally look to box makers for boxes, not commercial printers.

There is a misconception among some that sales is all about being aggressive and getting there first, being the loudest, and wanting it the most. While determination and persistence are absolutely critical to a salesperson’s success, sometimes the best thing you can do with a prospect, or even a customer, is to hang back.

How long before you fire a new sales person for non-performance: six months? nine? A year? In this week's blog, Bill Farquharson makes the case for just four to five weeks.

This week, Sabine Lenz, from PaperSpecs, highlights a wedding invitation line from RoxyLou Design + Press in North Attleboro, MA. A flowing engraved script; a tender pink, gold and yellow palette; romantic curling tendrils and tiny butterflies make up this beautiful invitation.

Hear from successful print/marketing services providers that have become a one stop shop for all their clients' communications needs.

Last week, Fire Enterprises (FEI) marketing maven Marka told savvy salesperson Zoot and FEI tribe leader Org how building a competitive positioning grid can help FEI’s staff stay on message and counter buying objections. This week, Marka discusses how plain, text-only e-mails can achieve better results for FEI than traditional promotional e-mails.

For those of you not lucky enough to work in the TV age, we were able to harness massive televised networks and get our “message” out there quickly. Then, it was more about who could grab the most number of people’s attention and pull them in with our creative brand marketing campaigns. Boy I miss those days!

If you don’t already have a sample system in place, try to make sure all requests are addressed by a qualified human being who can have an intelligent discussion with the requestor about their business, and the type of work they are looking to see. This is a great way to open a dialogue that focuses solely on the needs of the requestor. Listening is a skill, and it’s appreciated.

Print has not been included within the trending universe for some time and I doubt that it will ever make its way back to any of the top trending lists in the future. Not because print is dead (for it is not), not because print is an old-fashioned technology (again it is not), but because print will not get back in vogue until the “identity” of print is changed and updated.

Okay, so the gods did not bless you with the looks of Zeus and the body of Adonis. You are not outgoing and upbeat and charming. You can still succeed in sales by developing a skill that is just as powerful and far more genuine. Find out how in Bill Farquharson's blog.