A printer writes, “Margie, we’re about to meet a team of nine buyers for the first time. We responded to their request for an RFP, and today we found out that we made the final four of prospective print partners. What advice can you give us?”
It’s been a while since I’ve written about Marvelle Stump, America’s worst, laziest, and all-around most incompetent printing salesperson. Marvelle sold his last real job back in 1987 just before his mama passed away. Mama Stump had been the print buyer at First Mississippi Bancorp and always took care of her baby.
Discounting can be a worthwhile strategy, if demand for your product is elastic or your company has already met its fixed monthly costs. In these cases, discounting may be able to help you grow your profits.
There is an urban legend that a guy went to Nordstroms to return four tires. He railed about what a good customer he is to the store, how much he spends, and so on, loudly stating his case.
I am a GLEEK. And I will not apologize for it. I love that show. And last week, there was a scene that for the first time made me say, “Hey, there’s something I can use to blog about.”
The furniture store wasn’t about price. It was about relationships, expertise and trust. Michelle, the new Print Buyer, rapidly changed all of that. How could a company buy with one philosophy and sell with another? It wasn’t fair.
With unrestricted marketing warfare, marketing weapons can be used to overwhelm the consumer and control their purchasing power. Start with print—the faithful, heavy artillery of marketing. Next, add some stealth, such as emerging technologies—QR codes, SMS, and mobile sites—all linked to the Internet via personalized microsites
Most business people have at least 100 people they call their business associates, strategic partners, vendors and related support services providers that they know well. The “Strategy of 100” lets you start with people who do know you, trust you and will give you an audience.
Discounting isn’t always a bad strategy. Pricing to the realities of the marketplace should at least be considered. In the right situations, intelligent discounting can lead to better profits as well as revenue growth.
There is a good chance that we (the print community) have a lot to learn from each other. This was made particularly clear to me last week at GRAPH EXPO 2011 when Bill and I talked to a group of owners, executives and salespeople about how to motivate salespeople to embrace selling digital.
