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.
The subject was, “How to get your sales team to sell digital and VDP.” With the calm of a 50-year print veteran, the self-proclaimed “oldest man in the room” asked a seminar-stopping question: “Why is this so hard?”
No matter how many years pass and how many articles or blog posts we read and digest about the right and wrong ways to approach a prospect, the point about sending appropriate samples doesn’t quite sink in. If you’re contacting a new prospect, find out as much about this person’s company as you can before sending samples of work you’ve done for other customers.
Anyone involved in the sales and marketing of a company has heard about sales funnels and their importance. What may not be quite as familiar is AIDA. AIDA is a simple acronym that was devised a long time ago as a reminder of four stages of the sales process
Before developing new products or product line extensions, printing companies should determine whether this product has the potential to detract from their base of existing sales. It’s not necessarily a bad idea to enter a new product or service that will compete with an existing one.
Is working from the road a myth or an acquired skill? The hope should be that you keep up with e-mails, expect no new sales calls to be initiated while traveling, and pray for something green to appear on your plate.
A comic book shop in Andersonville (north side of Chicago) came up with an outstanding way to encourage people to shop there frequently. After 50 purchases, the customer gets to punch the owner in the stomach. BRILLIANT! Or is it?
One of the true benefits of using a cohesive marketing strategy is it makes your company’s value message clearer with each new communication. You can push your core idea in many different ways to ensure that your central value is felt and understood.
Product line extensions and categories should both be entered according to perceived market need and your company’s core competencies. Printing companies should not be afraid of entering a new product or service category as long as they’re confident they can be #1 or #2 in that category.
