There is no excuse for not giving your sales reps training. Finding them, hiring them and putting them on the payroll costs you a lot of money. So please don’t say you can’t afford to train. Here are some of the excuses:
Print buyers and prospects are watching you. How do you know if your house is in order? Are you prepared to court new business? Let’s start with the basics. Today, I called a customer and heard “Hello.” That was it!
If there is any good news for printers, it is that paper prices may be bumping up against a ceiling. Coated paper does have continuing overcapacity, putting pressure on prices, and uncoated prices have risen to the point where coated prices are sometimes lower than uncoated.
When you think of the art of branding, what comes to mind? The art or the science? Those are two very different disciplines, yet if you don’t have both firmly thought through and driving your key brand messaging, you will find it difficult to score attention and the results you’re seeking.
Online video is a personable medium, yet it can also help you reach thousands of current and potential customers. Consider using video as an efficient way to showcase product improvements. Online video can also be used to build brand goodwill.
For the first time ever, I gave a client the advice to “cease and desist all prospecting activity effective immediately.” She was burned out, frazzled and frustrated. The problem in this situation is that my client is calling on the wrong kinds of companies.
Yesterday, I had the good fortune of meeting Dave Gilson of Gilson Graphics at a Fujifilm event. This print CEO’s story made a great impression. If you’re a print CEO, especially of a family-owned business, don’t hide your face.
Welcome to my new series, which asks the very important question: “How great is your communication?” In most cases, a few heads are better than one, and if you stop and listen to what your co-workers have to offer you in the way of advice and observation, I can guarantee you will learn something.
What I am talking about is the act of generating business via proactive selling actions such as phone calls and appointments. I spoke with a selling owner just today who said he’d sent a thank you letter and wanted to count that as a sales call.
The typical cost of marketing is 100 percent for first-time customers and 33 percent for reselling new products to existing customers. Thus the conventional wisdom: “Your best prospects are your current customers.” What’s newer is the idea of applying the strategy to your Website marketing and related social media efforts.
