How a Low-key Strategy Stops Prospects from Refusing to Meet You

I recently agreed to have a meeting with a printing company
You may think that there is nothing unusual in that. The truth is, so many printers ask me for meetings these days that I try and avoid them as much as possible.

Many print sales people talk at me about their presses and then expect me to be delighted at the prospect of a meeting.

And that’s the opposite of what this salesperson did
This printing company adopted what I call the low-key strategy. I never heard a single word about their presses. I wasn't treated to a blow-by-blow account of the company history.

Best of all, they didn't keep asking me to give them jobs to quote for.

Here's why printing companies need to adopt a low-key strategy
Printing companies that adopt this strategy will end up building relationships with their prospects. The conversation will be about more than just the commodity sale. That means they will be in control of a healthier sales pipeline. They will have a better chance of achieving the sales targets they need.

Printing companies that carry on with the same traditional sales approaches will struggle to achieve their targets. They will find prospects harder to convert to customers. They will be treated as commodity suppliers. The conversation will be all about price.

So what should you do to avoid this situation? Here are three ways that the printing company made a successful low-key pitch to me.

They talked about my business
This company made the conversation all about me. It was refreshing to be talking about my business challenges and what I needed. It was refreshing not to be hearing about yet another printing company.

Because the salesperson talked about me, they learned a lot about how they could help me. And they came over as a supplier who might well be able to help my business.