How the Slow Food Movement Can Help You Increase Your Printing Profits

I'm a big fan of these slow food movement
The whole philosophy behind slow food is that one should take one's time. A meal is much tastier if its preparation isn't rushed. Cooking ingredients for longer often results in much more flavor. Spending this time preparing meals in the correct way is also much more fun for the cook.

Printing companies need to approach prospects in a slow food way
It’s tempting to approach printing sales as if you're cooking a fast food meal. Too often I receive approaches from printing companies that focus on getting a quote to the estimating department as quickly as possible. However, this could be costing the company valuable profits.

Printing companies that take their time before asking for a quote are more likely to create a better relationship with their prospect. They are more likely to stay in control of the sale. That means they have a better chance of achieving what they want with the prospect.

Printing companies ask for quick straightaway won't have had time to create that relationship. They will be stuck in a bidding war. There's a good chance they will lose the price battle and achieve nothing.

If you want to avoid being stuck in a bidding war you need to take things more slowly
Firstly, you should be taking time to engage with the customer. You should be investigating what it is that they need from their print. You should be thinking about the challenges that they face in their business and personally.

Once you have done this, you have a better chance of aligning yourself and your company to the prospect’s needs. You are more likely to be discussing how you can help improve a customer's business.

If you fail to have this conversation then the customer will simply end up buying on price.