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"Who buys your digital/inkjet print?" If there was one question that we would eliminate from your sales portfolio of opening lines, it would be this one. Why? Let's follow the scenario through and see where it leads us… You: "Who buys your digital/inkjet print?" Customer: "That would be me." You: "I sell print. I sell digital and inkjet print, too. Do you have anything that I can quote on for you?" Customer: "Sure. Give me a price for 5000 of these." <> You: "Here's my price." Customer: "Sorry, your price is too high." The problem with this sales approach is that it leads to the same ending every time. This should surprise no one. If your sales pitch is focused on the price of the printed piece, the basis of winning the bid is limited to being the lowest cost provider. By focusing on the clients’ print needs, you have limited your ability to sell profitably, effectively, and develop a loyal customer base. Surely, there must be …
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We recently sat down with former Postmaster General and current SG360° board member, Patrick Donahoe, to get his thoughts on the U.S. Department of Treasury’s recently released task force report United States Postal System: A Sustainable Path Forward. Q. As the former Postmaster General, what are your overall thoughts regarding the Task Force’s report? A. The fact that a Task Force was appointed by the President is a very positive move. It potentially signals to Congress that the Executive Branch is interested in pursuing legislation to address many of the problems the Postal Service faces. Most of the issues identified by the Task Force can only be resolved via legislation. There are a few actions that can be addressed through administrative means, but a long-term fix requires legislation. The other positive point that can be derived from the Task Force activity is the recognition of the value of the Postal Service, both as an economic and social force in the United States. Our …
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You’ve heard us say this before. NINETY percent of salespeople do not have a regular prospecting process that they follow with any kind of regularity. So, odds are, if you are reading this, you fall into that ninety percent. You are reading this blog and that’s a good start. In addition, you can commit to participating in the thINK Sales Virtual Workshops where we are going to do some real game-changing work together. So how do you go about creating and sticking to a prospecting plan, the kind of plan that will take you and your sales practice to a whole ‘nother level? As we always say about the concept of a plan, the order of the steps is not as important as the steps themselves. Same goes for this checklist. You don’t have to do it in order, you just must do it. Commit – Make a promise to yourself (and ideally someone else to keep you accountable) that you are going to do this EVERY DAY. Choose your channels – The phone alone is not going to cut it today. You’ve got to make the …
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Finishing solutions in your shop can be a necessary piece of infrastructure or a differentiator that brings you new business. How you treat finishing in your production often depends on the type of business you operate. For transaction print and mail operations, finishing may revolve around slit/merge, perf/punch, fold and insert operations, while for direct mail print shops there may be a wider range of options for folding, scoring, creasing, and tabbing. Book printers often focus on book block assembly, binding, and cover-based workflows. Then, commercial printers produce everything from posters to point of sale collateral requiring folding, scoring and cutting. No matter where you fall in the print provider world, finishing can add value to the products you have to offer. For every printer there is value in walking the production shop floor to see how the current finishing options are being used. Whether near line or inline, finishing is often sited as a bottleneck. How efficient …
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Whether you have just finished training and are getting started in your sales career or you’ve been selling for decades, finding new business can be daunting. So, we’re gonna try to make this as easy on you as possible. Before you do anything else, you must know who you are going to call on. We’ll lay this out for you in, say, 12 easy steps. Figure out what you do and who you do it for – Think of this as your mission statement. Here’s a great example from a fellow thINK member, HighNote “We’ll help deliver your brand in ways that inspire and excite your audience.” NICE! Give some thought to what your punchy, concise mission might sound like. Work it over ‘til you are thrilled with it. Survey your colleagues — Ask a trusted associate, maybe someone on the shop floor or in accounting “If you were me, who would YOU call on?” Look for success from within your company – We would do this one of two ways, or both. Get a list of the top ten accounts in your company, and then make a …