Print is Not a Commodity (so why do we sell it that way?)
I’m delighted to announce that training masterclasses from Profitable Print Relationships are now available in the USA. Here’s a guest post from our new training partner in the US: Richard Dannenberg. “Print is a commodity. The printer with the lowest price gets the jobs.” You’ve certainly heard this statement and you may have even made it. Like it or not, we’re in a competitive industry and many printers compete on price. But the statement is wrong. Print is the opposite of a commodity and we’re missing opportunities by capitulating to a commodity mindset of our own design.
How limiting beliefs can reduce your sales results
I read an interesting post by Michael Hyatt recently. He states that there are three types of limiting beliefs that many people have.
#UKvUSA: What matters more: price or value?
Two continents: US and UK. Two different buying backgrounds: procurement and agency. Two alternative ways of looking at things
How a Call To Action wins print sales (and 3 useful examples)
This is one of the most pointless sales calls ever. Have a read to find out more.
“How To Stop Print Buyers Choosing On Price”, live at GRAPH EXPO 2015
I’m delighted to announce that I am coming to GRAPH EXPO 2015, Chicago. I will be attending 13th – 15th October. For the first time in the US I am running a public session of my highly successful “How To Stop Buyers Choosing On Price Workshop”. This is your chance to learn the TPD Principle with me live. This is a simple system that has helped many printing companies increase their print sales.
3 ways your customers can help you sell more print
Do you know as much as you should about your customers? When I mentor clients, one of the first topics that we usually talk about is their most important customers. I give my mentoring clients a questionnaire to fill in about their top clients. It often comes back with a lot of unanswered questions. When I start asking questions, many people are surprised at just how little they really do know about their key customers. That’s why interviewing your clients is so important
#UKvUSA Who really chooses paper?
Two continents: US and UK. Two different buying backgrounds: procurement and agency. Two alternative ways of looking at things. I’m delighted to have teamed up with Deborah Corn from PrintMediaCentr to bring two extremely different views to some important print questions. So welcom e to Print Buying: #UKvUSA where Deborah and I share information about our experiences from both sides of the pond. At the end of this post I have linked to Deborah’s answer to the same question. We wrote our answers (each limited to 500 words) without any idea of what the other was writing. As Deborah says:…
3 ways to win print business on Twitter
Isn’t Twitter all about posting what you had for lunch? It’s a common view that Twitter is one of the more time-wasting social media channels. Users spend their whole time posting pointless personal updates that are of very little interest to anyone. It’s a complete waste of tie for business users. Naturally it is easy to find users like this on Twitter. However, you will also find plenty of very worthwhile Twitter feeds. You will find that it’s a great way to sell printing services. So can Twitter really win you worthwhile new business?
How artisan print can increase your sale price by over 100%
Here’s how one person charges 100% more than the competition for his services I have a friend who is an artisan chocolatier. He sells great chocolate. I love it! But he has a problem. These days supermarket sell great chocolate too. They buy in bulk. They are able to sell at low profit margins. Despite these issues, my friend successfully sells his chocolate at double the price that the supermarkets do. I have been careful to make a like-for-like comparison here. I’m comparing his chocolate with the supermarket premium brands, not the cheap options. So how can he do this?…
Keep your print prices high to save clients money
It’s all about price! That’s the constant message that we are told when we are selling print. The only way to win a print job is to give the client a lower price than the competition. This system doesn’t work for anyone. Naturally, you know that fighting on price reduces your profit margins. But here’s something else for you to consider.
