Is your sales person selling what you want?
Do you find yourself printing jobs you never wanted? I hear many, many stories from printing companies about how sales people are bringing in the wrong type of work. I am told that people are trying to bring in work at any cost, rather than thinking about what is right for the company. Here are three questions if you are faced with this issue What type of work do you want? It’s very easy to realise that a job isn’t right for your company. It is a lot harder to work out the right sort of job. But if you…
Seven Different ways to remunerate a sales person
Sales commission isn’t always as easy as it looks There’s a whole range of ways to compensate a sales person. All of them have their plus points and the minus points. Let’s have a look at potential ways to make sure your sales person earns their money in a way that keeps you and them happy. Turnover This is the most common way that sales people get paid. It is simple. But it does come with a number of disadvantages. It is normally paid on top of a basic wage. Pros – This is a very simple way to calculate…
Print Buying #UKvUSA: 3 Things Printers Should Do Now
In this episode of Print Buying UKvUSA, Matthew Parker and Deborah Corn share our advice on what three things every printing company should be doing at the moment: 👉 Six great pieces of advice 👉 Not all of these may be new – but they are becoming urgent 👉 We get dangerously close to agreeing! What would you add to our suggestions? We would love to hear your thoughts! Please share in the comments below. PS If you liked what I had to say, make sure you sign up below for regular updates from me Get your free copy of “10 Common…
3 guidelines for setting targets for sales people
Many sales targets are no help to sales people Most sales people are told to bring in a certain amount of revenue. But that is all the guidance that they are given. Some aren’t even given a revenue target. For anyone in sales to perform their best, they need a bit of guidance. Here are three elements that should be in any sales target: Set the right figures Giving people a turnover target is important. But make sure you specify the right profit as well. It is important that sales people sell work that makes you enough money! Tell people…
Where do you find a good sales person? Three options
Good sales people are hard to find One of the most frequent requests from my readers is if I know of a good sales person looking for a job. And I am inundated with stories about companies that hired a sales rep with a supposedly good order book who didn’t work out. However, in my experience, many of the best sales people are not necessarily from within the printing industry. Here are three ideas for recruiting sales people: Hire relationship builders One of the most successful print sales people I have heard of used to be a journalist. They were…
Nine communication channels and social media platforms you need to get to know
Communications are becoming more fragmented We are seeing a huge growth of choice in communication channels. More and more options are being launched. People are becoming far more personal in the way that they choose to communicate with each other. There is also a backlash against some of the more established social media platforms. After their takeovers, people are moving away in large numbers from Twitter and Instagram. These numbers aren’t enough to threaten the existence of the platforms, but they are enough to reduce the traction that companies may have had there. And they are enough for it to…
A 5-point plan to keep clients happy when you are delivering late
Here’s the story of how two different printers approached late delivery I remember the morning well. I came into the office on a Monday to find an e-mail from a major supplier with bad news. It had been pouring with rain all weekend. Their bindery was flooded. Their staff were all wearing wellington boots and moving around in inches of water. It was not safe to operate their equipment. The printer had owned up quickly to the problem. They listed all the jobs that would be affected. They also promised to give up regular updates on new delivery dates: they…
Print Buying #UKvUSA: Looking ahead to 2023
In this episode of Print Buying UKvUSA, Matthew Parker and Deborah Corn think about the coming year: 👉 Matthew’s five predictions for 2023 👉 Deborah’s three missions for the printing industry this year 👉 How does print fit into the current commercial landscape? We would love to hear your predictions for 2023. Please share in the comments below. PS If you liked what I had to say, make sure you sign up below for regular updates from me Get your free copy of “10 Common Print Selling Errors And What To Do About Them’ (worth £19/$29) right now * indicates required First Name…
Print Buying #UKvUSA episode 29: Our recap of 2022
In this episode of Print Buying UKvUSA, Matthew Parker and Deborah Corn discussed their key take-aways from 2022. 👉 What were the big lessons we learned in 2022? 👉 How do you adapt to the contemporary print customer landscape 👉 Advice for print professionals going into the new year 👉 Another sales e-mail review (please never send an e-mail like this!) We would love to hear your takeaways from the past 12 months Please share in the comments below. PS If you liked what I had to say, make sure you sign up below for regular updates from me Get your free copy…
Print Buying #UKvUSA episode 27: Choose One – Efficiency Or Creativity
In this episode of Print Buying UKvUSA, Matthew Parker asked Deborah Corn about which was more important for a printing company: efficiency or creativity? The discussion was based on this quote by Reed Hastings, founder and CEO of Netflix, on the difference between creativity and efficiency: “A way to think about it is, innovation requires variation. And in manufacturing—six sigma, all that stuff—you’re trying to reduce variation. The fundamental manufacturing paradigm is to reduce variation, and the fundamental creative, innovation paradigm is to increase it.” How does one create the right balance between efficiency and creativity? Handy tips for efficient creativity in the…