How do you get hold of customers when they are working from home?
Homeworking is here to stay We have all been forced to embrace staff working from home by the spread of Coronavirus. Now many companies are now re-evaluating their working practices. A major company near me has five large office buildings. Three were closed at the outset of the virus. These three buildings will now stay closed permanently. Many of their staff are delighted to stop having to drive into work every day. Whilst it is certainly not for everyone, a large number of employees are delighted at being based at home. This creates a problem for sales people Trying to…
Here’s how one printing company convinced me to place a large contract with them
I’ve shared a lot of sales messages from printing companies recently. They have all had one thing in common: they have encouraged me to buy print on price. I’ve received a lot of feedback from these posts. They seem to have touched a nerve with the print sales community. However, I’ve also been issued a challenge by a number of people. Give an example of a good sales e-mail To be honest, this has proved challenging! I haven’t received that many good sales e-mails. However, there is one sales message that has stuck in my mind. A few years ago…
#UKvUSA: How can printing companies get more work from their customers – a buyer’s perspective
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 welcome 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: “Maybe…
Four ways to improve communication with prospects and customers
Traditional communication often no longer works Here are some words from an interview that one of my clients carried out with one of their customers: “If they leave VM messages, I usually delete them. I HATE voice mail but I like email and would usually answer them, particularly if I know them. VM is the worst and it seems dated.” Naturally, this doesn’t apply to everyone Some people love the phone and hate e-mail. That’s why it’s vital to find out your customers’ and prospects’ preferred methods of communication.
13 ways to research your clients and prospects (do you use them all?)
Here’s a little challenge for you Prospect research is vital. Everybody knows that knowledge is the key to successful sales. However, I am always surprised at how little many print sales people are able to tell me about their clients. They are often unable to answer basic questions when I run sales workshops. How much client research do you do?
Three ways to improve the effectiveness of your print sales calls
“I should know my prospects better” That was the conclusion of the Managing Director of a large printing company after he had been on a print sales workshop with me. So what made him reach that conclusion? We had been working on target audiences. One of the exercises at the workshop was to fill in a simple questionnaire about a key customer. Just like many other attendees, the Managing Director found that he had many gaps on his questionnaire. He had been unable to answer some pretty basic questions. He admitted to me that he found this lack of knowledge…
The three types of pain that can help you sell printing
Imagine that a doctor has just announced some bad news to you What happens if you suddenly discover that you are suffering from an illness that you didn’t realise you had? You will focus on how to get better. Money is suddenly no object. It’s the same with sales. Show a prospect a problem that they didn’t know they had and they are suddenly interested in how to solve it. If you can help your prospect solve that problem you are in with a great selling opportunity.
What do print customers really want to talk about?
Here’s a one-minute video on a customer’s favourite topic. Make sure you watch it – you may be surprised at the answer (hint – it’s got nothing to do with print!) Please add a comment at the bottom and tell me your thoughts. Download your free copy of “Ten Common Print Selling Errors And What To Do About Them” (worth £19/$29) right now
Why social media is not about finding prospects to cold call
If you throw enough mud, some of it will stick There are quite a few print sales people that I have met who believe that there is only one way to meet their targets. That way is to phone as many people as possible. Most of these salespeople have no time for social media. However, some have embraced it as an excellent way to build contact lists. They spend time researching as many names and numbers as possible from social media platforms. Social media has become their new telephone directory. It is certainly true that you can use social media…
How social media fits in to the sales cycle
Have you heard of an earth-inverting horticultural implement? You may not realise it, but many people talk about these regularly. It’s just that they use much simpler language. An earth-inverting horticultural implement is simply fancy language for a spade!
