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If you believe the TV commercials, you can lose weight and build muscle and look just like those ultra-buff hardbodies on the screen with only two or three 20-minute workouts each week. I'm pretty sure no one actually believes that, but I'm also pretty sure that two or three 20-minute workouts each week will put most people in better shape than they are right now.
The same holds true for selling. You probably won't generate a huge sales increase unless you're able to put forth a full-time sales effort, but you can increase sales volume fairly significantly with even a modest amount of selling time. The key, of course, is a consistent program. Here's one that can be implemented in only about seven hours each week.
Basic Strategy and Structure
The first challenge any printing salesperson faces is to identify suspects—companies which look like they have potential to be good customers. The only qualifying requirement for a suspect is that they look like they (1) buy the kind of printing you're best equipped to sell, and (2) buy enough of it to make pursuing them worthwhile. The next challenge a salesperson faces is to identify at least one decision-maker in that company's buying process.
The second stage of the 7-Hour Selling Plan will be to mail six introductory letters every week. The first stage, then, is to identify six people who look to be worth writing to. That might require "looking at" 10-12 suspect companies each week, but that can easily be done within a 2-hour block of time. Since Monday tends to be a difficult day for many wide-format printers, let's start the 7-Hour Selling Plan on Tuesday, and let's plan to put the "selling hat" on from 9:00 AM until 11:00 AM, giving you time to get the shop organized in the morning, and bringing you back into other management/operational activities well before the middle of the day.
What does "looking at" mean? I recommend a conversation with the "gatekeeper." With just a few questions, you can learn most of what you need to know in order to make your first qualifying decision. What is the name of the person who buys the printing for this company? What is that person's title? What can you tell me about how much and what kind of printing is used by this company? Can you tell me who (the printing buyer) buys from right now?
Remember, you're looking for companies that buy the kind of printing you're best equipped to sell, and buy enough of it to make your pursuit worthwhile. Anyone who doesn't should be immediately disqualified. Your job on Tuesday morning is to find six people who really seem to be worth writing to, and if you can do that in less than two hours, you can take your "selling hat" off early and move on to other things.
Next: Wednesday is "correspondence day" in the 7-Hour Selling Plan.
David M. Fellman is the president of David Fellman & Associates, Cary, NC, a sales and marketing consulting firm serving numerous segments of the graphic arts industry. Contact him at 919/363-4068 or visit his website at www.davefellman.com.
author: BY DAVID M. FELLMAN