As a sales trainer in the graphic arts, I come across all kinds of sales types (reps and owners) at all levels of sales experience. My conversations range from coaching someone to the next level to talking someone off the ledge. It’s a fun human experiment to be a part of. One of the earliest pieces of advice I was given was to become a student of sales. I took that to mean study human nature and observe others so that you can become the best version of your sales self.
While there is no one-size-fits-all manual for success, there is a set of core sales truths we can use as a guide. You might have yours.
Here are mine:
• Eternal Sales Basics — With the advent of the digital age came new ways to deflect direct contact from a sales rep. Caller ID and voicemail have built a moat around decision-makers. We must recognize and engage new tactics in order to make contact and develop deep, long-lasting relationships. But even as AI expands our abilities and new applications within the job of sales, none of it matters if you aren’t in line with certain sales fundamentals. You still need to identify great prospects. You still need to have a sales process with a solid reason for someone to see you. And you still need to be persistent as the day is long. None of that is negotiable. The alpha and omega of sales lie in these fundamentals.
• What Was Once Optional is Now Mandatory — Once upon a different decade, customers came to us and stayed with us. There was loyalty. If you owned the negatives or plates, you owned the customer. Today, printers must move up the customer food chain, moving from the quote stage of the job to the idea stage. Our job is no longer to provide quality, service, and price. We must understand the clients’ business and be subject matter experts in the world of our top accounts. Understanding their challenges and direction, and then selling solutions that meet a need, allows us to sell at our price and go from service provider to valued partner.
Read the rest of this story on Printing Impressions, a publication of PRINTING United Alliance, ASI’s strategic partner.
