Home | Subscribe | Contact Us | Advertise

Be Like Mike

Last month I wrote about how much I’ve enjoyed my career in this industry and how much I enjoy my peers in the same field. But this business is not easy, and success in print sales is not a given, especially in today’s environment. It takes continual effort to listen closely, understand people and face problems as opportunities. It also means understanding new products and technologies and how they offer solutions, and it takes discipline to maximize your time effectively.

It’s tempting to plateau when you hit a certain comfort zone, but that should be a warning signal that you’ve already started to slide backwards. Instead, continuing to improve your skills and understand your customers will lead you to a higher level. That higher level is the ability to communicate concepts or “programs” that customers really want and need.

A program, as it is often called in our industry, is a more educated way of buying and managing print. It could be a print management program, a company store or other e-commerce solution than helps clients buy what we provide in a smart and efficient way.

It’s easy to chase print orders, but evolved print professionals know there’s more value in providing programs, both for their customers and themselves. Customers prefer a better way of buying and managing what we provide. Our biggest challenge is that it takes longer to get the program idea across and implement it. They don’t offer the immediate gratification or immediate income of chasing print orders, but learning to effectively communicate the value of programs and implement them is the road to greater rewards. This type of business, although almost always daunting to capture and set up, is more secure, takes less time to administer and is typically more profitable. Plus it sets you apart from everyone else in your customers’ eyes.

The program sale is something that I’ve learned and gravitated to after several years of chasing print orders. It’s something that has attracted many in our company after they’ve witnessed success in program type sales by others. We encourage everyone to take this road, although not everyone does. For newer, younger salespeople in our company, it’s tempting to seek the immediate success of winning print orders, and some of that is necessary. But getting stuck there can be like a treadmill and lead to feeling like you’re always on edge. When young salespeople decide they want to go down the road less traveled, it’s particularly gratifying to watch them evolve to a higher level.

We had a young salesperson—we’ll call him Mike—who chased print orders. He thought he would do well by getting in front of as many opportunities as possible for print orders. Odds were that he would get his share. But after a couple years, Mike grew disenchanted with this direction and asked for help.

We showed Mike the “light” of program sales. At first he had difficulty believing it was the answer. There was no immediate gratification and he had to learn a new approach that was far more involved. He finally picked up the gauntlet and started his career anew. Mike became more determined to help his customer find a better way. It took many months, with encouragement from us and his customer, who now listened and brought him into their circle of trust. Eventually, Mike prevailed and the better way he implemented has significantly elevated Mike in the eyes of the customer and increased his income. He is now “the man” for anything we provide to this large customer. This success further energized Mike, and he has just successfully signed another large program sale.

I share this story because I believe, as do many in our industry, that the future belongs to those who can provide a better way of buying and managing print and the related services we provide. I call it a program, but call it whatever you like. Just remember that we all need to “be like Mike.”