To support his youth wrestling team, Robb Tipton sold candy door to door. In junior high school, he won awards for selling magazine subscriptions. After graduating from the University of Missouri, Tipton was a top seller of pots, pans and ovenware sets. Now that he owns a printing distributorship--Star Business Products in Kemah, Texas--he still follows a simple rule: Gain as much face-to-face contact as possible.
Problem is, the average cost of a personal sales call is rising, and it takes more calls to close a sale than ever before. The average business-to-business sales call costs $329, including travel and administrative expenses, according to survey of more than 20,000 firms conducted in September 2001 by Cahners Advertising Research. (See graph on right.) Also, firms are spending less time with salespeople in person, accepting fewer than two in-person meetings weekly on average, according to the survey.
That means sales representatives must make the most of time spent with prospects, Tipton says. "Smart companies focus their resources on targeting decision-makers," he says. "That's something you can't accomplish if you just leave your business card and walk out the door. Sales reps need more fuel than that." To that end, Tipton encourages firms to purchase brochures, advertising slicks and sell sheets from Star Business Products. He says companies can use the promotional literature to attract the attention of decision-makers.
So instead of bemoaning a business reality (the rising costs of personal sales calls), Tipton actually promotes that trend to increase sales of a new niche at his distributorship (short run color documents). "If a rep goes on a sales call and can't meet with a decision-maker, wouldn't it be effective for that rep to leave a powerful piece with graphic elements as a substitute for the face-to-face meeting?" Tipton says. "That's the message I'm giving clients--the cost of a sales call justifies the cost of the promotional piece. It's working."
Tipton practices what he preaches. When calling on prospects, he distributes ad slicks that include several screen shots of the products-and-services section of Star Business Products' web site (www.starbusinessproducts.com). Tipton says the leave-behinds also help him penetrate current accounts because he gains the attention of principals and marketing managers, not just employees in purchasing departments.
Tipton offers these tips for maximizing time spent on personal sales calls:
* Realize two truths about decision-makers. One, most of them won't meet with sales reps unless they recognize their names. Two, that recognition is determined by quality literature left behind during previous sales calls. Make sure your materials reflect your capabilities.
* Know who you're targeting before you attempt to gain accounts. Tipton relies on a corporate directory that includes more than 8,000 Houston businesses with 20 or more employees. The directory lists firms' principals, treasurers, CFOs, purchasing personnel, web sites and more. Tipton also cold calls prospects based on their ZIP codes, using a large wall map of Houston for reference.
Darin Painter is managing editor of Print Solutions. Email him your comments at dpainter@PSDA.org.
Katherine House, a freelance writer in Iowa City, Iowa, contributed to this story.
