How Print Sales Reps Really Think

I read this post on another blog and was SHOCKED by the comments made. I cannot believe a Sales Rep would really think this way! I am going to break this down by paragragh to respond and the whole post can be found at: http://www.graphicartsonline.com/blog/1850000385/post/1790014779.html

I received a phone call this morning from a client who had an interesting scenario: "My long time client (worth $50K a year) has started asking suspicious questions regarding pricing. When I press her on it, she admits that they need to save money and printing is one of the areas targeted for savings. What do I do?"

"Suspicious Questions" I certainly hope that EVERY Print Buyer, whether they are full print buyers or occasional print buyers are asking questions about pricing. And in case you haven't figured it out yet with prices on the rise everywhere, good buyers are going to ask questions about pricing, both upfront AND when the invoice comes, that buyer should be reviewing it with a fine tooth comb and questioning anything they do not understand. I also certainly hope that the buyer was "shopping" for print. Buyers, shopping is a VERY good thing in the print industry. Their are sometimes suppliers that are sitting with open capacity on a press and your job might just be the perfect fit in their schedule and they are willing to "shave" the price to fill that press. Companies are learning that when things get tight you don't fire the marketing staff to save costs, you increase the marketing budget to get your name and product out to more people. So you still have to save somewhere. Corporations look at their non-core competencies first. Most corporations are NOT in the business of buying print so they are going to look at where they can save. I worked with a company a few years back that went through this very exercise, they analyzed where they were spending money and where they could get their biggest bang for the buck! Print happened to be it! It was not a core-competency, it was in their eyes an evil necessity of doing business. (it also happened to be 100 million worth of necessity) So they learned to get smart about that business and came up with ways of reducing that cost like volume purchasing, sole provider contracts, process improvement, etc.

This phenomena is all too common these days and there is no question that she is in trouble. After giving her my answer, I pointed out that she is at fault for the client even having that thought! It is up to the sales person to remind the customer on a consistent basis why they do business with them. I don't care how good you are or how great your service level is, if the customer doesn't know (because you haven't told them), it won't be remembered and you are at risk. Get it?

Ah yes! The old customer loyalty gig...My advice (for what it's worth) Hit the problem head on...ask what you can do to help cut costs. The Sales Rep should go back to their boss and say something like; that $50,000 annual business is going to become NO BUSINESS if we cannot find a way to help our customer save money on their jobs. Bottom Line, is $40K better than $0K? If the answer is yes...then help cut the costs for the customer. Also, ask the customer if they need help finding a cost effective printer for the work your company does not do. Be consultative, be sincere, be caring, and really be helpful. Now that is customer service! Be loyal to them first and then you have a right to expect loyalty in return.

If you rush an order, send the client an email that says, “Thank you for letting us deliver on our promise of service” AND CC EVERYONE ON THE PLANET. That way, when a pencil pushing accountant says, “Save money on printing” the Buyer can push back and protect you. However in order to do this, they need to know your value. If you don’t tell them, they will have short memories.

Your right, they do need to know your value and the "Pencil Pushing Accountant" (or better known as CFO) will see NO value in receiving unsolicited AND unwanted emails from a sales person who has just added their email address into their CRM system and is now getting copied on every campaign your company offers. They get VALUE from seeing the books balance and seeing cost savings in areas they think can be leaned down. Your best bet with the accountant is show them savings and show them WHY costs are what they are. CFO's are usually accountants that got A's in economics while in college they will respond better to an economics lesson than shouts of how great we are.

Providing good service and being consultative to a company is more valuable than anything you can provide. Helping the customer to realize savings should be every sales persons first and primary goal. Help that buyer do their job better and it does pay dividends. Customer loyalty is EXTREMELY rare in today's market.