From Appliances to Annual Reports: Different Products Require Different Sales Tactics
By: Dave Clossey / T.J. Tedesco
For: High Volume Printing
Published: April, 2002

When was the last time you purchased a major appliance, such as a television? Do you remember the details of that purchase? What was the name of the person who sold that television to you? What was the name of the store? If you can’t remember the circumstances surrounding that purchase, you’re not alone. Most of us don’t recall even the most basic details of these transactions, even though they are often for several hundred dollars or more. You would think we would be paying more attention when that much money exits our wallets!

Compare the purchase of an appliance with the purchase of print or other graphic arts services. The difference is night and day. An event-based transaction, such as a television or other appliance purchase, requires the salesperson to take advantage of an infrequent opportunity. On the other hand, a print transaction is the result of a mutually beneficial relationship. Ideally, it isn’t the only transaction to result from this carefully-constructed relationship, either.

The distinction between these two transaction types is even more poignant in the midst of difficult economic times. When pricing wars enter the equation, long-term customer relationships can be pushed to the background. A nasty by-product of such a business climate is the migration of printing sales toward tactics that place a high emphasis on low price.

The key is to bring in the “right” work, not the “right now” work. Using event-based sales tactics in a relationship-based customer environment will doom a company to failure. It’s important to know the difference between the two, and why forging strong, mutually-beneficial customer relationships is the best – and only – way to win more business for your company.

Event-based sales: capitalizing on opportunity
Let’s get back to that television purchase for a moment. When you went into that appliance store, did you have a specific salesperson you wanted to see? No, of course not. A television is a television. The combination of features and price are what drew you to make a buying decision. You didn’t need a “we’ll take care of you” from the store manager to cinch your decision.

In order to win business, salespeople in event-based transaction environments need to close the sale whenever an opportunity presents itself – essentially, as soon as you walk through the door. The salesperson isn’t concerned with how you might be best served the next time you come in, because quite often there is no next time. It could be a decade or longer before you’re in the market for another television. The success of that company, and the salespeople that work for it, is based on taking advantage of the immediate sales opportunities that walk in each day.

This type of selling environment presents a stark contrast to the graphic arts industry. Though price and features are considerations in a print transaction, it’s the building of an honest, consultative relationship that keeps customers returning to do more business with your company. You don’t expect to deal with the television salesperson on a regular basis, so a relationship in that environment isn’t desired or even necessary. But that reassuring “we’ll take care of you” is exactly what your print customers need to hear and experience!

The consultative approach
How often do you walk into a prospect’s office and come out with job orders in hand? It may happen every once in a while, but certainly not very often. Immediate gratification, however, isn’t the goal of print sales. A regular cycle of profitable work is the desired result of mutually-beneficial customer relationships, and a consultative approach to serving your customers will develop these relationships much more rapidly. Become a reliable information resource for customers, and you give them a compelling reason to continue doing business with you.

This is perhaps the biggest difference between event-based and relationship-based sales. The goal in businesses that revolve around event-based transactions is to make sure every customer that walks into the store walks out with a product in their hands. In print sales, nothing could be further from the truth. The goal in our industry is to provide customers with innovative solutions to their particular needs – whether we can produce the job ourselves or not.

This type of customer-oriented approach will help you avoid the scenario of “winning the battle but losing the war.” The best interests of both your company and your customer aren’t in mind if you pretend you can handle every job that’s placed in front of you. This may mean turning down the occasional job when it isn’t the right fit for the capabilities of your company. You’d make a television salesperson faint if you told them you can actually win more business by turning down a sales opportunity!

Be an information resource
When you’re in the market for an appliance, do you just walk into the store and let the first salesperson who approaches you explain the ins and outs of every model in the store? Probably not, and even if you do, that information rarely forms the basis of a buying decision. The Internet allows you to look up as much information as you could ever want about every television in any store. You do research before you walk into the store, and you make a decision that’s fueled mostly by price. The expertise of that salesperson is virtually a non-factor in your decision to buy.

Graphic arts sales, on the other hand, require the command of a large body of information. The transactions themselves are full of technical details that are unique to each job. The best way to attract and retain customers – especially the ones you can’t immediately serve – is to position yourself as an information resource. Customers will love your enthusiasm if you show that you’re interested in helping them even when it doesn’t involve a job that will arrive immediately onto your shop floor. After all, the goal is to forge a link where your customer thinks of your company immediately for jobs that fit right into your core production competencies. Proving an abundance of the right information, and suggesting alternative options for jobs that fall outside of your company’s niche, will only reinforce that link.

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Printing sales requires a vastly different approach than event-based transactions. The relationships generated in our industry are beneficial to both printer and print buyer. By keeping these differences in mind, you won’t jeopardize future business by utilizing sales strategies that bring in “quick-fix” jobs. Become a resource of valuable information for all of your customers, and be well on your way to winning more business!

T.J. Tedesco is a “hands-on” marketing, sales, coaching and training consultant to the post press industry. He is the author of Binding, Finishing & Mailing: The Final Word, and Win Top-of-Mind Positioning, both published by GATFPress and available at Amazon.com. T.J. can be reached at (301) 294-9900 or tj@growsales.com.