On one hand, this is awesome because it busts down walls and allows us to create connections that never would have been possible otherwise. Think about all the celebrities on Twitter–or even those niche printer celebrities. You can tweet directly at them without any other connection–they don’t even need to follow you back! Now that’s access.

But on the other hand, while these new connections are possible, they aren’t always as strong as face to face. It’s like digital vs. print: one is extremely convenient and accessible, but the other is real.

In less words, don’t forget the value of real, face to face (or even voice to voice) interactions when selling and building your printing brand.

If you’re interested in reading more, click through the link below:

Forget Facebook – try face-to-face [Flying Solo]

We spoke with Bill Farquharson at Printing Hub 2013 this year, and he knows the difficulty of the printing sales call. Here’s his one technique to overcome your sales anxiety and knock the call out of the park.

The One Technique to Make Your Printing Sales Call a Success:

In summary:

• A successful printing sales call happens not because of your skill, but because of your preparation.
• Learn everything you can about your clients’ business, their pain and how you can solve that pain.
• Then, once you’ve prepared extremely well, just do it!

For more nuggets of printing insight, read and watch the highlights from Printing Hub 2013!

Ok, don’t take that literally. You don’t need to close your doors, do some market research and figure out a new industry.

But as printers, we do need to change the way we sell.

Bill Farquharson presented at this year’s Printing Hub 2013 with an inspirational message for printers: People want what you’re selling. They need what you’re selling. But we have to move up the food chain. That means we want a seat at the cool kids table with the designers.

How to Sell Printing Products

Remember the golden age of print? I bet you do. Back when you could drop by any old office and ask to bid on a printing project. And the prospect had one at the ready for you to bid on.

But the gilded era is gone.

Customers have options now. They don’t think they need your specific printing operation–the internet and the rise of major printing stores have given them a ton of options for print. If we lead with asking to bid a project, we’ve given our print buyer the easiest out by saying our prices are too high.

Step One: Start Selling Solutions

They don’t need printers who are doing the exact same things they’ve always done. As a matter of fact, if you can’t end your sales call with something of value to your print buyer, stop what you’re doing.

We have to learn how to sell printing products in the 21st century. And that means solving customers’ problems. For instance, for every dollar a print buyer spends on print, there’s $20 being spent in using it. So we should help the print buyer lower that usage cost or increase the value of the printed piece–and be technically superior to the competition.

Customers aren’t looking for printing products and services, they’re looking to grow their business, get more customers, increase revenue, have a successful trade show or improved communications. That should be the focus of the sales call. Which means a little work is necessary before the sales call so it shows you’ve done your homework on their organization.

Step Two: Find the Right Customers

You have all the information you need to discover new prospects. A company’s website is the window to the soul of an organization. You just need to read between the lines to see what the company truly values. Scan through the company’s history, look at recent news articles, discover their upcoming events and understand the language they use to present their products and services. More often than not, you’ll get all the contact information you need of the decision makers.

Then go beyond the prospect’s website and look at social media to understand what your customers and prospects are discussing on LinkedIn, Google, Twitter and Facebook. Don’t disregard more traditional methods such as business journals and job postings. This tells you what industries and companies are growing.

Believe or not, the library is rich with prospect data. Libraries typically pay for subscriptions to extensive business databases such as Redbooks. Reference librarians will help you dig to get the data you want about particular prospects. These librarians love to dig for information so there’s a good chance they’ll keep working on your request long after you’re gone.

There’s also something to be said for traditional networking and aligning yourself with associations to unearth more printing projects.

Step Three: Go Above and Beyond

The key of how to sell printing in today’s environment is to build a brand and differentiate yourself. Then create a prospecting process like no other in your marketplace. Adopt an environment of educating your customers, speaking their language and tell them how you’re going to solve their problems.

So let’s start small. Go find three prospects, do some research on those companies, create your prospect process, make some calls and bang on doors. Maybe even send a handwritten note. But above all, stop selling print–and start selling all the ways that your printing company can help other businesses be the best version of themselves.

Good luck.

To encourage usage and engagement, simply tell them what to do. Provide instructions on how to engage with QR codes and insight to what they’ll receive. Use helpful text or an image that drives the point home for the user. Simply put, tell them.

For more tips on increasing use of QR codes, follow the link below.

4 Tips to Increase QR Code Scans [QReate & Track]

According to NAPL’s State of the Industry report, commercial printing sales have decreased 20.6% since 2007. But that doesn’t mean every printing company is struggling—there are companies seeing increased sales. So what are these printing companies doing?

For one, they’re getting to know their clients better, and shifting the kind of relationship they have with them. To hear how you can transition from a transactional based relationship with your clients, and the benefits of doing so, watch the short video below with NAPL’s Chief Economist Andy Paparozzi.

Take a minute to step outside of the industry. Instead, put yourself in the customer’s shoes. How do they make a purchase? What’s their thought process? Once you stop focusing on the industry and start focusing on the industry consumers, your marketing can shift in the right direction.

For more on stepping outside the industry and ahead of your company’s competition, click the article linked below.

Stepping Outside the Industry and Ahead of the Competition [MarketingSherpa]

So, what do today’s CRM tools have on the past? Today, your business can use CRM tools for little to no cost. Plus, you have access to reports that can help you develop leads in the future.

For more ways to increase revenue with CRM, click the article linked below.

3 Ways to Increase Revenues with CRM [Score More Sales]

Marketing success will depend on your flexibility for change. It’s important for companies to see when a strategy is failing and take the appropriate action. Don’t push the campaign harder or put more into it—try something different. Find ways to give more value for the same price or provide unbelievable dedication to customers. Use new, customer focused actions to help revitalize a flailing marketing strategy.

For more on changing marketing fails into successes, follow the link below.

How to Fix Your Failed Marketing Strategy [Eyes On Sales]

This Mother’s Day, Forbes reports that consumers are going more traditional. They’re eschewing iPads and purchasing spa days and holiday cards. The point is that on holidays like this, your printing company has a huge opportunity to help connect people to one another.

Whether you’re helping a restaurant market their Mother’s Day special or helping a negligent son purchase a last-minute card, sometimes physical is just more sentimental and effective than digital. And it isn’t going away.

Learn more about how consumers are celebrating Mother’s Day:

Consumers Buying More Traditional, Emotional Gifts This Mother’s Day [Forbes]

If you’re going over the details of a big job, it’s tempting to send off a quick email. Of course, if you aren’t perfectly clear (or they just aren’t email people), they’ll have to send you a message back to clarify. And so on and so forth, until eventually you’re 10 emails deep in an exchange that could have been accomplished with a 5-minute phone call.

When you communicate with your clients, are you using the communication channel they’re most comfortable with? Are you communicating with your printing customers for efficiency–but also, to build trust, rapport and to minimize risk for the client? Or could you put power in the client’s hands in the first place?

For more thoughts on miscommunication, click the link below:

Miscommunication [Seth’s Blog]