Last month I introduced the 5 people you meet on a Zoom call. I realize that I missed some major categories, but I only had so much time and energy, as is the norm these days.
I have been a sales manager and a sales coach for the better part of the last 2 decades, so in many ways, I feel like I have seen it all regarding sales performance.
So let’s get back to our players, and if you need a refresher on who is who, you can read the original post here
Sheila: Call Reluctance
Last month we learned that you are a bit of a technology Luddite, Sheila, but you are coming around and have figured out a way to center your face on your zoom screen and have shown up to most of the internal zoom meetings you have had. When it comes to your customers, you are the queen of the face to face. You have built your career on developing personal and close relationships with your clients, and that has served you and your company well for decades. For some reason, you have developed a deep-seated fear of trying to drum up new business. For a long time that was not a problem because you had such a robust book of business. But here we sit today, and your numbers have been on a steady decline for the last 8 years and there has been little to no backfill with the exception of a few referrals or inbound leads that you have received on rotation.
Jim: Anti-Change
Change is hard. We get it, Jim. You liked things the way they were back on the old days (translation – anything prior to 2001). You took clients golfing. There were long lunches and dinners and the orders rolled in from people who you understood; people that were pretty much just like you. The commissions were great. You bought a house, you put your kids through school. And now? You are being asked to participate in social media. You must talk to people decades younger than you who somehow seem to know as much if not more than you about YOUR OWN EQUIPMENT. How does that happen? Or even worse? They do not care about the equipment. They want to talk about marketing strategy and lift and response rates and coordinating print with a cross-media campaign. WHAT? You feel lost, you feel not so smart. You feel like the rug was pulled out from under you. Not fair.
Sara: The Spray and Pray-er
You know so much Sara. You paid so much attention during training. You read blogs; you talk to the vendors. You have massive collections of paper samples and links to articles. You can name the speeds and feeds of every single piece of equipment on your shop floor. CSRs come to YOU when they need to answer a turnaround time question if the plant manager is busy. When anyone comes in for a plant tour, you sound like a docent in a museum firing off facts and figures and some time, sorry Sara, the most random information. It is so great that you know all that stuff Sara, and no one is saying that you shouldn’t. But the problem comes into play when you just start firing that information at a client or prospect instead of listening.
Matt: The Over-Empathizer
You are such a caring person, Matt. All your friends describe you as the kind of person that would give them the shirt off your back. You are a feeler. And that is a good trait to have. Except when it isn’t. Sometimes, you extend your feelings of empathy to your customers and prospects in ways that do not help you move the sales needle. Sometimes, your fears that you are bothering someone with your “sales pitch”, instead of viewing your engagement as something valuable that they need to do their jobs better and achieve their goals.
Diane: The Complacent Super Star
You are on top, Diane, and you have been for a long time. You’ve been at the company longer than anybody. You worked your way from a part-time receptionist to customer service to outside sales. Your customers love you. Your co-workers love you. You are a tough one to criticize. There is really nothing wrong. But I hate to sound like a middle school science teacher, but are you really living up to your full potential, Diane? Is there more you could learn? Could you take your sales career to a whole new level with some effort and some stretching? And do you even want to? But an even more important question loom here: What is your complacency costing the company in terms of lost opportunity?
So here they are; 5 Sales Archetypes and what their core problems might be. Do you see yourself in any of them? Or maybe even a bit of more than one?
The good news is that I have not only the ability to diagnose your issues, but I also have some possible remedies…
But I am out of time and space, so you’re gonna have to come back next month to get the treatment for these issues. If you want to talk about them before the next issue of News from the Printerverse drops, you know where to find me.
As a sales and marketing coach and consultant at Success In Print, and Girl #2 at #GirlsWhoPrint, Kelly Mallozzi advocates for graphic arts companies to keep fighting to keep print relevant. She may be irreverent, but what she lacks in convention, she makes up for in smart-assery.
Kelly is a regular co-host on the #GirlsWhoPrint Podcast along with Deborah Corn. She is also a mentor to several future sales stars and she connects to them through the Women’s Print Mentoring Network. Check out her book, co-authored by Bill Farquharson: Who’s Making Money at Digital/Inkjet Printing…and How. Kelly also occasionally guest blogs at Printing Impressions and you can see her most recent posts here.
Connect With Kelly: Twitter @SuccessInPrint and on LinkedIn where she regularly posts and is even often interesting.
One Response
Grateful for this article, kelly!!
Its something new i learn today from your article. Got some interesting stuff on zoom meeting, zoom app, people roles etc. This is helpful in my total work productivity.
Thanks a lot for sharing.
Have a nice day and productive one too!!