How to Invest in Marketing for Short and Long Term Results
When you or your clients plan how to spend marketing dollars a decision needs to be made whether to spend for short-term results or long-term results. If most, or all, of the marketing budget, is spent on short-term results you’re being reactive and you’ll need to continually spend to get the same results. If investments […]
Are Print Management Services Signaling the End for Print Buyers?
As an in-house corporate print buyer, “Dee” has managed print spend budgets ranging from $15 million to $80 million for large ad agencies and Fortune 500 companies. Over the last decade, she has become increasingly concerned for the print industry and the talented print production professionals who lose their jobs as Print Management Services swoop […]
Five Important Questions To Ask Print Customers About Their Customers
In the previous Five Questions That Identify Print Solutions article we discussed the Awareness to Revenue process and ended with a list of questions to ask that help deliver print solutions. Now we’re doing a deep dive on these questions to show how they help solve your client’s problems. These five questions build on each […]
Five Questions That Identify Print Solutions
Customers care about themselves and their biggest problems. Talking about the services you provide is just background noise. Uninteresting. Irrelevant. Talk about having the best quality and service and you’ll sound like all your competitors and you’ll erode trust. A solution solves a specific problem. Your services aren’t solutions. To be valuable to your customers […]
Content Confidential: Authenticity Boosts Confidence and Sales Results
I was lucky enough to present not once, but twice at this year’s Canon inkjet users thINK conference in beautiful and humid Boca Raton, FL this past week. Yes, I am allowed to call myself lucky, but you’re not as you can read in this post of mine. In both cases, my presentations were collaborations with co-presenters, […]
I Got 99 Reasons to Attend PRINT 18 and Edu-Slacking Aint 1
You, yes YOU. What have you done for yourself lately? Specifically in the print education department? If you are still thinking about that question, I can almost guarantee you are not doing enough to keep the focus on the future of print and your business. KNOWLEDGE is what separates you from the pack. Sharing it […]
Back to School Can Be a Fresh Start for You, TOO!
In the next three weeks, my 4 kids will be going back to school. They will get a fresh set of supplies, get a new teacher, a new classroom, and new gear like clothes, shoes, and lunchboxes. Some will get new backpacks if theirs are too small or worn out. They are excited, and so […]
What to Do When the Sales Prospect Goes Dark
Printing company salespeople ask me about a common situation these days: GHOSTING. “What should we do if the sales prospect stops talking to us after we deliver the quote?” Ah, the prospect who “goes dark.” Also known as “ghosting,” going dark is when someone ends a relationship by suddenly and inexplicably cutting off all communication. The […]
Your Clients are Hungry. What Are you Feeding Them Besides Sales?
I was fortunate enough to get to attend a recent Project Peacock event in NYC earlier this month and I have a whole bunch of takeaways for you, but the one I want to focus on today is this: PEOPLE OUT THERE ARE HUNGRY TO LEARN NEW STUFF! The reason that I know this is […]
The Significant Cost of Outsourcing In-House Print Buyers
Among all the useless, and often industry self-generated questions of print relevance is a related topic that doesn’t get much airtime – Print Management Services. Print Management Services come in many flavors, but at the core, these are companies that have workers either placed within or acting as Print Production Managers / Print Buyers for […]
5 Things Every Printer Needs to Know About Marketing Automation
Marketing automation has been a hot topic for years, so why should you care now? Forrester predicts that industry growth for marketing automation platforms will continue at a rapid rate, reaching $25.1 billion annually by 2023 from $11.4 billion last year. (Source: MarTech Today) This growth is fueled by increased penetration, particularly in mid-sized […]
The Gifts of Sales Failure Make it Simple: Adapt, Evolve or Die
Well, you blew it. At least that’s what your boss just told you. Maybe it was a new client you thought you had in the bag, and they decided to go with another printer. Or you lost a long-time client because you fell asleep at the switch and someone else swooped in and stole them […]