Hi! I’m Chloe! I just had the most annoying experience, and I think you might have had it without knowing it.
Because of what I do I talk to the whole range of sales people. Hardware people, Software people. Color people. Brand people. And, of course, sales people for print companies. For some of the jobs I work on, I talk to up to a dozen sales people, usually in an attempt to understand if they can do the work I need and if they think they can, how the work will move through their operation.
Imagine my surprise to learn that a few of the sales people I have been working with for years failed to let me know that there had been both equipment and software capability changes in their organizations. One added a lovely new offset press and some amazing finishing. Another added inkjet capability and some great new color management software with a new soft proofing option I’ve heard good things about. And the last one told me they had some new equipment, but he didn’t know what it was and didn’t think I’d be interested.
Sales person #1 never told me about their new offset capability or their new die-cutting and folding options. I found out by accident in talked to a CSR about another job I had working through the plant. She was raving about the new die cutting things they could do and was wondering why I wasn’t using them. I asked if my sales guy knew about the options and had been trained on the capabilities, and she said that the whole plant had been trained. They had several days of training over three months, and there was even a bonus for bringing new work to the new finishing machines. The owner was really excited about expanding the business.
Now I had a dilemma. Why was my sales person not letting me in on the cool stuff? I’ll explain in a minute. Let’s keep going.
Sales person #2 is even a friend. She and I talk about all fo the ups and downs of print, and I was flabbergasted when I found out that new inkjet systems, several of them, had gone into the plant and that they had installed state of the art color management that supported soft proofing. How did I find out? Another Print Diva told me about a job she was having done. She was raving because she had not been a fan of inkjet for commercial work, but she was adding more to that machine because it was producing amazing work on the paper she wanted to use. She said that the color management team helped her spec the job perfectly and that they produced it perfectly.
So why didn’t my sales person tell me and let me in on using the new options? I’ll explain in a minute. Let’s keep on going.
Sales person #3 works for a company I use for specialty things, especially high-end finishing. I found out from my CSR (again!) that they had put in both a Highcon system and a Scodix system, and my rep never told me.
See the pattern? The sales person is generally the gateway to the organization. But if the sale person isn’t sharing all of the options with their clients the organization misses the opportunity for work. And some of those contracts could be the ones that make the quarter or the year.
Why won’t the sales people share? It took me some time to figure out. It’s a combination of fear and pride. One told me that they knew me so well that they didn’t offer the options because they knew I wouldn’t be happy with the results. Another told me that they knew my customers so well they knew that they wouldn’t like the results.
See another pattern? The sales people felt that they knew both my clients and me so well that they could speak for me. And that was a mistake. No matter how well you think you know the people you work with, you don’t have the right to make decisions for them. You owe them all of the options so that they can make their decisions.
Now I know to ask a lot more questions!
Until next time… Watch this space for more from the life of a Print Diva.
Chloe Mahendra-Fuji practices the fine arts of design critique, content creation and editing, and communication consulting. She has decades of experience working in online content delivery, print delivery, and content development.
Connect with Chloe: @ChloePrintDiva / ChloePrintDiva@gmail.com
