On average, for every three pitches, we close one. And that’s usually with the guy that, when our ten minutes are up, spends another hour or so asking questions.

So what’s really working here? Time and time again, it comes back to one thing: relationships. When we started out in the sales game, conventional wisdom claimed that three specific characteristics were needed in order to be successful: empathy, perseverance and ambition (i.e., defined goals). I never agreed. I believe that all salespeople need the potential to acquire these attributes, but what’s paramount is empowering these traits with a passion for your product or service. When you possess that passion and you begin to communicate to someone who has a need, it becomes clear you are serious, not only about your business, but the needs of your prospect.

And, once you sell with passion, commitment to success and a sincere belief in your product or service resonates not just through your words, but in your comportment and your energy.

So how can we improve our close ratio? A typical presentation or pitch begins with an overview of your company, service, product, staff and, naturally, some nice, colorful charts and graphs that make us look professional. As an afterthought, we leave the prospect with printed collateral: oftentimes client references, case studies, and relevant success stories that we like to leverage.

I suggest you try this approach: Flip the order. Rather then starting by telling how great your company is, how many years you’ve been in business, and why you can offer more benefits and features than the last guy, talk about some of the projects you’ve worked on, just like those case studies that we typically leave behind. But this time, let all your passion and enthusiasm and belief resonate. Be prepared to discuss two or three projects that the prospect can most closely associate with.

Then watch what happens. This technique will peak an interest in the prospect because you’re now engaged in a dialogue, not a presentation. The dialogue will evolve into a conversation which will lead to the beginning of a relationship. And that, my friend, is our goal. They’ll be plenty of time to talk about how long you’ve been in business and the particulars of the company and staff. Because once we’ve established that relationship, all those other factoids become supportive to the close, but not necessarily integral to it.

Anthony Quaranta spent 30 years as a sales professional generating upwards of $10M in revenue annually, calling on businesses in the tri-state area. Today he is President of Q Group, a sales and marketing consulting firm that focuses on “Building Business…… Measurably” by setting goals, synchronizing marketing and sales efforts, and tracking these activities in order to improve a company’s overall results. The Q Group team works with organizations with a sales force of one to larger nationwide teams. You can contact Anthony by visiting www.QGroupltd.com or calling 631 234 7670.

•    Crash diet versus a Weight Watcher approach.
•    90 day gym membership versus a lifetime daily exercise program.
•    Disciplined eating versus unconscious food choices.

In addition to the lack of a dedicated marketing plan, many businesses employ “quick fixes” in other managerial areas, including:

•    New employee training.
•    Written job descriptions.
•    Procedure documentation.
•    Goal tracking and measuring.

And, especially during tough financial challenges, there’s companies that cut back on the little things, like coffee, only to hear from a disgruntled employee that coffee enables them to work even harder.

So, what does all this have to do with marketing? When economic woes reduce revenues, many of us turn to the expense side of our business for cuts. We look at the obvious journal entries and use our influence in a way that will have immediate impact. In order words, wherever we can, we slash, slash, slash.

Rent                     Fairly untouchable.
Payroll                 Obviously a tough one, but only as a last resort.
Office supplies     Slash. But no real savings.
Marketing             Slash. Looks like some real savings can be realized, and no one is buying anyway.

But in the long term, what are the effects of reducing or eliminating your company’s marketing budget? All businesses have a business generation process which requires new lead generation with the goal of sales conversion. And marketing is the very bloodline of that process. Assuming you have done proper planning and you have a profitable business generation process, you generate gross margin. That’s more margin to pay overhead and deliver profit.

Historically, sales statistics confirm that, in the most challenging economic times, clients seek new resources to help them meet their needs in a more strategic way. So why do we not see today’s economic climate as an opportunity to keep our companies infrastructure intact by increasing revenue, rather than slashing existing overhead?

Revenue growth and cost reduction are two goals that all business seeks today, growth that is efficient, profitable and quantifiable. Modest cost reduction can complement the attainment of revenue goals, not the elimination of entire budgets that are responsible for watering and feeding the seeds we have spent years of cultivating.

Interactive marketing such as PURL, email distribution, and web-based campaigns are achieving some of the highest response rates ever experienced. Personalized direct mail is now affordable like never before, and “executable without a dedicated IT team.” Web-based advertisement delivers laser like focus for advertising to prospects. And, much like the way of flat screen displays, printing and promotional items have become more competitive in this global on- demand world. Large format signage and banners are now affordable in substrates that were never before affordable to most.

So try to remember to seek options that can provide paradigm shifts in the way you choose to accomplish your goals. Think twice before eliminating expenses that should really be looked at as investments. I often wonder why we ”invest in equipment” yet “spend money on marketing.” Why do we treat an investment in a fork lift as an asset, but an investment in our brand as an expense?

I think I know the answer. Experience tells me it’s the same reason we choose the crash diet over a lifetime of healthy eating. In other words, lack of a dedicated commitment to the challenge at hand. I guess that’s why I’m 30 pounds overweight, and have five former gym memberships.

There is some good news, however. My wife still makes homemade manicotti, but now she uses low fat ricotta.

Still trying and standing outside the trees,

Q

That’s why the challenges facing today’s printers are complex and multifaceted, and include:

• A sales force with decreasing product knowledge, yet increasing relationship-value.  Most sales teams are made up of veterans from the offset community with 15 to 20 years or better experience.  Their customers trust them.
• A limited number of younger professionals entering the field. This is creating an even greater reliance on these experienced veterans.  But their knowledge of the digital age needs to keep pace with what their customers need and want.

That’s why it’s the CEO’s job to retool these valuable human resources so they can continue to represent the organization—while supplying the print communications vehicles demanded in today’s competitive world.

So, exactly what needs doing?

• Restructure the sales force to be more of a marketing focused team.  Salespeople need not only to be able to speak about the digital landscape in terms their client can understand, but also anticipate their challenges.  Knowledge of the client’s business is more critical than ever, in order to recommend solutions that can leverage the hardware and the iron that their print company has invested toward, while keeping pace with today’s technology.
• More marketing “about us.”  As traditional print companies, we’ve always marketed to manufacturers, distributors, maybe even to some vertical markets that used traditional printed product.  But now much of this traditional printed product has simply gone away.  Yet opportunities still exist, and these opportunities have to be marketed to in a different way.  Consider the prominence of variable image printing.  Our challenge is developing a marketing program or campaign that addresses these opportunities, perhaps electronically, and communicates that your organization is digitally savvy.  In the past, most printers have not relied on marketing that generates leads. It’s all been about relationships and referrals that have built over time.  That needs to change.
• Make it easier to do business.  Today you need to compete for orders on all platforms.  Increasingly, customers are placing large orders on the Internet with a couple of clicks.  So we need to offer that interface as a service to those customers who choose this method.

But one mandate remains the same:  What’s imperative is that we position ourselves to be our client’s strategic partner.  They need to know that we bring expertise to their industry and their client’s industry.  So overall it’s really a combination of understanding the market and having the right products and services for that market.  Sales teams must be able to professionally present the advantages that today’s technology offers while clearly understanding the organization’s goals and objectives.  Bottom line?  A return to sales training or perhaps, more appropriately, sales retraining of those professionals who have already proven their success for years.