Printers are investing in new technology, which is good news for the industry. For printers to gain the most from their new investment they must plan for the impact on sales processes, compensation plan and the need for enhanced marketing support for B2B sales.

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Don’t Leave Your Sales Force Behind
Presented by:
Elizabeth Gooding, President
Gooding Communications Group
An Insight Forums Company

2. © 2013 Gooding Communications Group – an Insight Forums Company
Print Businesses are Investing
To Add Value to Existing Customers
• Make it easier to do business
• Expand services within current market
• Create “stickiness” and loyalty
To Attract New Customers
• Diversify in a consolidating market
• Expand up-market or down-market
• Enter new vertical markets

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A Great Deal of Analysis Was Done …
• Market Analysis
• Product Analysis
• Request for Proposal
• Implementation Planning
• Business Case

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… and Now Your Sales People Won’t Sell It
Common Problems
• Don’t Believe New Solutions Will Work
• Lack Understanding of New Solutions and Value
• Compensation Plan Encourages Status Quo

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The Doubters
• “The quality won’t be good enough”
• “My customers want what they always get”
• “Our people don’t know how to do that”
• We did something like this a couple years ago”
If you have ever had a service problem, a
pricing problem or a technology problem
– your sales staff will not let you forget it.

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Lack of Understanding
Was your business case solid?
…Then pitch it to the sales force:
• What value can you add for existing customers?
• Why are the new markets worth pursuing?
• What training and lead generation can help them enter new markets?
• How does it tie back to existing products, services, markets?
#1: How do they make money selling it

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Compensation Plans
Should be based on Key Performance Indicators
• Sell this muchQuotas
• Sell this much
• Sell this way
• Sell to these new companies
• Retain/upsell existing clients
Quality

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Other Reasons Why Salespeople aren’t Selling
• Economy
• Competition from other media
• New industry competitors
• Changes in target industry
• Wasting time on bad data
• Not very good at their job
Uh
Oh!

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… What if your Salespeople are Right?
Planning for New Technology
• Process Changes
• Pricing/estimating Changes
• Marketing support/lead generation
• “Go-to-market” readiness
Told
you so
Do you have all the services and support
necessary to make your new technology “market
ready” and profitable? Do you have reference
account?

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… Have You Updated Your Sales Strategy?
Multi-channel Marketing is Critical to Print Sales
• Today's business buyers do not contact suppliers directly until
57 percent of the purchase process is complete according to
the Corporate Executive Board.
Growing percentage of print is bought online
• According to InfoTrends @ 10% of 2012 print sales originated
online and this is expected to grow to 18% by 2014
• Are your salespeople competing with websites for digital
print?
B2B Execs Buy online too
• 4% of B2B execs have made purchases of >$100k via mobile
device according to Google and Forbes Insight.
57
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Connected Executive
MakeiteasyforB2Bexecstodobusinesswithyou.

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Selling has Evolved
Harvard Business Review

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Companies Who Invest in Inkjet
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Inkjet to the Rescue!
• Lower cost of production
• Great image quality
• Tremendous finishing flexibility
Operational
Efficiencies with
Broader
Capabilities.

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One Problem . . .
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Efficiencies
NewCapabilities
There’s a tiger in
the lifeboat and
he’s ready to eat
your profits.
We need to help sales people
understand both sides of inkjet.

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Inkjet: The Customer Lens
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Printer’s perspective:
LOWER MY COSTS
• Forms replacement eliminates
stocks.
• Onserts eliminate insert preprint.
• Batching individual jobs into larger
runs reduces overhead.
• Consolidate Mailings – checks with
confirms, statements with
newsletters or disclosures.
• Use less staff
The customer’s perspective
WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?
• Onserts: Remove limitations on
message variations, expand my
response/ revenue opportunities.
• Color: Develop loyalty programs,
offset costs with revenue, protect
brand identity.
• Consolidating services: Integrate
lifecycle touch points – onboarding,
statements, offers. Avoid double
mailings to customers.
• Give me more lead time for creative
• Reducing my postal expenses
sounds like a good idea too.

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How Do You Prepare Salespeople?
• Reference accounts that were “value sales”
• Vertical market training on industry pain points
• Fundamentals training on new technology to spot
opportunities for process improvement
• Consider additional support:
• Market specialists
• Design specialists
• Problem solvers
Before you sell the new stuff to customers
you have to sell it to the sales force.

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Teaching Sales Methodologies
The Challenger Sale (Portfolio/Penguin 2011) excerpts Harvard Business Review

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Creating a Plan
• Who hunts, who gathers?
• Identify top accounts in all territories – map it, walk it, talk it.
• Group discussions / brainstorming for positioning new tech
• Create individual plan for each rep – review and agree
• What structural, marketing and support is required?
• Make sure comp plan rewards for activities you want
• New business versus existing business
• Specific sales activities, cold calling, updating database, presenting key
offers
• Preferred sales method: phone, face to face, webex/skype
• Include upside financial rewards as well as recognition opportunities
• Look for sources of outside help from your vendor or third parties
on positioning new technology.

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Sell and Price on Value
• Make Money
• Save Money
• Create Awareness
• Beat Competition

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Summary
• Involve sales people in the whole process
• Evaluate whether current sales models / methods apply
• Adjust processes where necessary
• Adjust compensation plans to reward behavior as well as sales
• Provide training and then do it again
• Give recognition as well as rewards – post KPIs monthly
Answer the #1 question:
How do I make money selling this?

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Thank You!
For questions regarding this presentation, please call:
Elizabeth Gooding
800-886-2196 x7
egooding@insightforums.com
www.InsightForums.com
www.Linkedin.com/in/ElizabethGooding
For information on consulting services, please see Gooding
Communications Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Insight
Forums.
For news, research and training, please visit www.InsightForums.com
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