Contact, Wait, Repeat, Repeat, Repeat...

Sales efforts begin with a new contact...sometimes a cold call, sometimes a referral.  The new person doesn't really know you, but may suspect you are a sales person and try to avoid direct contact.  The question of whether this may become a successful sale depends mainly on the sales person and their level of motivation.

Do you want to sell your product?  How badly do you want to sell your product?  Is it really something that would be good for the customer?  If so, why give up easily?

New contacts tend to avoid you.  There are actually statistics to back up this statement.  The blog post below is by Matthew Parker on Printing Impressions blog page.

By Matthew Parker

 

Here are Three Scary Facts:

In 2007, it took an average of 3.68 call attempts to reach a prospect (source: TeleNet).
In 2013, it took an average of eight call attempts to reach a prospect (source: Ovation Sales Group).
Today, it’s getting even harder.  So that’s why I was shocked to learn that the average salesperson only makes two attempts to reach a prospect (source: Sirius Decisions).

We Have to Work Hard to Get A Hold of Prospects
It’s OK to be persistent. It’s important to keep trying to get hold of prospects.
But it’s not OK to just keep using the phone and email. Prospects are used to these methods: they don’t get results.

We Need to Be Creative in the Way We Communicate
It’s time to start using new ways of getting a hold of people.
What are you going to do differently this year?

P.S. Find out more ideas on how to increase sales with today’s buyers: download my free e-book “Ten Common Print Selling Errors and What To Do About Them.” You’ll also receive my regular “Views from the print buyer” bulletin, full of ideas on how to sell print effectively.
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Matthew points out in this post that repeated attempts for contact are necessary and suggests trying new ways to reach out to customers. What other means are available? 

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and in person visits are all additional tools in your sales person tool box. 

One big key? Don't give up, don't stop, keep on reaching out until you make contact and are able to present your product.  If you don't believe in your product and its positive impact on the customer, then you should find another job.  You aren't helping yourself or the company you work for.

So, attempt to contact, wait a short period of time, and repeat, repeat, repeat as many times as necessary to help your customer realize the awesome benefit of the product you are sharing.

More info on Matthew Parker:
Matthew Parker Author's page Many printing companies are frustrated how hard it is to engage buyers in today’s world. That’s where Matthew Parker can help. He is a gamekeeper turned poacher. Parker has bought print for more than 20 years and received over 1,400 print sales pitches. He now uses his buyer’s point of view to give practical advice to printers. He helps them engage with prospects and customers to create profitable relationships.

Download his free e-book, “Ten Common Print Selling Errors And What To Do About Them”

Bright red instead of orange and blue instead of purple

Color reproduction in print is very challenging.  The paper you print on makes a huge difference in how color is perceived.

The first thing to keep in mind is that not everyone sees color in the same way.  Yes, our bodies and minds react in similar fashion, but what is dark green to me may be more of a brownish green to you.

The printing industry has tried to take the personal interpretation out of color by using mechanical devices to read color bars on the printed product and in newspapers, a grey bar functions as a uniform standard to set ink levels.  The grey bar pictured below (at the bottom of a newspaper page) allows the press operators to see that the three color inks they use, Cyan, Magenta and Yellow are balanced correctly. 

If you have ever mixed paint you probably know that if you mix yellow and blue paint you get green - it is a similar process for a grey bar.  There is a certain percentage for each of these colors, that when they are mixed together they make grey.  If the grey bar looks red, pink, blue, or yellow they know they need to adjust their ink levels.  The entire page uses the same exact ink source, so if you control your grey bar you control your color.

The first step to make your colors accurate is to make sure the ink is put on the paper correctly.

Next, you can examine how the color was "made" in prepress - or on the computer now days.

I mentioned earlier that if you want to make green, you use yellow and blue.  There is no way to make a brown color only using yellow and blue, so if the green looks dark, "muddy" or brown, there is another ink in that mix.

Red and a blue are difficult colors to reproduce using four color process. 

The three colors Cyan, Magenta and Yellow are combined with black in four color process to create full color photos and artwork.  If the color mix of the red includes cyan or black, it won't be a bright red.  If the yellow is more than 85% strength, the red will look orange unless the press operator turns up the magenta more than he should, or the yellow down more than he should.  The mix on bright red is critical for a good color reproduction. 

A vibrant blue is similar, you need a mix of cyan and magenta, however if the magenta is more than 30-35% the blue will begin to turn purple.  If black is added the blue turns dull and dark.

You should always keep in mind that staring at the same color for very long actually stresses the muscles and sensors in your eyes and color shifts can happen.  It does not really happen on the paper, but in our perception of color.

The examples below illustrate the physical impact of continuing to look at the same colors/images.

In the first image you see a black and white version of a mug shot.  If you stare at the mug shot without looking away for 15-30 seconds and then close your eyes.  (It may help to cover your eyes with your hands in a bright environment)  You will "magically" see the reverse image on your eyelids.  These are your color receptors being tired and creating the reverse image as a result.  You can make the effect more pronounced by staring longer than 30 seconds.

You may want to click on the photo and enlarge it to help the process.

Color impacts our eyes in the same way.  Here are two negative color images for you to experiment with.  Stare at the dot/dots on their nose without looking around for 15-30 seconds and then close your eyes.  You should see the natural color image after a few seconds on your eyelids.  You can stare longer to increase the reaction. 

Color is truly subjective and can be impacted by many factors including ink levels, ink mixes and light.

Light has different variations of color.  You don't notice tremendously, but sunlight is bright white, fluorescent bulbs produce a greenish light while some light bulbs create a yellow hue. 

You should try looking at a printed page in these different types of light and see the color variation.  The ink doesn't change, the ink mix doesn't change, just the color of the light.

We see because light bounces off the paper and reflects back into our eyes, so the color of light has an impact on what colors we see.

I typically cringe when my wife asks me if something is very dark blue or if it is black because I know when she goes outside in the bright sunlight I am typically wrong!  So beware about being adamant about what color something is, it might not be that color to everyone.

You can't trust the ruler...

I'm not talking about a politician..."you can't trust the ruler" is a comment a customer made to me when she looked at the front page of her newsletter.

I explained that we were very careful to be sure that the top of the page was 8.5 inches wide and the bottom of the page was 8.5 inches wide also.  I showed her with the ruler that it was exactly the same at the top and bottom.  The page was cut square - but because the photo on the front of the page was at an angle, she was convinced we trimmed the newsletter at an angle as well.  That's when she told me "you can't trust the ruler"!

It seemed like an eternity passed while I tried to figure out how to respond.  I finally pointed out that our cutter could only cut a straight line and I couldn't curve the cut to match the photo.  She said she understood and was satisfied.

So how do you win an argument with a customer who says you are wrong but you can prove you are right?  You don't! 

I think there are a couple things to take away from this experience.

You may have heard the phrase the "customer is always right".  If you want someone to remain your customer, winning an argument can't be a priority.  Winning the customer should be the goal.  That's number one.  Be sure the customer understands you want them to be satisfied and you'll do whatever it takes to meet their request.  The customer needs to trust you, so make trust number one.

Number two is similar to "beauty is in the eye of the beholder".  We can't be so focused on doing our part right, that we sacrifice the entire project or product from the customers perspective.  It would have been helpful to discuss the angled photo before we printed the newsletter, or when we trimmed the first copy and saw that it looked strange. 

Our focus instead was to cut it exactly square so we could prove we did the job right.  There are times when doing it right shouldn't be the goal, but instead doing what the customer will like and need should be the focus. 

So which would have made this newsletter "excellent", cutting it exactly right, or working with the customer early on to reposition the photo? 

If growing our business is a priority, then winning the customer should be as well.  Interact often, point out pitfalls, discuss differences of opinion and develop the trust that comes with watching out for the customers best interest.