MyOrderDesk by PagePath » Sales

What’s new in sales techniques? The era of slow selling

Joe Kern — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 15:49:35 +0000

The experts at Inc. magazine say more-patient sales practices are the way of the future. Some companies are avoiding high-pressure sales tactics and using techniques that shift the burden over to the buyer.

The companies have decided that letting customers control the buying process is the best way to prevent buyer’s remorse and returns.

Instead of feeling pressured, time, tools and information are lavished on the customer. Buyers are relaxed and unhurried when making the buying decision at their own pace.

While the companies used in these examples are Web based, their deliberate style of slow selling includes ideas that could be used in other types of businesses.

* One seller of eyeglasses removes the pressure of choosing frames by using technology, instead of a salesperson standing by. The customer uploads his or her photo to a website, where they can take as much time as they like to see how they look in any of the eyeglass frames.

* The Kaplan Commitment program ensures that students make an informed decision before paying for school. Kaplan lets them enroll in classes for over a month and determine if the courses are the right fit to meet their needs.

The slow selling trend is designed to reduce the costs of post-purchase regret and returns, customer service time, negative feedback and loss of future sales. Getting a customer to buy takes more time, but the technique empowers the customer to contemplate, choose and commit.

According to Inc. advisors, the lifetime value of a customer is defined not by how much he or she buys, but by how strongly he or she attaches to and defends a brand choice.

For the Web savvy shopper, the more perfect alignment of information means the responsibility is now theirs to be satisfied. If customers are treated with patience and the reins of the sales process are handed over to them, they will take care of the rest.

Joe Kern is Vice President of Marketing/Customer Service at PagePath Technologies. PagePath was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Plano, Illinois. PagePath’s MyOrderDesk is an eCommerce solution that combines, Web-to-Print, automated proofing, pricing, reordering and more. It seamlessly integrates into a printing organization’s existing website or can be used as a standalone site. MyOrderDesk is known throughout the printing industry as the leader in Web-to-Print software.

Printers can benefit with a diversified customer base

Joe Kern — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:27:24 +0000

Sometimes a small print company gets lucky. They land a big contract that promises to increase their business by one-third or more.

Here are some situations they have to deal with:

They have to hire more help almost immediately, which means training costs. If the new customer sells out to another company or quits the contract for some other reason, they will have to let these people go, a painful process that also makes unemployment insurance costs skyrocket.
The lucky printer may spend so much time on the new account that other customers get less-satisfactory service and, as a result, take their business elsewhere.
The print firm becomes so involved with the new customer that it fails to keep its advertising program up to date. It isn’t attracting the type of customer that was the mainstream of their business before.
At Yale School of Management, Professor Constance Bagley says that when you get a big new account, “You can’t stop being scrappy. You have to constantly be thinking that things can change dramatically in 60 to 90 days.”

Quoted in INC., Bagley says big companies are constantly looking for value. You have to figure out your immediate needs and address them. Keep the information flowing, especially information about their costs and their competitors. Talk with the R&D department and the new customer’s leader.

If you do well on this contract, you can use the experience to attract new clients of the same kind.

Staying Connected!

Michael Herz — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 13:00:59 +0000

As you can see from my previous posts I’m all about staying connected while I am on the go. Here’s another great way to stay connected.

If you can not always be in front of your computer but you need to be connected to your email at all times because the world will crumble without you; then take it with you where ever you go. Having a desktop or laptop computer does not mean you have to always be in front of it to get your email.

Your cell phone is the one thing that you take everywhere you go. Depending on the phone you have you can get your email delivered right to the palm of your hand for as little at $10 per month (10MB). If you are a heavy email user that gets lots of files sent to you an unlimited data plan can be added for $30 per month.

Now here’s the technical part your cell phone is typically setup by default to use something called IMAP but more than likely your email client on your computer is setup to use POP which means what happens on your phone doesn’t happen on your computer. Changing the setup of your email client on your computer to use IMAP instead of POP can help to resolve that issue. So when you delete a message on your cell phone it will be deleted off of your computer at home and vice versa.

There are other more sophisticated email setups that can be applied when using corporate email such as ActiveSync and BlackBerry that keep your email, calendar, and contacts in sync between your phone and computer in real time.

Don’t let the stress of not being able to leave your computer get you down, go mobile!

Mike Herz is in Tech Support and Sales at PagePath Technologies. PagePath was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Plano, Illinois. PagePath’s MyOrderDesk is an eCommerce solution that combines, Web-to-Print, automated proofing, pricing, reordering and more. It seamlessly integrates into a printing organization’s existing website or can be used as a standalone site. MyOrderDesk is known throughout the printing industry as the leader in Web-to-Print software.

Hey Printers! Develop a Killer Marketing Strategy

Joe Kern — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 17:13:32 +0000

A marketing strategy can either make or break your printing business. As you know, there are many aspects to a good marketing strategy. So which marketing strategy is right for you? How do you know which marketing strategy really works? Obviously, the best strategy is the one that gains profits. In this article, we will discuss some aspects of a great market strategy.

First and foremost, look at your website. Make sure your design is eye catching and easy to maneuver. Make sure that you have attractive pictures or illustrations that get your customers attention. Customers don’t care about your new press or copier, so don’t clutter your homepage with your proud new pictures. People like to see people. Especially people like you. If you can, stay away from stock photography and hire a professional photographer to take pictures of you and your staff. Tell your customers how you can solve their problems, don’t sell them on the fact that you do great stationery. Sell them on the fact that you can solve what ever problem or need they have.

A second marketing strategy is to promote you service. Get yourself noticed. Send out flyers, business cards, post cards, etc. Hey, you sell direct mail, why not use it to promote yourself. Get yourself noticed on the web as well. Become entrenched in various social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Delicious, etc. The more access/touch points you have for your customers and prospects, the better off you will be.

Number three, get set up with a good email marketing program. Web applications like Constant Contact are a great way to send marketing materials as well as track your success. Constant Contact also offers autoresponders. This automated form of a marketing keeps your customers and prospects informed about your services automatically. You literally write the messages and autoresponders send them out on set schedules. Once you set it up the first time, the program does all the work for you. Using an autoresponder to send out advertisements of your product is fast and convenient. Everything is done by email.

Try developing a catchy slogan for your comapny. Think about it, how many slogans can you name, and how many products to you remember because of that slogan. This is a great marketing strategy because it is a way for people to easily remember your business. If they remember or recognize you, they are likely to use you.

Another powerful marketing strategy is the use of SEO (search engine optimization) tactics. I will admit that there is a lot of speculation and false information buzzing around about what is effect SEO. Many place will sell you there SEO services for a couple thousand dollars. I stay away from those people. Buy a book like SEO for Dummies or subscribe to a training service like Lynda.com and do what you can on your own. Effect SEO takes a little work, but most printers are capable of doing the legwork themselves. Using SEO correctly will attract more people to your site. More people on your site means more exposure. More exposure means more leads. More leads can turn into more sales. Get the picture?

Finally, the last marketing strategy is to have great public relations. With good public relations, your business will prosper through word of mouth. Allow customers to submit feedback of your business. Place positive feedback and testimonials on your website. It makes your business look good and customers tend to prefer to use businesses that have positive feedback.

A killer marketing strategy will cost you some time and money, so don’t be fooled by thinking you can do it for next to nothing. But if you look in the right places and follow some good advice, your marketing strategy should leave you coming out on top.

Five Reasons Why JDF Will Save You Money

Joe Kern — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 12:00:16 +0000

Today’s post is a guest post from Jack Perry. Jack is Vice President of Product Management at Onpoint On Demand. Jack’s role is to help commercial print companies become POD profit leaders through practical application of JDF-enabled technology.

JDF is here to stay and with good reason. It can deliver significant financial, operational and competitive advantage to those companies who leverage it the right way. Here are five reasons why JDF will save you money:

JDF reduces print production costs by removing manual, repetitive steps from the production process. And lower production costs yield higher gross margins
JDF shortens lead time, the downtime that eats into a printer’s value add percentage. Shorter lead times yield higher value add
JDF optimizes the equipment on the production floor, generating greater productivity out of existing investments. Greater productivity yields faster return on capital invested
JDF also makes it easier to manage order volume variations yielding tighter resource management. When volume is down, fewer people on the production floor reduces overhead cost
JDF Reduces mistakes. Less mistakes equals less waste.

Sales Calls on the Cheap (continued)

Michael Herz — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:37:17 +0000

Last month I discussed sales calls on the cheap which essentially was all about price. Well cheap is great but what about quality and reasons behind choosing Skype other than price. Let’s face it if it’s cheap and the quality isn’t there it’s not worth it especially if you’re conducting business.

Let’s address the fist point of quality. What is Skype? Skype is a VoIP based phone system that relies on your internet connection to make phone calls. In order to use it you must be connected to the internet and the connection needs to be high speed. Being that high speed internet is becoming the norm and not the exception this allows you to make phone calls from virtually anywhere in the world. In my particular situation I use it at home the majority of the time over a cable internet connection but I do go into the office a few times a month where they have a DSL connection. At either location I have no issues with call quality. When I fist started using Skype I would occasionally ask my prospects “how’s the phone quality, we are testing out a new phone system”. Every response was favorable and they had no idea that I was using Skype. Now I haven’t had the opportunity to test the dinosaur of dial up but my suspicions would be that the results are unfavorable. In fact my new laptop doesn’t even have a modem to connect a phone line. In those rare particular cases that I am not around a high speed connection I just use my cell phone. Even then I can use a SkypeToGo number to make my calls using a local number even though the call is international.

The second point was reasons for choosing Skype. Most of the time sales people like to be mobile so they’ve got their trusty laptop to be on the go. Being that Skype is software based you can take it with you where ever you go. At the very least you should have your Skype headset with you as well. So, not bad a laptop that you lug around anyway and a headset that weighs only ounces. With other VoIP solutions such as Vonage and Packet8 you need to lug around a little box and a phone or phone/box combo. That may not sound like much but you have to plug in the power cords and network cables. What happens when you can’t plug in a network cable and only wireless is available, uh oh! Since Skype is installed on your laptop no wires necessary. Look mom no wires!! At least till your laptop battery dies but it’s much easier to find an outlet than a wired network connection. Also, if you think about when you go to a hotel, airport or hotspot what do they have you do? They have you sign into a webpage to enable the wireless connection, try doing that with Vonage or Packet8 hardware.

I mentioned earlier about getting a Skype headset which is very important. Since it is designed to be used with Skype this means they’ve done all the testing for you there’s no need to play Russian ruellet with headsets. Make sure you get a headset that has a USB connection. The USB headset can be assigned to only be used with Skype within the Skype application. So when instant messenger pops-up or arriving emails make noises they won’t be blasted in your ear. Computer noises are directed out the computer speakers and Skype calls are directed to the headset. This also allows you to mute the computer speakers but not the headset.

There you have it just about as mobile as you can get on $8.95 to $18.95 a month to make those paycheck impacting phone calls.

Michael is a Sales Representative and Support Manager at PagePath Technologies. PagePath was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Plano, Illinois. PagePath’s MyOrderDesk is an eCommerce solution that combines, Web-to-Print, automated proofing, pricing, reordering and more. It seamlessly integrates into a printing organization’s existing website or can be used as a standalone site. MyOrderDesk is known throughout the printing industry as the leader in Web-to-Print software.

Sales fundamentals have not changed-Earn the Order

Joe Kern — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 02:22:19 +0000

“I am sitting in my office late at night (ah, the life of the self employed!) watching last minute sign ups for my January Sales Challenge (which begins Wednesday Jan. 6, btw). This little program continues to blow me away and has ever since I introduced it last March. I’ve been a sales trainer in the printing industry for, um, wait, I should know this, oh, a bunch of years and in that time I have introduced a couple dozen training programs, produced E Learning material back before there WAS E Learning material, spoken in front of thousands of people and written unknown numbers of articles and blogs. But it is this little program—which came to me in the middle of the night last February—has become my biggest seller and I am having so much fun adapting and changing and watching it grow. It’s times like this that make me happy to be in business for myself.

I’ve always been a Fundamentals kind of guy. The first company I worked for, UARCO Business Forms, had a fantastic sales motto. It said, “Solve the problem. Earn the order.” How can you go wrong with a foundation like that? I believe that regardless of the economy, the fundamentals do not change. It’s amazing to me that there are still people out there who “sell printing.” What are they thinking? Have they never heard of Dale Carnagie? Even today I was coaching a guy who told me he goes door to door. That really shocked me, but his lack of success as a sales rep did not. So, I model every program I put together after what I learned way back when about solving problems.

When was the last time that you sat with a client and talked about his challenges? Fears? Opportunities? Did you ever wonder why no one returns your voice mails? You complain about the lack of courtesy but maybe your messages, well, suck! Why not learn to talk about THEM and not you; about solutions and not printing? Hey, if what you are doing is working, that’s cool, but is it really working?

Do you want to know how to grow your business? Here’s a freebie for you. These are the fundamentals:

Diligence
Call Quality
Creativity
Differentiation
Luck

Improve the quality of your calls. Make them relevant to the customer. Increase the quantity of calls and be pleasantly persistent. There you go. In four sentences, I just gave you a world of wisdom. Want more? Take the Sales Challenge. I start a new one every month (HEY! There’s another sign up coming in now!). I’d be happy to help you!

Bill Farquharson has a long history of driving sales momentum through his various training programs and initiatives. Every Monday, over 4,000 people from all over the world listen to Bill’s free audio—and now video!—sales tip, which ranges in subjects such as time management to overcoming objections to beating voice mail. Bill is unapologetically Old School in his thinking and coaching, but New Age in his approach and communication style. As a columnist and Blogger for Graphic Arts Monthly, Bill shares wit and wisdom from the experienced mind of a 27 year print sales veteran. Bill can be reached at bill@aspirefor.com or by calling 781-934-7036.

Sales calls on the cheap

Michael Herz — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:00:06 +0000

Most sales positions involve outbound calling. Calls may be local, long distance; as well as international. How much does your phone bill cost?

If you are using a traditional land line, packages are getting more competitive, but Ma Bell still can stick it to ya for local and local toll calls. There are more options for local toll and long distance such as www.totalcallusa.com which provides long distance calls at $.029 per minute. Not bad at all, but if you are like me and average 3,000 minutes a month that’s $87 on top of my standard phone service which is still well over a $100 a month.

If you have high-speed internet, that provides many more options. First is standard VoIP options such as www.Vonage.com, www.8×8.com, etc. which average $25/mo. for unlimited calls to US & Canada. With taxes and fees right around $30/mo. They send you a little box to hook up to your internet connection, then connect your phone and use it just like you always have.

Why not look at something that is even less expensive and a little more virtual. Skype. All you need is a high-speed internet connection and a headset designed to work with Skype. If you’re on the go, use a laptop and always have access to high-speed wireless then this is the option for you. At $2.95/mo you can make unlimited outgoing calls to the US & Canada. Need an incoming number no problem add $6/mo. We’re up to $8.95/mo. for unlimited calling. International you say; $18.95/mo. will take care of that.

The point is being a sales person is more of a challenge today and one way to combat the challenge is to save where you can.

Let me know what you’ve saved on your phone bill.