Get Your Game On

Published in: Georgia Printer, September 2003

Strategies for Successful Business Development

For too long, "proper social graces" and at least some semblance of experience have been the primary, if not central, criteria for selecting new sales reps --- though certainly proper dress codes and grammar have always been required. However, a new game has emerged and the state of business development in many graphic arts organizations is changing --- symptomatic of buyers' feedback that something more substantive is called for in the buyer/seller relationship. You see: It's not your grandfather's ball game anymore. Suppliers must realize that their once-familiar selling turf is changing and they have to adjust their game strategy if they are going to successfully develop new business in the future.

Today, many individuals in buying positions openly admit they don't have enough time to develop new supplier relationships. They are expected to accomplish more --- in compressed or accelerated time frames --- than any previous buying group. Just what does this mean to your company and sales team? It means that buyers no longer have time to educate you about who they are and even what they might need. Now, sales reps must take the initiative to research their prospects in order to initiate a productive contact with a customer or prospect.

Rising above the noise level of the crowd requires substantive content and relentless execution on the part of the sales rep. Just like the pros intently study the game films of their opponents, sales reps need to hone up on their prospects' and customers' backgrounds, because understanding a buyer's background is vital during an initial appointment. The supplier rep must be prepared to answer the question: "What do you have that I need, and don't already have?" If the rep hasn't done his/her homework before that first visit (or even before making the first call for an appointment), the odds are great that a "selling posture" will unfold on the first call and subsequent appointments will be difficult, if not impossible, to obtain.

Only once a sales rep understands the objective, has set forth an effective game strategy, and has mastered and executed the basics will they be able realize the results and reap the rewards of selling like a pro! Try incorporating these techniques into your own play book and see how quickly your sales team finds themselves in the hall of fame!

First and foremost, clarify what you want to accomplish and what price you're willing to pay professionally to reach your sales goals. Too many sales reps in today's market appear unwilling to put in the 45 to 60-plus hours per week that today's marketplace requires. (Really, there is nothing new about this condition.) I've never observed a successful rep who didn't have a strong work ethic. I have, however, observed numerous successful reps who had modest selling talents, but whose great "can-do," respectful attitudes and strong work ethic propelled them to success.

Obtain (or develop on your own) a general profile of prospects and current customers your management wants developed --- and not developed. This is a beginning step that should be supported by all of your subsequent actions. (It's our anecdotal experience that few organizations have this information in writing to guide sales reps' business development activities.) Content for these profiles might include target customer markets, geographical area, company size and even qualitative issues such as an observation that the buyer organization needs to develop performance objectives that you can serve.

Obtain written "clearance" or acknowledgement of which prospects and current customers you are to pursue --- before pursuing them. Prospects assigned to a sales rep are not a birthright or inheritance. Prospects or customers who are not developed should be periodically reassigned by management --- for the good of the company as well as the productivity and morale of all sales reps.

Do your homework on each assigned prospect and customer you are to pursue - before making the contact. This might include activities as basic as visiting a good library every Friday afternoon for two to three hours of research. Other sources of customer information include: the prospect's sales literature, the Internet (local newspaper sites or a Google search), the customer's/prospect's Web site, current customers or suppliers, historical job tickets and even your associates. In effect, you should become a long-term student of two universes of information: your target customers and prospects and your company's differentiation and capabilities. Remember: Buyers don't have time to educate prospective new suppliers, and suppliers (current as well as prospective) who don't do their homework are working with an immediate handicap.

As early as is practical, have your prospect's credit reviewed and cleared. Don't invest a year of your professional dreams into a prospect whose creditworthiness is poor. (Note: Your buyer will respect your professional, upfront approach.)

Be patient. Listen closely. Almost every sales call involves the buyer dropping hints of issues that are important to their company --- if we would only listen for them! In the most grievous of sales calls, the sales rep not only doesn't hear the hints, but "talks over" the buyer's comments --- obsessed with making their own points in the discussion. Be patient. Listen closely. Ask reflective questions, and clarify points that seem unclear. For instance, whenever you hear your buyer use the words quality, price or service --- ask for clarification. In truth, we often don't have a clue what the buyer means without asking for an explanation first.

Demonstrate your company's unique flavor to clients. Write-ups on your organization's history, how and why your organization was started, its culture, values and the community or national events you participate in or support --- even the educational opportunities you provide your customers with can be incredibly important to buyers. These facts are part of what differentiates your company from other suppliers. You might present a competitive price or even a higher price on a job, but your buyer may remember that you provide your employees with an incentive program to catch errors on press that has saved many a job. Bingo. You're the winner and all because they knew you as well as you knew them.

SOME EXAMPLES OF USEFUL INFORMATION TO SHARE WITH PROSPECTS AND CUSTOMERS INCLUDE:

1. Recently published articles about your prospect, its competitors, or even your prospect's market conditions, which the buyer may not have seen.
2. Recently published articles from major publications such as legislation, technology reports or prospect users that may affect the prospect's future.
3. Samples that demonstrate your company's capabilities, which are appropriate to or match the buyer's interests. (Note: If you present a sample, be knowledgeable about its technical aspects and business relevance.)
4. An outline of educational programs your organization is sponsoring, along with a thorough knowledge of which programs would benefit your buyer most --- and those that, if taken, would benefit your company most.
5. Capabilities your organization has or is developing. Be sure to explain these capabilities in terms that expound upon their benefits to the buyer. Don't just focus on the technical features of these capabilities.
6. A copy of a trade journal, magazine or other story that reflects well on your company. These might spotlight awards or recognitions your organization has received, profiles on outstanding employees or management personnel, industry/educational contributions, community service projects, etc.
7. Sample written SOPs that demonstrate your competence on a difficult production issue that is relevant to your buyer.

Never, never, never visit your target prospect or customer without taking at least two useful pieces of information that you can intelligently discuss. Why two? Because if you only take one, there's a chance your buyer already has that information or could see it as relatively unimportant. (So, the second piece of useful information is insurance.)

Suppliers represent a primary source of useful information to buyers. And the supplier who always provides useful information almost always obtains an appointment. Note: The inverse! also true. Supplier reps with little substance to offer have difficult obtaining appointments; buyers simply don't have the time for them. (See the sidebar for idea for ideas.)

Send a personal thank you note acknowledging your application for the opportunity to meet with your buyer and/or for being invited to submit a request for quote (RFQ) or request for proposal (RFP).

When preparing and delivering quotations, gather information --- and present it in the quote --- that is both meaningful to the buyer and goes well beyond the buyer's initial specifications. Offering options that can be meaningful and obtaining permission to follow up on them before the award --- on the probability that specifications delivery dates have changed --- can be critical in elevating your chances for receiving the award and saving the buyer time.

Create systems for documenting what transpires between you and your target prospects and customers. These systems should include what you learned in your research activities, important conversations and correspondence, quoting results and even the samples you discussed. (Key question: Who in your organization should receive copies of this important information, since organizational support noticeably impacts your productivity?)

Confirm important communications. Examples of communications that should be confirmed include: important changes in specifications, notes from a periodic business review, what a customer's priorities are or questions regarding whether something should or should not occur. Remember: It's important to proofread important correspondence before it is sent. It's not professional to misspell words and make grammatical errors. Also, indicate on the correspondence who in your or the buyer's organizations received a copy.

Keep your CSR, your estimator and your immediate supervisor informed of opportunities and important customer progress and contacts (preferably in writing). For example, follow up and document quoting results. These team players are keys for supporting your success.

Introduce important members of your team to your customers. Buyers tend to prefer the "devil they know" over the "devil they don't know." For them, bringing in a new supplier or consolidating vendors is perceived as lower risk if the buyer and the buyer's advisors have met important supporting personnel such as the CSR, plant manager, prepress manager and president.

Early on in the process (and certainly before you're managing a "hot job"), have your prepress department examine the electronic files of a job that's already been produced for your target prospect. (Be sure to also obtain a copy of the finished product for your prepress department to compare it to.) A direct discussion between your prepress department and your customer regarding these files can be helpful for reducing any sense of risk for your buyer. And, here's an important point: Anything substantive in these discussions should be communicated to the sales rep and the CSR.

Purposefully bring a key supplier with you on a sales call. This can elevate the value your organization brings to your buyer and allow more meaningful information to flow to them. (Note: Your supplier deserves to be fully informed and coached as to what's expected from him/her.)

Make sure the "enlarged buying center" of your prospect is on your company's mailing list. Too often, only the buyer receives a prospective supplier's important communications and mailings. There's nothing worse than learning you didn't receive the award because the buyer's award committee was more familiar with your competitor.

Provide a post-production review of work recently produced for the buyer. This can be quite helpful and much appreciated. The purpose of this review is to convey to the buyer what your organization learned that they didn't expect to learn, what should be different next time, as well as to identify what the buyer would like handled differently next time. The importance of this process is to demonstrate to the buyer why your company should be their preferred supplier in the future.

Review any meaningful error or miscue that occurs in a job. Determine your organization's understanding of the causes of these errors or miscues and what steps are being taken to prevent such occurrences from happening in the future. This way, you can readily tell your clients that if anyone understands the traps involved in a particular kind of project and how to avoid them, it's your organization.

Send signed copies (by your CEO) of important business books as a gift from the senior management of your organization.

Present the buyer with a duplicate of the award plaque you received from a professional organization for producing their organization's winning work. If senior management from your organization can attend and make this presentation, their presence elevates the presentation - and your buyer. In fact, PIAG's Print Excellence Competition provides an incredible opportunity for you to shine in front of your customers. To learn more about submitting samples of your best work to be judged in this prestigious printing competition, contact Rachel Ann Shattah at PIAG: (800) 288-1894.

Send an annual letter of appreciation from your controller or CFO to those customers who pay their bills in an orderly manner.

Send a personal letter of appreciation to your target customer's CEO, signed by your CEO, thanking them for the professional conduct of the buyer you work with.

Present the buyer with a bound copy of the work you produced for their organization over the previous calendar year.

And finally, stay close if you didn't receive an important award, and you know your competitor submitted what appeared to be a ridiculous bid. Convey to the customer that you genuinely care that they receive what they need, and that you'd like to check in periodically to see how the project is going. Ask if you can receive a copy of the final printed product and inquire whether the final billing had any or many "add on's." It's amazing how many projects can and will suddenly find themselves back at your plant.