Ben’s Words to Live By — DeWese

Around here there’s not much to make us Philadelphians proud. The Eagles break our hearts. The Sixers never quite make it. Our Phillies ebb and flow, mostly ebb.

We do have Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell—old stuff that makes us proud.

Speaking of old historic stuff, we are most proud of Benjamin Franklin, who was a local Philadelphia-based PRINTER! A printer! He celebrated his 300th birthday on January 17, 2006. Ben was honored in all of our local newspapers and was featured in some great television documentaries.

The printing industry, however, failed to honor this great American hero who was first a printer, but also the penultimate Renaissance Man (Marvelle Stump, this means Ben Franklin could do a lot of things real good). The printing industry needs positive press and we failed to celebrate Ben’s birthday.

Franklin invented several things that we use today. He sold a lot of printing but, more importantly, he sold the rich French government on supporting our rag tag troops in the Revolutionary War.

Smooth Operator

Ben was a charmer who sold a multitude of beautiful women on entertaining his affections. He was not svelte or handsome. No six pack abs. But his words were compelling and electric (after all, he discovered the fundamental properties of electricity). So women found his cooing oratory irresistible and were swept away with his mesmerizing entreaties. All this means he would be an All American First Teamer in today’s singles bars.

His written words were most important and are relevant today to all of us, including print salespeople. Just listen while I give you some samples and explain how they relate to better print sales.

Here’s one. “Does thou love life? Then do not squander time; for that’s the stuff life is made of.”

Ben, by the way, spoke and wrote in a kind of stilted, archaic fashion that existed 300 years ago. This means that print salespeople who waste four or five hours a day playing Internet poker or backgammon are wasting a huge chunk of their lives. Using that time to prospect for new business will make you feel a lot better about yourself (meaning better mental health, you dummy).

Another one goes, “Little strokes, fell great oaks.” This, of course, means you have to take a lot of seemingly small actions to get a new account. More specifically, once you have identified your qualified prospect list, you must activate a plan to present yourself and your company to each prospect on a regular basis. “Regular” could mean weekly, monthly, quarterly or at whatever frequency makes the most sense. “Activate” means doing something rather than thinking about it or doing nothing. This reminds me of another Franklinism, “The cat in gloves catches no mice.”

By the way, I hate it when a salesperson can’t name every prospect on his or her qualified prospect list. That is the equivalent of me not being able to name all of my grandchildren. This congers up the time Ben stated, “When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water.”

Ben also said, “Well done is better than well said.” Once again Franklin is imploring us to work rather than talk about it.

This next one applies to everyone, but especially print sales-people. The great man said, “What you seem to be, be really.” There is nothing worse than a phony. Pretentious, officious salespeople will fail. Buyers can smell them a mile away. Of course, this reminds me of the time Ben told me, “Tim was so learned, that he could name a horse in nine languages. (He was) so ignorant, that he bought a cow to ride on.” Then he went on to add, “People who are wrapped up in themselves make small packages.”

You have heard me say and read my statement that I listened my way into more sales than I ever talked myself into. Well, I learned it from old Ben Franklin one night when we were entertaining two lovelies over some tankards of ale. He turned to me and said, “He that speaks much, is much mistaken.” I think he was telling me to shut up and listen to the ladies.

Fragile Relationships

“Glass, china and reputation, are easily cracked and never well mended,” warned old Ben. At the time he was lecturing a group of print salespeople during an NAPL seminar in New York in 1742. He made the statement to remind the attendees that integrity and fair dealing are the first prerequisites for successful print sales. What a man!

It was on the occasion of this seminar that he reminded the aspiring print salespeople, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” He was eloquently reminding the students to take the time to properly and accurately complete their order entry and specification forms so as to prevent errors in the plant.

Ben was installing lightning rods at the first public library he invented right here in Philadelphia when he looked up and said, “It’s common for men to give pretended reasons instead of one real one.” Marvelle, you excuse-mongering rattlesnake, this means that you’d save everybody a lot of time if you would stop making up stupid excuses and just admit you had a snoot full of Jack Daniels and overslept.

One of Ben’s best and most timeless remarks was that “Genius without education is like silver in the mine.” In effect, it’s useless. This statement stresses the importance of print salespeople continually educating themselves in order to activate whatever precious little genius they may have.

This could go on for pages. Ben Franklin said a lot of great stuff—enough to build a life.

But I’m holding you up from doin’ some work.

You’ve heard it a hundred times, but it was Ben who first said, “Remember that time is money.”

So, take what Franklin has taught you and get out there and sell something! And, the next time Ben has a big birthday, convince the boss to throw a Ben Franklin birthday party for your customers, prospects and co-workers. The old man will love it.

—HARRIS DEWESE

About the Author
Harris DeWese is the author of Now Get Out There and Sell Something, available through NAPL or PIA/GATF. He is chairman and CEO at Compass Capital Partners and is an author of the annual “Compass Report,” the definitive source of information regarding printing industry M&A activity. DeWese has completed more than 100 printing company transactions and is viewed as the preeminent deal maker in the printing industry. He specializes in investment banking, mergers and acquisitions, sales, marketing, planning and management services to printing companies. He can be reached via e-mail at DeWeseH@ComCapLtd.com.