DeWese--No News Is Good News

The printing industry never gets any publicity in the national media. Television, magazines and newspapers ignore us. It's as if commercial printing didn't exist. The graphic arts industry gets no attention or respect.

If I'm not mistaken, we are something like the third largest employer and the seventh or eighth largest industry in terms of the dollar value of our production. I think I'm about right. You can look it up.

The technology sector gets tremendous coverage on television and in newspapers. Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Sun MicroSystems and all those Internet companies get lots of press. Cocktail party conversations abound with tales of fortunes made and lost on Internet stocks and the trends among chipmakers and PC manufacturers.

The pharmaceutical industry has no trouble getting media attention. Some chemist invents Viagra, and we are awash in jokes. Some lawyer does anything, and it spawns a dozen new lawyer jokes. Geraldo Rivera, Larry King and other talkshow hosts feature entire panels of lawyers daily. I've never seen a printer on any of those panels.

There are no good printing industry jokes. I have never once heard David Letterman or Jay Leno begin a monologue with, "Didya hear about the lithographer in Little Rock who was caught with his prices down?"

Printers never get investigated for anything. We can't afford interns, so there's no danger of any hanky-panky in the company president's office. The only strippers we know are 60 years old, named Gus and wear overalls.

We don't have the money to invest in exotic resorts like Whitewater. Unlike NFL or NBA players, nobody in the printing industry makes enough money to traffic in cocaine or total a Ferrari at 3 a.m.

Even our unions never strike.

The printing industry has plenty of rumors, but nobody outside of the industry wants to hear them. Can you imagine calling your local newspaper's city desk to pass on the rumor about Supercolorgraphics laying off 14 people because they have no work? The reporter would laugh you off the phone.

I think the printing industry has an identity crisis. We get no recognition. We get no respect.

No wonder it's so difficult for our salespeople to get appointments. We've got nothing to talk about. No good rumors to pass on. No scandals to discuss.

I briefly considered fomenting a scandal. You know...something Geraldo could really sink his teeth into. Maybe something involving a clandestine deal between the paper suppliers to raise prices. Better yet, a sneaky deal involving the paper companies, a price conspiracy and a bevy of Las Vegas showgirls. And, maybe I could throw some Ferraris and cocaine into the story. But, then I figured the lawyers would get involved, and I'd get sued.

No, salespeople; if you are going to get appointments, you will have to stick to the basics.

"The basics?" you ask.

Well, if you had been reading this column every month like you are supposed to, you wouldn't be asking stupid questions. Whoever asked that question should stick around. If you have no trouble getting appointments, then you can take the rest of the column off.

Many print salespeople ignore the basics, get panicky because they've got no work in the plant, yield to the boss' demands to prospect and then begin calling a cold prospect list. This leads to rejection, frustration and the likelihood you will go home and kick the dog. Paying your dues and paying attention to some basics can make the appointment-getting process a lot easier.

The Basics:
I am going to assume you have a list of companies assigned by your owner or sales manager. I'm going to assume the list contains companies that buy printed products, which fits your equipment. I'm further going to assume the list contains the phone numbers and addresses of those companies.

Make a vow to yourself that you will do something about prospecting every day. For example, commit that you will spend at least one to two hours researching or actually calling prospects. Never, never panic and decide you are going to invest the entire day sitting in your cubicle calling cold prospects.

Before you call for an appointment, you should have done a little research. You should know what products or services that company provides. You should also know something about the company's performance, i.e., how big it is in terms of annual sales and number of employees. You should know how it distributes its products, i.e., through its own sales force, retailers, wholesale distributors, etc. Obtaining this kind of information used to be very difficult. It is now much easier through the Internet.

If the company is privately held, make up a short print-needs survey and mail it to the buyer(s) with a cover letter. The cover letter should indicate you are interested in becoming a supplier, but you want to make sure that your company's products and/or services fit their needs before bothering them with an appointment. Remember to enclose a postage-paid reply envelope for the survey. If you do this well, you will be amazed at the number of positive responses you get.

Make a few preliminary calls to the target company to get the name(s) of the print buyer. Speak to the receptionist and try to get some personal information about him/her. By personal information, I mean the exact spelling of his/her name(s), the precise job title(s) and how long he/she has been with company.

Try to get your hands on some samples of the target's printed material. If the company is consumer focused, or depending on the nature of the company's products and services, you may be able to get someone in the prospect's marketing department to mail print samples to you—the consumer.

At this point, you should know a little about your target company and its print needs. You should also have the name(s) of the print buyer(s) who buys what your company prints.

You should plan each phone call. Think about what you are going to say if you actually reach the buyer. Actually reaching the buyer will happen about one in 10 calls, so you must be prepared in case you actually reach a human being. Alternately, you must also be prepared to speak to the buyer's voicemail on the other nine calls.

Do not overload the buyer's voicemail with a 10-minute sales pitch. Instead, pleasantly introduce yourself and your firm, indicate that you know they are busy, and tell them you will call them again regarding the wonderful things that are happening at your company and how they might help the buyer. Then hold off calling them for a few days, or send them a letter or the survey I suggested earlier.

Finally, get your hands on Sean McCardle's books through NAPL. Or, better yet, if he's in town, attend a seminar. He's got hundreds of tips to help you get appointments.

OK, enough magazine reading; it's time to get out there and sell something!

—Harris DeWese

BR>Harris DeWese is the author of Now Get Out There and Sell Something! published by Nonpareil Books. DeWese is a principal at Compass Capital Partners Ltd. DeWese specializes in investment banking, mergers and acquisitions, sales, marketing, planning and management services to printing companies. He is one of the authors of the annual Compass Report, the definitive source of information regarding printing industry merger and acquisition activity.