How to Make a Sale: A Print Buyer Weighs In

So, I've put together this start-to-finish guide focussing on establishing the relationship, what a print buyer may want (and may not want) to hear, the kind of things that pique our interest and things that can put us off.

Before You Contact Me:

• Research my company. Find out the kind of work that we do.
• Make no assumptions about me, what I do, what I should be doing, or how I could be doing it better. Make no assumptions about my customer base either. Assuming is not learning.
• Research my company. Are we national? Local? Big? Small? Old? New? Family-owned? Non-profit? One location or multiple?
• Be prepared to tell me how you found me and to answer any similar questions.
• Research my company. Discover the kind of products we sell. That will, in turn, provide clues as to the kind of customers we have and what they expect of us.
• Throw out the paragraphs of generic, prepared speech/boilerplate. Narrow it down to three to five relevant bullet points and expand on them briefly. To make this easier, build a good, strong library of them over your career. Pick from—and customize—them accordingly.
• Last but not least, research my company…do you honestly believe your company can provide the quality and service we seem to expect? Are we the kind of customer you want?

Now, you're well prepared to reach out. How do you go about it?