Sales Is the Main Thing

Credit: Bill Gillespie

Years ago (2005) I interviewed for a job. An older company had three printing divisions (flexo, screen, and offset). They were looking for someone to run the three and turn around two. The ink was very red.

I still remember my tour. I was impressed with the size and services. The company could do anything and everything I had ever sold.

Then we made a turn into the bindery. There was film laminating, mounting, wrapping, stamping, rivet machines, plastic tray forming. This place could do everything printers were struggling to buy. There was nothing anyone could think up this place couldn't produce. I was EXCITED.

The interview moved to the owner's home. I was gushing with possibilities. I exclaimed "we can do this and we can do that."

The owner stood up and said, "you're talking about sales. Everything you've said is sales related. We don't have a sales problem. We have an operations problem."

I responded, "we can fix that. We'll say yes when we've been saying no. We'll be easier to work with. We'll take what you can do to the next level."

What I failed to share is that every turnaround gets back to sales. When you clean up operations (as hard as that is, it's the easy part) you will need more work. You can't cut costs to sustainable profit. You have to sell more stuff. You have to sell better stuff. You have to charge what's fair for your stuff.

We were immediately successful in our printing operations turn around. The bottom line swing in the first year was in the millions. We charged for things we had been giving away and consolidated redundant operations. Those steps are obvious for any competent manager.

Sustaining it was harder. We needed more sales. We needed smarter sales. We needed reps that weren't afraid of price. We needed selling conversations focused on value. The company had ignored selling.

Trust me on this. Sales aren't just an important thing ... they're the main thing. Better clients demand better service design. Better services deliver more profitable sales which brings you better reps. The stronger your sales organization is, the better your future looks.

YOU WANT REPS THAT DEMAND THE MOST OF YOUR PLANT!

Owners/Managers, look at your selling resources. Have you invested wisely? Do you have the best leadership you can buy? Do you have the best comp plan? The best sales strategy?

If you don't, your equipment will underperform. It will be asked to do less than it was designed for at a lower price than it deserves. You'll be lucky if you don't eventually fail.

Unfortunately, the company I signed on to help failed. I was long gone by then.

They decided they didn't need their top reps. The argument was they were too expensive. They needed to cut cost. The end was near once that decision was made.

Scrimping on sales is financial suicide. Sales aren't just an important thing. THEY'RE THE MAIN THING.

Photo: Stickers for internal campaigns. They wound up in all sorts of places.