Most reps are pretty good with printing job specifications that can range from paper, job files, special ink treatments, bindery and mailing. How about the other details, the ones about the customer and their business?
Several recent conversations with reps as well as owners
revolved around a few basic questions: tell me about your customer and how they
use the print that you provide to them. What happens to the print once your
truck delivers it to their designated location. Most did OK with these questions
but struggled with the next ones. If the print you produce is marketing
collateral or direct mail, how has it been working for them? Have they reached
the results they are looking for? What else do they do to reach out to their
customer base?
When your phones are ringing off the hook and business is
good these details might not make much of a difference. The significance
greatly increases as you choose to take a more proactive approach to
anticipating your clients’ needs and collaborating with them to achieve their
goals. The goal would be to do focus on activities that will make the phone
ring vs. waiting for the phone to ring.
While you could say that all the details matter, to improve
your current position with a client or simply work to break out of the “got
anything to quote on today” conversation, you should consider paying more
attention to the details of your clients’ business in order to give yourself a
better chance of repeatable success.
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