Business of Print

Seize the Opportunities

As I speak to owners and leaders within print companies, a common theme emerges…I’ve just got too much going on to take care of everything on my list. They know there are things they should be more focused on to enhance the business but there’s no time left in the day. This can become overwhelming and you know, in reality not everything on the list is going to get done. What are some things they can do to mitigate the situation? I’m not a time-management guru but here are some ideas to consider:

1. Delegate as much as you can to your staff. This doesn’t mean walking away entirely, just allowing someone else to handle the task with your oversight.
2. It’s also a good time to evaluate the strength of your staff. Whether you have 5 people or 105 people, are they the right ones that will allow your company to seize the right opportunities.
3. Spend time with customers, but not necessarily all of them. Focus on the significant and strategic accounts that have the potential to grow and contribute to your success.
4. While you need to make sure that the day-to-day tasks are being handled properly, carve out time to work on the business. Think about the clients, products and services as well as technology and the strategic alliances that you’ll need to move closer to your business goals.

None of this is easy and it won’t get easier anytime soon. Place your emphasis on the tasks that only you can and should be doing for the advancement of your business.

Working on Your Game

Almost all great, and not so great professional athletes have something in common…they work on their game to make subtle improvements that will yield competitive advantages over their opponents on the court, course, field or rink. OK, so as a sales rep or senior business leader, what aspect of your game are you working on right now? I know there’s no time or money in the budget to make this happen but that’s the number one reason I hear regardless of the situation. I was speaking to a client today and made reference to this indicating that most of us are like the guy who goes to play golf, rushes to get there, throws his shoes on in the parking lot and heads to the first tee. No practice during the week, no warm ups of any kind before the round. When he finishes with a big number he shakes his head claiming he just can’t understand why he hasn’t improved his game…uhm, wonder why.

Why it’s so hard for people to change their habits? Let me make an important point, if you’re doing great without any practice, warm ups or game changing thinking then congrats and keep it going. However, if you’re not experiencing the results that you want/need/have to have, then you may want to work on your game. Here are a few areas that you may want to consider*:

1. What value can you bring to prospective customers that they can’t get elsewhere?
2. Move towards more of a business focus, and less transaction oriented.
3. Do a better job at sales forecasting.
4. Place more focus on new accounts and less focus on farming current business.
5. Work to stay motivated and focused in a long digital program sales cycle.

*Ideas from NAPL’s “Sales Representative and CSR Compensation Study, Second Edition

Work hard and stay focused on the practice areas that will make your career better and who knows, maybe your golf game will improve as well.