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The Art of the Sale: Selling Digital Applications
Part 1 of 2: It's All About The Customer

The market is abuzz with words like “digital solutions” and “customer-centric selling.” But how do you help your sales team adapt to the dynamic new world being opened by digital technology. In this first part of our two-part investigation of selling digital applications, we will explore the key changes occurring at the point of customer contact in the new print sales environment.

The New World Of Customer Selling
Today’s customers are demanding a new world of services, from Web-to-print and on-demand production to database management and single-sourcing. Equally important, today’s customers are not just purchasing agents. Ad agencies, creative services directors and marketing professionals are all increasingly important in the print purchase process.

Especially with these new purchasing decision makers and influencers, customers aren’t asking for specific printing services by name (“I need a Web-to-print portal for my dealers”) since they are not familiar with the technology options! Instead, they are more likely to tell you about a problem they are having (“I really need to reduce my inventory holding costs” or “We are being swamped with requests for customized brochures for our dealers”) Therein lies the key to successful selling in the new printing marketplace.

Selling digital print solutions means learning about the customer and building a relationship focused on helping them improve their business. On each sales call that means finding what business objective motivates the customer: reducing costs? developing greater organizational efficiency? selling more effectively? The sales team’s job is ferreting out these customer pain points and establishing the communications channel to allow your company to propose strategies that improve the customer’s business. Beyond the typical questions tied to job execution: “how many colors/pages”, “what paper stock” or “when do you need it” today’s salesperson is an expert at exploring business issues with line executives…not just purchasing agents (What are your key strategic marketing initiatives for next year?”)



To illustrate the solutions selling concept, let’s explore an example from everyday life. Recently, I walked into a major home improvement store to buy a repair part for a sink. I knew exactly what I wanted and the only help I needed was what aisle to look in for my part. In printing, this correlates with a print buyer shopping a job — they know what they need and all they want is price and delivery schedule.

However, about 5 days later, I was back in that store trying to purchase materials for remodeling a bathroom — a much high value sale. I had a “business objective” and had done some online research, but as I wandered the aisles it was apparent that I needed help organizing my job and planning my materials purchases. However, the store was not really set up to help me and the associate I found lacked the knowledge to answer all my questions. As you would expect, I left and went to a competitive store that was prepared to help — it was little more expensive, but that was irrelevant to me. Equally important, it was not one person who ended up helping me. My salesperson brought over a plumbing specialist to answer plumbing questions and an electrical specialist to answer questions about wiring. In short, it was a team sell. This is the essence of solution selling.

An effective digital solutions salesperson is comfortable talking with prospects about immediate tactical needs (“I need a price on this direct mail program for next year’s budget”), as well as strategic challenges (“We are really struggling with our inventory carrying costs on our marketing collateral.”) The salesperson will take the time to explore the strategic needs in detail to understand the decision timeline and factors influencing the decision process (“Our Executive Committee wants us to reduce carrying costs by 15% over the next 18 months”). The salesperson does not need to individually construct the solution, instead he/she will work with a team at the office to evaluate the challenge and prepare a suggested solution. (We’ll talk more about solution assembly in the next issue!)

In a world increasingly driven by a commodity mentality, a disciplined, solutions-oriented sales process establishes an approach to business that is personalized and adds value to your offering! More important, it clearly defines the sales representative as more than an “order taker” or a “pricing conduit”, but rather as a “solutions manager.” If you are preparing to ramp up your sales efforts in digital printing, this first step is the foundation for all your future efforts.

Ready To Transform Your Sales Program?

If you are looking for more ways to transform your sales processes and launch services like the ones described in this article, Kodak Market Mover Business Development Services are designed to help. We are here to help you develop your plan and access the complete array of resources we have available. For more details, visit our Website at http://marketmover.kodak.com or contact either of us directly using the information below: