News
Sales training fails to keep pace as print becomes service-led, company claims
Print companies "do not train their sales forces" and are therefore not benefiting from the shift towards a service-led industry, one printer has warned.
Eaveswood Colour managing director Simon Greaves claimed print has become a service-led industry – not a manufacturing industry – and so training salespeople is essential to capitalise on this shift.
He said: "In any other sizeable industry the sales staff would be getting constant training, but this industry just doesn’t train its sales force.
"We have a strong sales force here. We have spent time and money recruiting and training the right people."
Specialist training organisation Proskills agreed that sales training is a problem in the industry, but the organisation said that this is part of a wider problem.
Richard Bloxham, head of marketing communication at Proskills, said: "In Proskills' 2006 skills survey, the lack of sales people in the industry was flagged up as a skills gap.
"However, many other occupations were also singled out as being deficient and, in general, there were low levels of structured training taking place."
Greaves' comments came just months after his company merged with fellow Northampton business Avalon Print.
Eaveswood and Avalon have spent the last 18 months upgrading and improving processes, including achieving FSC accreditation, installing a new Manroland five-colour B2 500, as well as moving into digital with a new Xerox 5000.
Greaves added that he expects turnover for the two companies to increase by 30% in 2009/10 to £2.5m – directly as a result of its sales team.
The two companies, which operate as separate businesses but under single ownership, employ 21 staff.
Also see:
Print industry bodies call for Skills Summit
Simon Greaves (r) with Darren Briers, joint MDs of Avalon/Eaveswood
Comments
Jonathan Arch - 21 April 2009
Its good to see a company willing to invest in their employees for a change. Eaveswood have been a valued supplier to us for about 6 months now and i can say nothing but nice comments about their service and most importantly their quality. Simon keep up the good work !
Matthew Parker - 21 April 2009
Training of sales staff is key. I am always surprised at how many sales pitches struggle to promote a unusual selling point for their business, even when asked directly. I would also suggest that training for customer service executives/account handlers is highly important. These staff can often act as a very effective generator of extra work.
Matthew Parker
www.printandprocurement.com
Nigel Cliffe - 21 April 2009
Rather controversially I find this article very interesting in today's market place. As a one time print salesman, but now as more regularly a buyer and consultant, I can't recall the last time I met a print sales person. Nor would I wish to. I would rather a) find all the information I require off a printers web site, understand their usp's etc from there, then b) speak to internal support teams for advice. I would further look to on-line solutions which help me do business with that printer on a minute to minute basis, including quotes, production updates, on-line project management etc. Furthermore, I would be thinking, if I were a printer, how much more added value services I could get in servicing customers using technology-based solutions from the same budget as it would cost me to employ a sales person, taking into account expenses etc. Should I need to meet my supplier for a more in depth discussion, I would be just as happy speaking the CSR's \(internal sales support staff) or senior managers/directors to have that face to face dialogue.
For those still interested, let me explain. Using web-based collaborative tools it is possible for me to video conference and instant message \(im) in an instant with my suppliers. Email will be taken over by social technology tools, where intranet type solutions allow me to set up projects on line that track a job in all its guises, from quote to invoice. Audit trails will allow me to view past job histories. Calendar schedules will allow me to forward plan. Just how will a travelling salesman deliver this much benefit? Surely no-one still knocks on doors?
What printers should be doing is marketing themselves better, understanding where and how to be in the space that people now look when they are researching something – i.e. the web. Until the print industry grasps this key issue, we will continue to fall behind at relevant service points.
Lastly, clearly Avalon/Eaveswood are getting this right \(I do not know or use them) because a) a customer is commenting on this network – what an advantage that is - a customer recommendation for all to see, and b) their PR/marketing initiative has put them in the place that this article has prominence – well done guys!
Nigel Cliffe
www.cliffeassociates.com
Jonathan Arch - 22 April 2009
Hi Nigel,
I agree with some of what you say, and utilising the latest technologies such as Video conferencing, and on-line production processing plays a large part in our production production process, however as a former print salesman myself, who also has moved to the other side of the track, i still like having that personal contact with my suppliers. These suppliers are not SELLING to me, they are servicing my account. Our specific requirements are primarily driven by wanting to ensure a great end product, pushing the print boudaries, with quality the key, rather surprisingly in the current market project price is a secondary concern. This is proven by our selected supplier base. that includes Eaveswood and the award winning Hamptons Printing of Bristol, who both work closely with us on projects, almost from concept stage.
I have been a member of this forum for a while now, and have enjoyed the "banter" and the "Insight", however for the past few months, it has been depressing reading with so many company administrations, job losses, and the dreaded pre-pack phoenix's. I believe the Eaveswood/Avalon story one to be worth praising, they are obviously a forward thinking company, well managed by Simon and Darren, and my sales contact Stephen is nothing but helpful to us. We view our relationship with Eaveswood (and all our other suppliers) to be a mutually beneficial partnership.
JON
Jon Arch
Dominion
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