A survey of Print Solutions readers probably would reveal unanimity that the marketplace for print fundamentally has changed in recent years. The predominant buying motive has changed from involvement to avoidance; buyers want you to simply "make it happen."
Technology means that print is not a discrete product. Prepress is best characterized as "pre-media." Once text and graphics are digitized, the images can be retrieved online, on-demand, on a CD-ROM, as a PowerPoint presentation or virtually any other communication medium. Understanding a customer's business needs has become at least as important to a salesperson as an in-depth technical knowledge of print.
Commoditization presents the greatest selling challenge we face. Perceived customer value must be established apart from the product being sold. That's a time-consuming, arduous exercise in trust-building. Differentiating your company in the face of intense price competition requires resilience, the ability to gather information about a buying organization's objectives and the analytical talent to find opportunity despite rejection.
All of this makes a distant memory of the days when intimate product knowledge and the motivation to "make the last call on the way home at 4 o'clock Friday afternoon" were the chief elements of sales success. In a sense, selling resembles show business: If the audience changes or has heard the same performance before, the act has to change. And it's an understatement to say your audience, the marketplace for print, has changed in recent years.
Clearly, this makes the selection of a salesperson critical, and whoever makes the call should remove some of his biases and even some of his experiences. Few activities are as difficult as hiring a salesperson. Chief considerations go beyond the characteristics and track record of a candidate and include the "fit" with your organization's culture and the unique needs of your firm's products and customer base.
I strongly recommend testing as a component of hiring, but often a test is too great a part of the decision. The test itself may fail to measure the personal attributes your organization needs and wants. For instance, one of the industry's most frequently used personnel tests compares an applicant's test results against a database of (allegedly) successful sales representatives. (I say "allegedly" because I've never heard of a follow-up call to an employer by this testing service.)
In truth, this same testing service measures attributes of salespeople that may have characterized success several years ago and fails to measure attributes that are becoming increasingly important. Ego-drive is especially relevant if a rep is selling an off-the-shelf product. Today, as print-buying organizations try to differentiate their organizations, no two situations are the same. A salesperson's empathy and analytical ability are valuable traits. The drive and effort to make 10 enthusiastic calls a day don't ensure success.
The successful sales rep of the past was expected to work well alone. Today, the typical distributor rep has a mind-boggling array of products and services to sell and frequently needs to meet the special demands of customers. The ability to work as part of a team and "quarterback" projects has become a valued asset.
In 2005, a salesperson needs to be an effective communicator. This has several dimensions, including establishing himself/herself as a primary information resource to customers, accurately and unambiguously communicating customer specifications and expectations to manufacturers, and comfortably selling to management. A testing service should determine an applicant's ability to clearly, quickly and effectively express oneself.
An interviewer and/or testing service should establish the extent to which an applicant is knowledgeable about the mechanics and measurements of business operations. It's necessary to understand the difference between profit and cash flow to sell some aspects of forms management and print on demand. And the ability to understand the nuances of American business is fundamental to designing print programs. Exceptional salespeople are those who understand a customer's business well enough to be able to create, not simply capture, print.
These are only some of the attributes of a sales rep that should be evaluated before a hiring decision is made. Qualify a test as vigorously as you qualify a job applicant, even if the test has a good reputation. My experience is that some testing services continue to measure traits that were important several years ago but which are hardly relevant in 2005.
Contributing Editor Dick Gorelick is an award-winning authority on sales, marketing and business strategies for the printing industry. As president of the Graphic Arts Sales Foundation in West Chester, Pa., he travels extensively, consulting, writing and speaking on sales training.
