Marketing and Sales

MICR Express, Jeffersonville, Ind., launched a new program aimed at helping distributors sell counter documents and general ledger forms to financial institutions. The program, utilizing the company’s state-of-the-art digital printing equipment, also offers exceptional turnaround times and competitive pricing. Both image-compatible and traditional documents are included in the new semi-custom program, as long as a 5⁄8” clear band is present at the bottom of the document. Standard production time is five business days, and all pricing includes standard wrapping. The program features a price list for 23⁄4x6˝ counter-type documents, and an additional price list for 33⁄8x7˝, 71⁄2˝, 8˝, and 81⁄2˝ general ledger documents. Paper

WhatTheyThink.com, Lexington, Ky.—a news and analysis site for the printing and publishing industry—announced that Frank Romano, professor emeritus, School of Print Media, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), will conduct a free educational webinar entitled “Selling and Marketing Digital Printing to Ad Agencies.” Scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 27, from 2:00 to 3:00 EST, the session will help print service providers with digital color printing capabilities target ad agencies with business-to-business clients. Registration for this no-charge webinar is available at Web page http://members.whattheythink.com/home/webinarregistrationform.cfm. “Ad agencies influence over $102 billion in print buying in the United States,” said Romano. “Eighty percent of creative agencies are involved in

While many professionals avoid cold calling, it can be highly successful if approached with the proper attitude. In cold calling, the goal is to get appointments; to arrange to be face-to-face with someone who might spend money with you. Sales research proves more phone time and face time with qualified prospects equals more sales. Here is a step-by-step guide to cold calling success: • Escape the fear of rejection. Any rejection is a rejection of the interruption your phone call represents; not of you personally. Some prospects may have been burned by cold callers and telemarketers in the past, so don’t take their coldness personally. • Don’t

All too often, business-to-business marketers get caught up in the details of direct mail marketing, rather than concentrating on the important things: the list, the offer and the results. One client, for example, worried about whether it was better to use gray paper or white for his direct mail campaign. It doesn’t matter what color paper you use—if you’re mailing the wrong offer to the wrong people, your campaign is going to fail. For instance, try sending a mailing about graphic design software to chief financial officers, or sending a mailing about financial forecasting software to design professionals. No matter how appealing the direct

Without effective decision-making skills and strategies, even the most talented and brilliant can experience crushing disappointments. The ability to make sound decisions is critical in today’s world of quick fixes and superficial solutions. Here are some tips for making sound decisions, regardless of the situation. Deal: Decision-Making Strategies 1. Conduct proper analysis of the problem. Decision makers often rely on opinion rather than facts. There’s also the problem of self-serving bias—mangers listening to people who share a common viewpoint, while disregarding information that conflicts with their position. In addition, a recent nationwide survey by Harris Interactive concluded that 75 percent of workers made

Keep your expectations low and you won’t get disappointed, but you won’t get much else, either. Yes, it’s safer to have preferences instead of expectations, but what does that really get you? Dealing appropriately with disappointments is different from setting yourself up for them. A setup might be approaching a Fortune 100 prospect when you’ve never previously conducted business at that level or selling more than your company can deliver. Not only will you be disappointed, but you could lose the opportunity to work with that prospect in the future. Whenever you put yourself out there, you are taking the risk of a negative response from

Author, entrepreneur and business consultant David Blaise points out that while everyone intends to provide customers with great service, there may be a lack of effective follow up procedures. Some consider it “follow up” to simply contact clients on a regular basis and ask for more business, but this approach can grow old quickly. Instead, Blaise recommends creating thoughtful, intelligent follow up procedures designed to benefit, rather than badger or annoy clients, and making them part of standard business procedures. He offers the following four suggestions: 1. Require salespeople to submit a copy of the “thank you” note they sent to each

In the publication “Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude: How to Find, Build and Keep a YES! Attitude for a Lifetime of Success,” Prentice Hall, the author tells readers it is the thoughts behind the words they speak that create their attitudes. “At the beginning of any task, more than anything else, your attitude will affect its successful outcome,” asserted Gitomer. The 200-page book features five main sections that deal with evaluating current attitudes, and then mastering and maintaining more positive ones. Gitomer observed that a positive attitude comes from within, and the more people work on their attitude, the less

In his book Public Relations: The Complete Guide, South-Western Educational Publishing, author Joe Marconi describes how to create and manage the most profitable and productive public relations programs possible. For instances, in the chapter dealing with crisis management, Marconi explains the three main stages of crisis management are before, during and after a crisis occurs. To avoid problems, it is essential to know what is important to customers, prospects, investors, regulators, employees and media. Listen, be available, be responsive and create a “reservoir of goodwill that can be tapped if or when times get tough,” suggested Marconi. In addition, invite comments,

A trillion-dollar industry poised for even greater growth, direct marketing is a discipline that produces results companies want to achieve, but it continues to be misused and misunderstood. In his new book, “The Complete Guide to Direct Marketing: Creating Breakthrough Programs That Really Work”, Kaplan Publishing, Chicago, direct marketing expert Chet Meisner demonstrates the process of creating highly effective direct marketing programs from strategic development to execution to measurement. The 320-page comprehensive primer covers the strategic role direct marketing plays in overall marketing programs; how to buy lists and manage data effectively; common rules for multi-media direct marketing; and the impact direct marketing can