By Sid Chadwick, Chadwick Consulting, Inc. – 01/23/2025
Published in American Printer : “Sid reviews how many organizations only realize they have a new account when an order comes in. Their reps often pursue prospects without a detailed preview, wasting time and resources by not evaluating the prospects. What are your Reps costing the organization each week?”
“If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary”
…………Jim Rohn
INTRODUCTION:
Management of your Business Development Team’s time….is starting to go through a revolution of thinking.
“Training” is being recognized as a constant…. Training and use of Research Resources…is starting to be expected…and…How a Rep uses their time, and what they have to show as a result… is no longer…. Unknown.
For example, Inside Sales Reps… and Outside Sales Reps… too often have…. Nothing in Writing… to guide:
1. What is the profile of Prospects… they should pursue developing…?
2. What is the profile of Prospects… they should not pursue…?
Buyers like to work with suppliers who specialize in serving organizations like their (a) employer, or (b) who specialize in products & services like what the Buyer’s employer probably uses…or would like to use….!
For example:
1. If your organization employs contract or full-time proofreaders (yes…a few organizations do), there are organizations that focus on perfection (e.g., medical), or who have important communications that should have no proofreading errors. Clearly, offering such a service opens new doors to important organizations and projects. (I could tell you some amazing stories…!)
2. Does your organization specialize in great Customer Service…? When your buyer says, “I want a supplier with great, not, sometimes great , Customer Service,” Do you ask for examples – to understand what specifically that Buyer really wants?
3. Does your organization specialize in “Quick, Emergency Turnaround?” – as illustrated by 2nd shift and weekend Customer Service and Prepress?
4. Does your organization specialize in delivering promised deliveries? What’s your “On-time Delivery Record” for the last 6 months to a year…?
5. Does your organization specialize in Advertising Specialties, notifying customers of “What’s New this Season!”…and finding reliable domestic suppliers, who are cost-effective….?
6. Does your organization specialize in Storage & Fulfillment, such that Prospects pursuing acquisitions are natural targets for supporting their strategic ambitions…?
An example of Prospects to avoid… tend to be organizations who: (a) are not growing, (b) have no clear objectives and goals for this or next year (that allow you to pursue supporting their ambitions), and (c) whose senior management has no succession plan – other than to manage their steady downsizing. Such organizations tend to be constant - “low-price wins” buyers.
SUMMARY:
Too many organizations only know they might have a new account… when their Rep brings in an order. Generally speaking, who the Rep was pursuing was not known, or reviewed in detail, with needed frequency.
Prior to that order from a new Prospect, the Rep, needing to pay his/her bills, pursues Prospects they believe they can sell. They’ve invested costly time, mileage, Estimators’ time, and the future profitability of the organization – to seek a new account – that too often is “not a good fit.”
Which is a bit backwards.
Prospects should be evaluated from available information sources…before serious investments to get to know the prospect - have occurred. Experienced management should be involved in that process.
So I ask, “Are the Profiles of who to pursue, and who to avoid – in writing – and reviewed and updated about every 6 months - for your Inside and Outside Reps…?
What are your Reps costing the organization, each week? Given that your future is being determined by what they do now, they’re costing you much more than what you pay them…!
“Time is the most valuable thing that we have, because it is the most irrevocable.”
…………Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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