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Complete Story
08/27/2026
The Lonely Sales Rep
Source: Bill Farquharson, August 17, 2026
Let me start of this fourth (in a series of five) August sales tip with a slap across your face: No one cares about your products. Print? Signage? Packaging? Promo? Branded Apparel? Labels? Do you really think anyone is losing sleep over your need to sell more?
No? Then why talk about print, signage, promo, etc. in your sales pitch? Talk about what they care about: Their needs. Their challenges…and how you can help.
How do you know what these needs and challenges might be? The answer to that is part experience, part common sense, and a huge dollop of research.
What kind of research? It’s garnering information from their website. It’s looking at industry trends. It’s learning about marketing mistakes companies in that field make. This is an acquired skill and one I strongly encourage you to acquire, unless you wish to continue quoting and losing, quoting and losing, quoting and losing.
A website is a window to the soul of the company. It will tell you what is important to them. It will give you a hint into their view on marketing. It will even predict how you will be treated as a vendor.
Learn what is important to your clients. This becomes the center of your sales pitch. Or you can keep talking about print, signage, promo, etc., and continue the lonely existence of a price-based sales rep.
The Sales Vault, created by Bill Farquharson, is a subscription-based resource and sales community featuring a calendar packed with live workshops, on-demand sales courses, peer-to-peer discussion groups, and 35+ years of sales training content all searchable by sales challenge. Think of it as a sales conference where the seminars and workshops, full of instantly applicable ideas, are ongoing and more programs are added constantly.
The Sales Vault is available on a monthly subscription basis, normally at a no-brainer monthly price of $45/participant, but… GMA members can take advantage of an exclusive offer: FREE membership for 30 days followed by a discounted monthly subscription price of just $40/participant.
Bill has been a friend of GMA for many years and is, no doubt, known to our members as a top sales trainer and content creator for the graphic arts.
Other Vault resources:
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