Print is Dead...For Some

Complete Story

08/14/2024

Print is Dead...For Some

Source: Bill Farquharson, The Sales Vault, August 5, 2024

bill f

I was on the phone with a Sales Vault client earlier today. He was telling me how he was making seemingly endless amounts of phone calls, sending emails, mailing samples, and dropping off brochures describing his business and his equipment. In addition, he was making some of the same complaints I hear frequently:

No one returns my calls
People aren’t buying print anymore
Young buyers don’t want relationships

When he was done, he asked me an important question: “Bill, do you think print is dead?” My answer surprised him and might surprise you, too:

“Yes. I do…”

Wait, what?

Did Bill Farquharson, sales trainer to the graphic arts, just declare print dead?

I did, but you didn’t let me finish my answer: “Yes. I do… For you.”

Salespeople, if you are doing what you have always done… what we who have been in graphic arts sales for a long time have always done, then, yes, print is dead for you. Print itself has not and will not die. The market, the margins, and the opportunities for growth remain. However, you simply cannot keep doing what you have always done.

It doesn’t work like it did way back when.

Success today requires a different recipe, one that is heavily dependent on marketing. One reason why no one is responding to your voicemail message is they are checking you out online and they don’t like what they see. You take that as, “no one returns my call” but I’m here to tell you they won’t if you don’t have a compelling story to tell when they Google you or look up your website.

The sales approach, too, can’t be the same-old same old. Be anecdotal. Send testimonials. Share pictures. Become an expert in their business.

Print is dead for those who don’t change their approach. If this is you, please get out so the rest of us can get some work done.

But if you stay, you need to make some changes.

Watch Bill present this week's sales tip

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.