After graduating from U-Mass Amherst in 1982 with a degree in Marketing, Bill went to work for UARCO Business Forms, selling first in Worcester, Massachusetts and then Boston area. That lasted until 1986 when Bill listened to his ego, which had been telling him to go out on his own and broker forms. "So, happily married to a terrific woman with a beautiful health insurance plan (or is it a beautiful woman with a terrific health insurance plan?), I embarked on a journey of entrepreneurial terror called Advanced Form Systems, Inc."

"Several years later I was counting a client’s forms’ inventory when the client walked in to the storage room with a piece of paper in his hands and a question: "Bill, do you sell binders?" Well, I have always prided myself on the creative side of business forms sales and thought binders to be quite boring so I said, "No." "Too bad," my client replied, looking at the piece of paper in his hand, "I have a purchase requisition here for $25,000 in binders." Coming to my senses, I immediately screamed, "Oh, binders, I thought you said blinders! Sure, sure. I sell binders." Once my heart started beating again, I got around to asking him what was put in the binders. Turns out he was spending a quarter of a million dollars on photocopied manuals. That was 1990, the same year the DocuTech made its debut. I was one of the first printing sales people in the Boston area to sell what would become digital printing."

Bill Farquharson is now President of Print Tec Network, a sales consulting firm helping industry professionals understand digital printing and the sales process. He writes a monthly column for several Cygnus Publications, such as Print and Graphics and Southern Graphics and does private consulting. Says Bill, "I have the craziest job of anyone I know and wouldn’t trade it for a "real" job at twice the income."

Bill, tell us how you started Print Tec?

With the help of Label Art founder Len Peterson, I started Print Tec Network to help others learn how to sell digital printing, regardless of the output device. Since 1993 I have been traveling throughout the US, Canada and even Australia speaking on this and many other subjects related to printing. My big break came six years ago when Xerox asked me to write their Marketing Partnership Program which trains printing sales people how to sell digital printing and is now taught all over the world. Shortly after that I wrote Indigo’s Sales Maximizer program which does much the same thing, only in color.

My frustration, however, was that those who attended my seminars soon returned to their own ways and, like all of us, forgot 85% of what they learned. Sales training is a process, I thought, not an event. So, working with AlphaGraphics’ corporate offices and three of their franchisees, I created a program of monthly sales training by telephone that I call the "Sales Coaching Network." It worked so well that AlphaGraphics decided to run the program in house with their own people. So, I opened it up to everyone and it really took off. Over the last three years, Print Tec has trained hundreds of printers and their sales people how to sell, how to sell printing, and how to sell digital printing. I am immensely proud of the Sales Coaching Network, especially when we receive a letter or email from a client whose sales have taken off, in part thanks to the work one of my sales coaches has done with them.

What has been your focus most recently?

I have had an unbelievable relationship with Heidelberg and especially their Vice President for Digital Printing, Eric Frank, for the last two years. Never have I had a vendor treat me with such respect. The selling motto for my print brokering company is "A Good Vendor is as Important as a Good Customer" and Heidelberg embodies that statement. No wonder why people rave about the service they receive; they are incredibly classy and run by passionate, driven professionals. Eric and I met four years ago in Hawaii when he was just a grunt product manager. If I had known he was going to rise to such a position of importance, I would not have played so many practical jokes on him.

For the last year, I have taught Heidelberg’s customers how to sell "TO" their new black and white digital printer; the Digimaster 9110 and their Quickmaster DI through a combination of live seminars and phone conference calls. I have also begun some talks with NexPress to see if I can be of any assistance with their 2100 digital color printer. With the dawn of variable printing, there will be a tremendous need to train the sales people as well as the end user to understand and envision the possibilities.

Heidelberg keeps me very busy, as does my public speaking events and, of course, the Sales Coaching Network. I have two other projects currently in the works that I can’t wait to develop. After all, a true entrepreneur never stops building and questioning.

My goal and the goal of Print Tec Network remain very simple: help the printer to drive sales and increase profits. Everyone who works for me has a similar passion. You can’t be in the training business for the money. Customers see right through that façade. It takes a genuine desire to help without coming across as superior.

Describe the sales coaching aspect of Print Tec.

We have four sales coaches across the country that work by telephone with their clients. The Sales Coaching Program is one of those crazy ideas that everyone said would never work. As for structure, I have affectionately been called a "militant entrepreneur" - I prefer "benevolent dictator". One of my sales trainers, Dan Bird, sells the Sales Coaching Network for me. Each coach has a group of customers that fits his or her particular expertise. We work with new sales people, those who are stuck at a certain level, and the veteran rep who needs a push. My partner, Len Peterson, acts as a mentor and is the rudder in the boat that is Print Tec Network. Because we are a committee of two, we are nimble; enabling us to attack an opportunity without the deadweight of nay sayers who prefer to study everything until the opportunity has passed.

So your primary investment is in people.

In my line of work, making an "investment" means finding someone with a skill set I need for sales coaching. It is ridiculously difficult. A sales coach is equal parts motivator, educator, manager, judge, therapist, parent, and cheerleader. Len is fond of saying, "We must have no egos" when we talk to our clients. Would you want to listen to someone who thinks they know everything about everything?

I consider myself quite fortunate to have found four people who not only excel at their jobs but are also fine human beings. As you can tell, I love my work but don’t take myself exceptionally seriously. I "invest" in my people and then help them to reach their goals in the same way we make investments in our client’s operations. Every month a client stays with us, my investment pays off.

What investments do you recommend a printer look at for 2001?

Right now, the Dow is taking yet another hit. It is so easy to get sucked into the pessimistic tone of the day, isn’t it? By and large, my clients are reporting quiet sales numbers right now and that makes them nervous. Combine that with a roller coaster economic climate and the tendency is to sit on the sidelines. Therefore I advise just the opposite. Now is the perfect time to reconnect with your clients. When is the last time you checked in with your top clients and asked them about their challenges and how you can help? It seems to me that printers have been both busy and lazy in recent times—busy producing orders and lazy in looking after their base of business. The net result is a printer who is flush with cash, thinking he or she needs to expand, but has lost the pulse of the client. For example, the buzz these days is all about variable printing. Trade shows and magazines are humming with the prospects of this so-called "Holy Grail" of digital printing. But before you blindly invest in equipment, invest some time into determining the need. Trust that things will pick up and trust that when they do, you will wish you had taken my advice.

Oh, and one more thing from a purely self-serving viewpoint: don’t pull the plug on your training investment just because sales are down. Advertising and training are easy targets for the budget-cutting manager, but in truth there is no better time to spend some money on your sales people and get them sharpened for the increased competition that an economic slowdown brings.

How can reps have more success by selling in a consultative way?

A friend from Canada commented to me a few years back that we don’t lack the technology in printing any more, we simply lack the creativity to use the technology. As we look forward and this question is pondered, I can best answer it by considering his wise comment and giving an example as to the needs faced by the print buyer and subsequent challenges to find appropriate solutions.

Let’s say the print procurement agent for the Travel and Convention Office in Boston wants to order some brochures to attract visitors. In the past, she has ordered 100,000 sixteen page saddle stitched booklets summarizing the many good sides of Beantown. The request for a bid arrives on the printer’s desk and he subsequently dispatches a sales person to reel this fish in. My guess is that 99% of the printing sales people out there would simply pick up the specs and price the job without ever making an effort to uncover any additional (read: creative) needs which might exist. For example, what if the T&C Office wanted the option of segmenting their market and highlighting certain of Boston’s characteristics which people might find particularly attractive, such as the historical aspect or the museums or its great golf courses or upscale hotels and restaurants? Wouldn’t they like to know about a printing option that allows for short run, targeted messages? In this case, a printer could suggest twenty different print runs of five thousand, each with a different message and a different intended audience. Furthermore, what about the idea that information be customized to a particular trade group coming to town? Combining traditional full color offset and short run black and white digital opens new doors and presents new opportunities. Finally, how does the print procurement agent deal with the web surfer who has gone to Boston.com to custom design a vacation for his family, detailing the exact amount he wants to spend and the exact activities he finds of interest? The standard sixteen page brochure is not going to cut it. Neither is the myriad of smaller, targeted brochures. For this need, only a full color digitally-produced and fully customized printed piece will solve the problem.

The point is this: the customer has needs he or she has not completely uncovered and the printer has solutions and options not completely explained. The printer’s ability to unleash the creative will define his or her ability to succeed. Clearly, this demands a fluency in digital printing. The focus for the printer, then, should not be on their printing equipment but their digital superiority. And for the print buyer, find a vendor with well rounded print solutions and a flair for understanding your needs and offering creative solutions. Printing solutions will take many different forms. You will need a vendor with many different options.

What is your advice to printers who are looking to start a marketing program?

A couple of years ago, I ran some PhoneSeminars for Print Image International. Twice a month we would discuss a variety of subjects relevant to the printing industry, everything from digital printing to hiring to technical issues to color copying. The sales issues were the best attended by far. Dead last was the subject of Marketing. Three people were on the line. Printers do a horrible job of marketing. Here they are helping others with the creation and design of marketing pieces and most don’t do anything for themselves. It is like the shoemaker’s kids going shoeless.

Michael Freundlich, a Kwik Kopy owner in Westborough, Massachusetts and one of the finest gentlemen you would ever want to meet posed this question to me just yesterday. In a nutshell, I advised Mike to find one central theme; one thing he considers his competitive advantage and builds everything else around that one point. To find that one thing, ask yourself why your clients buy from you? Is it your technical prowess? Your consultative selling skills? Your staff? Next, understand that some marketing pieces need to educate and some need only raise brand awareness. The key is consistency. Get your name out there and keep it out there. I also advise the use of humor. Still, most pre packaged marketing kits either go unopened or used for only one mailing. Marketing should create momentum. So, whatever you do, do it often.

As you know, many of our subscribers are print buyers. What advice can you give to them?

Wow. A chance to speak directly to the print buyer. This is a rare treat. I feel like a kid in a candy shop! Okay, here are my thoughts…

First, when is the last time your printing sales person came in with a new idea? Did you know the number one objection used by print buyers is NOT about price, but rather, "I am happy with my current printing vendor"? Every month I run a class on overcoming objections and this is consistently numero uno. While I think it is great you are showing some loyalty, I wonder if you are truly happy or if you have simply slipped into the habit of buying from one vendor. In my seminars, I routinely scold print sales people who do not learn the story behind everything they print for you. Only by doing so can they come up with a consultative solution. Most printing sales people and buyers focus on the cost of the printed piece, totally ignoring the cost of using that piece. That is where the real money is to be saved. In fact, it is said that for every dollar you are spending on printing, another twenty dollars goes into using it, storing it, shipping it, filing it, and throwing it out once it becomes obsolete. I’d suggest you spend your time looking for ways to reduce this cost. If your printer of choice is routinely offering you ways to reduce that twenty dollar area, stick with them. If not, you should be looking for someone who asks qualifying questions and goes beyond simply throwing a price at you.

Second, if you are working with a printer who is not doing his or her job and you have a bit of a mean streak in you, listen to this: April Fool’s Day is coming up and you have the perfect chance to test a printer’s mettle. A few years ago I received a phone call from Joanne Mills, a former print buyer at Olicom in Northborough, Massachusetts. I had just completed a lengthy redesign project for Olicom which resulted in Olicom using a new printing method, digital printing. Where we had been printing 15,000 manuals, we now printed 100 at a time. Obviously, the unit price was dramatically different. The project all came to a head at the end of March and we were so frantic pulling the pieces together that the new price was never discussed until AFTER the job shipped on the final day of March. The next day, my cell phone rang while I was in a meeting. It was Joanne with a simple message: "I am not paying your price." It seems they had been paying $13 a manual for 15,000 printed offset and my price was $43 per manual for 100 printed digitally. Immediately, the sweat built on my forehead and the options ran through my head. Did I have room for a price cut? Yes. Was I gouging? No. I quickly gathered myself and launched into a monologue, revisiting all of the selling points and benefits of printing the manuals manually: better quality, lower inventory, greater flexibility, less waste, more accurate information, etc. I justified my price and did not offer a price reduction. A couple of minutes into my pitch, Joanne was giggling. I stopped. She said, "Bill, I was only kidding. Happy April Fool’s Day!" She went on to tell me I was the third sales person she had called that morning and was the only one who stood his ground. The first guy she called caved like an avalanche, so she decided to keep going. Sure, it was mean, but it did prove a good point: Everyone knows the value of what they sell and therefore every printing sales person, when asked "Is this your best price?" should answer, "Yes" and be able to back it up.

You write for trade magazines. What are your thoughts on how they enhance the industry?

Let’s see, how do I answer this question without angering my present (Cygnus) or past (Cahners) employer? Diplomacy has never been my strength.

I read all of the trade publications. Typically, I stock pile them for airplane rides, then read and rip, read and rip. By the end of the flight, I leave behind a bevy of paper and save several articles. At home, I keep a file on different subject matters: Digital printing; Marketing; Hiring; Compensation; Promotional Ideas: and so on. That way, I always have a little reference library for when someone calls me and asks, "Do you have any more information on…." I have come to rate industry trade magazines by how destructive I am to their pages. If I rip it to shreds, it was a great month! Electronic Publishing, American Printer, and Printing Impressions are my favorites to destroy. Great content and unbiased reporting. I have met the editors of all three and find them to be more realistic, less likely to fawn over new ideas and go along with whatever press release came across their desk that morning. There are too many articles which take an "Emperor’s New Clothes" approach to a subject. That is, they go along with the opinion of the day. For example, consider the ink variable printing is getting these days. Variable printing is like having sex in high school. Everyone thinks everyone else is doing it. Not that many people really are doing it and those who are doing it aren’t doing it very well. Yet it gets written up like it is a plug and play opportunity. Remember: digital printing itself was sold to us in the trades as a "can’t miss" technology. How many pie charts were we shown on printed pages and in seminars put on by acronymed consulting firms boasting of its $XX billion potential? Yet here we are ten years into the digital revolution and we continue to struggle to find out what it all means.

I recommend you sign up for as many trade magazines as you can. Never stop learning. If you see an article you like, rip it out and contact the author. We need the feedback and most of us who write are egomaniacs anyway, so you will be lowering our therapy bills.

Thank you Bill. Your humor was refreshing and a nice way to share your points of view.