by Bill Farquharson, Print Tec Here's a unique concept for those of you who are considering adding digital printing to your stable of offerings: don't hire a digital printing sales person. You will fail. (Hey, what would my whattheythink.com column be if I didn't add some controversy? Writing for WTT is like doing TV for HBO. You can be outrageous and bitterly honest and even show some skin if you want. Okay, so I'll spare you that last part but the other two stay in!) See, here's the problem: let's suppose you are a commercial printer and you go out and buy a Xeroxdelbergdigomapress 2000. Suddenly it occurs to you that you will need to fill it up with work. So, the call goes out for a digital printing specialist, someone whose sole job is to sniff out digital printing business. Even if you manage to find this person, you still have some difficult times ahead. The problem is that digital printing applications take longer to find than traditional offset jobs. The sales cycle for the traditional printing sales person is three to six months. Selling digital doubles that lead time. The reason for this is that there is a great deal of change. Here are the most common outcomes of such an endeavor: * " The New Digital Rep uses the word "Digital" to open doors but walks out with quicker, cleaner commercial print jobs. * " The long sales cycles causes great discouragement and the rep quits to pursue something with a gratification process (read: commissions) that is not measured in years. * " The traditional sales people in the company become territorial about bringing the rep into accounts. * " Success finally comes, but only after going through a number of digital printing sales people. Instead of hiring a digital sales rep, why not bring on someone who can work with your sales people as a technical advisor? Start them out with the mission of educating clients about the ways of the digital force (i.e.-file preparation, electronic job submission, etc.) and work them into a position of technical guru. Along the way, they might even find some digital applications from within existing business. In time, if they show any kind of sales initiative, then you can put them in a direct sales position. But by easing them into the role, you build a base of digital business from within existing accounts. It will give you the opportunity to find some answers to the questions that hound digital print providers, such as how to compensate them and whether they are even the right person for the job. Also, customers are often more open with a "technical specialist" than with a sales rep, and these technical gurus can often uncover useful customer information which can be leveraged into a bigger sale. Sales is a hard job. Selling printing is harder still. Add to that the challenge of selling digital and you have a formidable task on your hands. As a manager or owner, you are facing a greater challenge finding someone to fill the role and make your expensive investment successful and profitable. There are no sure bets out there and it will likely take longer than the equipment vendor promised you. By having your digital sales person play the role of educator, it sets the tone that is necessary if those profits are to be found.