Creating an effective sales force is an art in and of itself, but few things are as important to driving your business. Even before you find great sales talent, you need to decide how you want to structure your sales. The fundamental message is that you must align your sales organization with your overall business strategy while also accommodating the changing demands of your customer base.

There is no shortage of articles discussing the changing dynamics of the sales process for B2B customers. The key premise of these publications is that customers have become more experienced and sophisticated in the purchasing process. As a result, suppliers have higher expectations—a commodity sale isn’t enough anymore. Customers are demanding suppliers that can help solve their business problems, and they are measuring value based on outcome.

In response to changing customer needs, print service providers are expanding their value-added services and moving from “print only” product portfolios to cutting-edge multi-product portfolios. Print-oriented sales are being replaced by solutions that are knit together into an integrated offering. Examples include managing the marketing supply chain, developing cross-media marketing campaigns, expanding mailing and fulfillment operations, supporting video, and migrating to mobile applications.