How should a print salesperson get the attention of the print buyer?

In recent discussions with print sales reps an old and apparently common topic of frustration quickly came to the fore. With your permission, I will characterize the situation with the following description.

"I have been calling on a particular print buyer for months without a returned phone call or any response at all to my efforts to reach him. I have sent our company’s brochures, sent e-mails and stopped by to introduce myself…all to no avail. I know that we have the right capability and the best service to meet their needs. I know we can help them but the buyer will not return my phone call or see me! In addition, if I try to call on someone else in the organization I will obviously be showing disrespect to this buyer and likely never have a chance of doing business with them or their company."

When asked for their view on this same situation, most print buyers tell us that there may be a variety of reasons that these reps are not getting a call back. They include:

- I am very busy with my job’s responsibilities
- I have several great printers right now
- I see as many sales reps as I can
- There is no reason to call them back…I don’t see anything they can offer that my current providers cannot.

Clearly, gaining any mind-share at all can be difficult at times; BUT to a person, each of the print buyers also made a few additional comments.

- Be persistent, keep calling.
- It is nothing personal.
- If they could show me something different or something unique I would set aside time to see them.

So, that being the case, let’s go back to the question, How should a print salesperson get the attention of the print buyer?

While no guaranty that future business will follow, a well thought out, planned and purposeful approach to gaining their interest and attention tells them quite a bit about doing business with you and your organization before they even meet you.