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Your print sales people need a different perspective when selling web-to-print solutions. They need to understand short vs long term benefits as well as how the customer’s convenience is driving loyalty.
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About Jennifer Matt
Jennifer Matt is the managing editor of WhatTheyThink’s Print Software section as well as President of Web2Print Experts, Inc. a technology-independent print software consulting firm helping printers with web-to-print and print MIS solutions.
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Discussion
By Robert Godwin on Nov 20, 2019
Jenn-
A couple points you raise are super important and I want to emphasize them:
1. Salespeople’s resistance to W2P solutions is one of power. A salesperson’s portfolio is their 'book' which should be interpreted as their customer relationship. Salespeople change jobs, are recruited and negotiate based on their book. A W2P makes it more difficult to have a client be portable (to your point stickiness) to another PSP. Hence, the resistance from salespeople to implement/sell, much less support W2P.
2. The investment of money and time to sell, implement and maintain W2P is a lot like pouring the pad for a large press. There is upfront expense, a lot of down time, all justified by long term ROI. W2P must be assessed in the same manner.
There is no magic bean solution for modernizing print sales. And, print sales require both W2P efficiencies for a class of customers/products, as well as the value of a knowledgeable salesperson's transactional skills.
By Robert Lindgren on Nov 20, 2019
Isn't the challenge about the type of print product being sold? If it's repetitive with occasional copy change (business cards, stationery, etc.) W2P is a perfect fit and helps lock in the customer. If the project is high value, creative it's not likely to add value. In fact, it's more likely to make the project into a commodity. Much like the printer websites that invite the visitor to get a quote by outlining specs without any understanding of the value of the project.
By Robert Godwin on Nov 20, 2019
Putting a product in the W2P system wouldn't make it a commodity. It would already be a commodity and therefore belongs in an online order system.
By Nidhi Agrawal on Dec 02, 2019
I think assissting customers initially to setup their digital assests or artwork in your web-to-print can help overcome the initial resistance from customers. Once all their digital assets are configured, the convenince takes over any other benefit and will make your stick to you for re-orders. Likewise, share these benefits with your sales team, give them commission on customer accounts whether orders are placed online or offline and this will help you overcome that initial resistance.