Getting in "touch" with your sales process.

I had the opportunity this week to spend a few hours at a seminar put on for printers who use digital printing equipment manufactured by a well known, large international firm whose name rhymes with Xerox. Don't want to give away any free plugs. The lesson learned that I'd like to share with you had little to do with their equipment but a lot to do with how all of us do business. And it was fascinating. Simply put, how many times does someone in your organization "touch" a sale? Phone rings and customer service person answers equals one touch. Gathering price information is another touch. Preparing a quote equals a touch. You touch it one more time when you write an order. And so on.  In a workshop consisting of multiple small groups, the norm was about 40-plus touches per sale. The goal is to reduce the number of touches and streamline your process. Here's why.

Case studies show that companies that increased sales by 10% saw a 1% rise in their bottom line profits. But companies that cut their costs by 10% increased their pre-tax profits by 9%.

Final score: Accountants 1, Sales 0

I have to admit we could decrease our total touches if we tried and saved some dough, but most companies I know today are just like we are. Lean. Most of us have really been cutting costs for a couple of years at least and that can lead to an anorexic result in some cases. Especially if cost cutting harms your sales ability.

I think the trick is to be lean AND mean. You can't cut your sales and fulfillment process to the point where you no longer have the energy in your system to be aggressive. No one ever grew faster than their competitor by cost cutting. No one ever gained market share by cost cutting. No one ever came out stronger on the other side of a deep recession by just cost cutting. You've got to grab new customers, hold on to current ones and reclaim former clients to grow.

Growth is what we are about at the Scotsman. It may be through advertising in our Pennysavers, taking advantage of our commercial printing services or by adding one of our niche publications to your marketing plan. Contact us at 315-472-7825 or info@scotsmanmediagroup.com for more information. Thank you!