As I sit back and reflect on some of the things that my sales team has accomplished this year, I keep coming back to the same single accomplishment...the sales team that I work with has transformed itself into a more cutting edge, solutions based team.
For those of you who may read this, if you have been in print sales at all in the last few years, you will appreciate this. The advertising world is moving in a different direction. For those of us in print, this has been a real dramatic event. While newspaper circulation continues to resembel a "Canaveral countdown" and the United States Post Office limps towards whatever direction it is limping in, the shiny new "digital" advertising toy has become the favorite toy.
While print budgets get smaller and smaller, more and more emphasis is being put on SEO, SEM, Mobile optimization, billboards, and any other digital buzzword you can think of. Six months ago, I was working with a team who could tell you anything you needed to know about how a piece of printed ad mail travels through the postal stream to a consumer's mailbox. Digitally however, they couldn't even start a conversation.
That has all dramatically changed...for the better. How did a group of tenured print reps move in a new digital direction so fast? A few simple steps:
1 - Help them believe they can sell the product! (A little confidence goes a LONG way)
2 - Provide resources to help! (Even if it is just a "shoulder to cry on")
3 - Identify a champion! (Everyone wants to emulate a winner)
4 - Celebrate the wins...no matter how small! (Never underestimate the power of manufacturing positive momentum)
Four simple things...yet four things we will remain focused on as we head into 2013 and beyond!
