education sector, they should understand the budget cycles and the importance of durable materials. This industry knowledge is what allows them to lead the conversation rather than just following a brief. I have seen printers who invest in this kind of cross-departmental training see a massive uplift in staff confidence. When a salesperson knows exactly how a job will flow through prepress and finishing, they speak with an authority that a purely commission-driven closer simply cannot match. The Principle of the Expert Ally The goal is to move your team to a position where they are seen as an extension of the customer’s own marketing or procurement department. When a customer calls you not just for a price, but for your opinion on how to execute a project, you have won. You have moved past the commodity trap and into a space where your value is tied to your expertise, not just your hourly rate on a press. Stop pitching and start probing. The most successful businesses in the UK print market today are those who have realised that their kit is just a tool, but their knowledge is the product. Challenge your sales team to find one problem the isn’t afraid to say “no” when a job isn’t right for your equipment. I have always believed that authenticity is your biggest competitive advantage. It’s about that H2H (human to human) connection that shows you actually care about the relationship, not just your own bottom line. If your sales team understands the limitations of your finishing department or the specific drying times required for certain jobs, they can manage expectations effectively from the start. One of my clients in the garment space transformed their reputation by being honest about lead times during the peak season. Instead of over-promising to get the order, they consulted with the customer on how to split the delivery to meet the immediate deadline. It required a deeper level of communication and a solid understanding of their own Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). That’s how you start building a real relationship. Moving From High-Activity, Low-Value Work to Profitable Partners You can fall into the trap of high-activity, low-value work in sales just as easily as you can in production. If your team is chasing every low-margin quote that comes through the door, they are burning through your most valuable resource: time. A consultant’s mindset involves qualifying leads based on whether you can actually add value. I often talk about marginal gains in the print shop, but the same applies to the sales office. If your team spends ten minutes more on the discovery phase of a project, they might uncover an opportunity for a larger, more complex, and more profitable job that the customer hadn’t even considered. I knew a shop manager who incentivised his team not on the number of quotes sent, but on the average order value and the diversity of services sold to each client. This forced the team to stop skimming the surface and start digging into the actual needs of the businesses they were serving. They stopped prioritising volume over value and started being strategic assets to their clients. Training the Mindset Is an Ongoing Process Mindset shift doesn’t happen during a single Monday morning meeting; it requires a commitment to continuous improvement. Every day’s a school day, as I always say. You need to provide your team with the tools and the permission to act as consultants. This means giving them access to the production floor so they understand the technical challenges, and it means encouraging them to stay curious about the industries they are selling into. If you are selling to the retail sector, your team should know the current trends in sustainable packaging. If they are selling to the customer didn’t know they had in every conversation this week. That is how you build a business that is resilient, profitable, and respected. Focus on the outcome for the client, and the rest will take care of itself. I once saw a commercial printer save a client £4,000 by suggesting a slight size adjustment that allowed the job to run more efficiently on a B2 press. The client didn’t care about the press size; they cared about the saving and the efficiency. That salesperson earned a client for life because they acted as a consultant, not a salesperson y erson INDUSTRY TIPS | THE ONLINE PRINT COACH 52 email: editor@printmonthly.co.uk Issue 361 - September | October 2026
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