Will a New Salesperson Really Solve Your Problems? I often hear the same frustration from sign and wide-format business owners. It is usually expressed with a heavy sigh, but time and again they believe a new salesperson will solve all their problems. The story often remains the same – they feel stuck in a rut they just can’t seem to get out of. They’ve reached a limit in revenue, and their only thought is to hire a hungry new hunter. Someone fresh and assertive, with a great contact book and the drive to get out there and bring in a lot of new business. But the truth that most owners don't want to hear (I’ll whisper it quietly), most of the time, that is not actually true. In many cases, a new salesperson is actually the last thing they need. They will likely end up making the situation worse. What they actually need is an operational framework that allows them to effectively care for their existing customers and, importantly, frees the owner to focus on developing the relationships they already have. They have built the business this way, so it’s probably something they are naturally excellent at. Hiring a new hunter is often the most expensive and least effective way to address a growth problem. It is a symptom-chaser. You are throwing money at a weak pipeline when the Colin Sinclair McDermott, aka The Online Print Coach, focuses this issue on whether new sales people can really solve problems, when better infrastructure and investment in other areas can solve a lot of bottlenecks Having been in the print industry since the mid-late 90s, Colin Sinclair McDermott entered the world of self-employment in 2004 and over the years that followed, experienced a number of highs and lows running his own print company, learning what does and doesn’t work. In 2022, he trained with The Business Coaching Academy to become a fully certified corporate coach with the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches. Through The Online Print Coach, industry members can access an online training platform, Print Mastermind and private 1-to-1 coaching with Sinclair McDermott. www.theonlineprintcoach.com real issue is poor operational processes. I was working with a client recently who demonstrated this flawed thinking quite clearly. They had a capable sales representative, but they struggled to gain access to key, large accounts. The doors stayed shut. However, when the owner entered those same accounts, the doors opened immediately. Why? Because the owner possesses knowledge, authority, and the full confidence of the company. Most importantly, the owner often has the strongest rapport with clients. They built the company, making them the ultimate relationship builder. The paradox, of course, is that the same owner was drowning in administrative chaos. They were fighting fires, chasing late materials, managing the inefficient quoting process, and dealing with technical Owners insist on hiring hunters when what the business truly needs is robust workflow software and a set of integrated systems built to support the high-level relationship work 21 www.signlink.co.uk Issue 263 - February | March 2026 INDUSTRY TIPS | THE ONLINE PRINT COACH
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