Products vs. Programs

As promotional products specialists, it becomes rapidly obvious that selling programs that meet clients’ specific needs is far more effective than simply selling them products and hoping they order more.  Program selling not only increases the amount of reorders, but also makes your clients much more likely to refer their associates to you, the problem solver.  (As has been said, “Consultants make more than salespeople.”)  Press-A-Print Operator Nick Stahl shares his experience:

“Business is going very well. We've gone from product selling to program selling and it has paid off in a big way! By focusing more on putting together complete programs, we have increased our monthly income and our overall customer satisfaction.

One of our programs we just finished was for a realtor. We developed a ten-month marketing program for him; this included imprinted items being sent out each month, along with specially themed items for golf events, open houses, etc. This program alone invoiced around $7,500 for the entire ten months. Since starting this program two months ago, our client business has increased a significant amount; we might even be skipping a month because he is too busy already with all his new business! Results like these make future sales much easier because you can show prospective clients how other people are benefiting from the use of these programs.

Instead of approaching a client trying to sell individual items and being stuck with the discount codes, we learned to go to our clients with programs that solved their marketing needs. So instead of getting an order for 500 pens on a "C", we would sell multiple items as a program and mark it up as much as we wanted. We're getting paid for our creativity, not our ability to show clients items out of a catalog.

We appreciate the continual help and outstanding service Press-a-Print has given us!”

Nicholas Stahl

Stahl Advertising, Inc.

Gresham, OR

Comments

[Linda Holt]

What a wonderful concept, we sure would like to know how you actually went about running this program. Did you send the items out to each of his clients, or just to him? Can you give us an example of what the first couple of orders included and the quantities? Any info you can share would greatly be appreciated! Thanks so much for the great idea and congratulations on your success!

Linda and Greg Holt
glspecialtyprint@aol.com
Torrance, California