PrintingNews.com

Ed. Note: It is with great sadness that Printing News announces the sudden passing of George Reinfeld on Aug. 28. George was a contributor to this magazine and the industry for more than 25 years, and he will be greatly missed. A full obituary will appear in the Sept. 17 issue. This will be his final column.

Left to their own devices, salespeople do not keep records. They do not write down where they are going, who they plan to see, what they want to accomplish, or what happened during calls made. They will not put down on paper who they call upon, who else calls on their accounts, who makes the buying decisions, or who influences those buying decisions. The sins of omission are legion.

A salesperson relies on his/her memory and the spoken word. As a result, they make their own jobs difficult, and the job of management more complex than it need be. When a sales representative leaves a position almost all knowledge of the territory departs, too. The new representative has to start from scratch. There may be an account list, and, with luck, some idea of what was previously bought.

In contrast: A sales representative resigned from a printing company to take a position with another employer in a distant city. The representative gave the former employer a generous four weeks notice.

During the first weekend, the representative met with the sales manager of his new company. Together, they reviewed account records for the territory the representative would soon take over; they discussed the history of each account and its key players while putting it all into a tape recorder—two 90-minute editions.

During the following weeks, as the sales representative completed rounds for the old employer, he listened to the tapes about his new accounts over and over in his car. When it came time to take over the new territory, the representative knew the accounts well. Such records and salespeople are blessed.

Who Is the Boss?

War stories like this are in endless supply. Sometimes they are even funny. The new president of a firm decided he would like to call personally on a few accounts—some high producers, some low producers, and some nonbuyers. He selected a few names from appropriate directories and asked his salespeople several others.

One account interested him particularly. It was an occasional buyer of very small amounts, but one that had sizeable potential. The sales representative said he just called on the boss—no name, just the boss.