IPMA 2022 Recap: Enhance Your Sales Strategy
Howie Fenton discusses sales strategy at the IPMA 2022 conference.
In June, nearly 140 in-plant managers and other attendees got together for the first time in three years for the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) conference. It was packed with informative sessions and featured a who’s who of in-plant industry speakers.
One of them, Consultant Howie Fenton, emphasized the importance of video in his session, both for staying in touch with customers and for training. Showing customers samples of new products is a great way to bring in business, and making video calls can help with this, he said.
“If you haven’t mastered video calls, you should,” he said.
This should be part of a hybrid sales strategy that also includes in-person visits and digital communications (email, texting, etc.). Studies show that hybrid selling has increased sales 50%, Fenton said.
IPMA Conference 2022
Video is also a great way to show new hires how to run equipment, he added. Take videos of experienced operators demonstrating machines and put them on YouTube he said.
Fenton also offered tips to help in-plants overcome the labor shortage, such as using on-call staffing for busy times, and cross-training all staff. When interviewing, he suggested, stress the benefits first, since they tend to be significantly better at in-plants than at commercial printers. He noted that studies show companies that spend the most in training tend to exhibit the most growth.
- People:
- Howie Fenton
Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited more than 170 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, co-sponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.
