Viewpoint: Sales

Q: Whether you are the owner, CFO, sales manager, sales representative, or in another department that collaborates with the sales department, you have an opinion about sales, the process, and how it could be done better. What advice would you give a salesperson entering the packaging industry? What would you tell them about creating value? About being a successful and responsible salesperson?

Selling in the packaging industry is a unique opportunity to interact and learn from many different business sectors: produce, automotive, consumer goods, electronics, etc. It never gets boring and is always challenging.

Here are some best practices I have picked up along the way, in no particular order:

1. Dedicate more time to prepare for a meeting with a customer than the actual meeting. Set goals to accomplish and plan for contingencies.
2. Always treat every visit to a customer as a formal affair. There is no such thing as a casual visit.
3. Finish every visit with a reason and a date to return, and follow it with an email to thank clients for their time and put in writing the next steps, commitments, etc.
4. Answer every call, email, text, etc., from a customer as soon as you can. Even if you don’t have an answer to their question, this action lets them know you are working on it.
5. Don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know,” but be sure to know the people who do know.
6. Don’t become a professional salesperson; become a professional problem solver.
7. Be punctual. It shows respect for the other person’s time.
8. Be available 24/7 for your customers—you are connected/online 24/7 anyway.
9. The buyer should not be the only customer contact, nor is he always the most important.
10. When things go bad and a customer is yelling and cursing at you, just think of this philosophy from The Godfather: “It’s not personal; its only business.” — Andres Viesca, commercial director, Sultana

My suggestion is to learn the business as soon as possible. That means memorizing grades and flutes and knowing how much weight can be handled by each. Learn the styles and why they are used. Most of this can be found in the Fibre Box Handbook, but a lot of it you will pick up by talking to others in the industry and paying attention to what works and what doesn’t. Become familiar with your plant floor. Spend hours watching the second shift run boxes. Observe setups and printing and how fast different styles run. Talk with as many production people as will talk with you. Do the same in your lab.

During this time, make as many face-to-face calls as you can. Try to see your customers’ operations. Ask about problems. If you follow the first steps, you will be able to help. Don’t worry about being rejected. Dress and groom as well as you can afford. Meet and know about the “players” in the industry. Spend off hours on your reports and learning the product. While your market is open, be in it. The top spots are still open for the people who have the passion and drive to work hard. — John B. Pettengill, president, Michcor Container Inc.

I am a firm believer that proper training and education is the key to having the fundamentals down for success. As a new salesperson, it is tempting to get out and sell. However, if you don’t have really solid background knowledge of the “business of your business,” you may struggle in the field. No one likes wasting time from an internal perspective, or even worse, from the client’s perspective. With the proper background and training a new salesperson will be armed with the knowledge to be efficient and create wins for everyone. When a new salesperson starts out—before they go on a solo sales call—their training program should consist of a minimum of one year and up to two years of working with all internal departments and areas of the business. With this they are destined to succeed faster than the “get in and figure it out” mentality without the frustration associated with this old-school practice. — Brett Kirkpatrick, chief operating officer/employee owner, Bay Cities

When calling on a new prospect, you should never talk about price. Doing so brings the whole call down to talking about pricing. You need to make several calls where you sell yourself, your company, and your products, and get the customer to want to buy from you. When they are ready to buy from you, then they will then ask you for a quote! — Peter B. Moore, Chair/CEO, Moore Packaging Corp.