Originally published by WhatTheyThink

Most B2B sales are a two-part process. Marketing is what happens before the buyer contacts you (part one). Sales is what happens after (part two). A printer’s salesperson only has control over part two, and that’s the shortest window in the B2B sale.

It’s a distinction that, according to Patrick Whelan, founder of Great Reach Communications, many printers don’t make, and it’s why so many printers are losing sales without realizing it.

Whelan has been beating this drum for some time now. Great Reach Communications is a content marketing company that offers complete marketing programs that include fully designed direct mail, email, blog and social media content, and postcards, and he’s watched the pattern play out decade after decade. Some printers get it. Some printers don’t. Some do but lack the resources to act effectively.

What They Think decided to take a deeper dive into this topic.

What They Think: This is a topic you are clearly passionate about. Why does it get you so wound up?

Whelan: I regularly hear printers complain that it’s harder to get meetings. They don’t seem to realize that buyers don’t want them. Meeting are time-consuming and disruptive. Nobody wants that anymore. Buyers only reach out at the end of their journey when they are ready to make a final decision. Today, more than half of the sales process is done before any type of meeting takes place. Some studies say it’s 52% - 53%. Others say it’s more like 70% to 80%. That’s telling you that the salesperson is only involved in less than half of the sales process. That’s pretty shocking if you think about it.

Twenty-five years ago, salespeople were involved in 90% of that journey. Now they are involved in less than half. Printers need to start inserting themselves into the buying journey much earlier.

What They Think: So how do salespeople do that?

Whelan: That's part of my point—they don’t. It’s not the salesperson’s job. It’s the printer’s job. It’s marketing. If printers want any chance of having influence during the 52% - 80% that happens before the customer contacts a salesperson, the best way to do this is with drip marketing. Buyers only keep three to five vendors top of mind at any given time. Staying in that grouping requires content marketing. It requires using customer centric content, across multiple channels, to generate top of mind awareness (TOMA) and position your brand as a trusted resource.

What They Think: Printers have never been known as particularly good self-marketers.

Whelan: For years, printers relied on direct selling. There wasn’t a need for marketing. That’s changed. Printers promote themselves as a trusted resource to help their customers promote their businesses, and yet so many of them aren’t doing it themselves. It’s a well-known rule of thumb that only 3% of B2B buyers are ready to make a purchase at any given time. The rest could take months or years. So it’s a numbers game. Rather than targeting the 5% who are ready to buy now, printers should be targeting the 95% that are not. You never know when that B2B buyer is going to be ready to make a purchase, so you need to be visible and top of mind all the time. This way, you’re on their radar so the prospect will reach out when they’re ready.

What They Think: I know many printers are super busy right now. It might be difficult for them to justify slowing down, hiring someone, and planning out a marketing strategy.

Whelan: It doesn't matter if you’re busy now. The point of marketing is to smooth out the peaks and valleys. That first half of the sales process is a marketing function, not a sales function. So don’t ask a salesperson to do it. That’s not what they do. Let them do what they do best and let someone else do the rest.

What They Think: Doesn't adding “marketing” to the salesperson’s title get the job done?

Whelan: Whenever I see that, I know one or the other isn’t being done right. Salespeople are salespeople—they aren’t marketers. That’s not their area of expertise. That’s an area where the printer has to support them. Even if some salespeople do have marketing skills, they never have time. If you ask them, they’ll say, “I’ll do It when I get to it.” That is the kiss of death, because we’re all human, and whenever we say that about anything, we always find a way to not get to it. If printers truly want to support their sales teams with marketing, they need to hire someone or source it out.

What they Think: That can be a tall order. Just go to most printers’ blogs and the last post was from 2019. Or try to find a printer’s social media and it doesn’t exist.

Whelan: Exactly! That is where most sales are being lost. When I go to a website that hasn’t been updated since March 2020, I figure they’ve gone out of business. When it comes to basic brand-building and thought leadership, many of these printers don't clear the bar.

What They Think: With the sales meeting now taking place at the end of the process, if the customer does go somewhere else, how would the printer even know?

Whelan: Great point. The biggest problem with the research stage of the sales process is that you never know the business you lost. In the old days, the prospect contacted the salesperson up front, and the salesperson gave them a sales pitch. If the prospect didn’t end up making a purchase, the salesperson knew that he or she lost the sale. Today, buyers only reach out for a meeting at the very end, so salespeople may have no idea how many potential sales they’ve lost.

What They Think: So there is a certain amount of trust required — trust that the money you are spending on marketing is going to create a return.

Whelan: Marketing is now about giving, not asking, and we know that drip marketing works. Printers need to invest in customer-centric content. Create top of mind awareness and position your brand so when the buyer does have a need, the printer is in the position to meet that need. There is too much luck and timing involved in trying to find and win the business of the 5%. So focus on the 95% instead. Send out a steady drip out of content, using multiple channels  that makes you look good and helps them. You’ll drive traffic to your website, stay top of mind, and be in a potion to capture the business when the buyer is ready to buy. Don’t do that and you don’t have a chance.