30 March 2005

BPIF And XL Recruitment tackle print''s sales skills problems

The BPIF and associate member XL Recruitment are launching a project that aims to improve the quality of sales people in the print industry. BPIF Deputy Chief Executive Cicely Brown explains: “Whilst the BPIF is addressing cost-effectiveness and efficiency in production and other business processes, we believe that there is an opportunity to address best practice issues in the sales function. Many companies allocate a high percentage of their total turnover on their sales personnel however few, if any, regularly analyse the effectiveness of the activity from a ‘return on investment’ perspective.” The recent PETF national skills survey revealed that sales positions, alongside those for finishers and machine printers, pose the majority of recruitment problems and skills shortages in the industry. In preparation for the project XL Recruitment conducted a short survey to determine levels of training and investment amongst sales staff within the printing industry. Out of 100 respondents, 86% of whom had been in a sales role for more than five years, less than half had ever been sent on a formal sales training course. In response to this, the initiative is being launched with a two day Solutions Selling workshop in central London on 3rd and 4th May, led by international print sales specialist and published author of books including “Selling to the New Breed of Print Buyer”, Terry A. Nagi. The workshop, designed for print sales representatives and account managers, aims to provide practical tactics for increasing sales through solutions rather than selling. Full details of the XL Recruitment survey will be published later this month when the BPIF and XL will also present a series of short courses designed at improving knowledge and techniques in all aspects of print sales details. If you are interested in participating in this project or the Solutions Selling workshop, please don’t hesitate to contact Ruth Yarnit at the BPIF on 020 7915 8310 or [email protected].