I have always been of the opinion that although there are many components to managing a successful Indianapolis screen printing company, the most important part of the equation is sales and marketing. Although they often go hand in hand, they are not the same thing. I have trained a lot of good salespeople and through my many years of doing this I have come to the conclusion that I can always teach them what to say, but I can’t necessarily teach them how to be convincing. Either they have that gift or they don’t. Although it can be developed, many people just don’t have what it takes to pull it off.

I remember back in the day before everyone was using computers we had to actually drive out to our customer’s place of business in order to have a meeting. I would train my people to be sensitive to what’s going on around them. What is in the environment? Take a look around the guy’s office and notice what’s hanging on his walls or even on display on his desktop. Maybe he has a fish that he caught or maybe it’s a bowling trophy? Before you even begin to talk about custom T-shirt printing, try and make a connection. In other words get him or her to warm up to you. It’s been said that an individual’s favorite thing to talk about is normally themselves. Much of the time, I can initiate the conversation and before you know it, that person is telling me all about the time he caught that magnificent fish. I didn’t say much of anything, but after 15 minutes of letting him tell me the story about that experience, he thinks I’m an excellent conversationalist.

The point I am trying to make is that there is a lot to be said and gained by mastering the art of being a good listener. Then it is only when you feel the time is right, you can start telling him all about your digital T-shirt printing capabilities and convince them why it would be in his best interest to use me over all the other Indianapolis screen printing companies that we’re in competition with. Also, it is important to remember to ask the right questions. A superior sales person knows how to lead in order to steer the potential buyer in the right direction. It’s relevant to the type of personality that you are dealing with as you might already be aware that you can say the same thing to several different individuals, but you might need to say it a little bit differently in order to get the desired result that you are looking for.  Also understand that the same individual who is currently in the market for digital t-shirt printing could very well have a sales force that is requiring embroidery as well. In other words, it is much easier to work with the same individual on several different applications than it is to try and start over with someone that you have no established re pore with for a different application. You might want to drop some references concerning other Indianapolis embroidery companies in order that he can compare your prices to theirs in order to convince him that you’re going to give them the best value.