Planning your pandemic print prospecting is crucial: Deborah Corn

Print customers are still in crisis as a result of COVID-19 and printers need to be in ‘help’ mode, and not ‘sell’ mode when planning their pandemic print prospecting, according to intergalactic ambassador to The Printerverse and founder of Project Peacock, Deborah Corn.

At the recent #ElevatePrint online forum, Corn addressed the need for printers to define touch points with their clients during her opening session.

“Helping customers is not about asking them what they need. Helping is about saying ‘I understand your situation and here’s how we can help you find more customers’,” she said.

According to Corn, when it comes to productisation and education, the easiest way for printers to do business with customers is to create packages for whatever ecosystem they’re going to try to sell into, and include a menu that they can choose from.

“If I’m in a crisis and looking for help, I want to know what is available to me. You can package your offerings to create different values. You consistently want to educate them and want to teach them about what their options might be instead of selling to them,” she said.

“That’s the last thing customers want to deal with right now because they themselves don’t know the type of help that they need.

“This is a time to think about initiating repeatable programs for people, for example subscriptions for COVID-19 graphics to be changed quarterly if there is a high traffic area – whatever works for that business.

“The goal here is to help people by giving them a potential plan and a ballpark for cost so that they can monitor what those might be if they might want to take you up on these opportunities, and they can budget for them way in advance.”

Corn also spoke about the importance of businesses assessing if any of their processes have changed during the pandemic.

“All of the fine print needs to come to the surface now. There should be no surprises and no obstacles when customers are trying to work with you. Think of them in crisis mode. You want to make it as simple and as clear as possible to make it easy to do business with you,” she said.

“Essential print is also being considered as if it’s essential spending – so spending on print is being looked at more carefully now. Every outreach should be as relevant and as targeted as possible. This is where we establish trust – through the right opportunities at the right time.”

Corn spoke about building creativity and consistency for customers, saying that printers need to become a resource, an advisor and an idea generator for them.

“Nobody wants to hear about stats from 2019 or early 2020. You want to show people you know how to get things done in a pandemic, and this is what you have done in the last six months. That’s what is going to hook people,” she said.

“And bring in new ideas as they bring in new business. It’s about survival and about generating ways of making money within what is acceptable to promote at any given moment of time, and predicting what might be acceptable as we move along in a pandemic.”

Corn also identified some ideas for printers to adopt in their businesses, which includes:

  • Making videos as YouTube is the second largest search engine globally and provides customers and potential customers with a snapshot of your business, how-tos, and tell case studies
  • Moving into verticals you haven’t necessarily been in before, such as restaurants for example, where social distancing measures in place require different ways of presenting menus and signage
  • Geo-targeting and ganging-up marketing material
  • Creating revenue by using social distancing spaces as canvases

“Your mission, for pandemic prospecting, should be to be there, be brave, and boldly go where no printer has gone before,” Corn added.

You can watch the recording of the session here.

Comment below to have your say on this story.

If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@sprinter.com.au.  

Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter

Leave a comment:

Your email address will not be published. All fields are required

Advertisement

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.
Advertisement