Plug the Sieve: Capitalize on Business Opportunities
By: T.J. Tedesco
For: The Binding Edge
Published: Spring, 2000

The longer I am involved with the post press industry, the more I believe that binders, finishers and loose-leaf binder manufacturers have more qualified business leads than they can handle.  The challenge lies in capitalizing on as many of these opportunities as possible.

Times are good, the economy is strong and the post press industry is healthy.  So, how can an abundance of business opportunities be a problem?  It is, if you aren’t able to focus on winning profitable work that best suits your company.  When people operate in a reactionary mode without focus, they’re turning the reins of their business over to chance.  In a more normal economy, when fewer opportunities are available, companies typically are more vigilant at pursuing them.  Today, the right question to ask is, “Are we doing the best that we can?”

As your staff struggles to keep up with the daily pounding of estimate requests, your win/loss rate is probably too low unless you’ve proactively addressed the problem.  Your customer service reps, sales reps and estimators are pulled in competing directions and probably don’t hone in on individual opportunities as well as they should.  Think of your business as a sieve.  Opportunities flow in everyday and some leak out the bottom.  Whether they pour or drip out depends on the size of the holes in your sieve.  If you are operating without systematic follow up procedures, these holes are huge: you just don’t know it.  If so, you’ve unwittingly placed your future in Lady Luck’s hands.

Every industry is having trouble hiring and keeping good people today.  When resources don’t sufficiently keep pace with demand, some things won’t be done right.  Consider your win/loss estimate hit rate.  Regardless of whether it is 30% or 10%, the odds are good that it’s lower today than a decade ago.  And worse, your ability to follow up has probably decreased.  To maintain and improve your industry position over the long haul, effective follow up is vital. 

Post press companies forgo “low hanging fruit” when they don’t have the system, resources or the corporate will to effectively pursue opportunities that have arrived on their doorstep.  The old rules of selling hold true today as ever.  You must win top of mind positioning, move the battlefield away from price and ask for the order.  If you don’t follow up on quotes and inquiries, just how are you doing this?  (Hint: You’re not.)

Develop And Implement A Follow Up System

To “plug the sieve,” invest the time and develop a system to identify and pursue good business opportunities.  For many established companies, the logical place to start is in the estimate bin.  Your next priorities should be following up phone inquiries, website hits and networking meetings.

Estimate Follow-Up:  There are certain estimates that fall right in your company’s sweet spot.  These are the ones that should be followed up on with a vengeance.  However, as any busy customer service and estimating professional knows, it is difficult just keeping up with an onslaught of estimates.  When battling the deluge, follow-up is a Herculean, but extremely necessary task.  Ask yourself: What’s the point of churning out estimates if you don’t win your fair share of them?

If you can’t add resources to follow up on the estimates you already have, consider doing two things.  First, no-bid work that falls outside of your core competency areas, and second, stop doing estimates for companies that seem to use you only as a bidding service.  When presented with the choice of pursuing the best quotes (live, large or good fit), or quoting jobs that you’re unlikely to win, your decision should be obvious.  Hot estimates in hand are low hanging fruit.  Flag the opportunities that most interest you and schedule appropriate action.  Anything less is the equivalent of shredding money.

Phone Inquiries:  Companies call for information.  If you blindly send out marketing materials without asking why you received the calls in the first place, you are costing yourself business.  People call post press companies because they have a need, often immediate.  Even if you don’t have the capabilities to do what the caller asks, take the time to learn about the inquiring company because you may discover other needs that fit you well.  Collect their contact data and, if appropriate, market to them in the future.  The point is, even if the first inquiry doesn’t bear fruit, subsequent ones might.

Website Hits:  For many post press companies, the web generates inquiries and will continue to do so at an increasingly impressive pace.  As long as geography makes sense, it’s prudent to treat website requests for information the same way as telephone inquiries.  Follow up on them, make telephone contact as needed and invest the time to pursue reasonable leads.

Networking Opportunities:  When you meet prospects and customers at industry functions, take the time to follow up properly, preferably with phone calls and handwritten notes.  If you discussed any specific business, refer to it.  You have a leg up on the competition, at least for the moment.  Remember, in-person contacts still need follow-up, follow-up and follow-up.

Streamline or Add?

To plug the sieve, you probably will have to make some procedural changes within your organization and free up resources to actually do the work.  Top-heavy companies should streamline their internal operations and use existing employees to follow up on the best opportunities and prospects.  One person, preferably in customer service or estimating, should spearhead this effort, as long as they are committed to excellence and know the basics of telephone sales and customer service.  If your company is already spread too thinly, consider adding a marketing coordinator with telesales ability.  To justify this expenditure, your existing sales base has to be of sufficient size.

Regardless of whether you plug the sieve internally or hire someone to do it, the task isn’t rocket science.  Identify the types of customers and job criteria you want to pursue and make contact with those people who have already contacted you.  Henry Ford had a friend in the insurance business that counted on him to steer Ford’s sizeable insurance business his way.  Mr. Ford’s friend was beside himself when he discovered that the automobile company awarded their business to someone else.  He asked the reason and received this answer: “You never asked.”  Plugging the sieve puts an “asking” system in place.

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People who contact you usually do so because there is a genuine possibility of awarding you work.  Show you care about their business by pursing it.  In addition to increasing your win/loss rate by capitalizing on more opportunities, each subsequent contact will help you win valuable “top of mind” position.  Is plugging the sieve easy?  No, but as we embark on a new decade, I can’t think of more worthwhile effort.

T.J. Tedesco is a “hands-on” marketing, sales, coaching and training consultant to the post press industry. He is the author of Binding, Finishing & Mailing: The Final Word, and Win Top-of-Mind Positioning, both published by GATFPress and available at Amazon.com. T.J. can be reached at (301) 294-9900 or tj@growsales.com.