There IS Strength In Numbers - Especially When You're About To Go "Belly To Belly!"

By Rick Ysunza
The PEiR Group

Besides being a lot of fun it was great to see the interaction among PEiR members at our Executive Conference in Las Vegas last March. It was a fun dynamic, with a lot of great ideas and success stories bouncing back and forth.

Something that came out of that meeting for me is a simple tale of numbers equalling strength. We are now more than 150 member companies across the country - and internationally. I couldn't help but wonder if any of you were tapping into the strength of those numbers, picking up the phone and asking a colleague a hundred or three thousand miles away how things were going in their market.

There's a list of more than 450 names in our PEiR Group contact roster. You may want to take advantage of that and call. Your peers are a great resource and have a wealth of knowledge about survival in this at-time crazy industry.

I picked up the phone recently for a quick talk with P.J. Vidani of Green Bay Blue. Always fun to talk with, P.J. eagerly shared some of his secrets - including his "belly to belly" approach to pitching prospective customers - standing there and talking with them firsthand to determine their needs.

P.J., and others, also talked about "taking off the AEC hat" and seeking out non-core opportunities these days. Needs are shifting but business is still business, some people may have a different perception of what it is you do - you may have to take some time and explain it to them.

There will be lots of time to do this at our next Executive Conference but nothing is stopping you from reaching out right now and getting a few ideas from your fellow PEiR members. It may not be "belly to belly," but it's the next best thing!

Prospecting In The "Days of '09" - Sometimes, You Have To Toss The Little Nuggets Before You Find The Big One

By Rick Ysunza
The PEiR Group

As a salesperson out there prospecting for business these days, I have found that the comparison could be made between us and the old miners of yore - armed with pick and shovel and searching for the elusive Mother Lode.

What would you do if that first pan gave you a tiny, yet shiny return? Would you be excited? You're darn tootin' you would. And you'd probably go back to the same spot and dig up another pan full to see if you could wheedle away another tiny fleck.

But that's not how the successful miners did it back in the day. They were looking for larger nuggets, signs that they were on to a larger vein, and they would work their pans until they yielded three good-sized nuggets, then five - and then, if they were lucky and persistent, they shouted "Eureka!" when they finally hit it big.

My message here is drawn from this approach: don't be so enticed with those initial, glinty successes that you fixate and forget to focus your prospecting efforts where you can get the most return with a decision maker further up the line.

There's a payday at the end of the vein for those who aren't afraid to pass over smaller flecks of success and follow the signs to the "Mother Lode" we all seek.

Good hunting!

Rick

This Isn't Your Dad’s Blueprint Business Anymore...

By Rick Ysunza

PEiR Group Sales Consultant

When I started selling in this business eight years ago, I had never heard the term “reprographics.” With a background in construction I certainly knew what blueprints were. I felt I was well qualified to sell blueprint services and had the ability to connect with architects, engineers and contractors. I figured I was a natural.

I learned all about how prints were reproduced. I could tell my prospects about our impressive capabilities with those eight blueline machines humming away all day. Being a rookie, I was happy to go out on a few sales calls with some real business veterans. I was eager to learn from those with over 10 year’s experience in "the biz."

I soon developed a fool-proof sales approach with only two simple probing questions and one good closing question:

· Who is your current vendor?
· How much are you currently paying per square foot?
· If I could give you a better price, could we earn your business?

That seemed to work for a while, until my prices went lower in order to stay competitive. Unfortunately, there was a corresponding reduction in the size of my commission checks.

Sometimes it takes a real hit to our wallets before we wise up.

The point I am trying to make is that even though your company name may contain the word “blueprint,” or some derivative thereof, we can no longer remain sustainable in the blueprint business. All you need to do is take a look at your monthly print volume, multiplied by your average unit price to know what I’m talking about.

I joined the team here at The PEiR Group because I want to see our industry not only survive, but thrive. Let’s make sure the reprographics industry remains meaningful, and functions as a critical supplier to the construction industry. The old blueprinting revenue model is no longer applicable in this digital era. The reprographics business is now about providing digital services and document management, as well as printing on paper. So don’t be afraid to sell, and get paid for all that “behind the scenes” work you do.

Let us show you how!

Rick