Print salespeople level up qualifications

Five print salespeople say they have improved their sales skills with a PIAA-sponsored course that earned them new qualifications and confidence.

The course gave the participants a Certificate IV in business sales aimed to help the salespeople to gain new customers, improve their relationships with existing customers and develop and implement business growth strategies.

Sales staff from Four Colour Graphics, BHB Printing, Absolute Colour Printing, Snap Norwest and Agfa attended a day of training each month at the PIAA’s Sydney office and had onsite visits from mentors to reinforce the concepts.

The programme covered product knowledge, client and business networks and sales prospects and solutions.

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Four Colour Graphics sales manager Stephen Holland says the course was set up as an open forum where all inputs and experiences could be applied to the topic of the day.

“Such an environment proved far more valuable than an essay-driven course or one of written activities,” he says.

“Hearing and learning about different aspects of the industry and getting feedback and actual examples that related to the course materials was extremely helpful.”

PIAA chief executive Bill Healey says that in today’s tough industry environment printers need to look at finding new and better ways to communicate with their clients, and this takes sophisticated skills in leadership and management.

“You can no longer wait for customers to come in the door, you have to go out and engage them in this new multi-channel world and to do that effectively, staff need to develop new skills,” he says.

“By completing this course participants have been given a sound basis in sales and marketing. While it is good to have good technical knowledge and skills, being able to engage with customers effectively is critical.

“If we are to evolve as an industry, then we also need enhanced collaboration – something these graduates have experienced during their course.”

This time round the course and, says Healey says the course, which was part of a government supported programme, illustrates the kind of support that Future Print will provide.

“We have a $1.1m directed to providing similar programmes via Future Print. These will be built around companies being assisted to review their strategic position; where they are now and where they want to go,” he says.

“This course was tailored to the needs of participating companies to up-skill their employees and help them to reach their business goals.”

Dean Cox from Agfa says the group atmosphere provided networking opportunities which made it a more enjoyable experience, and may prove beneficial for future cooperative projects.

“I am sure that the friendships that have been established over the last year will continue over our professional lives,” he says.

Angela Parkinson from Absolute Colour Printing says: “I struggle with working solo from a textbook. Having interactive workshops instead of lots of written assessments worked well and the group atmosphere made it much easier for me to learn.”

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