The physics of printing sales

A lot has been written about the psychology of selling over the years, but not so much about the physics. And that is unfortunate, because there are certain physical laws that apply to the challenges of gaining and keeping customers.

The better you understand these “immutable laws of physics,” the more likely you and your salespeople are to have success at meeting your sales-building challenges. And it turns out that the same physics applies to sales management.

First Law

Understanding the physics of sales management starts with an understanding of Newton’s First Law of Motion – sometimes referred to as the “law of inertia” – which is usually stated in this way: An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

Here is how Newton’s First Law applies to sales management. Your salesperson is the “object,” and your objective is to keep him/her in motion — prospecting, following up with both prospects and customers, educating, seeking out new opportunities and providing both customers and prospects with new ideas.

A salesperson in motion tends to stay in motion, or to put that another way, top achievers build up some level of momentum and then keep it going — unless they are acted upon by an unbalanced force. What might that be? The most common negative forces I see affecting this kind of positive momentum are printshop owners and production problems.

Far too many owners become impediments to their salespeople’s success by de-motivating them, with examples of this ranging from the compete absence of management to rather extreme levels of micro-management and what I can only describe as “pettiness” about commissions, expenses, and other compensation issues.

Beyond that, the most common complaint I hear from salespeople is that production problems regularly cost them opportunities with prospects and stress their relationships with customers. And while I know that at least some of what I am hearing is simply “it’s not my fault” complaining from underachievers, the sheer volume of complaint seems to indicate that at least some of it is real.

As the owner/sales manager, you are the “unbalanced force” and you definitely want to use this power to stimulate motion. Be careful, though, to provide motivation rather than de-motivation. You have the power to push an under-performer into motion, which stands to produce the results you are looking for. Remember, though, you also have the power to push a solid performer off-track.

Second Law

The “power to push” takes us to Newton’s Second Law Of Motion, which is usually stated this way: The acceleration of an object as produced by a net force is directly proportional to the magnitude of the net force, in the same direction as the net force, and inversely proportional to the mass of the object (I apologise, but that is exactly what it says in the “basic physics” textbook I used to do my research for this column).  

Newton’s Second Law can also be expressed by the equation F = M x A, or Force equals Mass times Acceleration.

Here’s what his means to you as a sales manager. The farther behind your expectations your salesperson is, the harder you have to push just get him/her into motion. In other words, poor performers need more management.

Third Law

Newton’s Third Law of Motion tells us that, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Newton’s Third Law seems to explain why most salespeople push back at perceived micromanagement.

The secret to using Newton’s Third Law of Motion as a sales management tool is to have a frank conversation with your salesperson. “I am going to push you to do the things that will make you successful,” you might say, “and you have to make a choice about how to respond to that. You can resist, and continue to do things your own way, or you can channel the energy you might have used to push back at me and simply do what I want you to do.”

I would probably add: “Please make your choice NOW!” There must always be urgency when dealing with an underperformer.

Here’s a closing thought for today. No one has ever died from too much sales management, but far too many printing salespeople have underperformed because they didn’t get enough.

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