Four Strategies to Selling Variable Data Print Effectively

By Matthew Parker

Choosing the right route can be difficult

Imagine you’re in a car, trying to get to an important appointment on time.

You’ve got a choice to make. Do you take the expressway, knowing that it’s a much more roundabout way of getting there? Or do you take the most direct route and risk getting bogged down on back roads?

The clock is ticking. You need to get to this appointment. What’s your decision?

It’s time to take a different route to selling variable data printing

There are many different ways to sell VDP services to a client. But the most effective typically isn’t the traditional, direct approach to print sales that you’re familiar with.

So what route should you take? How about the one that’s more likely to create a better partnership with new customers? The one that will give you more control over prospects’ decision-making? And in the end, the one that will help both you and your customers achieve what you want from a variable data campaign?

Here are four strategies that will help you find your way:

1. Choose the right contact

Traditional print specifiers and buyers are often not the best people to approach for this type of work. They are very focused on the mechanics of print. Sometimes they are not always open to doing things in a new way. And they are usually very price conscious.

Generally, the marketing team will be most receptive to hearing about VDP, with senior financial management coming in a close second.

Why? These are the people that put return on investment before anything else—something VDP excels at.

2. Focus on the results, not the process

Once you’ve chosen the right contact, you need to make your pitch. That means picking the right point of interest.

For this audience, that point of interest will always be results. Marketing and financial management people are very results-driven. And they’ll be more focused on whether or not an outcome is worth achieving rather than the cost of getting there.

Let them know how you can help them achieve their goals more effectively.

3. Use case studies

Your prospects are always going to want proof that you can do what you say you can. Case studies are how you give it to them. Case studies in your prospect’s marketing sector will be especially effective.

4. Keep your pitch simple

Marketing people aren’t interested in how your technology works. They don’t want software demos and they won’t understand highly technical language. So keep your pitch straightforward. Give them the bullet points about how VDP works, why it’s so effective, how they’ll benefit and how it can help them achieve their growth goals.

If you want to keep your prospects engaged, you need to speak their language. And that language is simple, benefits-driven and to the point.

The better route to selling VDP

1. Choose the right contact

2. Focus on the results, not the process

3. Use case studies

4. Keep your pitch simple

While it may be a little new and unfamiliar, this is a fairly smooth route to selling VDP. And now that your sales map is clear, you just need to follow it in your next sales meeting!

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