David Fellman & Associates
P. O. Box 445
Cary, NC 27512
919-363-4068
fax: 919-363-4069

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Graphic Arts Industry-Specific Seminars/Presentations

The Top 10 Mistakes Printers Make With Customers.
And How To Avoid Them!
(Keynote/Dinner Speech)

It's been said that if you don't have customers, you don't really have a company! For a printing company, customers-especially good ones-are usually hard to get and often hard to keep. It's bad enough that "outside" forces (read that: competitors) attack your customer relationships every day. Too many printers make their problems even worse, though, by making "internal" mistakes-avoidable mistakes!-which cost them customers.and money! Dave Fellman will identify the 10 most common mistakes that printers make with their customers, and tell you something about how to keep from making them yourself.

Here are The Top 10 Mistakes Printers Make With Customers:

1.Losing Touch/Losing Trust
2.Unpleasant Surprises
3.Unresolved Problems
4.Operating On Too Narrow A Bandwidth
5.Falling Behind Their Technology
6.Mis-handling Money Matters
7.Chasing Jobs vs Building Relationships
8.Competing On Price
9.Too Many Eggs In Too Few Baskets
10.Assuming Anything!

The Big Money Question:
What's The Best Way For Me To Grow This Business? (3-5 hour seminar)

Dave Fellman is well known throughout the quick/digital/small commercial segment of the printing industry as an expert in sales and marketing. In this seminar, he's going to answer "The Big Money Question: What's The Best Way For Me To Grow This Business?" He'll take you through a discussion of the most common business-building strategies, including direct mail and other forms of advertising, more effective selling at the front counter, and outside sales (where he'll lay out "how-to" programs for an owner selling part-time, and for hiring, training, managing and motivating a full-time outside salesperson.) He'll explain the fundamentals of marketing planning, and how to determine which strategy-or combination of strategies-is exactly right for your business situation. 

Attendees Will Learn:

The difference between direct selling activities and support/influence activities How to maximize the three capabilities of advertising How to design a direct mail program that will meet specific business needs How to turn front counter staff into real salespeople The four keys to effective sales management Solutions to many common sales management problems

Who Should Attend: Every quick/digital/small commercial printshop owner with a desire-or a need!-to increase sales should attend this seminar.

You Can't Live With 'Em But You Can't Live Without 'Em:
Everything A Printing Salesperson Needs To Know About
Dealing With Customers. (2-4 hour seminar)

Customers are the lifeblood of any printing company. The good ones are the source of profit for the company as a whole, and they put money in a salesperson's pocket too! The bad ones drain a company's profits, and far too many salespeople spend too much of their time "servicing" bad customers when they'd be much better off "training" those customers.or looking for new ones! OK, that sounds great in theory, but how do make sure that all of your customers are "good" ones? In this fast-moving half-day seminar, Dave Fellman will teach you and your salespeople a great deal about dealing with customers.

Attendees Will Learn:

How to tell the difference between good prospects and bad ones How to "stand out in the crowd" of salespeople vying for the good customers' business How to get and keep the business (especially when competitors offer lower prices); How to gain all of the value from each and every customer, and How to change "bad" customer behavior; improving the way in which you work with them and they work with you.

Who Should Attend: Printing salespeople who want-or need!-to increase sales performance through a better understanding the dynamics of finding and keeping good customers.

Don't Get Lost In The Customer Service Triangle! (2 hour seminar)

Everyone knows about the Bermuda Triangle, where hundreds of ships and airplanes have disappeared without explanation over the years. Every printing industry CSR also knows about the Customer Service Triangle, where many talented and hardworking people have been lost, crushed in between three forces: their own company's salespeople, production and the customers themselves. This seminar will explain how to keep from getting lost in the Customer Service Triangle; how to provide excellent customer service while dealing with the sometimes contradictory concerns of sales, production, and customers.

Attendees Will Learn:

To understand the "big picture" by which a profitable printing company must operate How to identify real customer service issues-customer "needs" and "wants" How to work effectively with salespeople as a customer service team How to represent the customer's needs/interests to production and management, and How to represent the company's needs/interests to the customer

Who Should Attend: Every printing industry CSR should attend this program. You should also give thought to sending your salespeople and production managers, who will gain a greater appreciation of their role in the customer service process.

Printing Sales Management:
Getting The Most Out Of Your Salespeople (2-4 hour seminar)

Dave Fellman teaches that effective sales management is a combination of four inter-related activities: hiring, training, monitoring and motivating. This comprehensive program will cover the issues of where and how to look for high-quality sales candidates; how to provide the knowledge that is critical for success; how to keep track of a salesperson's efforts and keep that salesperson on track; and how to motivate salespeople effectively, including a discussion on compensation issues, specifically how to use commission rates and bonus plans to lead salespeople to high performance, and directly toward the kind of work you want at the pricing levels you want.

Attendees Will Learn About:

Managing the "search" process Profiling and testing candidates The printing sales knowledge base Structuring a "multi-stage" training process Expectations and "action standards" Managing the process of selling your company Call reports and other forms of sales/management communication Tying "marketing" into "selling" A three-part approach to an effective sales compensation plan Solutions to many common sales management problems

Who Should Attend: Full time sales managers, and particularly printing company owners who wear the sales management "hat." This seminar is especially relevant to anyone just getting ready to hire a salesperson.

Building A Marketing Plan:
The Key To Success In The Modern Business Environment (two-hour seminar)

Very few printers would argue the wisdom of establishing a comprehensive, full-year marketing plan, yet very few printers seem to actually do it. Why? In many cases, it is simply a matter of not knowing how. This session will consider some of the common marketing techniques at use in the printing industry, and demonstrate how to put a full years worth of marketing activities together into comprehensive, written marketing plan.

Attendees Will Learn:

The difference between direct selling activities and support/influence activities The specific difference between advertising and sales promotion The plusses and minuses of direct mail, telemarketing, and other common strategies Affinity marketing and other marketing trends from the "outside world" The role of a mission statement in your marketing plan The three key questions that provide the foundation of your marketing plan Transforming your sales goals into "action plans" The secret to accurate sales forecasting Building measurability into your marketing plan Using your marketing plan as an ongoing marketing and management tool.

Who Should Attend: Sales and/or marketing managers of small to mid-sized printing companies and supplier firms, especially company owners who wear the sales/marketing "hat."

Get More Of The Value From Your Current Customers
(Keynote/Dinner Speech)

According to Dave Fellman, each of your current customers provides you with three distinct levels of value. First is the value of what they're buying from you now. Second is the value of what they could be buying from you. Third is the value of influence, or the ways in which current customers can help you to build new business relationships. In this fast-moving keynote/dinner presentation, he'll explain how to protect the first level of value with an appropriate level of customer service; how to capture more of the second level of value by educating customers about the breadth of your product line; and how to take full advantage of the third level of value by gaining-and using-testimonials and referrals. This is an important message for everyone from small business owners to large-business salespeople, delivered by a speaker with 30+ years of gaining maximum value from his own customers!

Three For The Road
(Keynote/Dinner Speech)

Dave Fellman carries a simple and straightforward message, but it's unique in the way three important concepts are combined and presented in a high-impact, one-hour format. In Three For The Road, he'll help your group of salespeople to understand that every individual salesperson has three basic assets in selling.time, the products or services he/she sells, and the people who have already made the decision to become customers.

Fellman speaks to the importance of time management.and goes beyond that to illustrate real-world techniques to support planning and prioritization. He addresses the importance and application of product knowledge.and makes sure that your people fully understand what they sell. Not just products or services, but the benefits those products or services provide. Finally, he identifies the three levels of the value in any existing customer.what they buy now, what they could be buying, and the powerful ways in which a current customer can help a salesperson to develop new customers.

These are not new ideas, but Fellman sells them with his ability to connect with your group of salespeople. It's not preaching and high pressure.he's been called "an interesting and engaging speaker" who uses "a very effective blend of humor and intensity to get his message across."

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