"How do I hire sales reps? When should I hire them? How much should I pay them?" Print shop owners have these questions all the time. We talk to Kevin Baumgart, a sales and strategy expert. He jokes that he wishes he could run a print shop: "You get to work with so many cool people all day!"

On word of mouth, the most powerful form of marketing: "To me, it's amazing what shops have been able to do with word of mouth and virtually no marketing." But there's a downside. Shops often lack formal processes and procedures for sales. This makes it hard to grow past a certain point.

So when should you hire a sales rep? "When you're really ready to grow your revenue and business." He even believes that shops could make marketing and sales the FIRST hires. "If you want that new press, how awesome would be to make the sales, and then need to go buy the new press?"

Hiring for sales is tough, and Kevin is open about it. But there are ways to make it easier. "Look at the hiring process as a whole. What do the first 30, 60, or 90 days look like?" You've got to evaluate people to make sure that they have the right skills...and model success for them.

Print shop sales require gritty people that can handle rejection. "You can't hire someone that wants to have their hand held. People that are successful in large corporate environments are not successful in small businesses."

When it comes to paying sales staff, you've got to give people incentives that align with reality for them. "I've never seen 100% commission work well. It's hard to manage them. Someone needs to be comfortable. The base plus commission model is good, but provide a strong incentive for them."

To get a sense of what you should pay in your area and for the talent you want, browse job listings. "Try Payscale, Glassdoor, and other websites to research how to get good folks to apply there."

The bottom line? "Outbound sales is all rejection and totally monotonous. 98% rejection, same script, same process. It's hard." You've got to arm people for that process, and remember to reward them when they do find the 1% or 2% of customers that are a perfect fit.

Lastly, Kevin has some great advice for the quote process. Get on a call! Don't just send a quote and wait. "You've done all this work and you're just going to hope they'll get it? Take advantage of getting on a call with them. Answer their questions up front. But most importantly, tie back to what they said. Reveal how your shop can help. You're so much more efficient this way. This should be a solution recommendation."

Watch Kevin at PrintHustlers Conf 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrvFLBdQT1w

Need help? Reach out to Kevin! Here's his email: [email protected]