Cutting a printing sales role may cut costs and customer development

By Tom Whitfield

Nicholson notes that printing companies invest thousands, sometimes millions of dollars in equipment, technology, software and production capability, yet some leave a salesperson's seat empty to capture payroll savings. That decision removes salary, commissions, benefits and possible travel costs, while potentially ending prospecting, account development and customer follow-up.

This is a workforce-planning argument, not evidence that every vacancy should trigger a hire. The choice touches recruiting, succession, workload allocation, coaching and performance management, even when management calls it cost control. Nicholson contrasts that restraint with company spending on equipment, technology, software and production capability.

Nicholson says reassignment can work when the person has enough time, the right skills and clear accountability. But the source provides no company results, sample size or revenue measure after departures.

What disappears when a salesperson leaves?

Nicholson starts with familiar printing-company goals: higher sales, new customers, new markets and better profitability. Yet some employers respond to a salesperson's retirement, acceptance of another opportunity or dismissal after missed expectations with no replacement, no recruiting and no discussion about future customers.

The work at risk includes prospecting new buyers, developing larger accounts, introducing existing customers to more products and services, identifying opportunities in unexplored markets and following up with prospects.

Owners who absorb this work between production emergencies, customer complaints and employee issues may not have the capacity. Reassignment remains acceptable only when the designated person can give the work sufficient time, skill and accountability.

The column does not quantify revenue loss or customer attrition after a departure. Its practical warning is simple: no one may be developing the next customer.

Is the sales job itself the problem?

Nicholson lists familiar complaints: sellers cost too much, produce too little business, promise projects that never arrive, misunderstand applications, bring in work the plant cannot produce, and spend too much time away from the company. She also rejects the logic that one unsuccessful hire proves a sales role does not work.

She acknowledges that not every salesperson succeeds and that some lack motivation, discipline or willingness to learn. Her proposed test asks employers to examine the leadership, training and support around sellers before treating the position as a failed experiment.

The source offers no failure rates or proof that professional management resolves each complaint. Weak preparation may increase the chance of poor results, but managers cannot use that argument to assign blame without measuring it. Training and management remain remedies to test, not conclusions the evidence has already proved.

Who should lead sales performance?

Nicholson says she has seen even larger printing companies assign sellers to an owner, president, office manager or another leader whose primary duties leave little time for consistent development. She also sees some sellers report to a sales manager, director of sales or vice president of sales.

Her point is not that owners cannot lead selling, but that they need the expertise and time to do it. Sales management, she argues, is a profession rather than an extra duty for whoever has space on the organizational chart.

The work requires knowledge of customer relationships, market opportunities, prospecting, pipelines, negotiation, profitability, coaching and motivation. The test is whether someone can develop sellers and customers, not whether a familiar title appears on the organization chart.

What should sellers know before meeting customers?

A facility tour, an equipment briefing and a business card followed by “Good luck!” do not prepare someone to win profitable work, Nicholson says. Her training checklist requires sellers to understand:

• Substrates, finishing methods, installation requirements and production capabilities.
• Which products and services produce the strongest margins.
• Estimating, overhead, labor costs and why some projects should never be accepted.
• How the company explains greater value than a nearby printer.
• How to sell solutions rather than simply take orders.

A seller who understands production, the customer's business and the company's financial limits can build relationships, spot opportunities and bring in profitable work. Without that context, the job risks becoming order taking from a price list.

The source does not prescribe a course length, certification or training budget. Its core standard is practical knowledge: sellers should know what the company can make, what it can profitably make and why a customer should choose it.

Are sales targets sales leadership?

Accountability remains necessary, with realistic goals, measurable expectations and clear responsibilities for each seller. But Nicholson says a monthly target and a request for results amount to arithmetic, not management.

Coaching should help sellers identify prospective customers, expand larger accounts and find opportunities within existing relationships. Leaders should also review pipelines, diagnose stalled opportunities, prepare presentations, handle objections and accompany sellers on customer visits.

Forward-looking sales leadership measures activities that create future orders rather than waiting for results at month-end. It depends on consistent communication, accountability and someone who knows how to develop sales talent. The practical test is whether the pipeline strengthens before the monthly numbers arrive.

What should employers do at the next departure?

When a salesperson leaves for retirement, another job or termination, leadership should ask how the company will continue developing business. Reassigning the work can be acceptable, but only if the designated person has time, skills and accountability.

Companies expecting growth need someone responsible for developing people, implementing sales strategy and strengthening customer relationships. That person must create demand, develop relationships and bring profitable opportunities through the door. The broader recommendation is to review how the company develops its sales organization.

Smaller firms do not need a vice president of sales or full-time sales manager. The accountable person could be an owner, qualified manager, experienced salesperson or outside adviser, provided that person can lead sales rather than merely review results.

Nicholson closes with the warning that competitors may keep pursuing the customers an employer no longer contacts. “Did you really save money, or did you just eliminate the person who was supposed to help you make more of it?”

The column includes no survey, sample size or financial model, although it was curated for American Printer eMag, a publication issued every two weeks. Employers should therefore treat the proposal as a management test, not a proven savings formula.

Before treating an empty seat as efficiency, employers should ask what customer development disappears. The next departure will reveal whether the company has a sales succession plan or only a smaller payroll.