The 100th anniversary meeting of the Envelope Manufacturers Association included many helpful sessions about concerns facing our industry. One of the best presentations was given by Patrick Morrissey, senior director of sales at EFI, who talked about selling solutions rather than products.

To sell effectively, we need to find out our customers’ pain points: what is giving them problems? To do this, we have to listen, not just sell our products. Many sales people call on me, and most of them just insist on selling their product or service and never listen to me.

Patrick Morrissey’s most interesting point was that a sales call in which someone is a skeptic and asks tough questions provides your biggest opportunity. That potential customer is looking for a solution and challenging you for answers. You should be welcoming that kind of sales call, not thinking it didn’t go well.

I know from personal experience that if I’m being tough on a sales person by asking questions and probing their answers, I’m interested in a solution to my problem. If I’m just listening to their product pitch, I’m not really serious about considering their product. So if you ever call on me, you should hope for the “pain in the you-know-what” asking all sorts of tough questions.