Selling Without Printed Materials

The cultural shift from a print-centric to a digital business model has greatly impacted the sales landscape. In the age of the Internet, buyers are educating themselves online and engaging with salespeople later in the buying cycle.

With more of the selling and buying processes being conducted digitally, companies are arming their salespeople with tools to help bring their sales techniques into the new age. Yet many salespeople are still walking into sales meetings with a stack of printed materials.

Why? For some sales reps, printing out collateral for a meeting and sharing physical copies of a presentation is familiar and safe. It’s the way business has been conducted for many years, so why change a process that has worked in the past?

For others, printed collateral seems like the more reliable and easy choice. Maybe technology has failed a time or two. Or perhaps the reason for sticking to printed selling materials is simply because the process of implementing and adopting a new way of working is time-consuming and expensive.

Whatever the reason, it’s time to break the cycle. The antiquated, cumbersome and expensive approach of printing everything out carries unnecessary administrative burdens that take reps away from more important activities such as focusing on the actual content of a presentation—not to mention the fact that it can also cause embarrassing presentation blunders.

For instance, have you ever arrived to a meeting and realized you brought the wrong materials? When you rely on printed sales materials, this is bound to happen, causing you to look unprepared and unorganized to your buyers. With frequent updates to content and multiple versions floating around, it’s difficult to find exactly what you’re looking for. It’s also expensive to reprint materials every time there’s an update.

Beyond time and money, walking into a sales meeting with printed content screams “behind the times.” In sales, it’s important to look the part; regardless of how large or small your company is, you need to be concerned about how you’re perceived by buyers. Your sales materials shouldn’t beg questions like how long you’ve been in business or if you have the capabilities to meet a customer’s needs.

The same goes for your sales approach. You may have put together what you think is your best presentation yet, but show up to a meeting with a packet of slides stapled together and your room full of buyers will probably look at you funny.

Shifting from printed material to electronic sales collateral does have its challenges. While many salespeople say they prefer to use smartphones and tablets over their laptops, at Mediafly, many companies approach us because iPads end up being used as paperweights. This happens when companies lack clear goals for their mobile adoption strategy as well as the right content management methods designed for mobile content distribution.

Transition from Copier to iPad

Selling without printed materials has its benefits. Not only does it help prevent the use of outdated content, but it also allows for increased flexibility and more personalization during face-to-face meetings with buyers.

With Mediafly’s SalesKit, transitioning from a copier to the iPad is easy. SalesKit lets you select different types of content—slides, videos, datasheets, images and more—and organize it into a beautiful and easy-to-navigate interface directly from your iPad. There’s no need to make copies of your documents before your meeting; all of your content is available in the app, online or offline. 

Presenting your material right from your iPad will help you look more prepared, knowledgeable and innovative than flipping through a stack of papers. More importantly, the confidence you’ll have from knowing you have everything you need just a swipe away will make a lasting impression on your current and future sales.

John Burns is the Director of Sales and Marketing at Mediafly, Inc and the author of Mediafly’s Sales Insight blog.  Please have a look at some of the products and solutions John has had a hand in selling: SalesKit and ProReview.