A printer's success today depends largely on how well it perceives and solves customers’ business challenges. Those end users face a bevy of issues — marketing campaign management, brand control, creating customized print materials and more.But while working hard to solve client problems, each Dscooper faces internal issues, too. Those hurdles can be hard to recognize, let alone leap over. As your business moves forward in 2023, it’s a good time to address and overcome them.Every business is unique, but some challenges seem to pop up time and time again. Below are four common challenges printers face, along with insight and tips from “fresh eyes” — consultants who specialize in helping business leaders solve problems. Here’s what you’re likely dealing with, and the advice they’re doling out:

HURDLE #1: Haphazard Marketing

SOLUTION: Multiple-Exposure Campaigns

Build a better mousetrap, the saying goes, and the world will beat a path to your door. “If you believe this,” quipped marketing expert Jeffrey Dobkin, “you’ve been reading too many comic books.”Quality products and excellent customer service certainly help companies generate referrals, but sustained success is determined largely by firms’ marketing strategies, writes Dobkin, author of“Uncommon Marketing Techniques.”Problem is, marketing is an afterthought for many printers. “A single mailing to a prospect or customer isn’t really a campaign,” Dobkin says. “To stay on top of your prospects’ awareness and to gain real brand power, persistency is the key."Multiple-exposure marketing is an easy way to develop an active strategy instead of a passive one, Dobkin says. He suggests you rank the benefits of your products in order of their value. Choose the most significant two or three benefits, and write at least 10 interest-arousing headlines to highlight each benefit. Take several days, not several minutes. The best headline will be the teaser copy of your direct mail piece (or the headline of your print or online ad), and the most important promotional messaging you have. That message should be repeated consistently in follow-up emails, direct mail pieces and social media posts.

HURDLE #2: Stagnant Sales from New Business

SOLUTION: Real Understanding of Prospects' Needs“

Customers today often view sales calls as unnecessary irritants,” said Dave Kahle, President of Kahle Way Sales Systems, a sales consulting firm in Grand Rapids, MI, USA. “Like everybody else these days, they have too much to do and too many things on their desks. They’re under tremendous pressures for time. A few years ago, they could take the luxury of spending 30 minutes with a salesperson. They just don’t have that time today.”To be effective, salespeople must be better prepared, better organized and more focused on the customer than they were in the past, says Kahle, author of “Question Your Way to Sales Success." They can add value to their sales call by presenting clients and prospects with ideas for saving time, streamlining operations and building their businesses. “The salesperson really has to be a consultant,” he says.Kahle says salespeople often make the mistake of talking too much and not listening enough during sales calls. “They make assumptions, they’re quick to make conclusions, and they focus on what they want to say and not what the customer is telling them.” He suggests salespeople ask prospects questions that open opportunities and demonstrate their desire to help.His favorite question: "In this day and age, so many companies like yours are struggling with these two issues, and I’m wondering if these are concerns of yours also?”

HURDLE #3: Dwindling Salesforce Motivation

SOLUTION: Better Internal Communication and Recognition

Since the pandemic, sluggish sales and lackluster profits are requiring many firms to cut costs and reduce workforces. As a result, many salespeople are required to do more and more with fewer resources.In mature industries, many firms experience motivation issues, said Jerry Colletti, Managing Partner of Colletti-Fiss LLC, a management consulting firm in Scottsdale, AZ, USA, and co-author of“Compensating New Sales Roles: How to Design Rewards that Work in Today’s Selling Environment.”“How those people feel about what’s going on in the company gets transmitted to the customer. If I’m a CEO, the last thing I want is my customer-contact employees going to my customer base and not being enthusiastic about what we’re trying to do to continue to serve our customers effectively.”The No. 1 source of employee motivation problems is uncertainty, Colletti said. Employers often fail to share information with employees about the future of the company, expectations for growth or lack of growth, and how those factors will impact workers. Businesses also can motivate employees by recognizing their efforts. Several years ago, Colletti conducted a survey for a large consumer packaged goods company that showed employees are motivated to higher levels of performance when they receive recognition from managers two levels higher than them (for example, recognition from their supervisor’s boss). Such recognition can be as simple as a private lunch with the employee. The employee will feel appreciated and the manager will gain the reputation of being accessible, Colletti says.

HURDLE #4: Slow Adaptation to Trends

SOLUTION: Innovation Through Idea Management

Don’t make assumptions about what customers want, especially as the pace of change continues to accelerate, suggests futurist and speaker Robert B. Tucker, president of The Innovation Resource of Santa Barbara, CA, USA, and author of “Driving Growth Through Innovation: How Leading Firms Are Transforming Their Futures.”“Customers are a moving target today because they’re influenced by new offerings, features and services from things outside your industry. Value is a moving target. Just when you think you have your customers figured out, they shift.”Tucker and his associates recently have studied innovation and idea-generating histories of firms such as EDS, Citibank and BMW. His main suggestion for print companies: Call your best customers every quarter simply to ask them what you can do better. Also, invite a dozen valued clients to periodic lunches and have a discussion facilitated by a neutral party.