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Learn by Sales Challenge
“How do I stay in touch with a prospect but not overdo it?”
How do you stay top of mind with a prospect without crossing the line into being a nuisance? After multiple outreach attempts with no response, it can be tough to know when to keep pushing and when to step back. The key is delivering valuable, relevant messages that show you’re persistent, not annoying. But how much follow-up is too much? And how do you strike the perfect balance?
“I want new business”
File this one under, “No kidding. Who doesn’t?” Okay, so you want to open some new accounts but you don’t know where to start. You likely fall into one of two categories: “New Reps” or “Legacy Reps”. The Sales Vault has options for both.
“I want to improve my time management”
There is a big difference between busy and productive. Most likely, if you have clicked on this category, you find yourself busy all the time. Equally likely is the fact that the only way you believe you can grow is by working even harder. So, let’s talk ideas for improving your productivity, starting with some lessons on time management.
No one is returning my calls!
Yep, this is definitely an issue. Over the years, various forms of, “No one is returning my calls” has become a top sales challenge. So, first, understand this: You are not alone. Feel better? Probably not. So, let’s dive deeper…
My sales suck. What should I do?
A bad week of sales becomes a bad month. Not only is no one on your new business list responding to your connection attempts, but no reorders are coming in either. Before the pattern repeats and becomes a full-on epidemic of terrible numbers, misery, and depression, let’s talk about actions you can take to reverse the trend and get back to solid sales growth.
Selling to Different Personalities
Overall, understanding different personality types as a salesperson allows you to adapt your communication style, build rapport, identify buying triggers, address objections, and strengthen customer relationships. These skills can significantly enhance your effectiveness in sales and contribute to your overall success in the field.
I’m New to Sales
Looking back to the start of my sales career, I was fortunate to work for a company that invested in training. The fundamentals of sales haven’t changed in the 40+ years since I started. If you’re new to sales, this is where to start.
Selling Digital Printing
Select from this collection of white papers available for download. Each written by Bill Farquharson and Kelly Mallozzi, focused on the nuances of selling digital printing vs. traditional print with actionable strategies.
I feel like I need to follow the job all the way through production…
Are you battling “CSR Disease?” Definition: CSR Disease is the name given to sales people who spend an inordinate amount of time mothering their jobs through the plant. They either can’t or won’t pass the baton to production. Is this you?
Sales Apps You Should Know About
Search “Sales Apps” on Google and the number of responses will rival that of the Gross National Product. There are thousands of apps and many do similar things. Here are just a few that are worth your time, listed by their intended benefit.
Workshop Replays
Recap and Replay: “From Order Taker to Opportunity Maker” Marketing Workshop
Discover how to move beyond transactional sales and into value-driven conversations. In this session, you’ll learn real-world tactics to upsell, cross-sell, and build lasting client relationships — even in challenging times.
Recap and Replay: “Why Aren’t You Selling More” Marketing Workshop
What’s holding you back from selling more? In this open forum, Sales Vault members and Bill Farquharson dive into the real reasons for sales slumps—time management, effort, client fear, and more—and offer actionable tips to move forward.
Recap and Replay: “AI & New Business Development”
Discover how accessible AI tools can dramatically speed up your new business pipeline in the print, signage, and promo industries. Bill and AI expert Emma Farquharson share actionable strategies—from data analysis to automated outreach—to help you land better clients faster.
Recap and Replay: “Essential Tasks for Managing and Growing Your Business” Marketing Workshop
Too busy to grow your business? In this replay, Bill Farquharson and guest Emma Farquharson break down the high-impact tasks that print, promo, and sign business owners must prioritize—but often don’t. Learn how to structure your weeks for success, use AI to streamline your workflow, and finally gain traction on your marketing goals.
March 2025: Mastering New Business Development Workshop
Watch the Replay Watch the Replay
Recap and Replay: “Charting the Path Forward – Essential Questions for Growth” Marketing Workshop
Where do you want to be six months from now, and what must you do to get there? This workshop helps you dig into that fundamental question—plus many more—to uncover your business’s strengths, opportunities, and hidden potential. Whether you’re aiming to expand your market, optimize your processes, or refine your messaging, these essential questions will guide you in creating a clear, strategic roadmap for growth
Recap and Replay: “Overcoming Objections in Sales: Strategies for What Clients Say (and Don’t Say)” Marketing Workshop
It’s one thing to handle a client’s stated objection, but it’s another to uncover what they’re really concerned about. In this replay, get actionable strategies that not only address common pushback—like high pricing or vendor loyalty—but also reveal the hidden hesitations many prospects never voice. You’ll gain fresh insights to prepare for objections, strengthen client relationships, and ultimately guide the conversation to a win-win close.
Recap and Replay: “Getting the Meeting: How to Give Clients a Reason to Say Yes” Marketing Workshop
Learn practical ways to give clients a compelling reason to say ‘yes’ to a meeting—whether you’re hosting an in-person event, collaborating on an upcoming project, or sending them something special to break the ice. Watch as Bill Farquharson and the group share their best practices for forging stronger, more profitable connections with clients and prospects alike.
Recap and Replay: “AI & Lead Generation: Supercharge Your Pipeline”
Ready to supercharge your lead generation? In our ‘AI & Lead Generation: Supercharge Your Pipeline’ replay, Bill and Emma Farquharson show you how AI-driven research and a systematic sales process can radically transform your prospecting efforts. Streamline your approach, impress the right decision-makers, and watch your pipeline grow.
Recap and Replay: “Selling the Value: Highlighting the Benefits of Print, Signage, and Promo Products” Marketing Workshop
In this lively workshop, we explore how to sell the genuine value of print, signage, and promotional products. Gain insights on leveraging tangible touchpoints, sharing compelling customer stories, and offering educational content that positions you as a trusted expert. Hear real-world examples from industry peers on using boxes of samples, time-saving messaging, and unique branding tactics to boost visibility and engagement.
Short Attention Span Sales Tips
Sales Fear
What do disruptive middle school kids, blood donation, and selling print have in common? Find out in this week’s Short Attention Span Sales Tip.
One Prospect, Four Sales Calls
Researching a company prior to making the sales call, while critical, is time-consuming. In this week’s Short Attention Span Sales Tip, Bill Farquharson talks about how to turn one prospect into four opportunities to make a sale.
Dress to Express Success
What do your shoes, clothes, car, hair, and handshake have in common? Find out by reading/watching this week’s Short Attention Span Sales Tip.
Opening Day for Sales
In a few days, Major League Baseball begins its 2025 season. This special event prompted long-time fan Bill Farquharson to bring an idea to this week’s Short Attention Span Sales Tip.
Special Sales Tip for [Insert Name Here]
Go ahead and automate your sales process. Engage AI wherever it will help you. But make sure to also follow Bill Farquharson’s advice in this week’s Short Attention Span Sales Tip.
The Creativity Reservoir
A 3-year-old bounces around Bill Farquharson’s house with seemingly limitless energy. But eventually, even he hits the wall. In this week’s Short Attention Span Sales Tip, Bill talks about the importance of understanding your creative limits and planning for it with an eye towards making better use of your time.
How to Communicate More Clearly
Steve Martin once said, “Some people have a way with words. Others not have way.” True, but why do so many of the latter go into sales? In this week’s Short Attention Span Sales Tip, Bill Farquharson gives tips for organizing ADD-laden thoughts into coherent information.
The Trade Show Sales Opportunity
Most people see a trade show as a sensory overloading, noise inducing, germ spreading cacophony of people and products. You see it as the sales opportunity it really is…if you play your hand correctly. In this week’s Short Attention Span Sales Tip, Bill Farquharson tells you how and when to make your move.
Slow Down. Do Better.
Quick! Read this teaser. Quick! Watch/Read the tip. Quick! Move on to the next task, then the next, the next. Then, go home. Then, make dinner. Then, hurry, hurry, hurry to bed and do it all again tomorrow. Or…you can take the advice in this week’s Short Attention Span Sales Tip and take a different tactic.
Your Lead Gen Plan
New reps need it. Legacy reps need it. You need it. I need it. “It” is critical to your growth, a must for every sales rep and selling owner and the subject of Bill Farquharson’s Short Attention Span Sales Tip this week.
Short Attention Span Sales Blog
That Little Extra
Differentiation comes in many forms. A printer is a printer is a printer. All transactions are the same. But every once in a while you come across a small difference-maker. Bill Farquharson saw one while his wife was hanging a picture and it turned into ideas that can help you stand out. Read Bill’s blog.
Best Things to Say to a Customer Right Now
There are two types of people: Those who love roller coasters and those who don’t. Both groups, however, are united in their feelings about a
AI Research = Better Sales
The single most important sales skill a rep can have? Pre-call research. In this week’s blog, learn how to harness the power of AI to secure more appointments.
AI-Powered Prospecting
Referrals are every sales rep’s best form of new business development. How can AI help? Listen in on a conversation between Bill and Emma Farquharson in this week’s blog.
AI’s Shortcut to Smarter Answers
A Google search gives you results, but can also lead you down time-wasting chains of information. Save time with AI and Emma Farquharson’s conversation with Bill on how AI can help get you better information, faster.
Lemonade from Printing a Lemon
When is a printing error a GOOD thing? When you end up better off BECAUSE of the error! Not easy to do, but with help from AI, you can turn your lemons into, well, you know…
Get Perplexed by AI
As if AI isn’t confusing enough, they had to go and name one important AI tool “Perplexity”. Are they mocking us? In this week’s blog, Bill and Emma banter about Perplexity and provide insight into how it can help you.
AI-Infused Wicked Smaht Research
Congratulations on getting that appointment with a top prospect. Now comes the arduous task of preparing for the sales call. But thanks to AI, what used to take hours can now take minutes….if you listen to the advice in Bill and Emma Farquharson’s blog this week.
The Hole-in-One of Sales
There is nothing like a hole-in-one. Whether you witness it or accomplished it yourself, the feeling is one of exuberance matched only by the unique and rare sales accomplishment Bill Farquharson talks about in his blog this week.
Using DeepSeek to Land an Appointment
Have you heard of DeepSeek? This Chinese company shocked the world a few weeks ago and $1 Trillion in market value disappeared the next day. There is a lesson in this story you need to apply in order to gain a face-to-face with that stubborn prospect. Read all about it in this week’s Sales Challenge Blog.
On-Demand Courses
Applying Pareto: Work Less, Sell More
In this four-part video series, I give you a completely different way to think about how to spend your selling time. Some of my discussion points will challenge your long-held beliefs about time management as it relates to sales efficiency.
Why Your Sales Reps Won’t Sell Inkjet (and what to do about it)
Overview OVERVIEW Why Your Sales Reps Won’t Sell Inkjet (and what to do about it) Congratulations on the purchase of that new inkjet press. Bad news: Your reps won’t sell to it? This 20 minute video explains why and then, more importantly, what owners and managers need to do in order to change that. Click […]
Verticals: Selling to Banks Opportunity #2 – Follow the money.
This second-in-a-series video discusses a clever idea for uncovering a sale to a bank. Banks spend 10 times more on this than on anything else. Follow the money.
Verticals: Selling to Banks Opportunity #1 – The Basics
Before you sell to banks, you need to understand their world. This first-in-a-series video goes over the basics and gives 2 ideas for where you should start.
Nail that First Prospecting Call
That first prospecting call can be terrifying for a lot of reasons. This Sales Vault course gives you ideas and strategies to take you from fear to fierce.
Finding the Elusive Customer in COVID Times
Overview OVERVIEW Creative ideas to help you connect with prospects In a recent Sales Vault poll, members overwhelmingly reported “Finding and connecting with customers/prospects” as their #1 sales challenge. This course speaks to that issue directly with several ideas designed to help with a long time obstacle made more difficult with so many now working […]
How to Overcome the ‘Price’ Objection
Ask a sales rep to name their top sales challenges and, “Responding to a customer telling me my bid was not the lowest” is certainly in the top three. This course teaches you options for not only beating this objection, but avoiding entirely.
Sell like Geico
Overview OVERVIEW Sell Like Geico Quick: Think of a Geico ad campaign. Bet you thought of several. The result of their approach: $41.6 Billion in profits to Berkshire Hathaway. What’s the lesson? How can you “Sell Like Geico” and what might it do for your sales? Take the course and find out. Click image below […]
Selling to Vertical Markets
On-Demand Course View All Courses Overview Watch the Video Additional Resources Related Courses OVERVIEW Selling to Verticals is all about creating a repeatable success. You remember being in grade school (sixth grade, Max) and the teacher asked a question to which you are 100% certain he knew the answer? You’d thrust your hand into the […]
Basic Time Management: Strategies
This course is a “strongly recommended” prerequisite to the Advanced Time Management Course: Applying Pareto. As you complete each section below, click on the course navigation buttons to progress through the course. This course is the second of two video-based modules setting the stage for you to improve your time management skills. Learn the not-so-secret […]
Downloadable Tools & Templates
Weekly & Ongoing Tasks for Sales Growth
Want to grow your print, promo, or signage business? This downloadable guide from Bill Farquharson lays out the must-do weekly tasks and strategic questions that drive real sales growth. Perfect for solo reps or sales teams.
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Growth Strategy Worksheet Download
This downloadable worksheet from Bill Farquharson guides Sales Vault members through 40 essential questions to evaluate their current sales performance, uncover new opportunities, and develop a strategic plan for growth. Whether you’re a sales rep or a selling owner in print, signage, or promotional products, this tool will help clarify your vision, sharpen your competitive edge, and move your business forward.
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Own the Stage: Bill Farquharson’s Pro Tips for Knockout Live Presentations
Want to captivate your audience from the first moment you step on stage? These tried-and-true tips from Bill Farquharson will help you own the spotlight—without breaking a sweat.
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Sales and AI Download
Download notes and instructions generated during the January 2024 Sales Vault Workshop entitled “Sales and AI”. Join in on the follow up discussion in February.
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The Right Way to Nag
It is frustrating to continually make attempts to connect with a prospect and get nothing back. Yet, we can all understand that it isn’t easy getting bombarded with unsolicited emails. Let this email be an example of how to follow up on an initial attempt and learn to nag the right way.
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Sales Call Checklist: Download
You finally got that appointment after endless attempts. Congratulations!
But, now what?
This could be your one and only opportunity with this prospect. That means you need to make the most of your face time.
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What to Say When Calling a “Dead” Account
Someone at your company had a bright idea: Let’s call on accounts we haven’t heard from in a while. Maybe they need something. Maybe they’ve forgotten about us. You agree… That is a great idea…
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Sales Emails That Get Responses
For better or worse, email is a primary form of communication. While it is a time saver for the sender and the recipient, the sheer volume means your email is just another face in the crowd; that is unless you do something to make it stand out.
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The LinkedIn Invite: What to Write Download
You want to connect with someone on LinkedIn but they do not know you and, quite honestly, have no reason to accept your invitation.
Before the connection request is sent, LinkedIn suggests you include a message.
What do you write?
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Questions to Ask: Download
This Sales Vault Insider exclusive download outlines specific questions you might want to use to engage in a solution based conversation with the client.
This content is available exclusively to Vault Insiders.
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Whitepapers
Digital Printing Sales Action Plan
In the following pages we will prepare you with the tools you need to successfully implement your digital print sales action plan. Consider this your do-it-yourself digital printing sales kit.
Selling to Verticals
Learn how to look beyond the printed piece, specs and quantities and shine the spotlight on the industry itself. There you will find some fascinating tidbits of information that will help you achieve the goal of solving problems and earning orders, while creating a repeatable industry sales strategy.
Identifying Digital Print Opportunities
Learn how to rapidly recognize the existence of a digital/inkjet print opportunity from circumstances that might include: A problem a client is trying to solve, A delivery requirement, or even… a need to convey multiple messages to multiple markets. Be able to quickly survey the landscape and identify the best places for digital/inkjet print opportunities.
Digital Printing: Success Through Disruption
Selling inkjet is WAY out of the traditional sales rep’s comfort zone. The inkjet print sale can be highly technical. And when you add the prospect of variable data printing, it becomes exponentially more complicated. But, there are pathways to success!
Back to the Future: The New Old Sales Skills Required to Sell Digital Print
The smart, flexible sales rep understands that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Drawing on lessons from the past, a new approach to sales is necessary – one that includes many of the same selling skills and techniques from a different era.
Want to Sell More Digital Printing?
Take your sales process to a whole new level! Follow Bill’s sales fundamentals tenets and success will follow.
Why Aren’t You Selling More
Download Whitepaper Now, there’s a good question! Learn 4 questions to ask yourself when sales go south…
The Sales Calendar
Download Whitepaper The selling year ebbs and flows. Think of it as 12 hard months and that’s what it will be. Break it up as Bill down in this download and you can make smaller plans which yield bigger results.
How to Make TEN Sales Calls a Day
Download Whitepaper Do you have time to make ten new business calls a day? You might not think so but I’ll change your mind…
Articles
Sales Challenges: The Tsunami of AI
Everything, everywhere, all at once. A strange, hard to follow Academy Award Best Picture winner (we shut off after the hot dog fingers scene) or the description of AI as it infiltrates our lives? Answer: both. You might have heard the phrase, “Drinking from a fire hose.” This occurs when you are taking in a […]
To Get Ahead, Think Ahead
Sales is a job of do, do, do. It is a task-oriented endeavor, full of checklists, prioritizing, interruptions, procrastinations, have-to’s, want-to’s, could-do’s, should-do’s, and ultimately, results. Oftentimes, a sales rep’s daily agenda is self-generating: arrive in the morning, take on the first task that comes, and don’t stop until dark. They live on a treadmill, […]
Tennis, Sales Management, and Winning Twice
It was the Saturday before Labor Day and that meant the club’s tennis championships. In the men’s doubles event, 17-year-old Jack Rubin was serving. His team was down 5-4 in the first set and 30-40 in the game. Jack’s first serve went long. He tossed the ball into the air and hit his second serve […]
Sales Challenges: When You Know You Can Do Better
It was late in the day and late in the month. My wife and I were enjoying a cocktail by the pool, debriefing each other on our day, discussing numerous child-related issues (with seven kids between us, there were plenty), and looking ahead. Toward that end, Allison asked me, “What are you looking forward to […]
Worst Case Scenarios: Sales Edition
Salespeople are, by nature, optimists. If they weren’t, they would never be able to endure the beatings taken along the way to a successful career. Tomorrow will always be better than today. Your business will grow. Your client base is secure and your customers are happy. Regardless of the economy, someone is always buying. Print […]
What to Do When Your Sales Are …
In an attempt to check in on you, your boss walks past your desk and tosses out a lazy, “How’s business?” You answer, then provide just enough information for her to walk away satisfied. The last thing you need is commentary on your sales efforts. She’ll stay out of your hair for a while and […]
6 Printing Industry Sales Tips to Create an Experience
The email read, “Thank you for your proposal and presentation to become the print vendor of choice at Whatsamatta U. We were impressed with your equipment list and capabilities. The samples you showed displayed some excellent quality. There is no doubt you do great work for your clients. However, at this time we have chosen […]
Raise Prices the Right Way and Clients Will Love It!
Price increases are inevitable. Over the course of a career in this (or any other) industry, you will no doubt be faced with the challenge of delivering bad news to a customer: We are going to be charging you more for the same goods and services. The event itself cannot be avoided but the customer […]
10 Reasons Why Sales Are Down
Your email inbox is empty. You have no voicemails. Your phone is quiet. Looking at the sales leaderboard, your name is last on the list. To say business is off is an understatement. Having gone through all the usual “It’s not my fault” excuses to explain your situation — no one is buying right now, […]
Sales Challenges: When You Don’t Feel Like Selling
I hear it more than you’d think: “I can’t sell. I don’t want to sell. I hate sales …” followed by the inevitable kicker. “… but I need to grow my sales. What do I do?” So, just so I understand this: You need to grow your business. You need more sales. However, you don’t […]
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