- Searchable Archives
- Resources for Print, Signage, Promotional, Labels, and Packaging
Sales Resources
On-Demand Courses
Selling to Hospitals: Big Fish Sales in a High-Rules Environment
Hospitals buy a ton of print, signage, and promo—yet they can be notoriously hard to break into because decisions run through committees, compliance, vendor approval, and long budget cycles. This course teaches you how to research healthcare trends, identify revenue-driving opportunities, find the right stakeholders, and frame your offering in the language hospitals care about: safety, outcomes, efficiency, and patient experience.
Selling to Banks: Cracking the Code of Financial Institution Sales
Banks and credit unions buy plenty of print, signage, and promo—but profitable work comes from understanding how they make money, what’s changing in the industry, and what priorities your target institution is pushing right now. This course shows you how to build value-driven pitches, research like a pro, and walk into the conversation sounding like a partner—not another vendor begging to be put on the bid list.
Selling to Colleges: Win the Big Fish Without Becoming Bait
Colleges and universities are a massive, price-sensitive market with scattered buying circles—which means real opportunity… and real complexity. In this 6-lesson course, Bill breaks down what colleges buy, why they buy it, and who’s doing the buying, then shows you how to sell beyond “submit a bid” by tying print, signage, and promo to what schools are trying to accomplish right now.
Sustainable Productivity
Busy isn’t the same as productive. This course gives experienced reps a simple, repeatable system to plan their week, protect their best sales activities, and end every day with tomorrow ready to go. Learn how to stack appointments, manage opportunities, and sell more in less time—without burning out.
Landing the Big Fish
Big accounts don’t get “won.” They get pursued, mapped, and earned—over time, with patience, creativity, and a strategy that goes way beyond “just checking in.” This course gives you the mindset, structure, and contact tactics to break into large organizations, stay relevant during long sales cycles, and build a repeatable Big Fish pipeline.
Taming the Nuisance Customer
Learn how to identify, manage, and—when necessary—fire time-sucking, profit-draining clients. Learn practical strategies for dealing with bullies, slow payers, price-checkers, and chronic complainers so you can protect your time, your team, and your best customers.
Getting to YOUR Next Level
Explore this practical, no-drama framework to figure out where you are, where you want to go, and exactly what has to change in your mindset, skills, and activity to get there. This isn’t motivational fluff. It’s a working blueprint you’ll use to evaluate, review, plan, and execute your way to real growth.
A Sustainable Productivity Plan for New Sales Reps
Build consistency and focus with a repeatable productivity system for sales reps. Learn how to plan smarter, execute better, and stay on track — every day, every week.
Objection Mastery: Turning Resistance into Revenue
Master the art of handling objections. Learn to recognize, reframe, and respond to resistance with strategies that convert hesitation into opportunity.
Effective Sales Presentations
Turn your next meeting into a masterclass in preparation, presentation, and persuasion. In this course, Bill Farquharson walks you through every step of an effective sales presentation — from preparation to delivery to securing the next meeting. You’ll learn how to research your client, structure your message, and communicate with clarity and confidence.
Making Contact with Decision Makers
This course is about mastering one of the hardest parts of selling: gaining access to the person with the power to say “yes.” You’ll learn why diligence beats talent, how to craft powerful conversations, and how to reset your mindset so you stop feeling like a pest and start acting like a trusted advisor.
Marketing is the New Sales
Marketing is the New Sales helps you stand out in a crowded market, generate steady leads, and strengthen client relationships. By the end, you’ll have practical strategies to drive growth and keep your pipeline full—without relying on old-school sales tactics.
Lead Generation for Legacy Sales Reps: Sharpening Your Edge
Sharpen your edge and win better business. This advanced course helps seasoned sales reps refine their Ideal Customer Criteria, apply smarter prospecting strategies, and leverage AI to save time and uncover high-value opportunities. Stop chasing volume and start focusing on the clients who deliver the most profit and loyalty.
Lead Generation for New Sales Reps: Build Your Funnel, Build Your Future
Build your funnel, build your future. This course gives new sales reps the confidence and tools to find their first great customers. Learn how to combine traditional prospecting methods with modern AI strategies so you can keep your pipeline full and your sales career growing strong.
Pre-Call Research
Learn how to uncover what matters most to your prospects before you ever pick up the phone. This course teaches you to research smarter, find the right decision-makers, and transform generic sales calls into meaningful, solution-focused conversations.
The Prospecting Playbook
Turn cold calls into opportunities with a proven prospecting system. This course shows you how to build a pipeline, stay organized, and consistently generate new business.
Diligence
Build consistency, stay motivated, and outwork your competition with Bill Farquharson’s 6-part video course on the sales skill that beats talent every time. Perfect for print, promo, packaging, labels, and signage professionals who want lasting success.
New to Sales in the Graphic Arts?
Build confidence, avoid costly mistakes, and hit the ground running with Bill Farquharson’s 8-part video course for sales newcomers in print, promo, packaging, labels, and signage.
Time Management for Salespeople in the Graphic Arts: Do More, Stress Less, Sell Smarter
Master your day, reduce stress, and sell smarter: This course teaches salespeople in the graphic arts how to prioritize, plan, and build time habits that actually stick.
Workshop Replays
Recap & Replay | Everything You’ve Been Meaning to Do But Haven’t
CRM cleanup, dormant customers, marketing, prospect lists, testimonials — the important work is easy to postpone. Learn how to prioritize, simplify, delegate, and finally get those high-value sales tasks off your list.
Recap & Replay | Becoming the Trusted Advisor
Move beyond simply quoting jobs. Learn how better questions, honest recommendations, expertise, and customer-first thinking can help you become the trusted advisor clients turn to before making important buying decisions.
Recap & Replay | Selling to Marketing, Purchasing, and Everyone in Between
Learn how to identify influencers, gatekeepers, champions, users, and decision-makers—and adapt your sales message to what each stakeholder values most.
Recap & Replay | The Follow-Up Formula: Sales Follow-Up Without Being Annoying
Learn how to follow up consistently, add value with every interaction, and stay top-of-mind without overwhelming or annoying your prospects.
Recap & Replay | Reading the Room in Sales
Sales conversations are not just about what buyers say. They are also about what they reveal through questions, body language, tone, hesitation, and engagement. In this Sales Vault replay, Bill Farquharson and the Vault community discuss how to read the room, recognize buying signals, uncover hidden concerns, and use emotional intelligence to guide stronger, more productive sales conversations.
Recap & Replay | The Art of Asking for Referrals
Referrals do not have to be random. In this Sales Vault replay, Bill Farquharson and the Vault community discuss how to earn referrals, when to ask for them, and how to create more opportunities for introductions without making customers feel pressured. The conversation covers internal referrals, customer appreciation, reviews, relationship timing, referral-worthy service, and practical ways to become the person customers naturally recommend.
Recap & Replay | How to Sell Without Feeling Like a Salesperson
Selling does not have to feel pushy, scripted, or uncomfortable. In this Sales Vault replay, Bill Farquharson and the Vault community discuss how to sell in a more natural, authentic way by listening closely, asking better questions, telling useful stories, and becoming a trusted advisor instead of “just another salesperson.” The conversation also covers how to handle hesitant buyers, avoid sounding salesy, and still confidently ask for the business.
Recap & Replay | What to Do During Slow Sales Periods
When the phone stops ringing, don’t freeze. This Sales Vault replay shows how to turn slow sales periods into productive time for prospecting, follow-up, marketing, and long-term pipeline growth.
Recap & Replay | Selling to Buyers Who Don’t Want to Be Sold To
Today’s buyers are more informed, more independent, and less patient with traditional sales tactics. This Sales Vault replay explores how to build trust, reduce friction, communicate effectively, and sell to buyers who do not want to be sold to.
Recap & Replay | Landing Larger Sales Accounts
Big accounts can transform your sales year, but they require patience, trust-building, and a smarter approach than everyday prospecting. In this Sales Vault replay, Bill Farquharson and the Vault community discuss how to identify larger opportunities, understand buyer risk, navigate long decision cycles, protect your cash flow, and stay relevant with major prospects without making the dreaded “just checking in” call.
Short Attention Span Sales Tips
The #1 Networking Misstep
Your phone rings, so you look at the Caller ID, groan, and let it go to voicemail. It’s probably from someone who never calls unless they need something from you. Sales has that same issue. But if you follow the advice in this week’s Short Attention Span Sales Tip, you’ll find yourself talking to a decision-maker.
OMG Someone Picked Up The Phone
Getting on the bid list of a company does not take a lot of work. Getting to speak to someone and bringing them a fresh idea requires the one element Bill Farquharson talks about in this week’s Short Attention Span Sales Tip.
Sales is NOT a Numbers Game
There is little that drives Bill Farquharson to biblical-level teeth gnashing more than the oft-quoted statement, “Sales is a numbers game.” So, before he lets the locusts loose, tune in to his Short Attention Span Sales Tip and his take.
Prospecting is Not What You Think It Is
Amazing how shifting an expectation changes everything. When sales reps think about prospecting, they think about convincing someone to buy. But in this week’s Short Attention Span Sales Tip, Bill Farquharson changes the definition to something easier and more attainable.
Your Time Management Isn’t About Time Management
There’s busy and then there’s productive. Right now, if you are busy, you can be more productive once you are on the other side of Bill Farquharson’s Short Attention Span Sales Tip.
Why Your Customers Aren’t Buying More From You
Have you ever walked into a client’s office only to find boxes and boxes of a product they could have bought from you but didn’t? This avoidable problem is the subject of Bill Farquharson’s Short Attention Span Sales Tip.
Why Your Sales Conversations Die
If you are the parent of a teen or older, you know sometimes kids don’t want a solution. They want a sympathetic ear. Why would sales be any different? In this week’s Short Attention Span Sales Tip, father-stepfather-of-six-YES-six-girls, Bill Farquharson shares his expertise on how to get from problem to sale.
Solo Sellers Seeks Simple Sales System
If you are a selling owner, you ARE the sales force. No manager means no goals, no accountability, and ultimately, no new sales. In this week’s Short Attention Span Sales Tip, Bill Farquharson shows you how a sales system solves those issues.
Sell Hard, Sell Nothing
You work hard but have no sales to show for it. Selling owners can relate to that. Being busy but not productive is often the rule, not the exception. This week’s Short Attention Span Sales Tip changes that.
A Job-Saving Sales Action
The minute a sales rep leaves the office, the questions begin: Is my rep doing their job? In this week’s Short Attention Span Sales Tip, Bill Farquharson shares how to answer that question before it is asked.
Short Attention Span Sales Blog
How to Ask for Referrals Without Making It Weird
Asking for a referral is like asking someone for a date. Who doesn’t remember the awkwardness of that experience? Let’s make the referral request easier with this week’s blog by Bill Farquharson.
Why Your Emails Aren’t Getting Responses (And How to Fix It)
Sadly, we can’t control the actions of our clients. For some strange reason, our priorities are not their priorities. So, when we send an email and get no response, it’s a little frustrating. While we can’t reach through the computer and change that, there are changes we can make on our end that just might make a difference.
How Often Should You Really Be Reaching Out?
It’s hard for sales people when you can’t see the sales needle move. You are putting in the efforts but think it’s failing because there is no result to hang their hat on. If you only knew the value of your efforts. After reading Bill Farquharson’s Blog, you will.
What Prospecting Is and Isn’t
Most new sales reps see prospecting and trying to make a sale. But that definition comes with a lot of unnecessary pressure. After reading Bill Farquharson’s blog, you’ll have a different definition and a different viewpoint.
You’re Not Inconsistent. You Just Need a Trigger.
When “I’ll do it first thing” becomes “I’ll do it at lunch” becomes “I’ll do it before I leave” becomes “I’ll do it in the morning,” you’ve got more than a consistency problem. You’ve got a problem Bill Farquharson solves in this week’s blog.
How to Ask for More Business Without Feeling Awkward
What’s more awkward than asking an existing account for more work? You might have to think back to an 8th grade dance for the answer. But to get around any hesitation, follow Bill Farquharson’s advice in this week’s blog.
The One Question That Changes Every Sales Conversation
Sales magic happens when the rep says something that gets the customer talking. In this week’s blog, Bill Farquharson shares the magic words that lead to that moment.
What to Do Every Day When You Don’t Have a Sales Manager
While it’s great to be the owner, without someone telling you want to do, your sales efforts can wane to the point where they don’t exist. In this week’s blog, Bill Farquharson has some sales advice for the one-person sales force.
I Hate Selling…But I Need Sales
Sales growth comes from a lot of different actions, but there is a way to grow sales casually and to the point where opportunities find you. Interested? Read on in this week’s blog.
Your Pipeline is Emotional
It’s the difference between the successful rep and the struggling rep. And it’s the topic of Bill Farquharson’s blog this week.
Downloadable Tools & Templates
AI Prompts for Presentation Prep
Smart AI prompts to help you use ChatGPT effectively for planning and refining your next sales presentation.
Already an Insider? Please login for immediate access.
Tips for Delivering an Effective Presentation
A one-page guide to help you deliver more persuasive, confident, and client-focused sales presentations.
Already an Insider? Please login for immediate access.
Effective Sales Presentation: Pre-Call Readiness Checklist
A practical checklist to confirm you’re ready for your next presentation — from prospect research and objective setting to visuals and follow-up planning.
Already an Insider? Please login for immediate access.
AI & Time Management Prompts for Sales Professionals
Learn how to use AI to plan your day, track goals, and stay accountable. This downloadable guide includes proven ChatGPT prompts for better time management and sales growth.
Already an Insider? Please login for immediate access.
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.
Already an Insider? Please login for immediate access.
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.
Already an Insider? Please login for immediate access.
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.
Already an Insider? Please login for immediate access.
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.
Already an Insider? Please login for immediate access.
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.
Already an Insider? Please login for immediate access.
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.
Already an Insider? Please login for immediate access.
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.
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: 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 […]
Sales Challenges: Do This Before Lowering Your Price
Pop quiz: What would you do in this situation? An existing account is challenging a repeat order. For years, this has been a no-bid customer whose annual sales volume is steady and above-average profitability (read: they’re not being gouged). Strong relationships. A Norm-enters-Cheers greeting every time you are there. You know the type. But one […]
Five Sales Actions Printers Should Take Before 2024
Click your heels together, say “Keifer Sutherland” three times, and poof, just like that 2024 is upon us (see what I did there?). Soon, you will be reading about, making, and quickly breaking New Year’s Resolutions — all intended to drive sales and, especially, new business. But before you go through that disappointing promise-and-fail cycle […]
Sales Challenges: How to Become ‘Vendor of the Year’
All print sales reps should strive to be their clients’ Vendor of the Year, and Bill Farquharson has the steps to help you get there.
Sales Challenges: How to Become Vendor of the Year
I have a secret to share. It’s something I have never told anyone, and I thought hard before confessing it in Printing Impressions. I mean, if I tell you and it happens, does that mean it wouldn’t have had I kept my mouth shut? Or, maybe I’m jinxing myself. But, in the end, only because it’s […]
Sales Challenges: How to Make Prospecting Easier
Every other Thursday, I take guitar lessons. In between, I am assigned homework: Play the pentatonic scales. Learn the fretboard. Do some soloing. I know what to do and I know it will help. And yet, I struggle to find/make the time. It just seems like a big and daunting task: Find a quiet place […]
Do the Majority of Printing Industry Salespeople Have ADD? If So, It May Prove to Be an Advantage
After 30-plus years as a sales coach, it is my educated guess that 50% of all salespeople in the graphic arts have ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). Of those, I would further estimate that 90% have never had it formally diagnosed. What’s going on inside their head is their “normal,” and why would you ever question […]
Tips on Managing the Stressors of Up and Down Periods Typically Found With Printing Sales
We’ve all heard this before: Sell hard in the first quarter and you will have a good second quarter. The three most important selling months of the year are September, October, and November. What you do (or don’t do) in this time period will determine how your 2023 ends and how your 2024 begins. Want […]
Sales Challenges: Getting to Your Next Sales Level
When the 2022 golf season kicked off, my handicap was 23.8. For those of you who aren’t smart enough to know better than to throw untold amounts of time, money, and energy at this frustratingly wonderful sport, that’s not great. My goal was to end the year at a number that rhymes with “green” (as […]
Sales Challenges: The Four-Step Prospecting Plan
Nine out of 10 people reading this column do not follow a prospecting process. Ninety percent of you follow no formal step-by-step, week-by-week system of customer contact. Imagine if advertisers thought like you did. Companies like Coca-Cola, BMW, and Geico would buy print or airtime only when business slumped for a month. Even Verizon would […]
Become an Insider to view this content.
Already a member? Please login for immediate access.