What is in store for your markets in the new century? How will advancements in technology affect your sales? How will you build and retain a winning team for your company in the tightest labor market in decades? Those are just a few of the questions and challenges facing the graphic arts industry as we enter the new millennium.

In a half-day seminar entitled "Momentum for the Millennium," a sold out audience of graphic arts industry owners an entrepreneurs got some answers from keynote speaker Séan McArdle, Founder and Chairman of LifeAnswers, Inc. The Graphic Arts Advisory Network of Creative Financial Group sponsored the seminar, held at the Philadelphia Airport Marriott on January 18th. Co-sponsors of the event included Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company, National Penn Bank, and The Safegard Group, Inc.

Known as the $100 Million Salesman, McArdle focused on helping attendees see the future of the industry by highlighting several new and innovative ways to expand and grow their business in the 21st century.

REACH TEN TIMES THE PROSPECTS AND SELL THEM IN HALF THE TIME
Who wouldn't like to turn their sales force into "on purpose" sales machines? During the seminar, attendees learned McArdle's secrets for streamlining the selling process. He discussed how to take advantage of high-tech tools that allow companies to transform databases into prospects, prospect into relationships, and relationships into sales. He also revealed the proven strategies that allow you to take prospects from "hello" to "yes" in half the time it takes you now.

THE "PADDLE-WHEEL" SELLING METHOD
"You must picture your markets as a river, and you are the captain of the riverboat," said McArdle. Hence the term "Paddle-Wheel" to describe the technique that is based on the most widely distributed selling system in the history of the printing industry, The Art & Science of PRINTING SALES.

According to the Paddle-Wheel approach, "you need to create as many different ways as possible to give your prospects a whap until they give in and start doing business with you," McArdle said. "It's like beating their head against a wall - if feels so good when you stop."

DESIGNING THE ULTIMATE "PADDLE-WHEEL" WITH HIGH TECH TOOLS
Once you understand the concept, designing the various paddles that make up your wheel become a bit easier. McArdle suggests that you develop at least ten paddles for your riverboat - with each one designed to tell the prospect more about your company's unique value. If you're doing the job right, eventually the combined effect of the paddles "whapping" the river (i.e. marketplace), will make more prospects want to jump into your boat."

It may sound easy, but there are some pitfalls that can trip you up along the way. McArdle pointed to research conducted by The Printing Industries of America that suggests that it takes anywhere from seven to ten sales calls to get a prospect to place their first order. That same research also suggests that an average salesperson gives up after just four calls. What this means is that companies need to find a way to "speed up the paddle-wheel" - and for this you need to take advantage of technology.

McArdle revealed how to use resources such CD-ROM databases and contact management software to help keep track of your paddles, and to ensure that your sales force won't stop "whapping" promising prospects until they've "been hit on the head at least 15 times."

Other technologies that must be embraced, according to McArdle, include the Internet and digital printing. Based on years of working with printers of all shapes and sizes, McArdle shared his experience on what it takes to have the right mix of technology and equipment to sell out your capacity.

BUILDING AND RETAINING A WINNING TEAM
While utilizing new technology like the Internet, sophisticated contact-management software, and digital printing is crucial, McArdle stressed that it's important to remember that "no software will tell you what to say. That's the art of selling printing." It's for this reason that finding, and keeping, top-notch employees is one of the most crucial elements of your company's success. To help employers with this seemingly impossible task, McArdle shared his five-point program for attracting the best employees in the graphic arts industry and keeping them on board.