To celebrate the very first Print Herstory Month this March, Girls Who Print are highlighting women in the industry, telling their stories and celebrating their achievements. Kelly Mallozzi’s story is one of success wrapped up in the successes of others as she coaches people to victory in the print industry.
Kelly explains that her favourite part of her roles in the industry was helping to hire the right people, mentoring them and supporting their development. So, starting her own business to focus on guiding people, helping them progress, and market themselves and their businesses effectively was a natural career move.
‘If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting’. A simple and succinct piece of advice that is key to Kelly’s approach – salespeople individually and businesses overall just need to acknowledge this fact, and Kelly can step in and help you make some changes to your performance.
It can be easier said than done, though – there’s a difference between wanting to boost sales performance and being willing to change. If you’re a seasoned professional used to doing things in a certain way after years in the biz, opening up to a new approach and new ways to communicate with clients can be daunting. But sometimes bad habits need to be broken, and Kelly is the woman to wean you off your usual pattern of behaviour.
Another snappy insight from Kelly is her advice for salespeople to be ‘gently relentless’ when aiming to stay on a prospect’s radar. Share or create relevant content, take full advantage of social media and use it to stay connected and valuable to those people and businesses. Tailor your messaging on each platform and channel of communication, and focus on educating and providing something beneficial: ‘if an organisation sees you as having authentic concern for their success, they will award you the business’.
Kelly can’t stress the importance of participating with social media enough – not just as a way of getting your message out there and winning business, but also from an educational standpoint. We can learn so much about the industry, trends and companies themselves by being involved with social media, and Kelly encourages individuals to get active themselves if their company isn’t doing it. And if your company isn’t doing it, why not? What are your competitors doing on social media? ‘If your competitors are using social media, at a minimum you should be doing it too’.
Thinking about the future when considering making changes to your sales strategy is crucial. Times are changing as they tend to do, and you might as well be ready for it. For example, Kelly explains that traffic on our handheld devices will soon eclipse that of desktop and laptops and video will become the preferred method of content consumption within the next decade. What will that mean for how you do business?
But some things never change. One of those things is the fact that people would rather award business to someone they like. Make sure authenticity is always at the heart of your approach, and people will gravitate towards that if they believe you have the best interests of their business at heart.
Finally, another one-liner from Kelly that encapsulates a crucial point: commit to doing more, and doing less. By that, she means ‘more education, less talking about yourself. More learning, less activity that you do just because you think you should. Be more intentional, and less self-serving. Engage more, ask more questions, ask for help, offer help. Do more than you’re doing now.’
Karis Copp is a UK-based writer, journalist and communications expert. With a background as an editor and public relations specialist in the print industry, she now works on a freelance basis covering events, writing on industry news and trends, and working with businesses to help them tell their stories and connect with their customers. Follow her on Twitter @KarisCoppWrites.
