You didn’t just spend all that time putting together a presentation only to staple it together and hand it to someone without a cover on it, did you? And no, that piece of paper with a title on it is not what we’re talking about. You might as well put a label on the presentation that says “Throw me away as soon as He Leaves”, because that is exactly what your prospect is going to do. With affordable pocket folder printing available from CanDo Printing, why would you endanger your chances of success by putting out something cheap like that as a visual representation of your company?

By now, we’ve all heard the expression, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” It was made famous by a shampoo company, the premise being that dandruff flakes would turn someone off immediately at the first meeting. If your presentation has no custom folder when you hand it to a new prospect, you just blew it. Your sales pitch now has dandruff on it and the person hearing or seeing it is always going to remember that’s the way you first approached them. That’s a difficult prejudice to overcome – one that didn’t have to be there in the first place.

The presentation itself is only half of the package. A custom presentation folder is the wrapping on that package, the element of the first introduction that tells someone you care about what they think. Once they see that your name and logo are on the outside, with colorful and informative material about what you do on the inside, you have a chance to make a sale. Those walls that come up when the prospect is subjected to a sales pitch go down a little bit once they can see you have nothing to hide. The folder has made it clear that you want them to know as much about you as possible.

CanDo Printing lives up to its name every day. If you need to raise your sales numbers, we can help you do it. If you want to clean up your image or establish a brand, we can help you do that too. Don’t underestimate the power of printing in your success or failure. Printing folders may seem like a minor detail to you now, but try a batch and you’ll see your sales numbers go up significantly. They make a big difference.

There are two ways to look at an outlay of funds. It can be classified as an expense, which is when you spend money on something and get nothing back, or it can be classified as an investment, which is when you spend money and get a return that is equal or greater than the initial amount you put out. Presentation folders definitely fall into the second category. On your balance sheet they might be listed as an expense, one that you can deduct, but the reality is that they are an investment. The return you’ll get from a single custom presentation folder will be far more than what you pay for it.

What is the profit margin for your average sale? An order of one hundred standard printed pocket folders will cost you $399. How many sales do you need to make to cover that? For many companies, that’s a single new client, assuming the client is going to buy in bulk or do business with you on a regular basis. That means that the first folder to close a deal pays for all the rest. Do you think that your salespeople will only get one sale in one hundred presentations? If that’s the case, you need a new salesperson. A one percent close rate is unacceptable in any industry.

Let’s look at another scenario. You can purchase 500 side pocket folders for $965, under $2.00 per folder. Assuming the profit margin number is the same here as it was in the last paragraph; your salespeople now need to make 2.5 sales to cover that expense. The close rate goes from one percent to one half of one percent. Do you feel that pocket folder printing is still an expense, or are you beginning to see it as an investment? The numbers don’t lie. If the presentation folders we produce for you are instrumental in closing the sale, you are going to make a profit on them.

How much of a difference does a custom presentation folder make? Statistically, your salespeople should be able to double their close rate if they provide each prospect with a folder containing comprehensive, attractive printed information about your products and services. If that material is in a custom folder with your name and logo on it, their close rate will go even higher. It’s all about branding and the appearance of legitimacy. Price is an issue too, but in today’s information age credibility is more important. That’s what a printed presentation folder gives you, that and a return on your investment.

Just in case you were thinking that you had to order the standard front pocket design for your custom sales presentation or company information package, think again. Here at CanDo Printing we have a large variety of different designs to choose from, including side pocket folders, legal folders, and landscape folders. Our pocket folder printing service, as you can see if you browse though our website, is customizable to your needs with different designs and layouts, custom printing, and different colors.

Side pocket folders are one of the most affordable options we have available. Even if you place an order for only a small amount, you’ll still end up paying less than $2.00 per folder. If you’re putting together large numbers of information packages to be handed out or mailed, they could be your best choice. They offer a very different look from the standard front pocket folders, so your prospective clients and customers won’t end up confusing you with your competitors. It helps that our side pocket folders will have your company name, logo, and contact information displayed across the front.

What else do we have available for pocket folder designs? We can provide you custom presentation folders that are sized for 9 x 12 legal documents. We also go in the other direction – mini-folders that you can place 4 x 6, 4 x 9, or 6 x 9 documents into for counter or desktop convenience. Those smaller handouts sometimes do better than the large ones, particularly if you’re marketing to women. They fit easily into a purse or shoulder bag and might even end up riding in the glove compartment or console of the car for regular reference and referral to others.

Landscape pocket folders are great for printed slides from a Powerpoint presentation. Tabbed folders can be stored in a file cabinet and easily accessed. Reinforced pocket folders are a popular choice for busy salespeople on the go, and tri-fold folders give you more room to store additional documentation. Here at CanDo Printing, you’re not stuck with that same old standard front pocket folder design. We have so much more and we’re happy to print any one of these choices with your company name on it.

This is an exciting time for you. Your new business, originally just an idea you had in the shower one morning, is about to become a reality. Do you have everything you need for the big launch day? Business cards are necessary, of course. Company stationary might be a good idea. Did you design a logo or are you going with something generic? Either is okay; just make sure the printing is top quality. Speaking of printing, did you add printed folders to the shopping list? You’re going to need them.

The price of a printed folder is easily justified when you assess the value, especially for a new business. You’re going to be trying to make a name for yourself, passing out your logo and company information to as many folks as possible to try to bring in new business. That material needs to be packaged properly if anyone is going to take you seriously. How can that happen if you’re giving away blank folders, cheap tri-folds, or fliers that end up in the trash five minutes after you hand them out?

Your company information, should anyone ask for it, should be presented in a printed folder with your company name, address and logo printed on the outside cover. Your printed sales presentations should be inside a custom presentation folder for the best results. Just because you’re new doesn’t mean that you have to present the image of someone on a shoestring budget. Printed presentation folders can be ordered in small quantities when you first start out or you can order larger quantities and save. CanDo printing, like our name suggests, can come up with an option that works for you.

Most new businesses that fail do so in their first year of operation. If you’ve done your homework you already know that. What you might not know is that those failing businesses sometimes crash because the owners refused to spend money to make money. Some expenses are frivolous in the first year and should be put aside for later consideration. Printed folders don’t fall into that category. They’re worth every penny you spend on them because they help you build your image and reputation as a company that pays attention to every small detail. Customers and clients like that.

Every account rep or salesperson goes through it. That deal that looked like it was a lock just dropped out from under you. How did it happen? You did everything right. The sales pitch was right on point, the prospect seemed to be listening intently, and the questions you fielded afterwards sounded like those that would come from someone who already made their decision. What went wrong? Did you lose that deal because you didn’t have a custom presentation folder to house your company info in?

It might sound petty, but when the time comes for a decision, prospective clients and customers look at everything before they make their choice. Your in-person sales pitch may have been great, but was everyone involved in the decision-making process in the room when you made it? The materials you left behind for them to review might be the only piece of your presentation that makes it upstairs to the final authority. The pitch only opened the door for you. Can the presentation folder stand alone?

Step back in time a few decades and salespeople spent most of their time pitching business owners who had checkbooks under the counter that they could pull out to make a payment and close the deal. In the 80’s and 90’s there were more Mom and Pop businesses in America and you could expect to get results after just one visit. Today, in a retail world controlled by corporate giants like Wal-Mart and Lowe’s, you’re lucky to get within three levels of the real decision makers. Your presentation folders might have to do the work for you if you can’t get through in person.

Now go back to the first paragraph and ask this question again. Did you lose that deal because you didn’t have a custom presentation folder? Put yourself in the shoes of a corporate decision maker. You get hundreds of proposals every day. The ones in the blank folders get tossed in the waste paper basket. The tri-folds get a quick glance, but rarely a second and more detailed perusal. The custom printed folder with comprehensive details about your company gets serious consideration. That’s how it works. Presentation is everything, even when you can’t be there to present it in person.

Are you on commission? If you are, did you know that there are two types of commission salespeople? There are those who only rely on the support and materials given to them by the company they work for to give them what they need to close sales. That support is generally minimal, because the company is paying on commission. They want to reward for results, not pay for effort. The other type of commission salesperson – the one who thinks outside the box and adds that extra touch to a project, like a custom presentation folder for instance – understands that.

A salesperson who treats his commission job like a business of his own will always be more successful than a salesperson that turns to the company he works for when he needs something. If you’re in sales, you should have a budget for materials that will help you sell. The company you are selling on behalf of might not want to budget presentation folder printing, but you should. That added extra touch can be the difference between a yes and a no after your presentation is over. How many times have you done a follow-up and the prospect asked you to resend written material?

Those resends are not because your prospect is disorganized. One of two things happened. They were unimpressed by either your sales pitch or your presentation package. If it was your sales pitch, they probably wouldn’t ask for new material, though some folks do that just because they can’t say no. Eliminate both of those reasons and you come up with a simple solution. Your written package is terrible. It’s time to redesign it and this time you’ll want to order some presentation folders to put it in.

If you’ve been in sales for a while, you know that most prospects put the walls up the moment you walk through the door. Even if they’re receptive to what you’re offering, they are still trying to talk themselves out of it based on price or indecisiveness over which provider to choose. As a salesperson, you need to make that choice easy for them. Keep presentation folder printing as a regular budget item and make sure all your presentations are sharp and clear. That should raise your close rate a bit.

Here’s the scenario. You hire the best salespeople in your industry. You put a team of people on the task of creating a presentation package that includes numbers, statistics, competitive analysis, and bright visual graphics designed to capture the reader’s attention and draw the eye to what you want your prospective clients or customers to see. You do all of this work and then you put all that material into – a plain, unmarked folder? That makes no sense at all. Your winning presentation isn’t complete without a custom presentation folder to put it in.

Before the development of offset printing and high gloss paper, clients and customers listened carefully to the words of the salesperson presenting the package, asking questions when they weren’t clear on something. Today, those questions are answered by the presentation package. The sales pitch, if it happens at all, is generally looked at as a necessary inconvenience. The average buyer will collect dozens of different presentations from different vendors or service providers and make their choice based on the printed package, not the salesperson’s verbal presentation.

The concept applies inside the office as well as outside. Presentations to the board of directors, sales meetings with subordinates, and staff meetings where new products and services are discussed can all benefit from presentation folders that clearly state the purpose and summary of the contents. You can order folders with the company name and logo and the words “Staff Meeting” or “Board Presentation” on them or you can get more detailed if you feel the subject matter justifies it. “Expansion Initiative” is a topic you might want to print separate custom folders for.

They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, but yet so many people do. What does the cover of your presentation look like? If you come to CanDo Printing and order custom presentation folders we can make sure that everyone who views that presentation, whether they open the folder or not, knows exactly what it contains. Your odds of getting customers, clients, staff, or your boss to pay attention to what you have to say get better with the right presentation folder. Call us and we’ll create that folder for you.