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Selling Strategies for In-plant Printers

Selling Strategies for In-plant Printers

Selling Strategies: In-plant – Episode Summary

In this insightful episode of The Print University, Ryan McAbee and Pat McGrew tackle the unique dynamics of “selling” within in-plant print environments. While many in-plants don’t view themselves as sales organizations, the reality is every team member plays a sales role—making this a critical topic for printing industry training programs for new employees and print shop employee onboarding templates.

In-plants serve internal stakeholders—departments within corporations, government entities, or educational institutions—and sometimes external clients. Because these operations often function as cost centers, they rely on policies, relationships, and service value to retain internal work. The episode emphasizes that in-plant teams must advocate for their services: informing departments of capabilities, assisting with project scoping, and justifying cost or turnaround advantages versus external printers.

The discussion covers internal selling best practices, like maintaining visibility through onboarding programs, establishing branded ordering portals, and partnering with IT to integrate the in-plant into enterprise software workflows. The hosts highlight how deep institutional knowledge gives in-plants an edge, but only if they communicate it clearly and consistently. They also explore how outsourcing management, pricing visibility, and job assessments can strengthen value perception.

While in-plant “sales” may not involve cold calling, it’s a strategic function that requires storytelling, responsiveness, and internal marketing—especially in environments where departments are free to send work elsewhere.

You Will Learn:

  • How in-plants sell internally without formal sales reps

  • Techniques for onboarding awareness, departmental outreach, and capability education

  • Tools like branded online portals that improve ordering, pricing, and visibility

  • Best practices in outsourcing control, turnaround management, and assessments

  • Why every in-plant employee is part of the sales process

Who This Course Is For:

In-plant managers, internal service teams, onboarding leaders, and staff in corporate, educational, or government print environments seeking outsourced training for print production staff or lean manufacturing training printing industry

Time to Watch:

Approx. 18 minutes