What do customers pay for?
I agree with your comment, "If we all did our jobs, and stopped the blaming and the whining, it would be a better world all around." A printing company is a team, and all members must complete their duties efficiently for the company to prosper and grow.
However I totally disagree with your comment, "The sales process and the sales and CSR's who manage that process are the only people who bring in money. Everyone else is spending money. Sorry, but that lazy sales schleps are paying everyone's salary." Our customers are paying for a product, and that product is created by the production staff of the company. No one is paying to have lunch with the sales staff, no one is paying to go golfing with the sales staff, they are paying for printed material, which sales and the CSRs do not create. The product of a printing company is printed material, not manufactured friendships with the sales department.
There are plenty of printing companies that do not use traditional sales reps, but have instead turned desktop operators into a mix of CSR/desktop/sales. The worker takes a call generated from web advertising, takes the order and files, and produces the finished product. Voila! No sales rep needed. And this model can work for some companies. How does this company make money? According to your statements this company should only be spending and losing money since there are no SALESMEN to pay everyone's salary. Instead these types of production models are becoming more common, and they make money in the absence of a dedicated sales staff.
As you stated we need to all do our jobs. This includes sales people learning something about the process that creates the work that they sell. I am a Pre-press manager and I take calls from customers, I help them through technical problems and I prepare training material for them and their employees. This is done in addition to producing consistently high quality print work. In short, I develop a relationship with them that is a value added feature of doing business with us. Sales more often seems to feel that their only responsibilities are to have lunch with the customers, hand out tickets for the local sports team to prospects, golf, attend business expos, etc.; when in fact they are a also a part of the production team. Sales need to not only bring in the orders but also facilitate it's proper completion in house. Learn what files need to be supplied to pre-press, what your presses are capable of, how to easily transfer digital proofs, etc. You are not selling in a vacuum. Printing is not just about talking it is about doing.
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