Entering a new product offering is often fraught with potential pitfalls. The allure of net-new business comes with a caveat for competency. Building from the ground up takes a commitment of not only time and money, but consideration. How will this offering fare among my customer base? How long will it take before we will see a profit, and what is the initial investment needed?
In the office technology space, many of the same disciplines are bandied about: MPS, managed IT, ECM and (this month) light-production printing. During my days of covering the commercial printing industry, one of the more popular avenues for growth was packaging printing. To be honest, the B2B media may have been singing its praises, but that dog wouldn’t hunt. There were (and are) far too many roadblocks: seasoned packaging printing providers are firmly entrenched with the equipment and technology, have the highest certifications and are ultra-proficient in what they do, and their customers absolutely love and respect their work. Want to provide packaging for pharmaceuticals or food, and deal with the bevy of federal regulations?
Not all adjacencies are readily accessible, but fortunately, there’s no velvet rope blocking the entrance to light-production printing. Our panel of office technology professionals has graciously provided their advice, pro bono, on ways to effectively maneuver into this market.
Hunter McCarty, RJ Young
Nashville, TN-based RJ Young is one dealer that frequently receives calls from fellow dealers, wanting to “dip their toe in the water” of light-production printing. That it entails a significant dollar investment, along with training and infrastructure, scares away many who don’t or can’t make the commitment to get into it properly.
“If you get the right person in the program aligned with the territory reps, then, in my opinion, there’s no reason you won’t be able to see a profit in the first year,” noted Young’s Hunter McCarty. “The first few months are slow, but once you get the product going out and the service people trained, it can pick up quickly. The ongoing investment will produce the clicks that you want, which is what this business is all about. It’s not as much about the hardware as it is the aftermarket.
“Over 18-24 months, you’re going to start to see those residuals show up. The longer you stay in the program and maintain it, the better it gets. You have to be able to bite the bullet for 12-18 months and get the right point person, which is the key.”
It is essential for dealers to be able to provide their customers with the tools to succeed at light-production printing, and that entails aligning with manufacturers that have a solid reputation in the market, according to Sean Sullins, senior vice president of sales for Cincinnati-based Prosource. Building a sound infrastructure is also critical for success, given the immediacy of service needs.
Sean Sullins, Prosource
“The requirements and capabilities are different when it comes to taking care of these customers,” Sullins said. “The sense of urgency, turnaround time…the ability to have people on staff to dive deep into the application, test it and make sure they’re doing everything they can to make the product work for the customer is essential. If you don’t, you can scale pretty quickly but lose a lot of customers, which kind of leads into other segments of your business.”
With numerous OEMs becoming proficient in offering high-quality printing systems, the real key lies in partnering with manufacturers who can best help support the machines. Lauren Hanna, production print manager for Blue Technologies of Cleveland, is also a firm believer in utilizing the team approach and establishing open lines of communication through monthly and quarterly meetings to keep everyone in the loop. As the tech is in the field daily with customers, getting feedback from all angles within the team has allowed Blue Technologies to stay atop its game.
Hanna believes dealers should take a proactive approach in providing guidance for the client, but remain mindful that many of these customers, particularly the commercial and in-plant spaces, are already fluent in many aspects of light-production printing.
Lauren Hanna, Blue Technologies
“These people know what they know, which is a lot, especially for those customers who survived the last recession,” she said. “You can’t go in and expect to tell them what they need to do. You can show them things to enhance what they’re currently doing, but you have to respect their experience. The direct printer knows way more than any of us dealers can know. If you can respect that experience, they’ll be your best allies.”
Aside from casting a production printing specialist who also has a knowledge of the Adobe Creative Suite and front-end workflow development, your dealership’s point person should also have the patience of a turtle. That’s the ideal candidate in the eyes of Barry Simon, the president of Datamax.
“Building respect in this segment takes time, patience and sometimes leads to multiple losses before you win in an account,” he said. “Make sure your dealership is committed to the program and it is not approaching it halfheartedly. It is a major commitment that will push your dealership’s ability, so you will always be adapting current service delivery beyond your current comfort level, or your customers will find someone else who will.”
Barry Simon, Datamax
Simon also cited several traps that can ensnare the best intentions of a dealership. One example is contracting an account at a seemingly profitable per-copy price that turns out to be a losing rate, which can be disastrous based on large volumes run.
“The start-up for a dealer is very slow to build momentum, so keep the faith and continue the push,” Simon remarked. “Over-prepare your service abilities before you place equipment. News of service failures will spread quickly in this tight-knit community.”
