Fans of television courtroom dramas are often captivated by the “gotcha” scenarios in which prosecutors spring a surprise witness or key piece of evidence that makes the jury and court gallery gasp in astonishment. It makes for compelling entertainment, but from a legal standpoint, it’s more fantasy than reality.
As faithful viewers of “Law & Order” or even “My Cousin Vinny” will point out, surprise witnesses aren’t allowed, and any evidence to be entered into the court record must be presented to both prosecution and defense (a.k.a. disclosure). It’s an incredibly transparent process guided by procedures.
Selling production print can have its “gotcha” moments for those account reps who, like Vinny, aren’t fully knowledgeable. Between in-house specialists and the wealth of manufacturer resources at a salesperson’s disposal, learning the rules and procedures of such a nuanced discipline can help guide their way.
To help you, the rep, avoid being held in contempt of client, we’ve turned to the industry’s premier production print manufacturers for perspective, tips and insight into the opportunities that exist in the market. These can help mitigate the degree of unexpected surprises. Your success is in their best interest. Whether it’s for the benefit of a rep or a SME, culling extra guidance can better position your dealer’s team for success.
Robert Barbera
Director, Production Solutions Marketing
Canon U.S.A.
As digital production printing technology advances, the industry landscape continues to be reshaped, opening substantial growth prospects across various verticals. These shifts are driving innovation, improving efficiency and expanding the range of applications and services that production print dealers and resellers can offer their clients.
One significant trend is the migration from analog to digital printing. This allows businesses to adopt newer, more productive digital presses that deliver higher quality, faster turnaround times and greater versatility. Advancements in inkjet and electrophotographic technologies have made digital printing more accessible and efficient, helping expand the range of print applications that can be produced digitally. The PRINTING United Commercial Print Business Outlook Report – Spring 2024 notes that, due to the analog-to-digital transformation, digital print technologies are projected to account for an average of 60.5% of the research panel’s print production by 2026, up from 50.4% today and 40.9% two years ago.
The rapid inclusion of wide-format devices into the production print segments is helping to open new avenues for revenue generation and can be a door opener for dealers. Wide-format printing isn’t just about producing larger prints; it’s about expanding the range of services offered. From banners and posters to vehicle wraps and wall graphics, wide-format solutions cater to diverse applications that can enhance a service portfolio and attract new customer segments.
Assessing possibilities within an existing business is crucial. Evaluating current customers’ needs and identifying areas where digital and wide-format printing can add value is essential. Commercial printers, print franchises, in-plant print operations and marketing agencies are prime candidates for these advanced solutions.
To capitalize on these opportunities, dealers should invest in training and support, ensuring their teams are well-versed in the latest technologies, applications and media. Leveraging vendor partnerships can provide access to cutting-edge technology, subject matter experts, training programs and robust marketing support. Focusing on customer education and taking a consultative sales approach will also drive adoption and illustrate tangible benefits and ROI. By embracing these advancements, your customers can stay ahead of industry trends and meet the evolving demands of their clients.
Juan Carlos Castillo
Director of North America Commercial Channel
Epson America
The dealer resellers are critical partners for Epson’s North American commercial sales teams and channel organizations, which reflect our values and help further our goals and objectives.
Most dealers sell and service office equipment and printers to a wide range of businesses, but there are opportunities to explore new outlooks and expand into adjacent markets that can advance the success of their clients. Because dealers hold a wide range of knowledge and experience with a variety of office technology solutions and suppliers, they can be viewed as solution providers more than just “print” providers.
As Epson continues to expand its business print portfolio with leading-edge technology, innovative solutions and unparalleled benefits, we’re providing additional avenues for dealers to address many customer-specific environments, applications and challenges.
Epson provides a broad, flexible selection of print offerings that enables our dealers to offer their clients unique solutions to expand their offerings. From desktop printers and WorkForce Pro HC for hybrid work-from-home and in-office small businesses to WorkForce Enterprise A3 and A4 MFPs for the mid-volume print market as well as large-format, graphic, photo, textile and on-demand color label printers, our solutions are engineered with Epson’s innovative PrecisionCore technology—a simple, smart and clean solution that delivers outstanding reliability with low waste.
Beyond print, Epson offers go-to-market and cross-selling strategies to broaden its penetration of the corporate market with visual solutions (projection for education and corporate markets), robotics and automation, and point of services solutions (retail, hospitality and banking).
John Fulena
Vice President of Production & Industrial Print, Dealer Sales
Konica Minolta Business Solutions
For dealers looking to diversify their portfolios, production and industrial print is one of the best opportunities for growth. This can include labeling, wide-format, packaging and even embellishment—all segments that continue to grow year over year. It’s about offering something different in the marketplace, anything that provides end-users with something they haven’t used before to enhance products they’re marketing.
Workflows, how machines produce prints, in-line finishing and color management all affect one of the biggest issues our industry is facing right now: labor. You may not need as skilled an operator as you have in the past because the machine is much more automated and has feature sets that allow it to run on its own with way less intervention than in the past.
We’re seeing more offset to digital take place, again due to the labor issue. Even some large commercial printers with traditional printing presses are hard-pressed to find operators. And as they move some of that work to digital, we now have digital devices that from a quality, productivity and workflow standpoint can do some of the same volumes that those offset presses have done in the past. This is especially common in the commercial print world where we see continued consolidation. Additionally, the efficiencies of these machines enable printers to do things they never could before.
And it’s not just about the equipment—service and support are equally (if not more) important. Dealers working with Konica Minolta can leverage our expertise in order to be successful. This is especially true for smaller dealers that may not have an analyst or technical resources. They may rely on the salesperson for everything, which isn’t always the best path. This gives us the ability to provide our support and services, which include many post-sale items such as initial training, installation and continued education for the end-users. All of this allows dealers to focus on what they do best: selling.
Dustin Graupman
Senior Director, Inkjet Division
Kyocera Document Solutions America
At Kyocera, we’re excited to highlight how our inkjet-based commercial printers can be a game-changer for dealers looking to grow their business. In a landscape where many production print OEMs are streamlining their direct sales and technical service groups, there’s a perfect opportunity for dealers to step up and provide the local sales and service support customers expect for their production equipment.
With laser and toner technology now a mature field, customers already understand the reliability and quality it offers. However, they also seek the peace of mind that comes with competent and prompt servicing, which is challenging to OEMs to provide. This creates a distinct advantage for dealers to be more responsive to customers versus many OEMs, who often struggle to provide local staffing.
Entry cutsheet inkjet technology, such as our TASKalfa Pro 15000c, offers a compelling alternative for customers who have applications and monthly volumes that can be migrated away from laser- and toner-based systems. This technology provides extraordinary cost-per-copy benefits and remarkably high uptime, all at acquisition prices comparable to toner production solutions.
Moreover, as many small production shops retire their offset equipment and see seasoned operators retire as well, cutsheet inkjet technology presents a cost-effective, high-performing alternative. Unlike offset printing, which requires months or years of training, cutsheet inkjet systems can be operated by a broader range of employees after just a few days of training.
Our commitment to innovation ensures that dealers have access to the latest technology and support, enabling them to meet the evolving needs of the market. With Kyocera, you’re not just offering a product but a comprehensive solution that helps build strong customer relationships and grow your business. Let’s work together to expand your offerings and seize the opportunities in today’s dynamic printing landscape.
Brian Balow
Vice President of Graphic Communications—Production Solutions
Ricoh USA
Accelerated market changes and new customer demands have dealers looking for new ways to diversify their portfolio offerings beyond the traditional A3/A4 print technology. While cloud solutions, artificial intelligence and content management are great ways to do this, print in its truest form still provides many advantages, and production print is a great strategy to grow their annuity base.
A growing trend is that more companies are challenged with creating demand and making their brand/product stand out. With email fatigue on the rise, marketers are seeking high-quality, captivating printed materials such as direct mail and multi-channel marketing strategies. Whether choosing to produce in-house or use commercial printers, marketers can leverage a highly personalized and targeted approach with Ricoh’s total production portfolio to increase response rates and improve marketing ROI.
With the global printer market expected to grow at CAGR of 4.07% from 2023-2028 in areas such as marketing materials, variable data and high-quality color, we believe dealers are in the best position to make the most of this increasing segment. As the trusted print provider, adding production hardware and software solutions is a natural progression to augment their high-speed A3 lineups. They can start by adding production solutions such as the RICOH Pro C5300 and Ricoh Fusion Pro software, which are perfect for marketing agencies, SMBs and in-plants looking to bring more creative work in-house.
While taking on production print requires putting the right resources in place for production sales, equipment and service, the potential ROI for dealers is great. We’ve seen many of our dealers already realize success. This includes Les Olson Company, who made the transition using the resources and training Ricoh provides for dealers to transform their business and achieve production print sales superiority in this thriving market segment.
Kent Villarreal
Senior Manager, Product Management, Production Print
Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America
In today’s digital age, businesses seek distinctive printing solutions to convey their brand identities effectively, with print embellishments becoming increasingly popular. Imaging dealers can capitalize on this trend by exploring opportunities in the production print market.
The production print market is challenging, as in-house or commercial print shop owners must differentiate their businesses through creative embellishments while managing assets efficiently under tighter customer requirements and budgets, with faster turnaround times and various substrates. Dealers entering this space need to understand each customer’s unique challenges before proposing solutions. This involves a discovery process that identifies specific business needs, such as understanding a company’s primary clients, productivity issues and competitors. When speaking with potential clients, dealers should also inquire about print volume, media types and weights, applications in use and productivity bottlenecks.
To be successful, allocating dedicated resources within a dealer’s sales and service organization to production print is crucial. Additionally, partnering with the right technology company has the benefit of guiding newcomers in selling and servicing devices, which helps their production print businesses grow. This includes ensuring access to application partners for support in products such as finishing, custom print embellishments and software solutions.
We provide support, training and resources for both experienced and novice dealers in this space, collaborating with application partners specializing in finishing, custom embellishments and digital solutions. The Sharp BP-1200S six-color production printing system offers automation in calibration, registration, media management and finishing. With the capability to produce 120 pages per minute of full color at heavy media weights up to 400 gsm, the system supports high-value, high-margin products, which can help a print shop’s bottom line. Additionally, its six-color embellishment feature aligns with the current trend of businesses creating vibrant printed materials with tailored messaging that are sure to stand out from the competition and give clients the edge that they need to thrive.
Jessica Bernardo
Senior Product Marketing Manager
Toshiba America Business Solutions
Toshiba’s Duplex Linerless Thermal Printer (DL1024) significantly simplifies everyday packaging applications for shipping and logistics operations. Beyond streamlining everyday tasks for warehouse professionals, this printing innovation reduces costs and boosts productivity while helping organizations meet the demand for more sustainable printing solutions.
The DL1024 simultaneously prints on both sides of a label without using a liner or backing material. Such ingenuity eliminates the plastic pouch and additional packing slip without producing any label liner waste, enabling organizations to function more sustainably.
Using the Premier Print & Services Group’s Linerless DuplexPackSlip label, the DL1024 reduces up to 40% of labeling costs. The printer meets this objective by reducing the consumables for an extra label as well as the materials necessary for attaching a packing list to a parcel. The DL1024 dramatically minimizes the labor time for applying package labels. Rapidly delivering up to 24 labels per minute via a considerable 3,000-label roll capacity, it further enhances efficiency by reducing downtime with fewer label roll changes. Crisp and clear labeling is also a snap considering the system’s near-edge printhead design and 203 dots-per-inch resolution.
Moreover, a vibrant and intuitive 10.1” LCD touchscreen control panel creates even more value for logistics personnel. Touting ruggedized components throughout, the DL1024 also withstands the harsh conditions many warehouses and distribution centers present. The printer won the Gold Stevie Award for sustainability and presents resellers with a unique solution for clients seeking to address high-volume logistics printing while helping meet their eco objectives in the process.
Karl Boissonneault
Leader Xerox Canada and North America Channels
Xerox Corp.
The production print market offers a significant opportunity for dealers, whether they’re expanding their presence in the market’s color and monochrome segments or just getting started. The continued migration of page volume from offset to digital presses provides a great avenue to capture new business.
One of our top strategic priorities is long-term client success. In production print, this means bringing innovative, differentiated solutions wrapped around best-in-class print hardware in an unmatched end-to-end production ecosystem to deliver increased productivity and improved profitability. The Xerox Production Ecosystem includes five elements: productivity, workflow automation, AI-driven service delivery, data security and reduced environmental impact. Using our suite of Xerox FreeFlow Workflow Software, Predictive AI Pro and XMPie, clients can achieve greater productivity and competitiveness across pre-press to finishing, maximizing the value of their investment.
In addition, Xerox leads the industry with our Beyond CMYK In-Line Embellishments—the broadest capabilities in the market—enabling print providers to capture new business with applications that help their customers stand out from the crowd and drive more revenue and profit. The award-winning Xerox Genesis Initiative, an exclusive business development program, ensures that designers and print service providers are equipped with the tools to design, market, price and sell beyond CMYK applications.
These differentiators provide dealers a fantastic opportunity to capture new business in the print production market as clients look to improve efficiency, lower costs and optimize profitability, all while creating stunning output. New innovative technologies in automation and workflows help eliminate costly manual touchpoints, and specialized inks and media help clients stand out from the competition.
For dealers ready to take the leap, it’s critical to understand the requirements of this demanding market, including expertise in color management, digital front ends and service requirements. Don’t go at it alone—take advantage of your manufacturer’s resources to ensure success.
