Gimbel & Associates Blog

4 Main Steps to Success

Creating a Business Marketing Plan for Inkjet includes several steps. Success relies upon an honest evaluation of the print service provider and a detailed analysis of customers, competitors, and market trends. If inkjet is new to everyone in the organization, or an introspective examination of the current condition is difficult, then ask for opinions from outside observers and experts to help build the business plan.

S.W.O.T.

The first step in creating an inkjet business marketing plan is assessing the current         state of the operation. We always start with an objective analysis of strengths and weaknesses. Then we identify new opportunities inkjet provides and get a handle on risks and threats to the company’s success as a provider of inkjet printing services.

Common strengths we measure include sales skills, vertical market expertise, and existing contracts. Identified weaknesses might be skilled labor shortages, buyer perceptions compared to competitors, or high overhead costs.

Inkjet presents so many opportunities print service providers may need to decide which areas they want to exploit first and which can wait until they have more experience. Examples include expansion into new vertical markets, soliciting larger or smaller clients than previously served, and developing new applications that leverage the speed, price, and flexibility of inkjet. Because inkjet is more about data than other printing technologies, offering digital services beyond print but using the same data sources may be ways to deepen customer relationships.

Threats are highly specific to individual organizations, geographies, and markets. They might include competitors also entering the inkjet world, contract terms, overall economic conditions, or mergers and acquisitions involving key accounts.

Early adopters of inkjet printing were often challenged to find enough pages to fill their newly acquired capacity. Lower production cost was an attractive aspect of inkjet, but those savings only materialized when there was enough volume to cover the overhead. Companies had to convert existing applications to the inkjet platform and convince customers inkjet was a reasonable alternative.

These inkjet pioneers weren’t bad business people, they just suffered through the issues that come with any breakthrough product or technique. A “Field of Dreams” situation forced printing companies to invest first and then unearth the work. Printers migrated inkjet jobs from traditional presses; either their own or from competitors. This was normal for many printing companies.

Inkjet Advancements Exhibited at Drupa

How To Turn Your Staff Into Consultative Sellers

In a previous post I pointed out the need to transition to consultative selling from traditional approaches used by most print service providers. This isn’t an easy task. Retraining a sales team to use a different set of skills is a hard thing to do. It doesn’t involve just the salespeople; it is an enterprise-wide effort. Top management must support consultative selling as part of their company culture to change the mindset from focusing on print jobs to enabling customers’ business goals. It’s about why they print, not what.

One of the most important concepts to ingrain in your salespeople is that relationships come first and selling comes second. Building relationships with customers includes developing trust and credibility. To earn that trust salespeople must take a true interest in understanding client needs, demonstrating empathy, and always maintaining integrity.

Why You Should Care About Consultative Selling

Over the last several years journalists and experts have advised printing companies they must change to be competitive in a multi-channel communications world. Many print providers have responded by updating hardware, software, and technology. We think the key to successfully generating revenue from those investments, and the way to expand your business, is by adopting a consultative approach to working with your customers. We’ve already helped many clients make that transition.

Consultative selling is different from the method used for decades in the print business, best described as “commodity” or “transactional” selling. In a typical print services sales presentation, the salesperson spends most of their time describing what their company has to offer. The conversation is dominated with details such as printing specifications, papers, finishing capabilities, mail preparation, and volume price breaks.

Today - “Here is what we have – want to buy it?”

In a print focused, commodity-type relationship, the print services discussed are generally available from many providers and the buyer has many vendors to choose from. The most important distinguishing factor is price. Customer loyalty is tenuous at best. If you are selling print in a price based relationship, the value of continuing to do business with your company can be easily diminished or eliminated by lower prices touted by the competition.

Transactional customer relationships are a bit stronger than commodity selling in that a print service provider may have developed a niche or specialization within a certain market or service. Their record of performance and limited competition allows them to charge more, but leaves little room for expanding customer relationships beyond that particular area of expertise. Customers may keep coming back because there are no viable options. Once they find an alternative though, accounts become vulnerable.

Print providers are in an excellent position to help their customers understand the unique benefits of print communications, how to get the greatest return from their investments in printed material, and how to integrate print and digital media to raise the effectiveness of all the channels. Focusing on how customers benefit from their services is the way to get customers thinking of a print service provider as a strategic partner rather than a vendor.

 This requires shifting sales conversations away from production-related specifications such as print volumes, finishing, and paper stocks. Value-added discussions should be about business goals such as conversion rates, customer retention, upselling, lifetime customer value, and customer experience. 

Increase Your Print Sales:

Here’s an ideal vehicle for telling customers and prospects how they can generate enormous sales and revenue opportunities with variable-data printing (VDP). Written for marketers and printers alike, the individualized media essentials book focuses on how VDP is opening up individualized marketing, in which each direct mail piece can be tailored to the unique needs and buying preferences of every member of the target audience.

• In this book you’ll fnd: 

  • A printer’s ­perspective providing selling and workfow tips and considerations
  • A marketer’s perspective describing the opportunities
  • Case studies and a useful glossary of industry terms and resources
  • A go-forward guide that outlines each player’s role

Complimentary Copies Available

Gimbel & Associates has a limited number of complimentary copies of individualized media essentials available on a first come basis, one per person/company within the continental US only.   

To get your free copy click on the book and fill out the order form. Your copy will be shipped in 7-10 days.