St. Louis • Renaissance St. Louis Hotel–Airport
Candid Exchanges Dominate Small Distributor Summit
It was another record-setting year for DMIA's Small Distributor Summit, with more than 80 attendees, a third of whom were first-timers. At the March 17-19 meeting, owners of smaller distributorships (less than $2.5 million in annual sales) learned about new trends within the ever-evolving printing industry, and they created new networks of business advisors and friends.
The meeting format provided lots of opportunities to openly ask practical and candid questions such as "How do you tackle health care insurance for employees?" and "How do you limit how much access CSRs have to company information?" The summit also had the unique distinction of taking place in St. Louis, near where it was conceived four years ago by Paul Edwards, CDC, president of FormStore Incorporated, Fenton, Mo.
Discussion highlights:
"Speed will be the future competitive advantage, but it is already an area in which distributors are doing very well."
—Emerging Industry Trends
Ivars Sarkans, Sarkans & Associates"Only 3 percent of businesses are better prepared today for a natural disaster than the 1901 earthquake in San Francisco...As business owners you've invested significant amount of time and resources into making your business work. Now manage your risk."
— Disaster Preparedness: What Plans Do you Have in Place to Stay in Business if a Natural Disaster Strikes?
Dick Gray, CDC, Xtension Technologies"The majors have consolidated greatly, and independent distributors have developed as a result of these consolidations. One of the major advantages of being an independent distributor is that we can pivot on a dime."
— Distributor Partnerships
Bob Penn, The Ampersand Group"When you consider buying another company, go to a business broker, network with associations like DMIA, and even talk to your vendors. Talk to your customers. Find out if they know companies that are willing to sell."
— Purchasing Another Distributorship
Dave Vener, Impress Printing and Graphics"I recommend for distributors Enfocus Pitstop Professional to edit customer files. This tool has advanced editing capabilities that are unavailable in Adobe Acrobat Professional."
— Graphics and Clients: Don't You Love it When a Client Hands You a Disk and Says 'Print This?'
Robb Tipton, Star Business Products"Our focus is building around the Xbox generation. Our customers are becoming more comfortable making purchases over the web. Now small can compete with big."
— E-Commerce 101: How to Get Started in the World of E-Commerce
Mark Rockefeller, Carolina Print Consultants"A lot of our customers didn't believe initially that we could do it, and the competition kept insisting that they were too small…We saw ourselves as small distributors, too. The sales reps were the ones who were killing us. We sold ourselves as small. We sold ourselves as the guys down the street that would take care of you."
— Small to Large: The Sky is the Limit with E-Commerce
Joel Chyke, FSiSending gifts, birthday cards and keepsakes to customers "is another way to keep in touch with them. They remember who we are. Often times, it will go on their desks and other people will see it."
— Promoting Yourself: What Are Some Distributors Doing to Stand out from the Competition?
Ray Goodson, The Landmark Image"Your clients are buying these office products anyway. If they don't go to you, they're going to go to someone else. We're trying to be a single source. We want the whole enchilada."
— The New Frontier: I Told Myself I Would NEVER Sell Office Products
Brian MonBarren, aprisa enterprises llc"I chose to hire customer service people for selfish reasons. Occasionally, I wanted to be able to leave the office. CS teams can be your best selling tool or your biggest disaster."
— Customer Service Teams Can Make or Break Your Success with a Client
Bill Lampe, Lampe Graphics LLC"The summit's been good, very good," said Jim Ellis, CFC, during a break from one of the distributor presentations. Ellis is the owner of Sun Business Systems Inc., Largo, Fla., and was one of many first-time attendees at the summit. "I've gotten a lot out of it so far and it's not even a day and a half."
"There's a lot of energy here," said Joe Webb of Formsystems Inc. and an SDS veteran. "You can tell that the people here are very passionate. What I got from this wasn't necessarily new ideas but it definitely cemented things that we had been considering especially with e-commerce," said the vice president of sales and marketing at the Pensacola, Fla.-based company. "We keep saying that we need to get into this but we haven't. Now I'm even surer that this is what we need to do."
Among the many subjects discussed were distributor partnerships, disaster preparedness plans, e-commerce and using the internet to find more prospects and sales among the "Xbox generation."
"That was definitely one of the big feedbacks we got from last year's Small Distributor Summit," said Bill Lampe, manager of Lampe Graphics LLC, St. Louis. "'Tell us more about e-commerce.'"
Lampe and Brian Governor, president of P&W Marketing Incorporated, Youngstown, Ohio, coordinated this year's SDS.
"I cannot explain the satisfaction I feel," Governor said about the meeting in an email to DMIA principals. "Imagine that you can attend an industry event and walk away with LIFE-changing experiences! A new direction for your business and new friends that are in the same shoes as you!"
Ivars Sarkans of Sarkans & Associates, Los Angeles, gave a presentation on industry trends and noted the gradual shift to more traditional print products being offered on the web, from government documents to newspaper advertising. Sarkans said this could mean more sales opportunities for distributors who use the internet in their businesses.
- Distributors who embrace e-commerce will stand a better chance of being successful in the long term. "Because we are now dealing with the Xbox generation where buyers are doing more purchasing over the internet, this will put new emphasis on building relationships and doing program sales," Sarkans said.
- Gradually, sales reps will have to phase into doing more transactions and prospecting over the internet rather than in person.
- Sarkans also noted the bright side for small distributors who decide to embrace e-commerce solutions. "It is really an advantage to a group like this, because it can make you look a lot bigger than you are," he said.
Two other presentations reinforced the power and growing trend of e-commerce solutions for print providers.
Mark Rockefeller, owner of Carolina Print Consultants, presented "E-Commerce 101: How to Get Started in the World of E-Commerce." He began by asking how many people in the room currently offered online solutions. About half said no. "I guarantee you that number will be cut in half by next year," Rockefeller said. "And it may be two to three hands a few years after that."
Rockefeller described how his Laurens, S.C.-based distributorship began offering print products over the web with the online catalog ordering program designed by Four51, an e-commerce software provider. At the time, Carolina Print Consultants had only one customer for its online service but "because I was that confident and because I knew the strength of the online solution, I went ahead and did it," he said. The company has since expanded its customer list and now uses other software such as Printers Presence for its web site and FTP server, and Peachtree software by SAGE for its accounting. He advised that small distributors who are considering e-commerce solutions should:
- Have an e-commerce system that is easy for both your customers and your staff to use.
- Look at the stability and success of the software provider. "See if you can count on them being around a couple of years from now," he said.
The power of e-commerce was underscored in a presentation by Joel Chyke, the joint owner and CFO of FSi, during "E-Commerce: Small to Large—The Sky is the Limit with E-Commerce." Though the Nashville-based company is by no means a small distributorship now that it has 60 employees, Chyke, a DMIA Board member, said that one of the keys to his company's growth in five years from $2 million in sales to $20 million was FSi's ability to provide e-commerce solutions. "The point when we implemented e-commerce is when our growth really expanded. We could go to prospects and bill ourselves as having a national presence," Chyke said. He offered several helpful hints for small distributors who want to expand:
- Change your company mindset from small to large. "That was one of our biggest hurdles to overcome as a distributor," Chyke said. "We saw ourselves as small distributors, too. The sales reps were the ones who were killing us. We sold ourselves as small. We sold ourselves as the guys down the street that would take care of you."
- You must communicate your plan throughout your organization.
- As you expand or plan to expand, ask yourself where you want your company to be in the future and how long you want to continue to expand. "You have to have an idea of what end is in sight for you," Chyke said.
Many attendees said they were motivated by the advice they received at the summit. "What I really want to take away from this is refocusing our marketing plan and re-picking our niche," said Samuel B. Wheeler, president of ABS Print Management, Wayne, Pa. "Now we want to do more 1:1 marketing and statement processing."
"I feel reenergized," said John Barry, president of The Innovative Print Group Inc., Eugene, Ore. "One of the things I'll leave here with is thinking of ways to reinvigorate my company. None of my competitors are here. This is definitely to my advantage."
Distributors got a chance to view several e-commerce software programs during the opening reception sponsored by TopForm Software Inc., Norcross, Ga.; Xetex Business Systems Inc., Elverson, Pa.; SAGE-Quick Technologies Inc., Dallas; e-Quantum Inc., Reno, Nev.; and ChangingInc., Chillicothe, Ohio.
In addition to distributor-led presentations and panel discussions, the meeting included manufacturer-education sessions by sponsors Data Management Center, Schaumburg, Ill.; Independent Printing Co., DePere, Wis.; Pilgrim Plastics Products Co., Brockton, Mass.; Victor Printing Inc., Sharon, Pa.; and Ward/Kraft Inc., based in Fort Scott, Kan.
