{"id":28935,"date":"2018-04-19T06:41:57","date_gmt":"2018-04-19T13:41:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=28935"},"modified":"2018-04-20T08:18:17","modified_gmt":"2018-04-20T15:18:17","slug":"making-the-jump-to-light-production-printing-sage-advice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/feature-articles\/2018\/04\/making-the-jump-to-light-production-printing-sage-advice\/","title":{"rendered":"Making the Jump to the Light Production Printing Market: Sage Advice"},"content":{"rendered":"

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?<\/p>\n

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\u2019t 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?<\/p>\n

Not all adjacencies are readily accessible, but fortunately, there\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Hunter McCarty, RJ Young<\/p><\/div>\n

Nashville, TN-based RJ Young is one dealer that frequently receives calls from fellow dealers, wanting to \u201cdip their toe in the water\u201d of light-production printing.\u00a0 That it entails a significant dollar investment, along with training and infrastructure, scares away many who don\u2019t or can\u2019t make the commitment to get into it properly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you get the right person in the program aligned with the territory reps, then, in my opinion, there\u2019s no reason you won\u2019t be able to see a profit in the first year,\u201d noted Young\u2019s Hunter McCarty. \u201cThe 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\u2019s not as much about the hardware as it is the aftermarket.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver 18-24 months, you\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Sean Sullins, Prosource<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThe requirements and capabilities are different when it comes to taking care of these customers,\u201d Sullins said. \u201cThe sense of urgency, turnaround time\u2026the ability to have people on staff to dive deep into the application, test it and make sure they\u2019re doing everything they can to make the product work for the customer is essential. If you don\u2019t, you can scale pretty quickly but lose a lot of customers, which kind of leads into other segments of your business.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Lauren Hanna, Blue Technologies<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThese people know what they know, which is a lot, especially for those customers who survived the last recession,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can\u2019t go in and expect to tell them what they need to do. You can show them things to enhance what they\u2019re 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\u2019ll be your best allies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aside from casting a production printing specialist who also has a knowledge of the Adobe Creative Suite and front-end workflow development, your dealership\u2019s point person should also have the patience of a turtle. That\u2019s the ideal candidate in the eyes of Barry Simon, the president of Datamax.<\/p>\n

\u201cBuilding respect in this segment takes time, patience and sometimes leads to multiple losses before you win in an account,\u201d he said. \u201cMake sure your dealership is committed to the program and it is not approaching it halfheartedly.\u00a0 It is a major commitment that will push your dealership\u2019s ability, so you will always be adapting current service delivery beyond your current comfort level, or your customers will find someone else who will.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Barry Simon, Datamax<\/p><\/div>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe start-up for a dealer is very slow to build momentum, so keep the faith and continue the push,\u201d Simon remarked. \u201cOver-prepare your service abilities before you place equipment. News of service failures will spread quickly in this tight-knit community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019t 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\u2019s 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. Nashville, TN-based RJ Young is one dealer that frequently receives calls from fellow dealers, wanting to \u201cdip their toe in the water\u201d of light-production printing.\u00a0 That it entails a significant dollar investment, along with training and infrastructure, scares away many who don\u2019t or can\u2019t make the commitment to get into it properly. \u201cIf you get the right person in the program aligned with the territory reps, then, in my opinion, there\u2019s no reason you won\u2019t be able to see a profit in the first year,\u201d noted Young\u2019s Hunter McCarty. \u201cThe 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\u2019s not as much about the hardware as it is the aftermarket. \u201cOver 18-24 months, you\u2019re 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.\u201d 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. \u201cThe requirements and capabilities are different when it comes to taking care of these customers,\u201d Sullins said. \u201cThe sense of urgency, turnaround time\u2026the ability to have people on staff to dive deep into the application, test it and make sure they\u2019re doing everything they can to make the product work for the customer is essential. If you don\u2019t, you can scale pretty quickly but lose a lot of customers, which kind of leads into other segments of your business.\u201d 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. \u201cThese people know what they know, which is a lot, especially for those customers who survived the last recession,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can\u2019t go in and expect to tell them what they need to do. You can show them things to enhance what they\u2019re 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\u2019ll be your best allies.\u201d Aside from casting a production printing specialist who also has a knowledge of the Adobe Creative Suite and front-end workflow development, your dealership\u2019s point person should also have the patience of a turtle. That\u2019s the ideal candidate in the eyes of Barry Simon, the president of Datamax. \u201cBuilding respect in this segment takes time, patience and sometimes leads to multiple losses before you win in an account,\u201d he said. \u201cMake sure your dealership is committed to the program and it is not approaching it halfheartedly.\u00a0 It is a major commitment that will push your dealership\u2019s ability, so you will always be adapting current service delivery beyond your current comfort level, or your customers will find someone else who will.\u201d 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. \u201cThe start-up for a dealer is very slow to build momentum, so keep the faith and continue the push,\u201d Simon remarked. \u201cOver-prepare your service abilities before you place equipment. News of service failures will spread quickly in this tight-knit community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":22313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1650,82,87,1638],"tags":[798,2170,2265,501],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28935"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28935"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28990,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28935\/revisions\/28990"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}