Sign of the Times
Sheryl Crow penned a song about it. Think back to 2002 when VH1 played music videos for at least a few hours of the day and terrestrial radio had yet to take a backseat to satellite. It was impossible to escape the infectious—like it or not—groove of “A Change will do you Good.” From a lyrical standpoint, Crow got us to focus on change—regardless of whether it was subconscious or active.
Most recently, we’ve seen the act of change manifest itself in the U.S. economy. And as a result of the last eight years, President-Elect Barack Obama ran a successful campaign with a message advocating change.
In the world of printed products, is change always the best solution? It is easy to jump on the technology bandwagon, and it does have its benefits, but why necessarily tamper with something that works just fine? Multipart forms have been on the decline for several years. While they haven’t become obsolete, it is arguable that they’re a potential candidate for the endangered forms list. Print Professional recently spoke with three suppliers who still see some life for these products, posing the question: is laser really better?
Multipart forms continue to comprise a large portion of business—75 percent—for Pittsburg, Kansas-based Ace Forms. Lindeye Webb, sales coordinator, has noticed a trend of small businesses using these products due to simplicity and flexibility. And most important, multipart forms are reliable sources for maintaining a verifiable audit trail. Webb receives a variety of requests for these types of forms, but observed a growth in custom forms of two to five plies in particular.
“[It’s a] mixed bag. We are doing more high-ply applications. [For example, we produce] insurance, credit applications, employment and other business applications and agreements with 12 ply to 30 ply booklets often containing three- to five-part carbonless sets or forms within the booklet. A form within a form,” she said. “There has been a definite decline in six- to 12-part one-write forms. Many of those applications have shrunk to fewer plies. Our main growth has been in custom forms of two to five plies that become part of manifold books that we produce.”
Celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2009, Angola, Indiana-based Highland Computer Forms has experienced some growth with delivery receipts, where signatures are required. In addition, the company has received more requests for two- and three-part forms. Steve Patton, vice president of operations, attributed this to electronic storage, as people simply don’t have a need to store multiple copies inside the same office anymore. He went on to say that the increased usage of PDF files and the like can also affect multipart form sales. However, there are some advantages to electronic media.
“This change has been going on for several years and will continue to grow. The one thing that is helping multiple part form sales is the number of transactions. By that, I mean more and more people are shopping online. This type of transaction generates the need for more forms work. There is usually a packing list that was a multiple part form and [many] times, it has an integrated return label, as well,” he noted.
Webb encouraged forms suppliers and distributors to challenge the cost of an electronic alternative. “Point out cost of maintenance, infrastructure, upgrades, software leases, reliability, availability, obsolescence and storage cost versus the simplicity of paper-based systems,” she stressed.
Multipart forms come with many advantages of their own lacking in other types of forms. For instance, they are a proven way for end-user customers to maintain brand integrity. Headquartered in Columbus, Kan., Calibrated Forms, a division of Ennis, makes approximately 73 percent of its profits from multipart forms and therefore, has seen these benefits firsthand. “Multipart forms ensure that a company’s information, logo and branding are consistent on every piece of printing. There are no second or third generation photocopies of an important document. Everyone is looking at the same information,” offered Vicki Scott, sales manager.
Webb and Patton agreed. Patton added that ink is more cost effective than toner, and clearly a four-color process company logo will appear more dynamic than one printed in black-and-white. “Many people downgrade their forms to black[-and-white] products (laser printed) thinking it is saving them money, when in the long-run they are losing brand recognition and saving more on laser cartridges and toner than they would for a printed form,” he said.
Scott mentioned a huge misconception surrounding multipart forms is they are more costly to produce than laser-printed forms. “The mistake most companies make changing to laser is they think it is more cost effective because they are only looking at the cost of the forms when, in reality, they need to add in the price of the toner and the time it takes to print one copy at a time. Also, the amount of time employees are using when a signature is needed on all copies, not to mention having your customers take their time to sign two, three or maybe even four copies,” she commented. “We tend to think that if it is new technology, it has to be easier, faster and more economical. I would just like anyone who is changing from a multipart form to a laser sheet to do a full analysis of the complete cost before making a decision.”
To encourage companies to invest in multipart forms, suppliers are devising value-added solutions for these products. Scott said Calibrated Forms has added integrated capabilities to its plant so customers have more than one option to choose from. And Ace Forms has invested in sophisticated equipment.
“In the last three years, we have converted three collators to handle 40” rewind rolls. We have two collators that buckle fold inline. We have added two Auto 18 Bostitch stitchers and two Brackett backtapers to improve our efficiency in producing manifold books. We have 12-station collating, dual crash numbering, file hole punching and cross web gluing in three locations. All this allows us to do almost any custom application needed in our collating department,” Webb explained.
Despite having successful sales with multipart forms, all three manufacturers did admit to an ongoing steady decline of the product. And, with the country’s current financial state, it is uncertain how this will influence future demand. Said Scott, “End-users are asking themselves, ‘do I really need all these parts or can I make it with three parts instead of four?’ Multipart forms will continue to decline, but will not become completely obsolete. [While they] have accomplished all they set out to do, [they] can still be a cost-effective way to [conduct] business.”
Patton shared Scott’s sentiments, and hoped people would still realize the value multipart forms can bring—even when times get tough. “The economy has affected all printing. Today, everyone is looking at every cost center, so it’s a good time to share the value a multiple part form brings. The use will continue to fall on traditional type multiple part forms, although the laser compatible carbonless products are seeing growth and are easy to use. In the future, I think we will see more and more demand for cut sheet multiple part forms or laser compatible multiples,” he surmised.
Nobody ever said forms selling was easy. Change is in fact the natural way of the world, so of course it seems plausible to go with the flow of technological advancements. Nevertheless, don’t be so quick to abandon traditional favorites when the going gets tough. Instead, discover where even slight value-added adjustments can be made to increase multipart sales—they just might be the change that will do you good. PPR
Smart Selling
When trying to close a sale involving multipart forms, distributors must ask the right questions. Richard Miller, general manager of Calibrated Forms, a division of Ennis, offered the following suggestions:
• Find out what type of printer a company is using. Does it rate to the number of parts running?
• Learn about any issues a client has had in the past with forms.
• Many plants are offering complimentary composition, so asking if end-users have been thinking about any changes lately can lead to orders.