PSDA’s 2013 Distributor Solutions Expo Show Preview

By Elise Hacking Carr

Over Achieving: A breakdown of PSDA education

The 2013 Distributor Solutions Expo will offer a variety of educational sessions led by expert speakers. Take a moment to check out one—or more—of the following workshops and highlighted sessions:

WORKSHOPS
Wednesday, May 8

Strategies for Elevating Your Sales Performance – Three Things Sales Pros Need to Know
Speaker: Dan Seidman, Got Influence Inc.

Dan Seidman, author of “The Ultimate Guide to Sales Training,” will coach attendees on three best practices used by top sales professionals.

1. The Ultimate Objection Handling Tool
Stuck on how to overcome buyer doubt? Learn different techniques to put your buyers at ease, and close the deal.

2. One Great Opening is Worth 10,000 Closes
Take charge of your sales meeting from the get-go. Establish a dialogue in which you and the buyer work together to determine how your products and services can provide value and solve problems for the buyer’s company.

3. How to Eliminate the #1 Problem Salespeople Encounter
Determine how to remove the biggest obstacle to your selling success. This means qualifying buyers and concentrating on those who are ready, willing and able to spend money with you.

How to Sustain Opportunity by Increasing Your Business Through Additional Services
Speaker: Cary Sherburne, Sherburne & Associates

Diversify and multiply. This workshop will concentrate on three different types of services that you should offer your customers today.

1. Creative Services: More Opportunity Than You Might Think
Many print organizations offer some type of creative service, but are you exercising all of your options to increase business? Explore the concept of creative services, and even discover how interactive print and mobile apps can take client relationships to the next level.

2. Positioning Your Firm as a Supply Chain Optimization Resource
Does your company apply processes that optimize operations in order to reduce costs? Identify your position in the supply chain and map out an implementation plan. Attendees will take away key steps to become a resource for supply chain optimization and an understanding on how to position this as a value-added service.

3. Incorporating 3-D Printing Into Your Offerings
3-D printing continues to make headlines. Interested in becoming a reseller of this technology? Get schooled on the substrates that can be used and how color will be introduced in the future.

Digital Marketing Solutions for the Distributor
Speakers: Chris Westmeyer, Traffic Flow SEO; Jeffrey Becker, Your Packaging Source

There are many layers to digital marketing. Attendees will leave this session with a better understanding of how to enhance their digital marketing solutions.

1. SEO Services for Today’s Distributor
The key to optimizing your company’s marketing presence begins with search engines. To get a leg up on the competition, identify ways to increase your company’s presence. This includes examining the use of analytics and dashboards to measure the success of your work. Furthermore, these same services can be leveraged to acquire new customers and generate revenue.

2. Dimensional Cross-Channel, the Ace in the Hole for Lead Generation
Companies that want to add lead generation and other increased wallet-share campaigns for their own use and for clients are in luck. Discuss how packaging, combined with cross-channel marketing techniques, can be used to garner response. Understand how to analyze and refine results from an actual campaign.

3. Inbound and Outbound Marketing Automation Solutions
There are many tools at your disposal. Discuss how personalized email messaging, triggered messaging, landing pages, behavioral lead score, list segmentation, user dashboards and more can boost sales.

HIGHLIGHTED SESSIONS
Thursday, May 9

Adapting Your Marketing Strategies for Emerging Technologies
Speaker: John Leininger, Clemson University

Key takeaways:

Establish basic metrics to track results for online and conventional campaigns.
Recognize the value of establishing control and experimental test groups.
Identify basic statistics to support and strengthen your position.
Discuss how to expand your toolbox to serve customers’ needs.
Examine why marketing is the tool that drives virtually all of the new emerging technologies.

Cloud Computing: What You Need to Know
Speaker: Cary Sherburne, Sherburne & Associates

Key takeaways:

Gain a better understanding of what is meant by “cloud computing” and how it fits within various types of IT infrastructures.
Learn the risks and benefits of moving parts of your computing platform to the cloud.
Hear how printing and other organizations are using cloud computing via real-world examples.
Understand what your customers are doing—and expecting—relative to the cloud.

(Note: The above schedule is subject to change. Information courtesy of PSDA. To learn more, visit www.psda.org/2013.)

Nearly three years have passed since the Print Services & Distribution Association (PSDA) joined forces with management firm SmithBucklin and relocated its headquarters from Alexandria, Va., to Chicago. Now the PSDA is making bold moves once again.

As members of the industry flock to Chicago for this year’s annual show (May 8-9), they will notice several changes, starting with a new name: Distributor Solutions Expo. The decision is a direct result of PSDA’s commitment to evolve its national event.

Matt Sanderson, PSDA executive vice president, believes the new name was a no-brainer. “Basic as it may seem, this event is fundamentally about distributors finding solutions. So why not call it that? Sometimes, the best answers are the simplest,” he said. “We added the tagline, ‘Delivering on the Power of Partnership,’ to remind everyone of the importance of deep partnerships throughout our unique supply chain.”

Sanderson has been busy fielding questions from curious exhibitors, PSDA members and attendees. In particular, many are wondering about the continuing evolution of the show. According to Sanderson, feedback has been positive, and this is only the first step. Of course, evolution isn’t limited to a name change—tweaks also have been made to the Expo’s floor design and composition, education topics and delivery, schedule and overall atmosphere.

Several factors influenced the strategic planning process. For instance, the association reviewed past attendee research before cutting the show from three days to two.

“By building the event around a two-day experience, more attendees will overlap, improving value for everyone. And a tighter event program means fewer days out of the office and a less expensive trip for attendees and exhibitors,” Sanderson explained. “We are focused on improving the ROI for all involved, and the schedule is part of that. We want to make it hard for people not to come, and hard not to do business while they are there.”

Furthermore, rather than highlighting a traditional keynote, PSDA opted to integrate education throughout the entire event. For the 2013 show, sessions will be delivered in classrooms (see “Over Achieving” sidebar), in small theater setups and on the show floor itself. “Driving attendee engagement and return on investment were at the center of these decisions. I’m looking forward to seeing it all come together in May,” Sanderson commented.

The goal of the 2013 Distributor Solutions Expo is to be “more than a product showcase with a conference on the side,” and Sanderson remains confident in the show’s success. “We’re tracking consistently with the past couple of years, and Chicago is historically a great city for us,” he noted. “[...] There’s no better opportunity to listen and learn about where leaders in our industry are headed, to further relationships with new and existing channel partners, to see what’s working, and to give your employees a hands-on taste of our changing industry. We want attendees to see that we are responsive, and that we are working to increase the return on participation.”

In addition to its annual show, the PSDA continues to look at some broader goals—particularly elevating the profile of its supply chain. As the national association of this industry, the PSDA is uniquely positioned to help this cause.

“Programs like PSDA’s PEAK awards (the winners are announced at the 2013 Distributor Solutions Expo) help us tell that story. To achieve the awareness that we are after, we need committed, engaged, differentiated companies as members,” Sanderson remarked. “So that’s the goal within the goal—to deliver value for our member companies that are making a difference in this industry for their customers, both large and small.”

This year's show will feature more than 150 exhibiting companies. They include:

Abbott Label Inc.
Booth 467

AccuLink
Booth 228

Action Printing
Booth 556

Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI)
Booth 451A

Affinity HR Group
Booth 427A

Allen-Bailey Tag & Label Inc.
Booth 462

ALLPRO Direct Marketing
Booth 320

AmeriCAL Inc.
Booth 101

American Slide Chart/Perrygraf
Booth 424

AmeriPrint Corporation
Booth 325

Apex Business Systems
Booth 355

Apex Color
Booth 457

Appleton
Booth 231

Arjobex
Booth 366

B&W Press Inc.
Booth 224

Badger Tag & Label Corp.
Booth 449A

Bann Business Solutions
Booth P26

BCT
Booth 213

Bertek Systems Inc.
Booth 324

Bradford & Bigelow
Booth 542

Bristol ID Technologies
Booth 217

Broker Forms
Both 419

Business Cards Plus
Booth 323

Carbonless & Cut Sheet Forms
Booth 455A

Cascades Fine Papers Group Inc.
Booth 103

CE Printed Products Inc.
Booth 430

Central States Business Forms
Booth 433A

Century Marketing
Booth 316

CFC Print Solutions
Booth 216

Chicago Tag & Label
Booth 437A

Continental Datalabel
Booth 155

Corporate Disk Company
Booth 223

Custom Index Inc.
Booth 428

Data Label Inc.
Booth 135

Data Management Center (DMC)
Booth 266

Datatel Resources Corporation
Booth 159

Delforms
Booth 361

DemandBridge LLC
Booth 137

The DFS Group
Booth 357

Discount Labels/Wisco Envelope
Booth 554

Diversified Labeling Solutions Inc.
Booth 115

EAGLE Graphics Inc.
Booth 464

Ennis Inc.
Booth 255

The Envelope Express Inc.
Booth 269

Envelope Mart USA
Booth 544

e-Quantum Inc.
Booth 121

Falls Cities Printing
Booth 470

The Flesh Company
Booth 235

Flexible Innovations Ltd.
Booth P41

Folder Express
Booth 117

Formax
Booth 123

FormStore Incorporated
Booth 165

Futek Forms, Tags & Labels Inc.
Booth 458

Gill Studios Inc.
Booth 445

Graphic Dimensions
Booth 225

Greystone Print Solutions
Booth P312

Greystone Results
Booth P23

Hessprint
Booth 468

Highland Computer Forms Inc.
Booth 460

Hodgins Engraving Co.
Booth 449

Hospital Forms & Systems Corp.
Booth 360

Independent Folders
Booth 328

InfoSeal LLC
Booth 147

Integrated Print & Graphics Inc.
Booth 461

International Label Mfg. LLC
Booth 560

iPROMOTEu
Booth 257

Jubilee Brands—Packaging 360
Booth P31

Jubilee Brands—Thanks a Dozen & Brandelope
Booth P412

Kay Toledo Tag/SSP
Booth 518

KDM Enterprises LLC
Booth 141

Label Art
Booth 222

Label Works
Booth 274

Labels West Inc.
Booth 267

Lancer Label
Booth 420

LaunchPad Marketing, a Graphic Dimensions Company
Booth 221

The Leslie Company
Booth 445A

LTI Printing
Booth 275

Madison Forms
Booth 427

Magnets 4 Media
Booth 111

Mailers Haven
Booth P37

MAR Graphics
Booth 443

Marathon Label
Booth 330

Marketing 4
Booth 461A

McCourt Label Company
Booth 372

MICR Express
Booth 431

N.E.W. Printing
Booth 268

NAStar Inc.
Booth 313

Nationwide Payment Solutions
Booth P29

Navitor Inc.
Booth 272

New Century Envelope
Booth 459A

New Dimension Labels, a Graphic Dimensions Company
Booth 219

New Loyalty USA Inc.
Booth P212

Nexdor
Booth P313

Novex Systems LLC
Booth P213

Paper Systems Inc.
Booth 457

Pilgrim Plastics
Booth 421

Powered by Katalistik
Booth P26

Primadata LLC
Booth 329

Print+Promo Magazine
Booth 366

Printco Incorporated
Booth 229

PrinterPresence by Firespring
Booth P211

PRINTSouth
Booth 455

Prodigital
Booth 459

ProDocument Solutions
Booth 425

Promo PrintSolutions Inc.
Booth P11

Proximity Marketing
Booth P21

PSDA
Booth 251

Pyramid Checks & Printing
Booth 331

Quick Tab II Inc.
Booth 433

Rainmaker Sales
Booth 422

RCS International
Booth P310

Regal Envelope
Booth 230

Regency Business Solutions
Booth 374

Repacorp Inc.
Booth 110

Roeda Signs & ScreenTech Imaging
Booth 368

Rose Printing Company
Booth 443A

RR Donnelley
Booth 215

SAGE
Booth 363

Specialty Graphics Inc.
Booth 457A

Star Filing
Booth 439A

Stouse Inc.
Booth 322

Strata-Tac Inc.
Booth 261

Stylecraft Printing
Booth 153

Superior Print Inc.
Booth 538

TABBIES, Div. of Xertrex International
Booth 465

Team Concept Printing
Booth 109

Teraco Inc.
Booth 317

TFP Data Systems
Booth 367

TLF Graphics Inc.
Booth P116

Total Printing Systems
Booth 273

Triangle Wholesale Printing, Div. of BCI
Booth 431A

Universal Manufacturing Co.
Booth 161

VariVerge
Booth P32

Ward/Kraft Inc.
Booth 451

Western States Envelope & Label
Booth 437

Western Tag & Printing
Booth 466

Wilmer
Booth 335

Wise
Booth 129

Worldwide Ticketcraft
Booth 375

Wright Enterprises
Booth 127

Xanté Corporation
Booth 373

Xeikon
Booth 321

Xetex Business Systems Inc.
Booth 149

YourPackagingSource
Booth 416

(Available exhibitor information was up-to-date at the time of publication. Booth numbers are subject to change.)

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Elise Hacking Carr Author's page

Elise Hacking Carr is editor-in-chief/content director for Print+Promo magazine.

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