BFL&S: How can independent businesses retain their customers in such a competitive market?
Giles: Quick printers who target specific customers, make sales calls, ask for the order and [stay] in front of their top 25 customers tend to do well. The competition perception comes from printers who saw sales growth just by having their doors open in a good location. Because so many businesses added their own in-house copying capabilities, those types of retail printers saw a loss in business. They allowed themselves to become victims of changing technology. A good number of quick printers moved into more commercial types of accounts, and kept their short-run service attitudes and have remained viable businesses. They use equipment just as sophisticated as commercial printers to service business-to-business accounts. The quick printer tends to concentrate on faster turnaround and more personalized service.
- People:
- John Giles