Rev Up Sales in the Automotive Market
From dealerships to body shops, distributors can fuel their business tanks for years to come.
After speaking with a few forms manufacturers who have produced goods for the automotive market, it became clear that distributors who are not seriously targeting this industry may want to release their brakes and pull up for a better look.
From dealerships and body shops to rental companies, auto retailers and the highway patrol, distributors can easily find a significant amount of sales that will, in most cases, become repeat orders and provide business for years to come.
In fact, Ken Gundersen, CEO of Forms Pro, Madison, Wis., reported that the automotive industry accounts for 15 percent of his business, and he currently stocks 36 auto forms. "Some of those forms include odometer statements, repair orders and body shop estimate sheets, and we even sell special paints for the auto industry," said Gundersen.
But, the auto market does not come without its fair share of competition. For instance, the directs are hitting hard by moving in on the growing number of dealerships that are switching to laser cut-sheet forms. And, while their prices seem very low and hard to beat, Gundersen offered some advice on how to overcome the situation.
At the Dealer
For many, car dealerships are the first places that come to mind when thinking about the auto industry. And, for distributors, dealerships are a great place to start when selling form products. In fact, if you are a distributor who thought those price breakdown and spec stickers found inside the window on every car in a car lot came straight from the auto manufacturer, think again.
According to Anna Jones, vice president of International Label, Terre Haute, Ind., distributors can actually sell the labels—formerly called maroney labels—as a customized product to local dealers. "We sell a lot of them and consider them one of our biggest sellers," said Jones.
Her advice to distributors is to check with local dealers to see if they want a more personalized version of the label—one that will display their logo, contact information, motto and other distinctive information. "This will turn into an ongoing sale for distributors and serves as an advantage to dealers wanting more exposure of their brands," she added.
Jones said that International Label also prints a lot of NCR forms for warranty information, financial forms for auto purchasing and promotional items. "We do silkscreen decals with the dealer's name, city and state, which are typically placed on the back of a sold vehicle, and we do a lot of keychains," she said.
Steve Osterloh, director of marketing at Desoto, Texas-based Ennis Business Forms, said that 24˝ lease forms, labels and tags are great sellers for Ennis. He added that state-specific forms based on state regulations are the trend right now at dealerships. "Unit set demand is declining as more dealerships install computer systems," he said. "The trend is toward laser forms."
Gundersen concurred with this statement, but added, "Independents can continue to count on selling manual forms to smaller dealerships that are still sticking with continuous products since they don't want to spend money for new software."
Overcoming Directs
One of the primary reasons distributors are steering away from the auto market is the intrusion of directs. Gundersen reported that majors, such as ADP and Reynolds and Reynolds, are selling software to auto dealers that bundles together forms, toner and cut-sheets, and sell it to dealerships for what seems to be a super savings. "The problem is, car dealerships are so impressed by the price that they don't completely understand what they are paying for," said Gundersen. "The job of the independent distributor is to make dealerships see that they would wind up spending a lot of money on toner, and even repairs, since they would be reprinting their own colorful logos and company information over and over again."
Gunderson emphasized that by purchasing through independents, car dealerships would be ordering pre-printed forms, which only need variable information added to them. In the long run, he said, pre-printed forms save dealers a lot of time, money and frustration.
Price gauging is not the only obstacle to overcome, however. It seems that some salespeople from the directs are using an extra-special tactic—they are indicating that their software and forms are copyrighted. "We haven't figured out how they can copyright this information since most of these forms are dictated by the state," said Gundersen. "There is a lot of state control on the auto industry to maintain consistency, and we are currently trying to figure out if what the directs are saying is on the up and up."
The Road Ahead
As for the future of forms sales in the automotive industry, all agreed that business should remain good despite the competition from directs.
Jones indicated that the best position for distributors to take is the one-stop-shop position. "We give distributors a broad range of automotive products to choose from," she said. "We can do forms, stationery, labels, decals, personalized license plates and so much more. This gives distributors leverage and confidence when approaching end-users—and that will support future sales."
Osterloh added that independents will continue to succeed in the auto industry as long as they look toward all avenues for sales. "Ennis produces auto repair forms that can be sold to repair shops and floor mats that can be sold to dealers, car rental agencies and car wash businesses," he said. "We also produce a buyer's guide that can be sold to body shop venues."
Osterloh also threw in a plug for Ennis' automotive catalog, which distributors can flip through for ideas. The publication compiles products from all of Ennis' product lines, including forms, labels, presentation folders, commercial printing and more.
If distributors keep all of this in mind, their business engines should continue to run smoothly.
By Sharon Cole