Target with the Technology Ticket

Ride the e-commerce express to opening new accounts.

Maybe it seems all too obvious to tout technology these days. After all, it's no secret that everyone is jumping on the e-commerce express to bigger and better business. But the fact still remains that a lot of clientele within the forms industry have yet to catch up to modern times—which is why flashing the technology ticket when targeting new clients can yield a smooth ride for distributors.

Webb/Mason, Hunt Valley, Md., is one distributorship flying high on its tactic to target with technology. Anticipating $45 million in sales this year with a 27-member sales team that works with clients in nine markets, Webb/Mason President Warner Mason couldn't fathom it any other way.

For Mason, it's offering value-added e-commerce solutions—the ability to handle online printing, distribution and print management, among other things—that gets his company in the door these days.

Webb/Mason's account acquisition of a large wireless telephone company is solid proof. In fact, said Doug Traxler, executive vice president, technology is the only reason Webb/Mason got in that door.

"I knew about the company, called and got routed to its retail operations people," said Traxler. "That was our early point of entry."

Once the prospect realized that Webb/Mason owned its own interface technology, the soon-to-be new client jumped on the idea of Webb/Mason handling its retail sales reps through online services.

"This company already had its own printers and distributors," said Traxler. "But what they didn't have was a company that owned its own technology, or one that was willing to entertain the wireless company's needs through technology."

Solving a major problem for its new client, Webb/Mason was able to negotiate a deal that stated that the customer would purchase the e-commerce solution as well as the print work that went along with its retail operations.