The Color of Profits

As forms margins shrink, commercial printing offers new opportunities

By Barbara A. Bucci

As demand for traditional business forms products declines, it is increasing for colored brochures, catalogs and direct mail pieces.

Distributors are "naturals" for this market because they already know some printing techniques. However, making the move from forms to commercial printing can be daunting.

"From my experience at trade shows, neophytes don't want anything to do with commercial printing. If you want to keep selling printing, you'll have to sell commercial printing as well," said Joe Kulis, director of sales for Ed Garvey & Company, Niles, Ill.

According to Kulis and other commercial printers who sell to distributors, education about commercial printing technology and terminology is a must.

Here are some suggestions.

Address Marketing Issues

"Distributors ask us how to sell commercial printing work and we don't have a magic solution for that," said Kulis. "They have to learn about the product and how it will be used by the customer. Selling to the marketing department is also different from selling to the DP or purchasing agent for business forms. You're relying on personal preferences for what colors should look like. Every job is unique."

"Somebody might want floppy disk labels, but they may only need 500. The same customer may need 10,000 full-color brochures. Consequently, there's more money for the distributor to earn," said Tom Giannini, a salesman for Color Express, King of Prussia, Pa.

Learn About Prepress

"The aspects of prepress with which distributors should become familiar depend on what type of business they're in," said Terry Richards, president of Victor Printing, Sharon, Pa. "If their customers are small companies, the distributor may have to compose and design files. If the distributor works with larger firms, he might not have to compose or design. Some of our distributors do prepress work in their own offices. They design some of the work themselves and send us an e-mail file or a Zip disk."