You, Too, Can Sell Commercial Printing

Distributors of forms and labels can profit by taking on a colorful challenge.

Just what is commercial printing, and how hard is it for distributors of printed business products interested in increasing profits to offer this service to their customers?

At Apex Color, Jacksonville, Fla., any printed product that is not a traditional business form is considered commercial printing. "This includes all of our four-color process and spot-color work that runs on our sheet-fed presses," explained Richard Ghelerter, president. "The projects consist of booklets, brochures, postcards, presentation folders, posters, rack cards, manuals, flyers, door hangers, table tents, menus, direct mail pieces, newsletters and pamphlets. While most of our commercial printing is four-color process work, any job that fits our half-size presses is what we do in commercial print."

Debbie Buck, sales manager for Ft. Scott, Kansas-based Ward/Kraft's CTC (Creative Technologies Center) division acknowledged that the term "commercial printing" is very broad. "We actually are merging our traditional forms and labels into what we consider commercial by creating more of a revenue-generating document," she said. "For instance, when a two-part unit set that is used for a phone message book by a travel agency has color added to the first page, it would then be considered a promotional advertisement piece."

Other commercial printing pieces produced by CTC include products similar to those manufactured by Apex Color—annual reports, menus, postcards, invitations, point-of-purchase materials, table tents, brochures, return mailers, posters, presentation folders, calendars, book covers, price guides, magazines, plastic cards, door hangers and magnets.

Make the Leap Into Color

According to Buck, what's involved in selling these products depends on the complexity of the product or project. "Simple reports or brochures are great products for someone new or with limited knowledge," she said. "For more intense projects, we can suggest the questions a distributor will need to ask to clarify the application, and to better quote and produce the order."