CFC

Schools can be a loyal and lucrative niche for distributors By Janet R. Gross Unlike other customers of distributors, schools and universities generally donÍt go out of business and mergers are a rarity. Because of the turmoil in other industries, continuing and lifelong education is practically a necessity„making education a growthmarket for the savvy distributor. ñItÍs a good vertical market,î noted Kris Bilyeu, CFC, vice president of sales at Tabco Business Forms in Terre Haute, Ind. The $6 million distributorship deals with dozens of individual schools and at least eight universities and community colleges, providing everything from stock paper, letterhead, report cards and transcripts to promotional items,

Form/label combinations offer unique design challenges and high sales margins By Eric Fiedler Form/label combinations are a favorite product for distributors to sell—because they really don't have to do much selling. "It's one of those products that sort of sells itself because when a customer contacts us through the Internet, they are already trying to solve a specific problem, and they've already figured out it's a form/label combination that they need," said Ron Woodrell, president of Cal-West Business Forms, a Fair Oaks, Calif.-based distributorship. "With this product you go back to what you're supposed to be doing with every order, which is solving a problem and genuinely helping

Combining a form and label solves a problem, adds value By Stacey Wenzel With end-users expressing an increasing desire to print documents in the office, the integrated label is becoming a popular value-added solution. The product's streamlined construction minimizes the thickness of the label, allowing it to easily pass through a printer. This flexibility makes it suitable for a variety of applications and markets. "We are starting to build integrated labels into other products, like thermal-transfer forms, multi-part cut sheets—with one part being an integrated label—and plow-folded envelopes with forms and integrated labels," said Daryl Roller, CFC, vice president of national sales for Ward/Kraft, Fort Scott, Kan. "We