John Osborne

Distributorships discuss compensation for sales staff and thoughts on recruitment and retention. BFL&S spoke with the owners of the following distributorships regarding their compensation plans, as well as a variety of factors involved in developing an effective team: • Midwest Single Source, Wichita, Kan., John Osborne, president and CEO • Professional Graphic Communications, Sewickley, Pa., Mike Weinzierl, president • S.W.M. Printing & Promotions, St. Louis, Mo., John Sanders, president, CEO • Venture Corporation, Lewis-ville, Texas, Gary Dunlap, president Not surprising, all of the contributors reported that their sales professionals earn a commission on their sales. At Professional Graphic Communications, there are four inside sales reps,

Distributors talk about evaluating and compensating their sales representatives' job performances. These are penny-pinching times and, more than ever, sales professionals must go the extra mile to edge out competitors and convince customers to expend precious financial resources. So, just what is it that keeps printed products distributors going day after day? Here, 12 company executives—identified in the chart below— share their views on compensating, training and hiring. New Blood When it comes to hiring sales representatives, the consensus is that industry experience is a definite plus, although both Sherie Bartlett and Walt Smith observed that it isn't always easy to come by. Mark

Offering direct mail services can help distributors penetrate accounts and boost shrinking revenues. Like lava slowly flowing down a mountain, the proliferation of distributors offering direct mail products has spread slowly but surely over the last decade, fueled by the twin fires of cost-consciousness and demand. As people throughout the forms and labels world desperately try to figure out what the future holds for this maturing industry, attention has turned toward finding new products and services to take the place of older, more commodities-oriented offerings. Direct mail products, with their ability to offer users significant savings over traditional stuffed envelopes, as well as

Distributors contemplate the present and future state of the industry. Has this year's economy had an adverse affect on the forms business? And with endless possibilities for print popping up via ad-vanced online technology, do distributors stand a chance to stay in the forms business in the years to come? Whether or not the recent fiscal slump gives way to major changes within the in-dustry, or simply serves as an opportunity for industry professionals to refocus their efforts, remains to be seen. To gain better insight into the concerns distributors have been facing of late, how they are handling them and where they see

So you've decided to sell promotional products -- now what? You've probably noticed that there are few forms distributors left—you may not even be one anymore. Declining forms sales and changing client requests have turned you into a single source for all that is printed. Consequently, somewhere along the way you became a 'printed products distributor'—and if you haven't added promotional products to your mix, rest assured you soon will. But then what? The ad specialty industry is, well, just that—another industry, separate from business forms. And, for many distributors, getting started can be tricky—especially when that means sourcing products in an industry

For forms distributors, the cash is in the college market. You don't have to be a Rhodes scholar to realize that a forms distributor's opportunities can be limited when selling to public school districts. With laser printers practically in the classroom, office supply superstore competition and, most of all, bidding regulations, what are distributors to do? If they're smart, say those who have been there, they'll skip school. For colleges, appearance is everything, providing opportunities for distributors who can handle commercial print jobs. This brochure, for example, was created by Rick Lewis and Debra Bradfield of ProForma Preferred Systems in Long Beach, Calif., for