Ron Whalen

Offering new products and services boosts the bottom line By Janet R. Gross Diversification into new services and products kept most distributors growing in 1997 and optimistic for 1998. Although forms still make up about half of distributors' total sales, non-forms products and services are an expanding part of the picture. In an exclusive Business Forms, Labels & Systems survey, 82 percent of respondents said they now offer promotional products. Commercial printing is sold by nearly all surveyed. Bar-coded products are part of the lineup for 82 percent of survey respondents and direct mail services are offered by 58 percent. More than a third offer electronic printing