EPI Companies — On the Move

“It’s not that we aren’t competitive price-wise—we certainly have to be—but we have a lot more to offer as people and thinkers,” Woods says. “It’s somewhat of an insult if you have to put all you have to offer in the context of, ‘Were you the low bidder on that last quotation request?’ ”

The desire to diversify was a push-pull process; not only wanting to escape the commodity pigeonhole, but also in response to customer needs. “Some of our clients were saying, ‘If only someone could do our fulfillment like you do our printing,’ ” Blair adds. “Promotional items is another area. It seemed like we were always kit packing promo items, and that’s the part we were often waiting for (from other vendors).”