SELLING DIGITAL VS. OFFSET -- Making the Right Impression

BY MARK SMITH

Technology Editor

It's hard to fault any conventional print sales rep for being hesitant to embrace digital services, be they static or variable data production capabilities. Change is never easy, and digital printing presents a different selling proposition.

Static jobs are almost by definition shorter runs done on-demand. This means a lot more effort is required to reach sales volumes comparable to offset work.

Variable data work can bring larger volumes, albeit generally produced in smaller lots, and it tends to support higher margins. The problem is, additional expertise is required to sell and produce personalized marketing programs. Also, sell cycles can run as long as six months to a year and can require consulting on database and marketing issues.

On top of these concerns is the fear of selling against oneself and losing offset work. Why put a shop's—and sales person's—bread and butter work at risk?

Conventional offset printers face these challenges and more if they look to incorporate digital printing services. The issues may not be easy to overcome, suggests Terry Nagi, a consultant and author who focuses on strategic business and marketing planning in the print and graphic communications sectors. Offering proof it can be done, though, are the Great Lakes Companies and Worth Higgins and Associates.

Nagi says he has seen first hand the difficulty traditional offset printers have integrating digital printing. This is true for companies that have tried creating a dedicated digital sales force or even a separate division, he adds. All scenarios are likely to meet resistance from traditional sheetfed salespeople, the consultant asserts.

"Your best digital prospects are your current customers. They are the ones where you may have higher level contacts, i.e. somebody beyond the purchasing agent," Nagi points out. "However, sales representatives don't want their references used to get in the door because that could put existing relationships at risk. It's potentially an opportunity to lose some credibility and current business."

Treating digital as a separate market also runs counter to the trend of print buyers wanting to deal with fewer printers, the consultant notes. He suggests printers not think in terms of offset versus digital printing, but rather as a continuum of services they can sell. "Coming in selling short-, medium- and long-run work creates more opportunities for the sales person," he says.

It's All in the Name

Nagi believes the approach most likely to succeed may be to set up a separate consultancy organization that offers data management services and advises on personalization. "Use a new name that isn't linked to the original printing company. Once you have a business relationship in place, then you can bring up the affiliation with the conventional printing company," he recommends.

As final thoughts, the consultant points out what he believes are some common misconceptions about the digital printing business. "There is too much hype in this marketplace about personalization. Most of the sales are in versioning today," Nagi asserts. "Another misconception is that you have to start big. A printer can start with a smaller digital operation and lower cost machinery. It can offer the capability as a loss leader for a number of years to make a transition."

The Great Lakes Companies is comprised of four divisions: Great Lakes Lithograph, a full-service printer; PrepLink, offering prepress capabilities; GLDirect, a database management and fulfillment center; and AKSESS, which provides brand-building asset management solutions with instant, Internet-based access.

In 2003, the company established a print-on-demand (POD) center, featuring a Heidelberg Nexpress 2100 digital color press. The center falls under the Great Lakes umbrella as part of its commercial print unit, but it is located in a separate area of the plant and is operated under its own P&L, reports James Schultz, president and CEO. All of the print services currently are being sold by the existing sales force, he adds.

Digital does get special treatment as part of a larger marketing effort, though. "We are going after other departments within companies that we already call on. We're contacting the HR and training departments, for example, that we would not have targeted in the past," Schultz explains. "We are trying to practice what we're preaching by doing more one-to-one and variable data marketing to customers."

The company exec says he is considering hiring one or two people that would solely represent the POD center. "Digital work is a much shorter run, smaller sales size so we see a lot larger volume of orders than on the commercial side," he points out. "My feeling is we need to get people out there who are looking to cut their teeth and make a career in the industry. It's a great starting point for them to go in and hit the departments within corporations that our traditional sales people are not calling on."

The company also has a digital production specialist on its POD staff who is available to go on sales calls. This specialist works with customers on creating their database so variable data files come in correct.

"We do a lot of team selling here because of the different services we sell," Schultz observes.

The organization positions its digital capabilities for short run, static and variable data printing. Schultz believes the business needs special treatment because it involves a whole different set of standards.

"Our POD center operates under a different dynamic. Clients expect jobs to be shipped in a day or two," he explains. "Even order entry was a big issue. We could not operate under the same order entry system we'd use for a commercial shop. By the time we finished with the order entry, the job would need to ship." Instead, the AKSESS division has written software that links clients directly into the POD center.

Schultz sees digital services as complementing the company's commercial business. "I think it has helped stabilize our sales because it is another product offering that allows us to diversify our business. Clients are using both services," he says.

Worth Higgins & Associates went the added step of formally establishing a digital printing division, called Worth Digital. A bit of history is required to appreciate the thinking behind this move.

"Worth Digital was created as a separate division in order to distinguish our digital product from our traditional offset printing," explains Susan Higgins, director of marketing. "Four years ago, when our Indigo TurboStream went into service, there was a difference in print quality between offset and digital. We felt it was important to be clear with our customers that, while digital offered advantages of speed and economy, the results were not the same as what buyers had come to expect from our traditional presses.

"We also wanted to send a clear message that our digital printing capabilities were new and expanded," Higgins continues. "Digital printing breaks new ground. For the first time as traditional offset printers we found ourselves talking to customers about VDP (variable data printing), CRM (customer relationship management) and POD (print on demand.) We needed to help our sales force sell a new product to a new audience."

From a sales perspective, Worth Higgins approaches both digital printing and conventional offset in the same way. "We look for the best (process) fit for our customer," Higgins says. "By considering factors such as audience, budget, function, size, paper, quantity and turnaround, we can make effective recommendations. Whether the work ends up on our half size equipment, full size press or digital systems, predevelopment counseling with customers yields the most effective solutions."

When it comes to execution, the company has strategic partnerships with two vendors that can assist clients with the development of marketing strategies, data mining and the preparation of data for digital printing.

Traditional selling skills are effective for both printing capabilities, Higgins asserts, although she concedes that digital requires additional technical knowledge. "There is one critical difference," the director of marketing continues. "Conventional printing is generally sold to print buyers, production managers and purchasing agents whose responsibilities begin after strategy, concept and design are already established.

"We've learned that it is essential to sell variable data technology to account executives, creatives and strategists who can integrate this new method into their marketing plans in the beginning," Higgins says. "It's a tough sell. Printing sales reps have to learn how to think like marketing executives, and marketing executives need to learn that print sales reps can be a source for new ideas that will help optimize not just their print dollars, but their marketing effectiveness and operating efficiencies as well."

To that end, Worth Higgins custom builds Web-enabled print ordering systems for select customers. This can include enabling a sales force to create and order brochures online, on demand.

"Using these systems, clients can control their own brand quality, ensure compliance requirements, manage material content and protect corporate security. They benefit from reduced inventory and fulfillment costs, labor savings, reduction of waste and increased availability of marketing materials," Higgins concludes.