Print Distribution: Industry Observations
Lifted from a phone call yesterday, here are some provocative thoughts from the CEO of a company that supplies the print distribution industry. What do you think? Is he right, wrong, or some of both?
First, the move to POD is gaining strength. Digital continues to replace offset. [ed. granted, this one isn't very controversial]
Second, an aging sales force is largely complacent, and resists introducing new technologies to customers. Result: penetration stalls, accounts become vulnerable.
Third, distributors risk getting blind-sided by these developments: first, equipment sellers are successfully placing small color devices into buyer accounts — the machine is installed with a 5-year lease before the distributor knows what’s going on. Like getting nibbled to death by ducks. No single duck hurts a lot, but the cumulative effect is devastating. Second, buyers are finding self-serve, online options for printing more attractive every day.
Popularity: 15%
Comment by Eric Engwall on 13 August 2009:
In a rapidly changing industry such as printing, it’s more critical than ever to engage with customers at a deeper level. Listening with a new set of ears, perhaps.
The first sign of trouble is when the familiar (and formerly effective) set of questions and pitches that would lead to a sale don’t seem to produce the same results. That’s because the conversation has started to change and the customer knows it but the seller doesn’t – yet.
Probing deeper, asking different questions, and truly responding to evolving customer needs is the only sustainable path. Otherwise, is the goal to be the last buggy whip manufacturer still in business?