You’ve done it! You’ve done your research, you’ve selected your technology, you’ve put down tens of thousands—if not hundreds of thousands—of dollars on a digital press, and you’re ready to launch your variable data printing business!
Congratulations!
Just a couple of quick questions: What if you need a little help with your go-to-market plan? Think some business development advice would be useful? Your sales staff aren’t really sure how to speak to those vertical markets you’ve selected to target?
If any of these questions sound like things you’ve been thinking, I have some good news for you: the company from which you bought your new hardware is here to help you!
“Post-sales support” comes in a number of different forms, each designed to give you a safety net to ensure your success. Kodak and HP have direct sales forces and branded market development programs in place. Canon Canada, a subsidiary of Canon USA, has a program currently being rolled out in the US and being tested in Canada. Fujifilm Canada (Graphic Systems) personalizes its support for each customer, rather than delivering a structured, packaged program.
While each company has their own way of delivering the services, the intent—and final result—is to give their customers a “leg up” on their business and market development. Their goal and yours are the same: a successful print service provider!
Regardless of your equipment vendor, the post-sales support programs provide generally similar services; let’s take a look at each program and what’s involved.
Kodak MARKETMOVER Business Development Services
Working through a direct sales force and official resellers, Kodak offers a robust business and market development program. According to Bob Barbera, Kodak’s Director of Business Development Services in their Graphic Communications Group, “The move from commercial printing to print on demand and variable data printing is a transformation. It’s an evolution to which the entire company needs to be committed and the payoff is huge. However, it is a process, and because it is a process, it takes time.”
Kodak’s MARKETMOVER program combines tools, services, and support for Kodak equipment buyers in four areas, Bob calls them the “four legs”:
- Expert Support—a team of geographically-assigned business development consultants in the field in Canada and the US work closely with Kodak customers, getting to know their businesses and acting as an extension to those businesses.
- Online Business Resources—rather than sending out a boxed business development kit, which could rapidly grow stale as resources change and are modified, an online resource centre is in place with hundreds of tools, case studies, application samples, white papers, and other support collateral for sales, marketing, and finance.
- Marketing Tools—launched in 2007, the Targeted Sales Module has complete vertical programs to identify vertical markets, provide strategies to sell into those markets, and deliver sales and market programs to reach those markets. Unique to this program are lists of trade shows and trade publications in the vertical markets and database acquisition programs to reach prospects in those segments.
- Online Community and Network—the MARKETMOVER Network links Nexpress users to allow them to extend their geographic reach, help provide load balancing, and to participate in a “distribute and print” network.
A base package is included with the purchase of a press, while the Targeted Sales Module is an additional purchase. Although the MARKETMOVER program is a mature program, Kodak continues to update it and add to it, with their focus always on creating successful users.
HP Graphic Arts Capture Program
By combining a structured business development program with the Digital Solutions Cooperative (Dscoop), HP helps Indigo users grow their businesses and move into new markets.
The Capture program provides business development tools, a wide range of training programs, and access to staff business consultants. “We have business consultants on staff that work with customers and prospects to explore what they’re doing, where they want to go, and what help might be required to get them there,” said Danny Ionescu, Vice President of Graphic Arts for HP Canada. “The business consultant essentially takes inventory of the prospect’s or customer’s capabilities and looks to find what can be leveraged from the current tools and processes. We don’t have proprietary solutions—we focus on an open architecture—and [we] have established a wide range of partnerships to ensure value to our customers; therefore we can find the solution that fits each customer’s individual need.”
HP’s staff business consultants dig deep into customers’ businesses with a one-on-one Agility Assessment Audit and market research. From the knowledge gained they can assist in marketing and business plan development, sales planning sessions, and sales training.
While the Capture program offers a wide range of marketing tools, one that is often used is an open house guide—a plan for developing and marketing a program to hosted print buyers. Open houses can be geared for specific applications or vertical segments; for example, a recent open house in Dallas brought a print service provider a number of prospects and customers who wanted to learn about short run—and economical—books on demand.
A component that makes Capture different from other business and market development programs is the addition of Dscoop (www.dscoop.org), a cooperative between Indigo users and HP that provides value to business owners, executives, and technical professionals. Found on the Dscoop webinar archive, for example, are a wide range of business webinars ranging from Selling Programs versus Projects to Make the Most of Plant Floor Space. Dscoop is promoted as more than a user group; HP sees it as a complete community.
Canon Canada Essential Business Builder Program
In June 2007, Canon USA launched a new program called the Essential Business Builder Program expressly to support buyers of its imagePRESS C7000VP digital press. Currently available only in the US, the program is being tested in Canada and will be rolled out in the near future.
This program combines internal analysis with external marketing and sales tools. A third element is an on-site mentoring component. The program offers a step-by-step approach to help printers develop the right go-to-market strategy.
“The Business Self-Assessment and the Gap Analysis tools are intended to be a presales program to ensure that there is a good match between the prospective customer and the technology,” said Mark Phillips, Product Marketing Manager at Canon Canada. “It is basically a way to measure organizational readiness to move into variable data printing. VDP technology is not particularly hard to use, but the workflow is more complex.”
As the printer walks through the self-assessment and gap analysis, he or she begins to think carefully about the business. Where are there weaknesses, what are the strengths, and is the company ready to move into a new business?
Once the printer and his or her management team have made the commitment to put the equipment in place, the program offers two “go to market” tool sets: the Application Tool Set and the Sales Strategies Tool Set.
To help the company market their new print on demand and variable data printing services, the Application Tool Set includes the full set of Marketing4Digital reports from the PIA/GATF’s Digital Printing Council, covering 24 key vertical markets.
From the perspective of each vertical market, the printer can propose market-specific services and has access to job samples, presentations, and “pitch” templates to use during the sales process.
The Sales Strategies Tool Set is designed to teach, enhance, and refine sales skills for approaching customers and prospects. Sales staff can show how the addition of variable data can measurably improve the value of the printed page, whether on simple static jobs or complex cross-media campaigns.
Fujifilm Canada Graphic Systems
Fujifilm Canada (Graphic Systems) takes a different approach to equipment sales and support because they are a reseller of products including consumables (such as plates, display graphics inks, and pressroom chemistry) and equipment (such as CtP systems, display graphics devices, and Xerox digital presses). The company provides professional services and consultation services from colour management to pressroom audits to commercial and digital printers.
“We are distributors of ‘best of breed’ graphic arts products as well as Xerox equipment and we are developing our own comprehensive business development program. We are also incorporating theories and philosophies from Xerox’s ProfitAccelerator Digital Business Resources program into our own structure,” said Carmen Chimenti, National Sales Specialist, Digital Printing, Fujifilm Canada (Graphic Systems). “For example, we have created a sales proposal using InDesign with variable elements that will merge text and images from our entire product line—CtP, plates, wide format devices, and digital printing equipment—into a personalized document. We are not only walking the talk, but we are learning how to do this in order to teach others.”
Maintaining the independence of a full-service distributor, Fujifilm Canada has the advantage of looking across the market to see what solutions—such as variable data printing and web to print—are available, and to discern what really fits into a customer’s environment. A financial application with a “closed community” requires a different solution from that implemented to open a site to a large geographic area with a web store.
“Each application requires a different type of VDP software, and we have the option to understand what it is the customer really wants to do,” said Dal Raimondi, National Technical Digital Graphics Specialist, Fujifilm Canada (Graphic Systems). “If our customer wants to implement a storefront, for example, we can suggest something that has been tested by Fujifilm Canada, and that will be a best fit for their requirements.”
In effect, Fujifilm Canada is applying personalization principals to business development programs. Rather than offering a pre-packaged solution, the sales and support teams consider the print service provider’s needs and wants, his or her hardware and software, and the company’s workflow to create a specialized solution.
While many business and market development programs are used to launch a company into a new business focus, they can also be used to help get a company back on track. For example, when Fujifilm Canada’s Graphic Systems team recognized a customer that was in trouble, they provided personalized service to help them out.
After integrating software and hardware into this particular company, it became clear that an operator was having trouble with the technology. Some additional technical training brought the operator up to speed, but the problem had caused the sales team to pull back. If a sales force perceives headaches from production, they aren’t going to be on board selling the solution. After correcting the production problem, tailored sales training, delivered with proper timing, got them over the hurdle and back to successfully selling.
By taking a “boutique” approach rather than a “big box retailer” approach to post-sales service and business development, the Fujifilm Canada team can develop the right solution for the right customer. The end result is personalization at work!
