The Benefits of Partnership
We have utilized the internet to form alliances and strengthen our business. The state of the printing industry calls for value-added products and for companies to diversify the products and services they offer. Traditionally a commercial printer, we have expanded our offerings to include customized e-commerce capabilities.
This offering has allowed us to form partnerships with companies we wouldn't have developed otherwise. By utilizing web links to connect businesses and by partnering with various e-commerce providers, we can offer products and services via our web site, reduce promotion costs and increase visibility through cross-promotions, establish a greater online presence, reduce errors by establishing uniform partnership procedures, gain new accounts while expanding existing ones, enhance our company image by forming partnerships with established firms and much more. Successful partnerships also have enabled us to establish improved supply-chain management practices and bargaining power.
Shane Phelps
Marketing Director
Dynamic Print Solutions Inc.
Martinsville, Ill.
I have a relationship with three companies that collaborate to produce my final products for process-color ad slicks, brochures and mailers. When I begin the production process, all of these people are involved. The output service bureau that produces my color proofs and negatives, the printer, and the bindery company all talk to each other. Combined, these three companies effectively communicate, making sure my job is done correctly.
Robb Tipton
Owner
Star Business Products
Kemah, Texas
We have alliance partnerships with a couple of software companies. We get referrals--as the software companies' only recommended consumables provider--for all of their installations. We give the software people our knowledge of check processing, laser printer output and ways to make it easier for end users to modify laser output. We also provide competitive intelligence on software products that compete with our partners', allowing our partners to expand or improve their offerings.
We have expanded our business by many hundreds of thousands of dollars with the referrals we receive, and we have helped the software companies solidify relationships with their customers.
Dick Gray, CDC
President
Xtension Technologies Inc.
Laguna Hills, Calif.
I think most progressive distributorships have begun the process of forming partnerships with their manufacturers and channel partners. I prefer to label these as "strategic alliances." In the past, we aimed to have 10 manufacturers from which we purchased 90 percent of our products. Today, with the additional products our customers require from us, that's almost impossible. The industry's product mix has changed drastically, as noted in DMIA's Formtrac 2002 study of market trends.
The word "partnership" also means forming relationships with other distributorships nationwide to better handle large national accounts with multiple locations. In an effort to qualify as an approved vendor for those national accounts, we may need greater presence in different geographic locations. In those cases, we'll need to partner with other organizations like ours that are open to a shared-account approach. I think this will be more acceptable in the future. The losers in this scenario will be the people who turn away from reality and opportunity. Certainly, something is much better than nothing. If we can form win-win-win situations, growth and profitability will increase for everyone in the partnership.
Walt Smith, CDC
DMIA Membership Liaison, Region 4
President
IDS Integrated Document
Solutions Inc.
Carrollton, Texas
Editors' Note: To purchase a copy of Formtrac 2002, call DMIA at (800) 336-4641. The price for association members is $149.
