Print Solutions Magazine, December 2002 -- Adding Value

Rob Montgomery isn't someone who watches from the sidelines as opportunities pass. In 1985, he left a sales job at a Los Angeles, Calif., office of manufacturer Wallace Computer Services Inc. and joined 1-year-old distributorship Omega Business Products in Santa Fe Springs, Calif. "It was a stagnant distributorship at that point in time," says Montgomery, who joined the company in a planned 3-year buyout. "The phone orders were being handled, but nothing else was being served." Montgomery saw this as his opportunity to nail down a small but solid customer base while growing the distributorship.

After taking the helm as Omega Business Products' president in 1988, Montgomery quickly began adding to the company's product mix. When the distributorship--now located in La Cañada, Calif.--opened in 1984, it offered only traditional business forms. Today, Omega Business Products offers commercial printing, digital printing, direct mail, labels, consumables, and maintenance services for equipment such as bar code scanners and thermal label printers. "We do just about anything clients ask of us," Montgomery says.

Omega Business Products selects those clients carefully. When targeting prospective customers, it calls on young companies experiencing high rates of growth instead of businesses in particular industries. The distributorship also looks for companies that require hands-on services. "We try to identify what their pains are and cure them," Montgomery says. The distributorship serves entertainment firms, retailers, wholesalers and companies that require distribution services.

Embracing Technology

In 1993, Montgomery attended DMIA's annual meeting in Boston. "The message I came away with was that if we didn't know how to use a computer, we'd better figure it out fast," says Montgomery, who up to that point hadn't picked up a computer mouse. "It really opened up my eyes." Within two weeks, he purchased a laptop computer and taught himself how to use it by using daily planner software.

Today, Omega Business Products relies on computers and GoldMine® Business Contact Manager to handle and often conduct its daily customer communications. "We're very comfortable getting involved when clients need technology solutions," Montgomery says. Today, Omega Business Products uses the tag line, "Solutions for enhanced productivity with print and electronic communications."

The distributorship also offers its clients internet company stores. Customers can view images of previously ordered products, check inventory levels, track usage, run reports, send messages to Omega Business Products and more. Clients also can customize, place orders and view proofs for business cards, letterhead and envelopes. "Previously, business cards were quite consuming of our time and our clients' time," Montgomery says. "Being able to do it online really has simplified the process, sped up the turnaround time and improved accuracy."

In addition, Omega Business Products offers database management services to assist clients with direct mail campaigns, provide custom bar coded labels and more. In 1993, a large insurance company contacted the distributorship for assistance converting its clients to new policies. Approximately 33,000 new clients each week for an 18-month period needed to receive custom policy packets, which would be created using data from the company's database. The packets could contain ID cards, billing statements, details about additional policy options and more.

The mailing presented a challenge, but Omega Business Products didn't flinch. "We weren't going to run away from what could have been considered by a lot of people a daunting task," says Montgomery, a former DMIA board member. Each week for the 18-month period, the insurance company provided Omega Business Products with computer tapes containing its client data. The distributorship then partnered with a full-service fulfillment house to develop a database management program to sort the data. The distributorship then created and mailed custom packets for each client.

Providing Value-Added Solutions

Approximately six months ago, a large retailer approached Omega Business Products after deciding to sell its products via the internet. The retailer's computer systems and pick and pack procedures, however, were designed to distribute batch orders to their stores, Montgomery says. Offering e-commerce services required the retailer to pick, pack and mail custom orders to individuals. As a result, the retailer needed to provide customers with receipts, return instructions and return shipping labels. It also needed custom shipping labels and customs labels for orders sent overseas.

After working with the retailer's IT department to determine how client information would be captured and handled, Omega Business Products provided the retailer with 250,000 91Ž2 x 11-inch integrated labels. The document includes a shipping label, a customer receipt, return instructions, a return shipping label and a customs label for orders sent overseas. The document also includes bar codes that the retailer's employees can scan to capture information about orders being processed or returned. Omega Business Products warehouses the documents and provides releases as needed.

Believing it needed a variety of tracking capabilities, the retailer used a private carrier to ship packages to clients during its first few months online. After analyzing the retailer's needs, Omega Business Products facilitated a meeting between the U.S. Postal Service and the retailer and recommended the client send its packages via USPS. The shipping change saves the client more than $200,000 monthly in shipping costs.

"If you don't add value for your clients, you're really not in the game," Montgomery says. "It's no longer an option to add value. It's a prerequisite."

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