Smith, IDS' president, founded the company in 1996 with his wife Kathy, the firm's corporate secretary, and Philip Templeton, the firm's vice president (who describes his role as "vice president in charge of whatever hat needs to be worn at the time"). Today, the company boasts 19 employees and additional offices in San Antonio; Chattanooga, Tenn.; and Knoxville, Tenn. Since the company started in the loft of Smith's house six years ago, its average annual growth has been 64 percent, he says. Growth in 2001 was 30.9 percent; projected growth this year is 51 percent.
Smith left high-school teaching to enter an unfamiliar industry in 1976, when UARCO hired him. "I had no idea what [the industry] was about or what it would involve," he says. "I was looking for a job, and they offered me a position. I took the opportunity, and I've never looked back."
Today, Smith is motivated by constant innovation. "Technology is changing so fast, there are more opportunities popping up than you have time to digest," he says. "It's never the same, day to day. There's always something new." The same motivator is shared by Templeton, who began his career with Moore Business Forms in Denton, Texas. "I've always been very competitive," says Templeton, a former college football player. "I like the challenge, the fun of going out and selling a new idea, a new concept, a new way of doing things."
Strength Inside the Huddle
To encourage IDS' sales reps to add new concepts and methods to their playbooks, Smith relies on assistant coaches--his vendors. "Electronic solutions, expanded direct mail capabilities, digital print capabilities--all of these new processes were brought to us by our manufacturing vendors," he says. "Our vendors are very important for the continued education of our salespeople. [Salespeople] never leave a manufacturing facility without an idea to present to a customer, a new product, or a new and better way to fill a need."
Taking advantage of the industry's plentiful learning opportunities is essential to IDS. Education and training are underutilized tools for many companies, Smith says. He cites the Business Forms Boot Camp held by former Roswell, Ga.-based manufacturer Datagraphic, and training seminars held by Alpharetta, Ga.-based manufacturer Wise Business Forms Inc. as examples of quality education for distributors. (Datagraphic and former Peachtree City, Ga.-based manufacturer CFC Print Solutions merged in October to become Printegra.) "If you're going to grow your business, you have to grow your capabilities," Smith says.
IDS experienced a growth spurt and an address change in September 2001, when it acquired Epoch Solutions, a distributorship in Dallas. IDS moved to Epoch's location because Epoch had a 25,000-square-foot warehouse. And IDS gained additional space and expanded its customer reach in July 2002, when it acquired Volunteer Business Systems, a distributorship in Chattanooga. "The great benefit of that purchase is in multiple warehousing locations to reduce overall freight costs for shipments to the East and Northeast," Smith says. IDS now has alliances on the West Coast, too.
Forming a Solid Game Plan
Even as many companies downsize in the struggling economy, Smith feels business will remain vigorous for distributorships that cultivate a progressive outlook. "Everyone, no matter who they are or what they do, has to have printing," he says. "Judy's Florist Shop needs materials to generate business. She needs forms to report her income. She wants a receipt, a label and an order form. No business is too small or too large to bypass the need for printed business communications material."
IDS customers come in all sizes and include municipalities, banks, airlines, hospitals and manufacturing companies. "We don't turn our nose up at any industry," Smith says. Often, just one person in an organization is responsible for document design, printing and warehousing, so using a single-source provider simplifies life for the customer, he says. "Instead of that one person needing to go to five or six different vendors, we can supply it all," Smith says.
IDS offers promotional products, 4-color pieces, traditional forms, labels, design and more. Systems analysis is an increasingly important customer service at the distributorship. "If we can go in and do a proper analysis of current systems, we can make recommendations that can reduce costs and increase value to our customers," he says. "A customer may be using three different forms to accomplish the same goal. We'll follow it through their organization and design one form to do all three jobs."
Scoring With Technology
IDS has increased its focus on electronic solutions. The distributorship offers a system that allows customers to proof business cards, letterhead, envelopes and other jobs online before releasing orders. Through the company's newly developed web site at www.intdoc.com, clients can place orders, as well as access an "instant replay" of a wide range of usage and cost data. With a form catalog developed for each cost center within a customer's organization, domestic orders can be placed and shipped on the same day. Also, the system helps most customers eliminate erroneous orders, Smith says.
IDS now uses in-house operations software from TopForm® Software Inc., a supplier in Norcross, Ga., that offers web-enabled product catalogs and ordering, contact management, auto faxing, electronic forms, bar coding, EDI, shipping, XML interoperability and more. "It was an important move for us," Smith says. "We wanted a system that would link our four offices, and a program that would grow with us."
Smith regards innovation as an investment more than an expense--one that will lead to better customer service and more time for IDS salespeople to develop new accounts. "We're building an organization that's going to be in the top 20 in the next five years," he says. "We're doing that through internal growth, acquisitions, bringing new people into the industry, and adding national clients that will benefit from our capabilities." IDS won a contract earlier this year that Smith expects will generate approximately $3 million in sales for the company in 2003.
That kind of growth wouldn't be possible without important players on IDS' roster, Smith says. "We have a great group of people and a really good atmosphere," he says as his football coach persona kicks in. "Whatever it is, we all work together. We work together and come up with a plan to address it. We're a team."
