Betting in neon-infused Las Vegas often leaves pockets empty. But since Ken Mount took a chance on a lottery/keno game called Nevada Numbers, his earnings have been rolling in--literally.
Mount, executive vice president of sales and marketing and part owner of Tustin, Calif.-based distributorship Positive Concepts (formerly Mr. Fax), provides tickets printed in roll format for various Nevada Numbers' kiosks in Las Vegas. Mount says the gamble has been a "huge success" and one far more prosperous than placing $2 bets and choosing five numbers (how Nevada Numbers is played).
Nevada Numbers tickets are printed on heavyweight thermal paper. Each roll weighs 21 pounds and contains 1,000 feet of approximately 4-inch-wide paper. Because casinos' storage space is limited, Positive Concepts provides 25 cases of the roll paper per delivery. (One case holds six rolls). The distributorship stores extra rolls in its Las Vegas warehouse.
Competing Against the 'Good Old Boys'
Offering roll products can be lucrative for distributorships, but breaking into the market can take time. Seven years ago, Positive Concepts purchased warehouse space in Las Vegas, hoping to penetrate the city's roll products market. "It wasn't easy," Mount says. "It's a good-old-boy network, and the casinos like to deal with people who are their neighbors." Positive Concepts closed the warehouse but reopened it six years ago, after landing several accounts within the gaming industry.
Mount says a key factor in winning those accounts was letting companies know Positive Concepts offers same-day shipping. "Everybody has a price hurdle," he says, "but if you can ship immediately, then you're fulfilling people's needs." The distributorship also offers a free order-reminder service. Sales representatives use GoldMine® contact management software from Colorado Springs, Colo.-based FrontRange Solutions Inc. to help track clients' roll product use. When a client's supply diminishes, a sales representative calls the customer. Positive Concepts positions itself as a one-stop shop that offers additional products such as toner, ribbons, cleaning cards and printers.
Competing With High Rollers
Tim Catlett, president of Raleigh, N.C.-based distributorship Progressive Business Solutions, offers a wide range of products, including promotional items, computer supplies and forms. Roll products account for 20 percent of the company's sales. Like Mount, Catlett found the roll products market difficult to enter but ultimately rewarding. "If you're not in the game, it can be hard to get that first customer," Catlett says. "But it's well worth it."
Catlett says many clients believe only major direct-selling manufacturers can sell high-quality roll products. "Folks don't want to buy rolls from companies they're not comfortable with," Catlett says. Smaller distributorships often must prove they're capable of selling "big-time" items, he says.
Reliability is important when selling roll products. Catlett says dependable rolls are free of dust and chads and run continuously without problems. He says his company must be dependable, too. Progressive Business Solutions ships rolls to clients weekly and warehouses enough so that emergency shipments can be delivered in two hours. "Some customers might bill $60 million a day," Catlett says. "If your roll products aren't dependable, imagine the money a customer would lose by not getting their bills out on time."
Roll products often involve long sales cycles, Catlett says. They're often sold on a contract basis and shipped weekly for two years. This becomes another challenge for distributors trying to penetrate the market: They often must wait until those contracts expire. "We called one particular client for years," Catlett says. The company was happy with its vendor (a direct-selling major), he says, but Progressive Business Solutions won the account thanks to persistence and its value-added mentality. For example, the distributorship buys rolls that include the press and date on which they were printed. That way, if one roll is bad, Progressive Business Solutions easily can determine which rolls were printed in the same lot rather than discarding the entire shipment.
A Game Worth Playing
While the roll products market can be difficult to penetrate, distributors usually are pleased to play in it. Most customers don't want to buy roll products from vendors who never have offered them, Catlett says, but "once you get a reputation for selling rolls, there's a snowball effect." Few capable sellers and many buyers is a scenario that yields favorable odds for distributors known for providing dependable ATM receipts, point-of-sale receipts, coupons and more.
And there are many buyers. "Anybody that sells something can use register tape or receipt rolls," says Brent Parriott, Positive Concepts' materials manager. And while some distributors are concerned about a shift from paper-based to online bill payments, Parriott says he isn't worried. "By law, you have to give a receipt," he says, adding that as long as sales and businesses exist, demand for roll products will, too.
One of the biggest advantages for distributors selling roll products is the comfort level associated with consistent revenue. Once distributors gain customers, those clients normally are long-term accounts. Because firms use roll products daily, the companies seldom send requests for quotes unless problems arise. The more times customers change vendors, the more risk they take with their roll product orders, Catlett says.
Kara Gebhart, a freelance writer in Cincinnati, is a former assistant editor at Print Solutions. Email us your comments at bholt@printsolutionsmag.com.
Thanks to Tyco Graphic Controls, Buffalo, N.Y., for assistance.
