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Solutions June 2005
Cover
story
Winbrook
— #4
A
Marketing Marvel
Winbrook
embraces strategic marketing,
expands its offerings and grows.
BY
PREETI VASISHTHA
Last
year, distributorship Winbrook
concentrated heavily on strategic
marketing, a key component of
business that sometimes isn’t
crossed off from printing companies’
to-do lists.
This
commitment sparked the Billerica,
Mass., company’s impressive
growth rate of 40.5 percent in
fiscal 2004. The distributorship
offers business printing, promotional
products, commercial printing,
warehousing, fulfillment, creative
design and forms analysis, and
inventory management systems.
It owns and operates offices and
a 50,000-square-foot warehouse
outside Boston.
“We
did market and competitive research,
and invested in doing surveys
and analysis,” says Vincent
T. Carriuolo, director of marketing
at Winbrook. “We really
wanted to examine growth in potential
markets. Too many companies are
product-centric; they don’t
really read the market well. Sometimes,
the market isn’t ready for
the product, even if it’s
dynamic.” Winbrook’s
research helped the firm diversify,
targeting new vertical markets,
products, services and technologies.
One
technology Winbrook focused on
is customer relationship management
software, which helps the distributorship
deliver products to clients more
efficiently, Carriuolo says. Winbrook
recently integrated its three
online ordering systems. The solution
works for clients of all sizes
and requirements—from single-office
clients to larger firms with locations
nationwide.
Winbrook
also took steps to strengthen
its marketing. The company had
worked with ad agencies and marketing
consultants in the past, but last
year it hired Carriuolo as the
director of marketing because
“they [the management] saw
a need to bring the knowledge
in house,” he says. “It
allows them to have expertise
on their fingertips.” Among
other marketing moves, Carriuolo
is revamping the company’s
web site (www.winbrook.com) and
is making available several marketing
tools, collateral and sales letters
to its staff.
High
account penetration and experienced
employees also fueled Winbrook’s
sales growth, Carriuolo says.
The firm gained additional services
from existing clients and has
a “high retention rate that
comes because it’s a family-owned
business,” he says. “We
recruit good people. We give autonomy,
a structure and support to the
employees. We compensate people
well and have a good rewards program.
We have grown and managed to retain
people. Sometimes, a company grows,
but can’t retain its people.”
The
company strives to maintain a
balance between work and reinvigorating
activities for its employees.
“We’re a very humanistic
company and very personable,”
Carriuolo says. Every Wednesday
in the summer, an ice cream truck
shows up at Winbrook’s offices.
The company has a softball team,
and some employees participate
in a golf league. “This
opens communication and builds
camaraderie,” Carriuolo
says. “We have fun and work
smart.”
It’s
never been business as usual at
Winbrook, Carriuolo says. “We
couldn’t have grown the
way we have by being complacent.”
The distributorship is managing
growth through staffing. It’s
improving inter-departmental communication,
and training employees to improve
their knowledge of vertical markets
and technology. “We’re
optimistic,” Carriuolo says.
“We have a solid plan for
the next 10 years.”
Preeti
Vasishtha is assistant editor
of Print Solutions. Email her
your comments at pvasishtha@PSDA.org.
Company:
Winbrook
Headquarters:
Billerica, Mass.
Founded:
1964
Principals:
Scott Lattanzio, president; Chip
Lattanzio, vice president; Dale
Lattanzio, CEO; and David Holzman,
CFO and general manager
Employees:
48
Business
in Brief: The distributorship
offers business printing, promotional
products, commercial printing,
warehousing, fulfillment, creative
design and forms analysis, and
inventory management systems.
