Print
Solutions June 2006
Cover
Story
TOP100distributors
In
Brief
A
distributorship ranked #32 on
the Top 100 list with $12.8 million
in sales during FY 2005 credits
its 42.4 percent sales increase
last year to a strong sales team
and its electronic statement processing
software that has allowed it to
penetrate both financial and health
care vertical markets.
Company:
Apex Print Technologies #32
Headquarters:
Little Canada, Minn.
Founded:
1995
Principal:
Brian Kueppers, president
Employees:
35
Sales
increase from FY 2004-05:
42.4%
Some
companies increase sales by riding
the wave of technology. As part
of its strategic plan for sales
growth, Apex Print Technologies
plans to focus on electronic statement
processing in the health care
and financial markets to snag
more customers in the Midwest.
“We’re focusing on
statement processing, P.O.D. and
digital printing,” says
Brian Kueppers, president of the
Little Canada, Minn.-based distributorship.
“We’re not focusing
on the old forms business.”
Statements
are archived and printed in-house
and on-demand with the help
of the company’s proprietary
software, Web View, and its
digital printing equipment,
including a handful of Docutech
6180s. The company still outsources
some work to several local manufacturers.
“For us, it’s a
point of differentiation,”
Kueppers says. “A lot
of distributors do statement
processing, but we’re
doing custom statements with
a custom look and we’re
handling the printing. It allows
customers to reduce the number
of vendors overall.”
 |
| Apex
Print Technologies was able
to bring about a 42.4 percent
sales increase during FY
2005 due to technological
innovations and a strong
sales and CSR team. Apex
Print Technologies management
team: (from left to right)
Jim Milosevich, general
manager, Brian Kueppers,
president, Betty VanGorder,
controller, and Todd Caven,
chief financial officer.
|
The
web-based archival solution
requires data to be entered
by the end user and “we
overhaul it so that it is in
PDF format,” Kueppers
says. “After we print
it or mail the statement, we
basically hold an identical
image in our archive of those
statements so that the customer
can log into the system and
pull up the patient information
later.” According to the
company’s web site, the
applications of its Web View
software can vary from pure
statement processing to surveys
to subscription notices.
Apex
Print secured a large health care
account that had a 10-year relationship
with another vendor, thanks to
its software solution. Kueppers
says the company identified a
need the previous vendor wasn’t
meeting by providing a web-based
solution and helping the customer
increase patient satisfaction.
When patients called the end user’s
customer service department, all
statements and patient information
could be easily accessed.
Apex
Print also expanded its technological
capabilities by making “decent
investments in our ordering system,”
Kueppers says. “We use e-Quantum
or Q-NET. We also have Four51.”
But
Kueppers admits that with all
the company’s techno-savvy,
technology is no substitute for
its strong customer service team
and its sales force. “A
lot of our sales increase has
to do with having an experienced
sales force,” Kueppers says.
“Most have 15 to 20 years
of sales experience in the industry”
that they developed at the likes
of Moore-Wallace, Duplex and The
Relizon Company where they learned
program sales. “We’re
not spending a lot of time doing
training about products. Trying
to understand the types of things
we sell and how we sell it isn’t
necessary.”
—LaShell
Stratton
