New Leadership for DMIA
At the Opening General Session Breakfast on Oct. 5, incoming DMIA President Jeff Long, marketing manager of Atlanta-based Graphic Dimensions Inc., introduced the theme of his term: "Be the Best." Long, who officially takes the helm Nov. 1, urged attendees to create goals and strategies to succeed. "Let's not let our fears hold us back from pursuing our hopes and dreams," he said. "Just remember that we create our own circumstances, and we have the power to control what we become." Long is the first DMIA president to work for a manufacturer.
DMIA Executive Vice President Peter Colaianni, CAE, tells attendees the top three concerns of distributors are the need for distributors, manufacturers and suppliers to work together; the need to change compensation plans; and the need for distributors to add value.
DMIA honored two companies that have been members of the association for 50 years. Bill English (center), president of Superior Business Solutions, Kalamazoo, Mich., received a plaque on behalf of his distributorship from Schmidt and Colaianni. Murray & Heister, Beltsville, Md., also was recognized.
Jeff Long (left), marketing director at Atlanta-based Graphic Dimensions Inc., succeeds Schmidt as DMIA president. Long, who works at the company's Newport, Ky., location, is the association's first president to come from the manufacturing side of the industry.
George W. Smith, CDC (center), vice president of sales and partner at Tully-Wihr Co., Hayward, Calif., retires from DMIA's Board of Directors after serving a 3-year term. He receives a plaque from Schimdt and Colaianni. Tom Rogers (not shown), CEO at Drew & Rogers, Fairfield, N.J., also retires after serving a 3-year term. Gail O'Roke (center, other photo), CDC, CEO at The Independent Business Group, Hayward, Calif., retires from DMIA's Board of Directors after serving a 6-year term. O'Roke was DMIA's president in 2002-2003.
Outgoing DMIA President Phil Schmidt, president of distributorship Advanced Systems & Forms Inc., Livonia, Mich., thanked Board members, the PERF Board of Trustees, 2004 Regional Directors and Print Solutions 2004 Conference & Expo sponsors. In a speech, DMIA Executive Vice President Peter Colaianni, CAE, told attendees he had asked 40 distributor members to list their major concerns. The top three were need for distributors, manufacturers and suppliers to work together; need to change compensation plans; and need for distributors to add value. He encouraged attendees to continue striving to meet end user needs and to analyze how their firms can improve internally.
Sessions Offer Top-Notch Education
Print Solutions 2004 Conference & Expo featured well-attended education sessions targeted to owners, managers, sales representatives and customer service staff.
At a session entitled "Suppliers and Manufacturers: Understanding Your Customers Concept of Value," Robert Nadeau, managing principal of Northfield, Ill.-based Industrial Performance Group, said customers now define value. For manufacturers and suppliers to succeed, he said, they must match the value needs of their customers.
Harish Mehta, group managing director of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa-based manufacturer Universal Print Group, flew to Chicago with three employees to attend the event. He said it was interesting to see that the printing industry in the United States faces similar challenges to the industry in South Africa. He said his employees gained tremendously from the sessions, including "Common Myths and Misconceptions About Value."
Robert J. Cronin, managing partner at The Open Approach, a Westmont, Ill.-based firm that provides consulting, mergers-and-acquisitions and recruiting services to printing firms, led a presentation entitled "Now Is the Time for Selling Large Accounts." "The opportunity is ripe for distributors to sell to large accounts," said Cronin, former CEO of Wallace. "Also, for the first time, the ability of independents to sell to large accounts has been announced publicly." Cronin was referring to the Novation contract. The largest volume group purchasing organization in the health care field recently reached tentative agreements with two national distributor organizations for its document management needs. Cronin said distributors should take advantage of their strengths, including strong sales workforces focused on customers and the ability to create unique solutions for each end user.
Wes Maughan, founder and president of Portland, Ore.-based Pointil Systems Inc., a company specializing in identification labeling and bar coding, and Mike Harris, CEO of Cortland Manor, N.Y.-based Innovative Equipment Ltd., a company offering RFID label production equipment and methodology, spoke in detail about RFID's advantages, disadvantages, applications and future. Maughan said early adopters of the technology will develop competitive advantages, and companies in the supply chain will have opportunities to improve quality and reduce spoilage.
Educational seminar attendees gather useful information on marketing, human resources, customer service and more.
More than 80 people attend DMIA's Health Care Vertical Market Special Interest Group meeting. They hear presentations on new products for the niche and view web demos of print-on-demand health care forms.
Mike Harris, CEO at Innovative Equipment Ltd., Cortland Manor, N.Y., explains how RFID technologies fit in the printing industry at a session entitled "RFID 101."
Cronin tells attendees that the majors are in a weakened state, focused on restructuring, cash flow and reducing their sales forces. The former CEO of Wallace said independent distributors "can market anything" because "you have the best sales people and the most versatile manufacturing capabilities."
Twenty-nine students successfully completed DMIA's 3-day Print University Business Printing Curriculum program, which included online and onsite training. (For more information about the association's education offerings, visit www.printuniversity.org.)
Industry pros discussed their perspectives on independents and the industry's future during a session on "The CEO Perspective from the 'Majors'." Richard Egan, former president at Corporate Express Document and Print Management, said majors have ceded the small market to distributors and large commercial printers. "The opportunity for distributors in the large market is there," he said. "We will see increased penetration from distributors." Paul Reilly, president and CEO of Cenveo (formerly Mail-Well), said distributors have the opportunity to become ultimate solutions providers and capture an increasing share of the market. He said their innovation and flexibility will allow them to achieve that.
Winnie Ary, consultant and founder of the Ary Group, Westerville, Ohio, addressed business owners' hiring concerns in a seminar entitled "Hiring the Best Rookies." Ary told attendees not to look for born salespeople--they don't exist. Instead, companies should find rookies with the potential to be great salespeople and train them to sell effectively. In fact, the best rookies know they're in demand, and companies can't expect to hire them unless sales training is offered as a perquisite, she said. After a rookie has been hired, sales training should be significant and ongoing, Ary advised. Companies should consider sending rookies to sales seminars; reading and discussing books on selling with rookies; collecting sales videos, DVDs and audiocassettes; hiring a sales trainer; and scheduling skills-development sales meetings.
Richard Whelan, president at Marketing General Inc., Alexandria, Va., told attendees how to develop a successful direct mail campaign. He suggested finding a reputable list broker to perform demographic research and narrow prospects. The offer itself should be clear and simple. "If your marketing effort takes very much longer than the length of this sentence to grab my attention, then you have probably already lost it, maybe for good," he said. Although rarely used, the back of the envelope is a good place to market to recipients because most people turn to the back in order to open the envelope, Whelan suggested.
