CANVAS - December 2019 - Constant Change by Conduit, Inc.

EMPOWERING MARKETING SERVICE PROVIDERS

DOWN THE ROAD APIECE DECEMBER 2019

TOP 10 CHALLENGES FOR SALESPEOPLE FUTURE FORWARD

The Evolving of Printers Continues

SMART CHANGE STARTS HERE

THE OCÉ VARIOPRINT® i-SERIES IS SO FAST AND EASY TO OPERATE

that we’re able to run it at maximum capacity, as proven by our 10 million-plus impressions in a month. It allows us to serve more customers and has publishing-grade quality and color that jumps off the page.” —Adam DeMaestri, CEO and President, BR Printers #INKJETMINDSET

Océ VarioPrint i-series press

READ MORE CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORIES WITH THE OCÉ VARIOPRINT i-SERIES PRESS: PPS.CSA.CANON.COM/SUCCESS Canon is a registered trademark of Canon Inc. in the United States and elsewhere. Océ and Océ VarioPrint are registered trademarks of Océ-Technologies B.V. in the United States and elsewhere. All other referenced product names and marks are trademarks of their respective owners and are hereby acknowledged. ©2019 Canon Solutions America, Inc. All rights reserved.

DECEMBER VOLUME 13 â&#x20AC;¢ ISSUE 6

28 CANVAS P1

Inside this issue

BOILERPLATE

ALSO INSIDE

38 32

DOWN THE ROAD APIECE

Give your people the power to predict the future

Publisher’s Note

Mysteriously Yours

STAT PACK

New, different approaches still needed in digital era

IGNITE BRILLIANCE

Every leader has secrets — What are yours?

BEHIND THE CURTAIN

Industry news & awards

STRATEGY CORNER OFFICE

08 10 11 P2

Your choice Agents of change The inside game

CANVAS DECEMBER 2019

Top 10 challenges for salespeople

The Future of Print

SOCIALLY SPEAKING

hy print is the W ultimate complement (and three simple ways to achieve it)

CANVAS Buyer’s Guide

20 22 23 24 25

Utah PaperBox Company For when what’s inside really counts The next level A new breed of fast All that glitters...

CREATIVE CORNER

arTech thought M leader Kevin Groome on why you must own what you do

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Inside this issue| Publisher’s Note

BOILERPLATE

CONTRIBUTORS

Mysteriously Yours

020? Are you kidding me, man? That seems like a number from the space age. I grew up when you ran around outside, knocked on your buddy’s door and imagined what the future would be like. Now, here I am and well, it really is not that mysterious. Sure, the technological advances in medicine are remarkable. But I think the constancy of communication and the immediacy of entertainment has eliminated the mystery and imagination from our lives. That mystery is what makes us interesting. It is why someone wants to get to know us better and possibly the key to sales success. About 20 years ago, I knew this really great paper salesman in California. He made a boatload of dough and his client list was the best of the best. He became the James Bond of paper sales and people just seemed to migrate to him. In fact, many of his clients requested that he call on them, which kind of flipped the script. Can you imagine having someone request you call on them today? There was a mystery to him that attracted others and made his competitors crazy. There is no mystery in this world anymore, and knowing everything at every moment is just not that interesting. Creating the perception you are interesting and that you are rubbing elbows with the right people is cool. It piques people’s interest and makes them wonder what you possess that makes you so compelling. I believe the key to creating a little mystery in your brand is to stop watching. Stop looking at the competition and start focusing on who you care about. The great thing about this time is that it is pretty difficult to come up with something new. Your production is really no better than anyone else’s. So why not create the vibe that makes heads turn? Why not create a culture that others envy and make them ask, “What are they doing over there that is so special?” Mystery creates interest and is not a result of peering over at others. On the contrary, the mysterious seem to define themselves solely by their customers. They are special because they focus on serving rather than competing, which means people want to get to know them. People actually take pride in doing business with them because of the vibe they have created. In essence, traditional sales and marketing has been about doing something today in the hope that your business will reap the rewards in sales tomorrow. We seem to be asking ourselves how we get from here to there, and how quickly we can make it happen. But the mysterious ones create an intimacy within their relationships by taking the time to quietly practice empathy.

I believe the key to creating a little mystery in your brand is to stop watching. Stop looking at the competition and start focusing on who you care about.

Happy New Year and Be the Buffalo! Mysteriously yours,

Mark Potter, Publisher @MarkRicePotter

Justin Ahrens Founder & Principal Rule29 @justinahrens AmyK Hutchens, Founder, AmyK Inc. @AmyKHutchens

GET IN TOUCH WITH US @THECANVASMAG

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THE CANVAS TEAM MANAGING EDITOR michael j. pallerino ART DIRECTOR brent cashman SALES/MARKETING mark potter

EDITORIAL BOARD tom moe Daily Printing gina danner NextPage david bennett Bennett Graphics scott hudson Worth Higgins

PUBLISHED BY CANVAS, Volume 13, Issue 6 copyright 2019 CANVAS, All rights reserved. CANVAS is published bi-monthly for $39.00 per year by Conduit, Inc., 2009 Machenzie Way, Suite 100, Cranberry Township, PA 16066. Periodicals postage pending at Duluth, GA and additional mailings offices. Periodical Publication 25493. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to CANVAS, 2009 Machenzie Way, Suite 100, Cranberry Township, PA 16066. Please note: The acceptance of advertising or products mentioned by contributing authors does not constitute endorsement by the publisher. Publisher cannot accept responsibility for the correctness of an opinion expressed by contributing authors. CANVAS magazine is dedicated to environmentally and socially responsible operations. We are proud to print this magazine on Opus® Dull Cover 80lb/216gsm and Opus Dull Text 80lb/118gsm, an industry-leading, environmentally responsible paper. Opus contains 10% recycled fiber and SFI and FSC chain of custody certification.

CANVAS DECEMBER 2019

FIND THAT MISSING CONNECTION THROUGH CONTENT

channeling content & connections conduit-inc.com

STAT PACK

I don't think so Survey shows consumers need to trust brands they support

Who do you trust? Turns out that question is one that today's brands need to make a priority. According to Salesforce's "Trends in Consumer Trust" report, 90% of customers said companies have a responsibility to improve the state of the world. If there is an inkling that they do not, they are out. Here's a snapshot of what today's consumers believe about brands:

93%

re more a likely to recommend brands they trust

92%

ho trust a given w brand are more likely to purchase more goods and services from that brand

59% 54%

CANVAS DECEMBER 2019

91%

f ear their personal data is vulnerable to hackers

elieve companies act b without having their best interests in mind

re more likely a to trust a company that is transparent about how personal data is used

Insights

Your pay scale cheat sheet here So, you are thinking about adding some resources to bolster the marketing and content side of your business. Thanks to The Creative Group's "The 2020 Salary Guide: Creative and Marketing" report, you can get a feel for what the going rate is for various marketing, web-related, advertising and PR positions. The report, which forecasts 2020 salary ranges, is based on starting salaries only. Bonuses, incentives, and other forms of compensation were not taken into account. Here's your snapshot of some relatable median starting salaries:

$69,250 Web designer $59,500 Video editor $55,000 Agency account executive $73,500 Content strategist $72,500 Copywriter $79,750 Digital strategist $59,500 Social media manager

BY THE NUMBERS 209 The number of minutes each day people spend, on average, checking work email. By comparison, they spend 143 minutes checking personal email. That is down from 256 minutes spent checking work email, and 209 minutes spent checking personal email, in 2016. (“2019 Email Usage” study CMO by Adobe)

The percent of consumers, regardless of age, gender or location, who expect both physical and digital engagement with brands. Interestingly, only 13% believe this is being delivered by brands. (“Critical Channels of Choice” report by CMO Council and Pitney Bowes)

CANVAS P7

Perspective | Leadership | Insights

CORNER OFFICE

BY JUSTIN AHRENS

Your choice

usy or bad day? Like grandpa used to say, “Your response is your responsibility.” Okay, grandpa may not have said that, but it is true. All too often, we get going so fast that we lose the ability to see past ourselves. This often leads to us being a bit short, forgetful or just not really present in a conversation or meeting. If you are having a crazy day (or even a bad one), you are in control of how that affects your interactions, whether with coworkers, clients, strangers, family or the FedEx guy. Does it really take that much extra energy to smile, write a simple greeting with your message, take a breath or be cordial? On the flip side, if you do not take the time to be polite, the damage control could be way harder to deal with. We seem to have plenty of time these days to tweet or update our status on our social media of choice. Speaking of that, “we” need to be careful not to vent on those outlets as well. Clients and potential clients pay attention, so if you want to use that medium as a way to garner new business relationships, remember these are extensions of you and your company.

If you are having a crazy day (or even a bad one), you are in control of how that affects your interactions. I have entered a meeting where a client has said, “Hey, I hope your day has gotten better.” After some further conversation, that client read one of my tweets and thought my day was perhaps a bummer because I was meeting with them. Attitude adjustment. Luckily no damage was done, but it could have been an expensive lesson. I often reflect on this Winston Churchill quote, “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” We are all guilty from time to time, so here are some things to think about: 1. At work, tell your coworkers if you are stressed out or having a bad day, mainly so your bad juju doesn’t mess with the

CANVAS DECEMBER 2019

environment, and people know you are aware of your ’tude. Often, letting people know helps you relax and get over what’s bugging you. 2. Even if you are in a hurry, you have time to add a friendly greeting or signature to your emails. In fact, you could make a couple of

templates with greetings or signatures to help you stay in the green. 3. Smile. Look at someone in the eyes. Put your iPhone away. Take a minute to really listen, hear, and cordially respond. 4. Before you say how crappy your day is on Twitter or how much the last conference call made you want to poke your eyes out on LinkedIn, remember you do not know who is reading your statuses. I am not saying you can’t have a bad day or be honest, but treating others with respect is always the right thing to do.

Quick Tips 1. If you can recognize you are funky, you can often work out issues in the car or on your commute. Scream at the top of your lungs. Listen to your favorite music or podcast, grab a morning treat or call someone who cheers you up. 2. S et aside some time to just be still—this will help you slow down, pause, and tweak your attitude. Whether you meditate, take a walk around the block or just go somewhere you can relax for 10 to 15 minutes, it can make the shift you require. 3. G rab a nap. Use your lunch break for some quick slumber. In your car, in your office, or under your desk “George Costanza” style, maybe you just need a quick cat nap to recharge and refocus. For more insights from Ahrens, check out: www.linkedin.com/learning/instructors/justin-ahrens

Justin Ahrens is founder and principal of Rule29, an award winning suburban Chicago-based strategic creative firm. He is a frequent guest blogger, national speaker and author of “Life Kerning: Creative Ways to Fine Tune Your Perspective on Career and Life” (Wiley). Follow him and Rule29 on Twitter – @justinahrens and @rule29.

CORNER OFFICE

Agents of change Report shows why that matters to today's CMOs

n a time when technology changes everything, a new breed of disruptors are forcing today's CMOs to rethink how they use their content playbooks. According to Accenture's "Way Beyond Marketing: The Rise of the Hyper-relevant CMO" report, 75% of CMOs admit that their current strategies are no match for how new wave CMOs approach engaging with today's consumers. In fact, only 17% say they have been successful at delivering highly relevant customer experiences. Here are four tips for impacting your marketing message:

P10 CANVAS DECEMBER 2019

No. 1: Pursue disruptive growth — Challenge the status quo. Pursue radical new avenues that overturn outdated legacy processes. Redefine customer experiences. No. 2: Reorientate & reinvigorate your organization around the customer — Deliver hyper-relevant customer experiences at every touchpoint, building the agility to evolve to changing customer needs. No. 3: Get granular about growth — By leveraging analytics, you can drive new insights that inform your growth strategies. No. 4: Become the architect of a new operating model — Rewire your organization with a new, more connected operating model. Build collaboration among both internal groups and external partners, and develop the right skills and behaviors to drive sustained growth.

Perspective | Leadership | Insights

What they are saying... “It is so easy to lose your audience by slipping up and straying away, and then facing the consequences when you are no longer seen with as much faith and loyalty.” — Coldwell Banker Real Estate CMO David Marine on the importance for brands to act with trust instead of just talking about it

“Our values start with integrity, then leadership, ownership, passion for winning and trust. And behind all that there is an element of humility, because even when we're doing well, we always think we can do better.” — Procter & Gamble Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard on why brands need to continually listen to those who inspire innovation

“The sophistication that customers—whether they be B2B or consumers—expect has just gone up massively over the last 10 years as millennials and Gen Z, who are all digitally native, start to come into the professional workspace.”

The inside game Why your content needs to hit a nerve, so to speak Consumers on both sides of the aisle—B2B and B2C—are overwhelmed. We get it. With so many different approaches going to get their attention, they are going to get marketing fatigue. And yet, there are brands that still ignore the need to personalize their content. In fact, 50% of them simply just don't, according to "The New Marketing Standard" report by Heinz Marketing and Uberflip. Even more disturbing, 36% say they do not even have enough material to support their current marketing programs. Here are several key takeaways from the report that might help strengthen your next content campaign: Make it personal — We know you know, but do you? Personalization must be a priority for content to be executed effectively. In fact, 70% of B2B marketers say it matters to their prospects. The journey that matters — While all roads lead to content, 42% of marketers cite good results by suggesting additional activities for a lead to take once they receive their information. Better data means better results — Another no-brainer. Marketers say strong data improves how they create new content and manage the entire content experience.

— Shutterstock CMO Lou Weiss on why it is more important than ever for brands to create meaningful relationships based on authenticity and deliver relevant experiences

CANVAS P11

IGNITE BRILLIANCE

Profitable Conversations BY AMYK HUTCHENS

Every leader has secrets What are yours? P12 CANVAS DECEMBER 2019

very leader has secrets. They all have something they are keeping everyone else from knowing or seeing. When it comes to leadership, no two people’s styles are exactly alike, but there are many common secrets leaders share that can bring about their downfall or galvanize their success. Leaders’ secrets directly influence how they lead—both positively and negatively. Do they possess a secret formula for creating magical results or do they possess a secret that manifests itself in poor behaviors and choices? Two prevalent secrets many leaders must face and conquer to experience unprecedented and profitable outcomes are Competency Addiction and Imposter Syndrome. The first secret, Competency Addiction, refers to leaders utilizing outdated mindsets and behaviors to solve new challenges because they’re a little too in love with their own talent. Over time, their domain expertise loses relevancy or applicability, but they were so good for so long that it is hard for them to admit that the world is changing and they are not changing with it.

Unfortunately, when they receive pushback or their ideas are downright ignored, rather than adapting, they become stubborn, bombastic or worse, they set up their people to fail. Unchecked, a Competency Addiction leads to false bravado, ego mongering and arrogance, or really bad and costly decisions. Leaders who overcome Competency Addiction engage with other talented leaders, ask for help, collaborate, admit their vulnerabilities, ask better questions, and seek out associational thinking opportunities with others who possess disparate domain expertise. Associational thinking, which includes processing information by integrating patterns, seeing contextual relationships, and connecting seemingly unrelated elements is best done in group think tank innovative environments— and it starts by admitting that you may not have the skillset you need to sustain your competitive advantage in today’s ever-changing complex world.

Many successful, smart, talented leaders believe they are neither good enough nor have enough to play in the coveted sandbox. Leaders who face their limitations and still confidently say, “I’m human, I still have an incredible vision, I need your help to accomplish it, and here is why you should help me bring this vision to fruition,” are far more successful than those leaders who bully their outdated agendas forward. The second secret, Imposter Syndrome, is the inverse of Competency Addiction. It is when leaders experience feelings of inadequacy and chronic self-doubt that persist even when results indicate that the opposite is true. Leaders often have the internal mantra, “I do not belong here. I’m not worthy of my role and they will soon discover that I’m a fraud.” Unfortunately, many successful, smart, talented leaders believe they are neither good enough nor have enough to play in the coveted sandbox. They end up behaving poorly in an attempt to cover up their fears. Egotism, arrogance,

deflection, second-guessing, namedropping, dismissal of others and pissing contests are a few common examples, but unfortunately, the list goes on and on. One of the sadder outcomes is when leaders’ perceived inadequacies prevent them from maximizing their true brilliance. Leaders with Imposter Syndrome have their own unique limiting perceptions, but these limitations also all boil down to a leader’s personal not enoughs. They are not smart enough, talented enough, experienced enough, or they do not have enough contacts, capital or communication skills. Their not enoughs often haunt and hurt them, preventing them from actualizing their true talents and gifts. There’s a myth that great leaders know everything, or at the very least they know a tremendous amount of information about almost everything. We perpetuate this myth with the Renaissance man, with movie heroes and heroines who speak multiple languages, defuse bombs, tango dance into the night, break codes in their spare time all the while looking at building schematics for the best possible way to seek revenge upon the bad guys. In the real world, brilliant leaders have interpreters, trip over their own two feet, have bad breath after they eat garlic bread, misunderstand a concept, lack knowledge in certain domain areas, and still accomplish masterful results. They are enough, just as they are, even when they need a breath mint. When leaders are willing to expose the fascinating secrets they keep—even if only to themselves, and work through them—they can positively and exponentially transform the way they lead. Leaders often carry secrets about mistakes they have made along the way— missteps they would rather forget. Oftentimes, they judge these normal, personal transgressions too harshly. Instead of repressing these transgressions, those leaders who face them, forgive themselves, and turn mistakes into whole new approaches of applied wisdom become stronger, wiser, more compassionate leaders for their followers. When leaders do not address their secrets, they can negatively influence business areas such as culture, team dynamics, conflict resolution, negotiation, and personal growth and development. Oftentimes leaders say that they pay a high price to lead. The price leaders pay is a direct reflection of the secrets they keep.

AmyK Hutchens is an International Award-Winning Speaker, Biz Strategist and Cool Aunt. With an Amazon best-selling book, “The Secrets Leaders Keep,” and a globally popular online leadership & communication program, she’s still keeping it real. To learn more about AmyK, visit www.amyk.com.

CANVAS P13

BEHIND THE CURTAIN

Industry news & more

Around the industry Canon Inc. has officially changed the Canon Group company name Océ to Canon Production Printing, effective Jan. 1, 2020. After joining the Canon Group in 2010, Océ continued to develop and manufacture its printing products under the Océ brand. The new name will enable the company to create brand unity across all areas of its printing business, improve synergies across its portfolio and establish a clear end-to-end, go-tomarket approach. Since its establishment in 1877, Océ has introduced a number of unique copying and printing technologies. The Shawmut Communications Group, Danvers, Massachusetts, has achieved an SGP certification by the Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP), a leading authority in sustainable printing certifications for print manufacturers. Shawmut is committed to using SGP certification to work collaboratively with suppliers, print buyers and other supporting organizations to create a more sustainable

printing supply chain. By adopting the SGP framework, the printer has strengthened its workforce and given back to its local community. Upon becoming a newly certified facility, the printer has identified and targeted its first continuous improvement project. The facility is on a mission to recycle plastics labeled 1-7, allowing Shawmut to reduce their trash volume by 5%. Two Sides has relaunched its successful ‘Love Paper’ campaign, which is part of a global initiative to increase consumer awareness of the sustainability of print, paper and paper packaging. The new campaign features a brand new identity, newlydesigned print ads, a new consumer-focused website (www. lovepaper.org) showcasing a paper “fact file,” as well as inspiring blogs and stories, a captivating animated video, plus many new digital tools to help reach and inform wider audiences. For more information, visit www.lovepaper.org.

Personnel Moves Allen Press Inc. has named Danny Pacheco as its VP, Print Sales. Pacheco brings more than 25 years of experience in printing sales and operations. Before joining Allen Press, Danny held various roles with publication printers, gaining extensive knowledge in print management, pre-press, binding, mailing and distribution, as well as in-depth sales experience. Sappi North America has promoted Michael “Mike” Schultz, managing director of Sappi’s Cloquet, Minnesota, mill, to VP of Manufacturing. In his new role, Schultz will oversee manufacturing operations at the company’s four North American mills, Allentown sheeting facility and Westbrook Technology Center. The Paper and Packaging Board (P+PB) has appointed two new board members who were nominated and elected by

companies supporting the Paper Checkoff. New members include Fred Towler (International Paper) and Jonathan Kraft (New-Indy Containerboard). Both will take office in January 2020 for a three-year term. NAPCO Media LLC has named Frank Tueckmantel as its Executive VP of Business Development. Tueckmantel brings extensive strategic marketing and business development experience to the role from his previous longstanding tenure as EFI’s VP of Corporate Marketing. In this new position, Tueckmantel is primarily responsible for the development of a powerful new event initiative which will launch next year. The new platform will provide OEMs, industry groups, and associations with a comprehensive, end-to-end customer engagement offering to fully maximize their on-site tradeshow experience, before, during and after a show.

Mergers & Acquisitons Graphic Systems Services (GSS), Springboro, Ohio, purchased the assets of Global Web Finishing Inc. (GWF) and Scheffer Inc. The combined companies offer a complete line of finishing line solutions for traditional high-speed web presses and variable repeat digital presses. GSS will provide parts and service support for the GWF and Scheffer products, as well as expand the existing GWF product line offerings to meet the needs of the high-speed digital, direct mail and packaging printing markets. GSS is the intellectual property owner of Harris/Schriber and Didde Web Presses. The company, which has been in business since 1995, manufactures and designs custom inkjet web transports/presses and other innovative solutions for the high-speed digital print markets. It also offers custom design engineering, machining and assembly services for other industries outside the graphic arts markets.

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Xeikon America Inc. and Anderson & Vreeland Inc. have entered into a definitive agreement under which Anderson & Vreeland will sell the Xeikon line of dry toner and inkjet-based digital label presses in the United States and Canada. The partnership, which enables the customer to build their own digital setup to best serve their business rather than buying off-the-shelf solutions, exponentially increases Xeikon’s sales strength in North America. Under the agreement, A&V will begin offering Xeikon digital press solutions in early 2020, while the current Xeikon sales managers maintain their territory and account base. For each prospective customer, A&V will work in partnership with Xeikon’s regional sales managers to assemble the optimal configuration, and to assist in contract negotiation, ordering and installation. Xeikon will provide maintenance services and consumables for the digital presses after the sale is complete.

Brilliant leaders are masterful communicators.

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STRATEGY

BY THAYER LONG

The Future of Print

ith the closing of the Association for PRINT Technologies (APTech) PRINT®19, the question now becomes: “What’s next for commercial print?” As usual, most event attendees are decision-makers. Companies no longer have the capacity or personnel bandwidth to send large groups of employees to “kick the tires” of the newest technologies. The high caliber of attendees at PRINT 19 enabled exhibitors to meet with those truly interested in their products. In addition, there was widespread interest in our previously announced collaboration with Tarsus for Brand Print Americas 2020 (www.brandprint-americas.com). This led to a significant amount of early exhibitor sign-ups for the event. Industry professionals are clear on the fact that bigger does not mean better. In many cases, bigger simply means more dilution in the make-up of the products on display and of the target audience. We have seen an increased interest in our collaboration with Tarsus leading

up to and following PRINT 19 as many have been asking to see this type of collaboration for more than two decades. We are looking ahead to the future of print and what it means to be in the print industry. Our collaboration with Tarsus will connect two vibrant audiences—the commercial printers as well as the label converters—providing both groups new and expanded opportunities.” Brand Print Americas 2020 is set to be closely aligned with the print industry’s growth areas, including direct mail and printed material finding its way into the mail stream with enhanced exhibiting opportunities for finishing-machinery manufacturers, wide-format manufacturers, substrate and ink suppliers, and software developers. The news about this trade show collaboration comes just in advance of other announcements that we have made, including a new membership model and dues structure, updated educational programming focusing on vertical markets to create awareness of print, and even an executive leadership program to be led by the graduate

school of business of a leading Virginiabased university. One of these new programs, the “LeadingPRINT CEO Summit” was trialed at PRINT 19. This candid forum for print company CEOs featured a panel of leading CEOs who are successfully navigating today’s difficult industry landscape. They included Jon Buddington, CEO, More Vang; Gina Danner, CEO, NextPage; and Tom Moe, president, Daily Printing. Moderated by Conduit CEO Mark Potter, the event focused on ‘What Sucks About Running a Print Business,’ and how every one of these individuals is taking their own approach to drive success. The “LeadingPRINT CEO Summit” was an extension of APTech’s LeadingPRINT magazine, which launched at PRINT 18 and has continued to grow in readership, touching on topics that really get to the heart of life in the print industry. At APTech, we believe there is no better time to be in the printing industry. Those who are innovators and creators will find much success in the new opportunities of developing products that help meet customers’ needs.

Thayer Long is president of the Association of PRINT Technologies (APTech), formerly known as NPES, and serves as president of the Graphic Arts Education and Research Foundation (GAERF).

P16 CANVAS DECEMBER 2019

15 – 17 SEPTEMBER 2020 DONALD E. STEPHENS CONVENTION CENTER, CHICAGO WWW.BRANDPRINT-AMERICAS.COM

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SOCIALLY SPEAKING

BY MATTHEW PARKER

Why print is the ultimate complement (and three simple ways to achieve it)

rint can be a vital complement to any marketing or branding campaign’s omnichannel strategy. You just need a game plan. Here is everything you need to know, plus three simple ways to achieve it:

We all know that using print improves marketing results — there are numerous studies that prove this. Here’s just one example: According to United Mail, customers spend an average of 25% more if they are approached with a combination of

P18 CANVAS DECEMBER 2019

print and e-mail marketing compared to just receiving e-mail. Marketing will achieve better engagement and higher results if it includes print. Studies have proven that people read print differently than onscreen communications. When tested,

they showed better comprehension and memory of the content. In addition, print engages more senses. Studies show that a brand’s impact can be increased by up to 30% if one or more senses is integrated into marketing. We should also remember that print has longevity. According to the DMA, direct mail delivered to consumers lasts on average between 17 and 38 days, depending on the type of item.

The most powerful results are achieved from omnichannel marketing. An omnichannel campaign is one where targets are encouraged to interact with more than one channel on a campaign. This is not about consuming the same content on a number of different channels. Instead the channels become merged: Interacting (or not) with one channel will trigger a campaign to continue on another channel. Campaigns that are built this way typically build stronger relationships with their target audience. There is more likely to be a stronger pipeline of future sales. These sorts of campaigns achieve more powerful results. Campaigns that focus on a single channel, or keep the channels separate, are less likely to achieve the same results. The pipeline is weaker. They do not maintain the relationship in the same way as a prospect moves between different channels. Omnichannel can seem scary — Often, when people talk about omnichannel, they hear about complicated data requirements. It is assumed that expensive software is required to bring all this together. People expect to require expert marketing gurus who are up to speed with the latest developments in information and technology. This is a perfectly understandable barrier to many printing companies entering the omnichannel marketplace. It also explains why many printing companies struggle to sell this sort of campaign. After all, most customers find this sort of campaign complicated and scary to act on. But it does not have to be so complicated. Here are three ways to create a simple omnichannel campaign that anyone can understand and implement:

1. Promote a website offer with print

Do you want more people to visit your website? Use print. Mail a list of prospects a compelling offer and tell them that they must order online. If you do not have a mailing list, try carrying out door drops or handing out flyers where your prospects are likely to pass by. Studies show that if your direct mail includes a personalized URL, you will typically achieve a higher rate of uptake on an offer. But even a simple URL will have an effect. Create one that is unique to the mailing so that you can measure the results. And do follow up with those who don’t take up the offer.

2. Send out mail after an interaction

Have you just made a sale? Send someone a piece of print that thanks them

for making the purchase. But make sure that you also include an irresistible upsell offer. The fact that you are using print rather than an email shows a customer that you really care. They are much more likely to be better disposed toward you, read the new offer and make an extra purchase. I have also seen this used very effectively to build new relationships. If you connect with someone through social media, sending them a piece of print straight afterward means that a worthwhile relationship is much more likely to develop.

a few prospects or clients at a very low cost. So what are the next steps to selling campaigns like these? Here are three simple action points to help you start selling omni-channel campaigns. 1. Start to educate your clients about the benefits of omni-channel marketing. The easiest way is simply to share this article with them. 2. Create your own omni-channel products. Customers find it much easier to make a purchasing deci-

Studies have proven that people read print differently than on-screen communications. When tested, they showed better understand and memory of the content. 3. Use print to motivate inactive customers

If you have a customer or a prospect that is not taking the next step that you would like them to, print may be the way to encourage them to move forward. After I had been upgraded to Amazon Prime video, I failed to use the service. I ignored emails that were sent to try and encourage me to use it. But when I received a personal letter, I took notice. I started to use the service and now I regularly purchase video content from Amazon.

All these campaigns have a common theme

They are all simple to put into practice. You do not need specialist software. You do not need the client to share a mountain of data with you. This sort of campaign can be created by any printing company. In addition, the client does not require a lot of in-depth education. Anyone can understand how these sorts of campaigns work. Because of this, they are much easier to sell. Finally, this sort of campaign does not have to be expensive. Any client can try one of these strategies out on

sion when they are told what they should buy. So create your own specifications around each of these strategies and encourage clients to use them. You will also find that this creates less estimating work. 3. When you have completed your first campaign, create case studies. These will prove to be a very powerful selling aid for future customers. It is time to improve the results of your customers’ marketing. We all know that omni-channel works. Now it is time to help your clients profit from the benefits that omni-channel brings. PS: Find out more ideas on how to increase sales with today’s buyers: Download my free e-book “Ten Common Print Selling Errors and What To Do About Them” right now at http:// profitableprintrelationships.com/ebook/ You’ll also receive my regular “Views from the print buyer” bulletin, full of ideas on how to sell print effectively. Also, learn how to create the right sort of sales message for this type of campaign in my book “How To Stop Print Buyers Choosing On Price.”

Matthew Parker is the Champion of Print at Profitable Print Relationships. He speaks globally at print events and is the author of "How To Stop Print Buyers Choosing On Price." Parker also trains and mentors printing companies as well as produces content for them. As a buyer of print, he was sold to by more than 1,400 different printing companies, so he knows what works for customers and what doesn’t. Download his free e-guide to using social media to sell printing and similar services at http://profitableprintrelationships.com/social-media-printing-marketing/

CANVAS P19

CANVAS BUYER’S GUIDE

PACKAGING

Utah PaperBox Company Utah PaperBox builds for future with innovative partners like Fujifilm

The Customer

The Utah PaperBox company has a rich and successful history. Dating back to 1914, the company’s strong core values have always focused on exceeding expectations, being a valuable resource for its customers and providing an employee-centric working environment. Growing in stature over the years, Utah PaperBox provides its customers support and guidance in the packaging sector, including rigid boxes and litho-laminating, with a primary focus in folding cartons. The fifth generation family-owned packaging manufacturer is an industry leader in technology and innovation— one fully committed to reinvesting 70% of its profits into its employees, equipment portfolio and facility. Established under the name Union Label, the company became Utah PaperBox in 1922. Today, the company operates out of a 250,000-square-foot office and LEED-certified production facility in Salt Lake City, employing around 200 people. Sitting on an earth-friendly solarpower grid, the Utah PaperBox home base offers sweeping views of nearby mountain ranges, thanks to its stunning floor-to-ceiling windowed exterior.

“With this powerful inkjet solution, we are helping our clients grow their business. It’s a billboard message our clients are printing on their packages, not just a plain brown box.” — MIKE SALAZAR, VP OF OPERATIONS, UTAH PAPERBOX

Market Dynamic

A company known for speed, quality, service and consistency, Utah PaperBox is continually seeking ways to expand its capabilities and exceed customer expectations. Take its recent decision to strengthen its digital portfolio. The genesis of Utah PaperBox’s digital transformation can be found in several vital areas. The first is the declining number of big jobs being produced today, a trend that started

with the economic downturn of 2008, where many print buyers were burned by having excessive inventories. The second factor is that in today’s changing, fast-paced marketplace, that are more customers looking for short-run, on-demand personalized projects with quicker turns. With shorter runs forcing clients to eliminate exposure to significant obsolescence and scrap, it sought a way to move from a volume-driven market to value-driven market. The third factor was the opportunity to develop more dynamic sales and marketing tools. Being in the digital space meant having an exact prototype of the clients’ job and application. and more engagement with a diverse sect of customers, including start-ups and small companies. The final factor presented an opportunity for new customer engagements and being able to provide support and growth to a more diverse set of clients, including startups and small businesses. With digital, shorter runs meant more reorders, smaller invoices and a new set of ways to help its customers sell more products.

“You have to really think about the business, think about how you are going to grow and survive,” says Mike Salazar, VP of Operations. “It is really about innovating and what you’re bringing to the marketplace. I think a big part of it will be sheetfed and figuring out how to get over the edge. You want to have someone say, “Yes, we want to work with you because you have it figured out.”

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Solution

When Utah PaperBox set out to strengthen its capabilities, it sought a partner as committed to innovation as it was. Enter Fujifilm. Offering a machine built on an offset chassis with proven performance and incorporating the industry’s leading inks and inkjet technology, the J Press was just what the Utah PaperBox team was looking for in a digital solution. The J Press offers a solution for print runs of just one or thousands, where traditional offset and digital printing are failing to perform. The decision to turn to Fujifilm helped hit a sweet spot in a market segment where opportunities abound. “We wanted to do better, and we know we are doing better, especially with Fujifilm,” Salazar says. Take the proofing process. All jobs running on the J Press are press-proofed first, which means the Utah PaperBox team can show its customers exactly what they are going to get. “We even coat it so they can see the coating on the ink—they know exactly what it’s going to look like,” says Steve Burch, digital press manager. “Not one prototype has been rejected because the client knows exactly how their product will look. That is our competitive advantage.” Salazar says that the J Press’ attention to detail and quality, offering registration accuracy that is beyond compare and a heavier substrate capacity, made the choice an absolute win for his production team. The relationship that the Utah PaperBox and Fujifilm teams have built also has been a key contributor to its success. “It was just the right choice for us,” Salazar says. “Fujifilm allows us to offer flexibility and reinforces our reputation of innovation.”

The Results

Thanks to Utah PaperBox’s commitment to innovation and their mission to deliver and exceed customer expectations, the company continues to cement its reputation as a leader in the packaging marketplace. And thanks to its decision to add Fujifilm to its resource bank, speed to market is a competitive advantage that is hard to beat. The J Press has afforded its production team zero make readies, zero plates, zero labor on managing color, no additional setup time and seamless printing. “Look at all the steps we just cut out,” Salazar says. “It really has

given us a competitive advantage from that standpoint and I kind of wish we had looked at it sooner.” Overall, Utah PaperBox’s digital transformation continues to rack up the pluses by offering affordable short runs, variable data capabilities and a robust set of tools to help its salespeople remain competitive in the marketplace. “That’s why I think we have had customers for a very long time,” Salazar says. “We are independent. I think that independence gives our customers a little bit more flexibility. To me, it’s the backbone of innovation—a selling point our salespeople can use. We want to be around. We want our customers to be around. We want to help them grow their business. That name is a billboard message our clients print on their packages; it’s not just a plain brown box.”

CANVAS P21

CANVAS BUYER’S GUIDE

SURFACE FEATURES

For when what’s inside really counts Spectro® wows with a superior surface on both sides of the sheet. As an SBS with enhanced optics, it is ideal for both packaging and commercial printing applications.

Consider Spectro your invitation to stand out from the crowd. Spectro’s smooth surface features a proprietary coating engineered for brilliant color reproduction, sharper details and better ink holdout. Spectro C1S and C2S deliver a uniform side-to-side printing surface—making it optimal for the most demanding special effects on both sides of the page. From direct mail to luxury goods and point of sale materials, Spectro offers unrivaled versatility for commercial print and packaging applications as you build your brand. Expect high-quality performance across numerous applications including digital and folio sizes all made and stocked in the U.S. for quicker availability. Spectro has the strength and durability to provide optimum convertibility for folding, die-cutting, gluing and other converting applications. It is designed with exceptional dimensional stability, providing more flexibility in layout and downstream operations. Spectro is manufactured at Sappi’s world class state-of-the-art Somerset Mill located in Skowhegan, Maine. Sappi North America is an industry leader in sustaining a low carbon footprint, with approximately 80 percent of its energy generated from renewable or alternative fuels. A recent Gold Rating from EcoVadis, a highly regarded rating firm assessing more than 30,000 companies annually around the globe, puts Sappi in the Top 4 percent of all companies surveyed based on its outstanding performance in environmental, labor and fair business practices.

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Spectro Applications • Luxury goods • Premium food & beverage • Cosmetic & perfume • Health & beauty care • Covers (books & magazines) • Greeting cards, folders, lottery • Calendars • Shopping bags • POS material

Request a New Standard box by emailing publications@sappi.com

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The next level

FINISHES

Raised Spot UV and Raised Foil print finishes get an upgrade

The challenge to stand out in your market in a way that’s meaningful to your customers is all too real—regardless of whether you’re a print shop owner, graphic designer or anyone who resells print. One way to meet that challenge head on? Capitalize on enhanced capabilities for premium finishes.

Partners in Premium

With new, high-def enhancements, Raised Spot UV is now glossier, more vibrant and awesomely tactile. Raised Foil is now unmatched in quality, with ultra-fine details and flawless registration. Gold, silver and holographic foil options shine out in splendor.

Feel-Good Print

Printed on 16pt. soft-touch suede cardstock, these two premium coatings beautifully elevate branding for any customer. As an added bonus, they photograph exceptionally well, meaning print can serve double duty for digital and in-person marketing.

Give your print profile some lift with these premium offerings from 4over.

CANVAS P23

CANVAS BUYER’S GUIDE

INKJET PRESS

A new breed of fast

How the Océ ProStream™ Series provides high-quality, continuous feed printing at production speeds on a wide range of media

The Océ ProStream™ Series has come at the right time for you. Thanks to its outstanding quality, relevant content and short turnaround times for promotional and graphical applications, a world of new markets is available to you. The high-productivity continuous feed inkjet press is a new breed of fast, combining the vibrant colors of offset with the variable-data versatility of digital printing. This production printer is ideal for applications printing at 1200 x 1200 dpi running at a speed of 262 feet per minute (80 m/min) at 22” (565 mm) web width. There is no need to slow the press down to achieve maximum, high resolutions, full color output. The Océ ProStream™ inkjet printer— which now has an expanded paper range running up to 300gsm (12 pt.)— produces high-quality results from native 1200 dpi DigiDot print head, ColorGrip and pigment-based polymer ink.

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The high-productivity continuous feed inkjet press is a new breed of fast, combining the vibrant colors of offset with the variable-data versatility of digital printing. With the Océ ProStream™ Series, you can benefit from broad substrate support and format versatility beyond B2 sheet size, plus support for coated or uncoated media. This continuous feed press fits seamlessly into your workflows, allowing easy integration into existing PDF workflows, IPDS and PDF DFE, plus an intuitive, modern user interface.

For more information, visit www.csa.canon.com.

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All that glitters…

Pick a print or converting project. Go ahead. Now imagine what an impact you could make if you added Convertible Solutions’ Diamond Print Glitter™. Go ahead—imagine the possibilities. There is no other way to say it: Diamond Print Glitter™ brings another layer of sparkle to the table with its Silver Sheen glitter sheets. Packaging. Bags. Envelopes. Tags. Labels. Signage. Displays. You pick it. Available in digital, inkjet and offset sheets, as well as wide format rolls, our

GLITTER SHEETS

Silver Sheen sheets offer the ability to create a more metallic finished look with only a 4-color process and stunning spot glitter effects—without the mess utilizing heavy ink coverage or white ink layers. And, in case you are wondering, embellishing the Silver Sheen sheets is a breeze. They can be die and laser cut without chipping or burning, and are compatible with embossing, foil stamping, and 3D varnishes. There is a low minimum quantity to purchase, so reach out today.

For more information, contact Convertible Solutions at 866-832-0217 or email info@convertiblesolutions.

CANVAS P25

CREATIVE CORNER

Kevin Groome Creative Director & Founder, CampaignDrive by Pica9 www.campaigndrive.com

MarTech thought leader Kevin Groome on why you must own what you do Whether it is helping the Marriott brand devise the perfect way to tell one of its many branding stories or getting down in the trenches with a small business owner, Kevin Groome has seen and done it all. His company, Pica9 Inc., is a leading provider of web-based brand logistics software solutions with an active user community that spans more than 50 globally recognized brands, including Marriott, Liberty Mutual and more than 100,000 small businesses. Every day, Pica9 helps its clients protect, leverage and activate more than $50 billion in brand-driven market value. As for Groome, he has developed the kind of extensive marketing technology experience to lift brands globally or locally. He understands the practical realities and unique demands of local level marketing. His keen sense of current technologies and the needs of marketing professionals has contributed to his success as a marketing technologist, industry visionary, and entrepreneur. We sat down with him to get a feel for what today’s brand owners are looking for in a marketing partner.

Give us a snapshot of today’s graphic design market.

In today’s environment, I see a continuing increase in confusion, and sometimes even ignorance, about the fundamental principles and practices behind branding: The most vital, and even intimate, decisions to be made about who a company is, what its promise might be, and how it seeks to provide value to its clients, staff and shareholders. Somehow, we have embraced the idea that a brand can be defined by the number of clicks a website receives in a given month, and the number of dollars or cents it pays for each of those clicks. Forget

about the barbarians beating down the gates. They’re now in the royal apartments, picking up trade-show swag. Furthermore, there is immense confusion between “user experience” and “brand relationship.” I lay this at the feet of the so-called pundits who have made UX a buzzword and in so doing, have diluted or misconstrued much of the great work that thought leaders like Jakob Nielson and Seth Godin have done. Let me be clear—the term “user experience” emphasizes ways in which a product (usually technology-based) can satisfy and build upon existing expectations in the user’s mind regarding the accomplishment of a specific task, and when necessary, help the user accomplish new tasks about which no clear expectation already exists. Branding is entirely on a different planet. Branding is about the process whereby a human being comes to engage with, trust and ultimately depend upon another person or organization for some aspect of his or her existence. I’m always amazed when I meet designers who feel even the least bit threatened by the ways in which Pica9’s system turns designs into templates—as if a machine could ever threaten talent like theirs. The whole reason systems like ours exist is to improve the experience, whereby members of a brand family access and capitalize upon the brand. But what our system cannot do—what I continue to believe no system has yet done—is to conceive of the foundation on which the brand is built. And that means, despite all the confusion (or perhaps because of it) there has never been a better time to be a designer.

What are your clients looking for today?

They tend to be highly sophisticated marketers with a clearly defined brand strategy. They are looking for us to help them execute that strategy with the highest possible precision at the greatest possible scale. They are looking

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for us, as their distributed marketing platform, to be cognizant of and sensitive to their brands, and to be passionate about delivering capabilities that protect, defend and extend those brands as efficiently as possible.

What are some of the most critical things important to today’s brand owners?

The single most critical thing for a brand owner to realize today is that the very idea of brand ownership has changed. We live in an increasingly democratized world, where old lines of command and control are giving way to decentralized systems of communication and distribution. As a designer, you have to understand this trend, so that you can capitalize on the deep engagement that’s possible in that democratized world, without giving in to the potential threats of chaos and brand dilution that are part and parcel of it. something “viral.” In fact, you stand a much better chance of picking up the incurable disease of Derivative Thinking. So demand the brief. And if your client won’t give you a brief, write your own. If you want a model for a fantastic creative brief, let me know and I’ll put you in touch with one of the best suits in the advertising business.

What’s the one quality every art director must have today?

Besides copious amounts of raw, arrogance-breeding talent, which is what you need in a world filled with self-proclaimed pundits, I would say that every art director today must be relentlessly curious. New platforms, new tools and techniques are emerging every day. You have to be obsessed about being among the very first to engage with these new modes of communication and connection. You must be able to assess the merits and drawbacks of new platforms with a perspective born of familiarity with all the other platforms that have come before, from business cards to broadcast TV. You must be curious about the etiquettes that govern these new environments—their written and unwritten rules. And when you shut down at the end of the day, you have to be obsessed about setting all of the day’s new things in the context of all the things you learned the day before, and making room in your mind for an even more complex communications environment. On the plus side, I find this effort causes me to talk to myself out loud on the subway, which makes it much easier to get a seat, usually all by myself.

What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?

There is absolutely no substitute for a wellwritten, strategically sound creative brief. Do not pass go, do not put hand to mouse

What’s the biggest thing on your to-do list right now?

A white paper about the limitations of keyword tagging in digital asset management. Sounds like a yawn, but you’d be amazed how many hundreds of thousands of design hours are lost every year because we still have not gotten this right enough.

Can you share a recent success story about a project you did with a client?

until you have on your desktop a creative brief that’s worthy of the name and that has won the commitment of the powers that be (whoever they are). You owe it to your client, and to yourself, not to waste creative cycles wandering around in the foggy woods of Borrowed Interest or the smelly swamps of Irrelevantly Clever, or the vast desert wasteland of Intellectually Lazy, in the vague hope of finding

Ten years ago, we were asked to rebuild a system for one of our clients, which enables salespeople to build their own e-proposal websites. The thing started out as a Cold Fusion Frankenstein kind of thing, then over the next 10 years evolved into a central part of the MarTech stacks of one of the proudest brand families in the hotel business. Today, it produces 15,000 websites per month, across 30 different brands, drawing upon libraries of more than 1 million digital assets, with an ever-evolving community of over 8,000 salespeople worldwide.

CANVAS P27

PERSPECTIVE

The Evolving of Printers Continues P28 CANVAS DECEMBER 2019

Cover Story: By Michael J. Pallerino

odd Meissner wishes he could say that his company’s “digital revolution” was part of some overall master strategy to totally rebrand its reputation as a cutting-edge print and finishing technology provider. He really does. But if you want him to be honest, Meissner says that would be giving Color Ink way too much credit. In the more than a decade since print service providers (PSPs) were encouraged, forced or whatever term you deem worthy of using to embrace the concept of being a marketing service provider (MSP), Meissner (and he is not alone) is still coming to grips with the whole process. There is no skirting the issue; the conversations pitting the terms PSP versus MSP are still being batted around. And depending on who you are, who you serve and what your true intentions as a print company are, the conversation can be distracting—or not. Print executives like Meissner are quick to say that print is already a marketing service, so labeling who you are and what you do really comes down to the people you serve. The truth is that too many printers struggle to truly define their identities in a print landscape that is constantly changing. “Honestly, our customers do a good job of pushing us to improve our processes and expand our offerings,” says Meissner, president of Sussex, Wisconsin-based Color Ink. Color Ink was started in 1984 by graphic design artist and creative director Jim Meissner, who had his own art studio. Because he was buying so much print, he decided to purchase a press and try the whole commercial printing thing himself—and Color Ink was born as a print media solutions provider. Over the years, it began to grow, eventually settling in on a plot of family dairy land in Sussex. Several expansions and renovations later, Color Ink, which changed its tagline to read “Visual Marketing Solutions” provider, operates in two buildings, occupying 105,000 square feet of space on the farm. In fact, many of its expanded capabilities have been added in exchange for securing a segment of business from a customer or simply pushing work through in a more efficient manner. Where does it stand today? “We are probably on the bleeding edge, so I’m not sure it’s something to be proud of necessarily,” Meissner says. “Digital printing and production methods play a huge role in our vision, culture, cap ex, sales approach and production mindset.”

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Constant change Does the question of PSP or MSP label really make any difference today? For Color Ink, it does. The company jumped fully into the MSP model years ago, so much so that Meissner believes the change probably elevated them above some of the carnage of change that ensued. “I honestly believe we would not be around today if we had chosen not to dive in 10 years ago,” he says. In an industry that changes, seemingly at times on a dime, today’s commercial print leaders have to stay focused on finding innovative and effective ways to

unless it is succinctly dialed in on areas like packaging, yearbooks, transactional or publications. “Clearly it’s impossible for a printer to add all of these services, but savvy printing companies recognize the synergistic channels and embrace those additional offerings,” Meissner says. “In the last 10 years, we have found that our top customers are leaning on us more and more to help them add value to their overall visual communications. Fortunately, we’ve been able to accomplish that in the form of digital technology.”

“ Those that remain a PSP and function in the high volume offset space should in the same regard understand basic marketing strategy and how it affects their clients.” — JEFF DAVIDSON, VP CORPORATE STRATEGY, MODERN LITHO

scale and differentiate the competition. At the very least, defining your offerings helps navigate the turns as they come. As to whether it matters if you call yourself a PSP or MSP, that largely depends upon the markets you serve. The one sure thing is that you must have a multi-channel approach in your tool belt. And while ink on paper still plays a big role, there are so many other competing methods of visual communication these days. Promotional products. Structural elements/3D printing. Unique substrates. Video and interactive elements. Social media, email and webbased marketing. Each competes with print in a crowded marketing landscape. As it stands, it's logical that any printer serving the marketing and advertising world would benefit greatly from expanding its offerings,

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For Color Ink, it started in 2009 with its venture into wide-format flatbed UV digital inkjet printing. Most recently, it added an MGI JetVarnish digital embellishment device and a Highcon laser die-cutter. “We are now able to take on projects that we simply could not have produced internally and our customers love it,” Meissner says. “We now have greater flexibility on turn times and a much broader choice of design options.”

Different paths to the same end

During the Great Recession of 200809, commercial print was sent spinning into a major shake-up, creating two divergent paths for printers to choose. Some decided to make the transition into market service providers based on market opportunities, while others stayed true to their print service provider roots. Many of the printers

that made a decision—whichever path they chose—have fared well over the years. Those that remained on the sidelines, however, or tried to do a little of both, experienced some setbacks. The reason: Each strategy, both viable business opportunities, takes a 100 percent commitment to execute successfully. The early days of this scenario, compounded by an economy thrown into chaos, were interesting for commercial printers trying to feel their way through shrinking margins and reams of consolidation. “I believe there was a ‘do or die’ talk track coming from the industry talking heads during that time,” says Jeff Davidson, VP Corporate Strategy for Modern Litho, a Jefferson City, Missouri, printer with more than eight decades of work behind its reputation. When Davidson reflects on the thought process permeating throughout the industry, he is glad Modern Litho chose to stay with its PSP foundation. The decision has resulted in a decade of tremendous growth and profitability. “Our strategy didn’t change wholesale but we did adopt a focus on diversification within our PSP space,” he says. That diversification included geographic, client relationships, product and services. “Print should be a component of any top tier marketing strategy, so it should remain in the MSP tool kit,” Davidson says, “but it may be digital or wide format as opposed to high volume offset. Those that remain a PSP and function in the high volume offset space should in the same regard understand basic marketing strategy and how it affects their clients.” Davidson says that Modern Litho remains a healthy and growing print service provider committed to high volume offset printing. He also believes that this line of thinking has a place in the marketing mix of the future. To stay there will take consistent and progressive investments. “I personally do not think it still makes sense today,” Davidson says. “Those still struggling with that question now encounter a roughly 10-year experience and investment gap. The firms that have remained on the sidelines during this time or have split their focus by trying to play in both worlds are on a slow march to irrelevance, in my opinion.” As Color Ink and Modern Litho implicitly show, the decision to expand your company’s resources to attack other areas, other avenues, is a natural response to an industry in constant flux. Exercising the option does not come down to wrong or right as much as it does to making a decision and following through. If the last 10 years has taught us anything, it is that change is driven by corporate culture and customer needs. In the end, the choices and investments you make will drive you to the opportunities that exist.

FIND THAT MISSING PIECE THROUGH CONTENT

channeling content & connections conduit-inc.com

BUSINESS

Give your people the power to predict the future

P32 CANVAS DECEMBER 2019

DOWN THE ROAD APIECE

hat if I told you there was a simple, yet effective three-word mnemonic to help your sales professionals be more strategic, close deals faster, improve margins and increase customer satisfaction, all at the same time? If you are like most you are thinking, “I wouldn’t say anything, just tell me how.” Or you would say, “Impossible,” but read it just in case. What I am going to share is a simple memory device your sales team can hold on to, internalize, and make part of their everyday interactions with clients. These three little words provide amazing results over time because the words are rooted in the Golden Rule, one of civilization’s oldest principles. To develop your team’s empathy for customers, repeat these three words, “Third Year First.” Anytime your salesperson consciously begins your company’s relationship with a customer by imagining the third year of the relationship first— how he wants year three to look, smell, taste, feel and sound—the better your sales cycle flows and the more impressive your results.

It is not just for new salespeople and new accounts either. It is helpful for managers, your highest performing reps, and best of all, it is beneficial for your customer. Let’s explore how this simple concept applied consistently over time will help your sales team perform at its highest level. This happens by harnessing the magic power of empathy. Before we get too far, I want to define empathy with a quick comparison to its lookalike cousin, sympathy. These two terms are often mixed up in popular culture, but for this article when we think of empathy, we are going to think about a surgical doctor. Pretend we need this surgeon’s help. If our surgeon has sympathy with us, as they describe our much-needed intervention they will

Feature Story: By Greg Chambers

wince and say, “Oh, this is really going to hurt, and your recovery is going to be long and it is painful.” While it is nice to know they care, I do not want a sympathetic surgeon working on me and in the same sense, we don’t want our reps to be sympathetic toward customers saying, “Oh, this is going to be expensive and disruptive.” No, we want our surgeon to have empathy for us, look at us with a straight face and say “This is best. It is going to hurt, and the recovery is tough, but if we do not do this now, it will most certainly get worse.” We do not want our surgeon to experience our pain; we want them to focus on giving us the best outcome possible, which is the same way we want our reps to treat our customers. So how do you do it? As a manager, you can start by describing to your team what empathy looks like. You can show them by telling stories, but most learning occurs when salespeople do the work and you review their progress through questioning. This is where the Third Year First mnemonic does your heavy lifting. It is as simple as asking, “What’s our ‘Third Year First’ plan with this prospect?” over and over again. I’ll give you three examples of how it works. 1. Bigger Deals — “Third Year First” leads to bigger deals because it reminds your sales pro that even if a deal is small and barely rings the bell this month, their brains will ask right at the start, “What will have to happen to keep them around for three years? How will I make them an amazing threeyear customer?” Why does that make deals bigger? Because half the time it leads your salesperson to ask “Third Year” questions up front, which leads to something interesting happening inside the customer’s firm. The firm will let your sales pro talk to more people, at higher levels in the organization, about bigger ideas. At first glance, this may sound like it adds unwanted time to the process, but here is the thing—in addition to uncovering larger opportunities, the added time early in the process actually shortens the overall sales cycle. 2. Shorter sales cycles — Have you ever heard the phrase, “Slow down to speed up?” It is akin to taking time to “sharpen the saw” or “it is a process, not an event.” Your salespeople equate

activity with progress because your sales pipeline demands movement. They need to move their list from suspects to prospects to understanding their needs to a proposal. For that reason, a shift to “Third Year First” will be met with claims that it slows down the process. That’s wrong. “Third Year First” speeds up the process because when your people approach a prospect thinking “Third Year First,” they will have to consider all the things that need to happen. In time, they are talking to themselves like “to be super happy in three years, the client will need to see a high ROI,” which is the focus on outcomes we are looking for. Just like we want our surgeon to focus on the outcome of making us better, when our reps focus on the client’s best outcome, the client works to get the outcome in-house right away.

of your company. When you preach “Third Year First,” you are training your sales team to think like stewards of the company doing what is best for clients because as Jack Welch, the legendary GE executive said, “One thing we have discovered with certainty is that anything we do that makes the customer more successful inevitably results in a financial return for us.” That’s empathy in action. Let me finish by touching on the main reason empathy does not take root in your salespeople and “Third Year First” gets resistance. I can capture it in one word: quota. The pressure to hit quota robs the salesperson of their ability to think “Third Year First.” The thing is, we need quotas to manage the company. I am not going to advocate for a quotaless system, but I will say between a world of “no immediate quota” (“First

Top executives are more strategic and when they have an opportunity with a client, they are natural “Third Year First” thinkers. As you move from being a vendor pushing a product to helping clients get an outcome, opportunities move to close faster than they would have otherwise because your customer is excited to get the promised result in house, as soon as possible. 3. Higher margins — Not only will sales cycles speed up, there will be fewer price concessions along the way, resulting in higher margins. It may seem like fantasy to think a mantra repeated daily for years will result in bigger deals coming through the door, faster, and with better financial results, but it happens. I can usually find current evidence inside your own firm. Look at the deals sourced from your top executives. Top executives are more strategic and when they have an opportunity with a client, they are natural “Third Year First” thinkers. They quickly identify the players, the information necessary for this relationship to blossom, and the steps needed to get started right now. Your top execs also carry the weight of needing the deal to last for three years or more because they are good stewards

Year Third”) and a strict monthly quota system lies a wide range of choices. Explore this gray area with your team to pull them out of an empathy robbing month-to-month quota focus. If you need help with this idea, let me know. Saying my “Third Year First” mnemonic is simple yet effective is a bold challenge to issue, but it works. We know that behaviors are not innate and unchangeable. Research tells us behaviors are heavily influenced by environment and circumstance. What “Third Year First” lets you do as a manager is to structure your environment in a way to give your salespeople a chance to exhibit innate empathetic behaviors. When you task them to think about focusing on a long-term result with clients, their deals get more interesting, the deals come in faster, deals tend to be bigger and there’s less negotiation in the end. Next year, give your sales team the power to predict the future by forcing them to think about what the Third Year looks like, then let them come up with the first steps to take in order to make it happen. The idea is simple, but not easy, just like the Golden Rule.

Greg Chambers is a consultant and author of “The Human Being’s Guide to Business Growth.” His firm helps firms design sales and marketing practices that are a perfect fit for the firm’s size and disposition. Learn more about Greg at https://chamberspivot.com.

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BRANDING

TOP 10 challenges for

salespeople New, different approaches still needed in digital era

P34 CANVAS DECEMBER 2019

Feature Story: By Jennifer Feature Morrell Story

lot can be said about today’s selling landscape, but the most accurate description? Noisy. Old ways of selling may no longer reap results. To push out information and hope it sticks likely will no longer work. You have to get personal, tell a story, be memorable and, some would even say, become vulnerable. “We are currently operating in a time of rapid business disruption, marked by constant change and unpredictability, and a tremendous amount of noise,” says Lance Tyson, president and CEO, Tyson Group. “For salespeople, the digital era is full of starts and stops in their communications with prospects and customers.” Tyson says that most buyers have a wealth of information at their fingertips, to include product websites and external information available on Google and a host of social media sites. Buyers can form opinions and make decisions in the blink of an eye. All in all, you need to know your customer. That means knowing what is important to your customer, and understanding how to tell a story that will convince that customer to buy from you instead of someone else. “Cookie-cutter just doesn’t work anymore,” says Cindy McGovern, Ph.D., CEO of Orange Leaf Consulting and author of “Every Job is a Sales Job: How to Use the Art of Selling to Win at Work.” “Everyone wants a unique experience, and everyone—and everything—is constantly changing. Going into 2020, you need to keep up. We live in a 140-character-conversation world. As a salesperson, you have to sell your customers again and again, in every interaction you have with them. What you did last year isn’t going to work next year.”

10 challenges to face head-on

CANVAS talked with sales-focused thought leaders to learn what every salesperson should expect to face moving into 2020:

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Top 10 challenges for salespeople 1. Buyers have a glut of information at their fingertips “We live in a world where everyone has a phone full of apps to serve their every need, and devices to measure the value of every step they take and every penny they spend,” Tyson says. “Buyers can now do pricing comparisons with just a few taps, find consumer and peer reviews and other information, and quickly assess the value of a business or service. Suggestive selling is becoming an art form. Salespeople need to build a rapport and help the buyer go through the process, rather than trying to force their decision prematurely.”

2. D o not let a lack of planning become a missed opportunity “Customers want to be treated as individuals, which means the sales professional needs to get to know each customer’s wants and needs—and what your company has that can fill that need,” McGovern says. “That takes research, preparation and planning. In this day and age, every job is a sales job. When the opportunity arises to get a bit more business out of an existing customer, every employee should be empowered to do it. Customer-facing employees should ask every client, ‘What else can I help you with today?’ before saying, ‘Goodbye.’”

3. Rejection cannot be taken personally “The key to not taking rejection personally is to never reject yourself,” says John Livesay, Forbes columnist and host of “The Successful Pitch” podcast, and author of “Better Selling Through Storytelling: The Essential Roadmap to Becoming a Revenue Rockstar.” “When you get a ‘No,’ remember it is for now, not forever. Don’t beat yourself up or doubt yourself when you get rejected. Remember who you are is a competent,

confident salesperson with a valuable product or service to offer.”

4. The landscape is crowded, and communications are increasingly fragmented “If emails aren’t getting through in the beginning of the sales process, and LinkedIn is too congested, try sending a note on paper, and then following up with a phone call,” Tyson says. “When communicating with prospects, salespeople are often dealing with an unbelievable mix of conversation fragments coming through a variety of channels, including text, voicemail, emails, phone calls, and more. They need to be agile in their approach and develop the skills to pull all of that information together and advance it forward.”

5. Competitive alternatives are emerging that are more appealing to your customers “In some industries, product offerings are viewed as essentially being interchangeable, and the consumer does not view them as unique,” says Jill Johnson, president and founder, Johnson Consulting Services. “These types of products can encompass anything from facial tissue to wood products. Consumers often shop for these items based on price. For example, with an item like lumber, consumers are seeking composite lumber alternatives that resolve the issues of maintenance. They are willing to sacrifice some of the quality and beauty found in a traditional lumber product for the easy and maintenance-free option.”

6. T ime has become the most precious commodity for most people “The default process for most salespeople used to be to reach out to a

“ Salespeople need to be able to facilitate conversations in lots of ways, and bring discipline to the process, even when it seems casual.” — LANCE TYSON, PRESIDENT & CEO, TYSON GROUP

new prospect asking for a meeting or a call,” Tyson says. “But people are becoming more reluctant to give up their time. The most critical skill now becomes either convincing them that you are worth the expenditure of time, or figuring out a way to move things forward without asking them to sacrifice their time.”

7. You do not have to be perfect, but you do have to be memorable “People relate to people who are vulnerable and transparent,” Livesay says. “Be a ‘progressionist’ who celebrates your progress. To be memorable after you leave a presentation, tell a story that is clear, concise and compelling. A story that is easy to repeat and has an emotional connection will make you memorable.”

8. Consumers are influenced by and share opinions on social media “Consumers look to social media to get opinions about what they should buy and from whom,” Johnson says. “Stay on top of your social media profile, and look at your Star Ratings on all social media platforms. Make sure you have a disciplined approach to monitoring your presence on all social media platforms. Even if there is a glitch, a great response by members of your team handling it can generate a positive comment on social media. This kind of positive commentary is gold!”

9. Good sales professionals must embrace consultative sales “Leave any remnant of the old, pushy, manipulative sales strategies behind,” McGovern says. “People are naturally suspicious of sales professionals, especially if they detect any sliver of dishonesty or high pressure. The solution for sales pros: Listen with an ear toward discovering exactly what your customer wants or needs. Then, find a product or service that fills that need. Don’t try to sell what you want to sell. Instead, sell what the customer wants to buy.”

10. Things often seem deceptively casual “A text thread about meeting at a coffee shop at some point in the future may seem very casual, but if it’s not handled with a certain degree of formality, it could result in a missed opportunity,” Tyson says. “Salespeople need to be able to facilitate conversations in lots of ways, and bring discipline to the process, even when it seems casual. Some people are naturally good at this, but for others, it requires a conscious effort.”

P36 CANVAS DECEMBER 2019

PAPER LOVES TREES U.S. forests, which provide wood for making paper, packaging and many other products, have been growing by over 1,500 NFL football fields every day!

Discover the story of paper www.twosidesna.org Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2015. Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015.

BUSINESS

Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from Nicholas Webb’s “The Innovation Mandate,” his new book which shows leaders a step-by-step process to continually generate great ideas, implement them, and maximize their value to benefit both customers and investors.

P38 CANVAS DECEMBER 2019

Feature Story: By Nicholas Webb

Innovation is the new business mandate

very successful business must devote itself to accomplishing certain things. The reward for doing them is profitability and growth. The penalty for failing to do them is bankruptcy. Call these things mandates, if you will. The number one mandate for every business is to make a profit. No matter what else you do, if you do not make a profit, sooner or later no one will lend you any more money, your suppliers will demand payment, and the bank will padlock your front door. Making a profit is nonnegotiable. There are other mandates, all of which contribute to success. Growth is a mandate. If your business does not grow, it will be left behind.

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Future forward Quality is a mandate. You must make the highest quality product or offer the highest quality service you can. You must do this because you have your own standards of professionalism, and because your competitors are relentlessly striving to improve their own performances. Value is a mandate. Your business must provide more benefit per dollar than your competitor. Knowing what your customer craves is a mandate. You do this by engaging with them and connecting with them across a multitude of channels. Depending on your industry, there may be other mandates, such as sustainability or transparency. They are the things you absolutely must do to stay in business. This book is about one more mandate, which is just as important as the ones that have been long established. It is the Innovation Mandate. To be blunt: If your organization does not innovate, it is headed for an early demise. This is because right now, today, we are experiencing two business conditions that we have never seen before. 1. The rate of change in business and technology is accelerating. For example, a solution or innovation that 20 years ago might have had a useful life of two years now has a life of six months. The innovation cycle time has sped up, and with it the amount of resources and human energy you and your organization need to invest in keeping ahead of the pack. 2. The severity of disruption is increasing. The lifespan of the average company will soon be on par with that of a fruit fly. This is because the disruptive forces that can obliterate a company are more powerful than ever before. Analyses of the S&P 500 reveal that as recently as 1995, the average lifespan of a company on the S&P 500 was thirty years; today it’s down to fifteen. Half of the companies that appeared on the S&P 500 in 2000 have been taken off. Many experts predict that by 2028 the tenure of the average company on the list could be as low as 10 years.

Innovate or not, choice is yours

What does this mean to you? It means that while you and your company are currently innovating by embracing new inventions, systems or business strategies, and you are probably doing a good job of it, you cannot take

anything for granted. The competition is fierce, and unless you’re an innovation leader, you are not doing enough. For example, you might be doing a good job introducing new technologies to the marketplace, but your business systems are the same ones they were using back when people were renting videos from Blockbuster. Or you have got the most up-to-date human resources policies, including flexible scheduling and salary transparency, but your budget is still being run off the same Excel spreadsheets you used when you were in college. To be a leader in your industry—and stay on top for longer than a nanosecond—you need to cultivate and exploit innovations in every corner of your business. On your social media platform. In human resources. In office management. In your supply chain. And yes, in your products.

Sparks of innovation make companies stronger, and companies that generate more good ideas have more profitable growth. Sounds like a big job, does it not? A little overwhelming? Not to worry. Believe it or not, you can create a system of company-wide innovation that identifies and nurtures innovative ideas from anywhere, just like you have a system for marketing or budgeting.

Little sparks matter

The key is to think of innovative ideas as being like little sparks. These tiny points of light and heat flare up in the most unexpected places. The trick is to spot them before they fizzle out— because believe me, they don’t last long. Blink and they’ve vanished. You need to capture them and preserve them and give them oxygen so they will burn brighter. If they prove to be useful, you can develop them into fully realized, actionable ideas that shine bright and last a long time. Of course, if you have a research and development team, you expect your people to create lots of these little sparks. But even in a formal R&D

setting, these valuable glimmers can be overlooked and allowed to waste away into cold little cinders. In the pages of this book—as cautionary tales—I will include some truly scary examples of potentially revolutionary innovations that were ignored, overlooked, and allowed to vanish into darkness. Let us get back to your innovation system, which I am going to show you how to set up and operate. I think you will find it easier than putting together a bookshelf from IKEA. I will show you the three key phases to creating a practical and durable system of innovation in your organization. The first is your innovation mission. This is the overall roadmap that will guide your efforts. It is not unlike the mission of the organization as a whole; the difference is that it is focused only on innovation. A big chunk of the book will be devoted to your innovation mission, because it’s like the foundation of a skyscraper: It has to be rock solid. Your innovation mission provides the direction for your innovation operating system. Just like the operating system in your computer, it manages all the moving parts that go into a robust system for producing and exploiting new ideas, inventions, and processes. The heart of the innovation operating system is your innovation pipeline. It is the step-by-step process whereby the sparks of new ideas become bright shining stars of innovation. The idea of a pipeline should be familiar to you—I will bet you already have a sales pipeline for converting prospects into customers, or a hiring pipeline for screening job applicants, evaluating them, and eventually onboarding them. Your innovation pipeline is no different and should be a ubiquitous part of your everyday operations. On Fortune Magazine’s list of the 100 fastest growing companies, all are innovation superstars. From the top of the list—companies including Natural Health Trends, Paycom Software, and LendingTree—to the bottom, the one thing they all have in common is a relentless drive to capture those tiny flickering sparks, develop them, and turn them into cutting-edge products or business practices. Sparks of innovation make companies stronger, and companies that generate more good ideas have more profitable growth. Sparks are generated in a culture of innovation. This means that innovation is not just a localized project or a one-time push; it is baked into the very essence of the organization. Bottom line—Innovation is the new business mandate.

Nicholas J. Webb, author of “The Innovation Mandate,” is also CEO of Lassen Innovation, who works closely with Fortune 500 companies throughout the world to help them lead their industries in innovation, strategy and customer experience design. He also serves as an adjunct professor and the director of the Center for Health Innovation at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California. Webb speaks at 50-plus events annually to an average audience of 1,200 people, and his consulting clients include Gatorade, CIGNA, Freightliner, Johnson & Johnson, Verizon Wireless, Salesforce and Microsoft.

P40 CANVAS DECEMBER 2019

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