In the current economic climate Web to Print is quite simply the best sales tool that a printer can have. Competition and prices are so fierce that the modern printer needs to find a way to differentiate their offering and to offer real benefit to clients. It is not enough to simply offer print services which can be bought very easily by any print buyer or marketeer. The benefit of Web to Print will depend on what relationship printers choose to have with their clients.
If printers want to offer a low cost, convenience solution, for a range of pre-defined items such as business cards, flyers, posters, banners, etc., then of course, a web to print solution is a must in this kind of transactional or commodity offering. But this is just one side of the coin for Web to Print and in our experience it is not the most lucrative route for a large number of printers, who are accustomed to a different kind of relationship with their clients. Printers are increasingly seeing this route as an add-on service for smaller value items but not as their main business strategy.
The other way to view web to print is as a means of strengthening your relationship with clients by offering real value to their business. There is a common misconception in the print industry that online in some way weakens the relationship and means the buyer / seller relationship becomes more 'faceless' and more price driven. This might explain why some sales people in the print industry, when asked about web to print, may have a sceptical view, or may protest that they can offer a much better and more “personal” service in the traditional way. Yet web to print is actually about a much more complex, intimate and longer term relationship that becomes more like a real partnership or even a 'marriage'.
The average sales person in the print industry, probably in their fifties, has not yet been convinced of the inevitable shift towards offering a more self-service solution. There are several reasons for this, but for me the underlying reason is the shift in mindset that is required to fully embrace web to print. It means focusing on a client's business and looking at how you can help them grow and what you can solve for them. It often has very little to do with the specification or even quality of the printed documents. It is very much a solution sale that requires a greater knowledge of the client and their business. This kind of sales approach, which is much more consultative, is often alien to the traditional print salesperson. They believe they can best serve themselves if they simply carry on 'dating' their clients, rather than developing a much deeper relationship and 'marrying' them.
This for me explains the relatively slow adoption of web to print in the industry as a whole. Client relationships are currently in the hands of people who have not yet fully understood or embraced the potential of Web to Print. That is, until such time as their client insists on a tender situation which involves an online offering. Then they rush to the various web to print vendors to speedily implement a solution that they have little or no experience with and fail to understand its full potential. Early adoption is therefore critical and will ultimately impact on success in the future.
A well implemented web to print solution will offer huge benefits to both parties. It may well help the end user (the printer’s client) become more successful in their own business. In many cases it will have a direct impact on the sales revenues and profitability of their client's business. It should help them market their business more effectively, target their product or services much better, perhaps increase the speed of new product launches and offers, reduce administration, provide better reporting and forecasting and potentially a host of other benefits that will be unique to that client or possibly, more likely, be unique to that client sector or vertical market.
Equally, for the printer it will mean less administration and should lead to greater margins and longer term relationships. Winning new business is a tough prospect in the current economic climate and therefore client retention and a greater share of your current clients spend is a must. This in itself breeds success by offering those benefits to potential new clients using case studies and testimonials of your successful solutions. Replicating success within particular vertical markets is also a very successful web to print strategy which has been employed by RedTie clients.
The blame for this misunderstanding in what Web to Print actually is, can be shared between the printers and the Web to Print vendors who have not yet fully communicated the message to the industry. Web to Print is not an investment in more high tech 'kit' but rather an investment in the future relationship with clients. It is something that should have been embraced much more fully and our challenge as Web to Print providers is to get this message across.
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