Tips on product lines, technology and training headlined this year’s Small Distributor Summit

By April Hollis

Tricking prospects into thinking they’ve been served with a sexual harassment suit...no, it’s not a new candid camera show; it’s a marketing tactic used by Robert Crabtree, Distributor Growth Partners. The Wellington, Ohio, distributor sends his prospects unmarked manila envelopes addressed in a woman’s handwriting with a “classified” stamp. “They’re opened every time,” he says.

Crabtree spoke at PSDA’s annual Small Distributor Summit in Dallas last weekend, sharing tips from previous years that helped him grow his business. And once again, this year’s 80 attendees left the conference with a fresh batch of ideas.

“The conference was high energy and high intensity—perfectly appropriate for setting us on our new trajectory, which is to move more into the distributor model and out of the manufacturing model because we still print in house,” says Harriette Treviño, co-owner of Bull’s Head Printers, Monroe, Conn. She and co-owner Jesse Treviño also signed up for the PSDA listservs after the conference. “We’re very interested in keeping in touch with the great people we met there.”

At SDS, Glatfelter marketing programs manager Courtney Enser and Ennis Marketing Director Steve Osterloh showed attendees how to add some snap to their websites with short YouTube videos. One tip from Osterloh: “Don’t link to the YouTube site because of the other related videos that might pop up next to your own.” Osterloh cited one video of a man getting pulled into a printing press. Instead, distributors should embed their YouTube clips in websites and presentations. In addition to being a low-dollar investment, videos also can be useful as training tools. Dave Vener, president of Impress Printing & Graphics, made a “Print 101” video of himself training two employees and can now show that clip to subsequent hires, saving valuable time.

Stop Employee Email Overload
Vener and Kevin Landry of JR Landry & Co. stressed the need for well-defined, recorded, training information for new employees. In a session to help owners work on their businesses instead of in them, they advised owners to write down processes for specific tasks and jobs so they aren’t constantly training and re-training employees. Vener said that after he recorded work processes at his company, employee emails sent to him dropped from 65 a day to 15.

Landry added, “Before, when we hired employees, we might have had a position, but we needed to be crystal clear with them what we wanted them to do—the tasks we wanted them to complete every day.” And customers may need training as well, on whom to call for service, how to send in artwork and other processes. “Every time our salespeople go out to a new customer they give them a packet of information,” Landry says.

Along with training tricks, several distributors wanted tips for when to bring additional help on board. Carolina Print Consultants President and SDS co-chair Mark Rockefeller says he hires an additional employee for every $400,000 to $500,000 in sales. Once that’s done, the next step is figuring out how to compensate him or her.

“One of the smartest things I did was design a sustainable commission plan,” presenter George Crump said. The FRI Resources CEO and PSDA Board vice president pays sales reps a percentage of net gross margin—revenue minus factory costs and internal charges. “That way, the salespeople could never have the power over me, taking too much of a split.” Independent Business Group President, and former PSDA President, Gail O’Roke has cut the commission for salespeople on exact repeat orders, encouraging them to target new clients and product areas.

Showroom Showoff
While O’Roke has moved into the office products arena, many distributors at SDS are testing the promo products waters. Walt Smith, president of Integrated Document Solutions, has grown his promo product sales by adding a state-of-the-art warehouse to his facility. Smith meets with prospects’ marketing directors and finds out what the company’s marketing theme is for the year. Then later, in the showroom, “We’ve got a 52-inch flat screen on the wall and we bring in items and do a virtual on their logos—make a presentation to them for an event. We also bring in some stats, like ‘this is one of the fastest-selling items for people having golf tournaments.’ And during the presentation, they may even see something else in the showroom they like.”

During a question-and-answer session, distributors discussed hiring new employees and the benefits of unpaid or inexpensive college interns. Rockefeller noted that hiring part-time employees is a good idea during a recession because it’s easier to scale back someone’s hours than it is to fire them.

But no matter what their product areas or business models, attendees agreed the SDS is an essential for small distributors who want to make the most out of their business.

“There’s no other meeting like it. Everybody checks their ego at the door,” says Mike Dunaway of PSI Direct, Jacksonville, Fla. And some check their egos even sooner than that. Crabtree sat next to a fellow distributor on the flight down, and says ideas he learned on the flight alone will pay for his attendance.

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