When it comes to sales, distributors have an incredibly wide array of products to choose from, and promotional products is often a favorite. Promotional products are fun to sell (and buy), easy to match to specific marketing goals, and the value is easy for customers to understand.
Print, such as business forms and labels, however, is more complicated. There is so much more to understand. So why should a distributor take the time to learn the complexities of print when selling promo items is more straightforward and fun? The answer is repeatability.
Longer Sale, but Higher Repeatability
Unlike promotional products, which tend to be purchased on a one-off basis, forms and labels tend to repeat month after month, year after year. We refer to these as “print annuities,” or products that you sell once then watch as your profits grow over time. Print annuities may take longer to sell, but once the details of the applications are worked out, that business becomes sticky.
What makes this business so sticky? With print annuities, customers don’t want to go through the process of working out the kinks with another supplier, so they aren’t likely to move the business for a few dollars here or there. As a result, that business repeats over and over. You sell once, then reap the continued revenue over time.
Let’s take durable labels as an example. Durable labels are applied to products such as lawnmowers and refrigerators and contain critical information such as the manufacturer, lot number, and serial number. Like all labels, durable labels contain three parts: the liner, the adhesive, and the face stock. For the label to work properly, all three must work together. With all of the different substrates and environmental conditions to be considered before placing a durable label order, finding that right combination can be challenging. Durable labels are considered a component of the end product and must adhere for the lifetime of that product. Thus, if there is something wrong with that label (such as it starts to lift), the whole production line shuts down.
Don’t Shut Down the Line!
That’s why these products are both sticky and repeatable. The customer doesn’t want to switch suppliers once they have something that works. If I work as the manager on the shop floor, the last thing I want to do is shut that line down. (“Oops! There goes my job!”)
For these and other reasons, labels are the next generation of highly repeatable business for resellers. Traditional business forms are highly repeatable business, as well, but as more accounts move to digital forms, resellers can transition to labels and keep that highly repeatable income stream going.
No one is suggesting, of course, that distributors not sell promotional products. Of course they should! But they should balance them out with print annuities like business forms and labels, too. A balanced portfolio makes for a happy bank account.
Bob Saunders is VP Sales of Wise, Alpharetta, GA. Wise manufacturers industrial/prime labels and tags, traditional forms, and digitally printed products and services for resale only. Its core business is primarily focused on relationships with independent business forms distributors.
