Mary Ann Bennett, president and CEO of The Bennett Group, presents at the Oct. 28 “Building a Digital Print Services Business Luncheon.”

Registration for Graph Expo was down 16 percent, noted Xerox Worldwide Graphic Communications Industry Vice President Tom Wetjen, welcoming a full room of more than 50 to the “Building a Digital Print Services Business Luncheon” Oct. 28. “But the general consensus is that the people who are here are those who are aware they need to keep moving ahead to grow their business,” he said.

The luncheon session, presented by Xerox and The Bennett Group at the McCormick Hyatt Regency adjoining the show, was for those people. The main presentation — “Seven Easy Steps” toward building a mailing business to complement digital printing — was a primer on developing mail capabilities as a growth-oriented, value-added service.

Gavin Jordan-Smith, Xerox vice president, Commercial Print and Prepress Segments, opened the session by describing the opportunity. “A weakened economy and rising costs are limiting growth and squeezing margins across our industry,” he said. “Our choices are to sit tight until the outlook brightens, or to rethink out business model to complement our print work with services that make us more productive, more competitive and more valuable to our customers.”

In that context, mailing services seems like a no-brainer. “You’re 80 percent there,” said presenter Mary Ann Bennett, president and CEO of The Bennett Group, noting that printers already package print for shipment and now simply need to meet USPS requirements. However, that final 20 percent can be challenging, largely due to lack of knowledge of the USPS and the tools available to optimize mailings for cost, deliverability and delivery speed, she said.

Indeed, Bennett’s closer look at the “seven easy steps” revealed some complex issues mail service providers need to grapple with. “It was intense. There’s a lot to it,” said Kurt Kunde, general manager, Argus Press, Niles, Ill., who attended because he is building up the firm’s mail services. But he remains undaunted. “I’m going to go back and develop a plan,” he said, as Bennett recommended.

He’ll also be helped by a new tool from Xerox and The Bennett Group, Mail Shop in a Box, which follows the same seven-easy-steps approach to building a mailing services business. It was announced at the show and distributed to luncheon attendees, and compliments existing business development offerings from Xerox including the more than 80 tools in the Xerox ProfitAccelerator Digital Resources Collection, and training and professional services. For those who didn’t attend and would like to find the fastest way to create a successful mailing services business, contact your Xerox sales rep to get a copy.

Gina Testa
Vice President, Channel and Customer Business Development
Production Systems Group
Xerox Corporation