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Pamela Wilson, director of marketing at Speakman, has used Associates Graphic Services (AGS) as her vendor for printing their marketing and collateral materials for over eight years.
Seeing how much manpower and time it took to meet the demands for materials from Speakman’s independent sales force and distributors, AGS proposed outsourcing that function to them.
By creating a custom web interface, Speakman reps and distributors still order the materials exactly the same way, but the requests are processed and fulfilled by AGS.
With its state-of-the-art digital technology, AGS can customize each piece of Speakman printed material with the representative’s contact information and turn around the request in 1 - 2 days. Before the web-to-print solution, it took Speakman 3 - 4 weeks to send out generic, stock materials.
We talked to Pamela Wilson about her experience in converting to AGS’ web-to-print solution.
Q: In the past, how were the demands for marketing/collateral materials processed?
A: It took the equivalent of a full-time employee to handle this task. When a sales rep requested material, we would physically have to go to the print stock room, pull the piece, pack it and get it shipped out. Single requests could take 7 - 10 days. Large orders could take 3 - 4 weeks and hours of time to fill.
Q: When AGS approached you with the web-to-print solution, how did you anticipate the solution would benefit your department?
A: I could see that it could eliminate hours of wasted time in stopping staff in the midst of other marketing tasks to fulfill these requests. It was an “as needed” type of job, so there was no particular employee designated to handle these needs.
My employees’ time is freed to execute other projects. Using AGS’ web-to-print solutions has freed up an entire “body”, equivalent to almost $30,000 to $40,000 per year, in addition to the storage space we have gained.
Not only did it free up my department’s resources, I can spend more time developing and promoting the Speakman brand, rather than packing boxes. My boss is thrilled about that!
Q: What other benefits have you experienced since implementing the web-to-print solution?
A: It has allowed better management of internal resources, increased timeliness, and eliminated waste and freed up space at our site.
Before, when we would change a price or add/eliminate a product, we would have to discard all the printed materials in stock and replace with the updated material. That took time, effort, space and MONEY. When we made the transition to the web-to-print system, we had to throw out over $20,000 in old and outdated literature. That is a large amount of wasted money!
Now, AGS only prints exactly what is needed and handles the fulfillment. This “No Waste” system also fits into our corporate responsibility philosophy. It has a been a winning relationship all the way around.
Q: Does AGS provide you with reporting? What do these reports help you measure?
A: AGS provides us with monthly reports that we use for internal analysis of our sales force – which is proactively using the materials, which may be stagnant, etc. It also allows us to monitor and measure waste and estimate future needs. From a waste management standpoint, the reports are invaluable.
Q: Do you see additional uses for the web-to-print solution in the future?
A: Yes, we already anticipate utilizing the reports for sales reporting and forecasting, allowing us to monitor trends in a variety of ways. Also, we are exploring the possibility of using this tool as a way to offer promotional materials, such as mugs, shirts and POS materials, to our sales staff. We see the future with this web-to-print solution as limitless.
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Associates Graphic Services
100 Rogers Road, Wilmington, DE 19801
Phone: 302.656.4500
Toll-Free: 800.966.4501
Fax: 302.656.4890
Email Us Here
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