why crm is the lifeblood of a print shop · 2015-07-29 · you want to best serve your existing...

Why CRM is theLifeblood of a Print Shop

Propel your CRM froma contact management tool

into an ROI driver.

Written by: Gene Marks, The Marks Group PC

www.avantisystems.com1-800-482-2908 | #ASKAVANTI2

Avanti asked Gene Marks, journalist & author,

for his perspective on how the print industry

could benefi t from a CRM tailored to its

specifi c needs. Here’s what he had to say:

I write books and speak

a lot so I needed a cool

stand-up, promotional sign that

I could set out on a table or by

a door for people to see when

I appeared at conferences and

events. I went to a printer who

also does signs near me and they

were awesome. We picked out

the right photo and decided on

the best design and material. I

ordered. I paid. They delivered.

On time. That was two years ago.

I have never heard from them

since. Nothing.

Clearly this is not a business that’s

using a customer relationship management

(CRM) system.

Gene Marks runs a ten-person CRM and technology consulting fi rm near Philadelphia. He writes daily for The Washington Post and weekly for Forbes, Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur and The Huffi ngton Post on business management issues. Gene is the author of fi ve best-selling books on business management.

When it comes to CRM, a printing business is no

different than any other business. But it does have

some of its own requirements, not often addressed

in a traditional CRM solution. Every business has its

own unique “language”, regardless of the industry.

For the print industry, this becomes even more

apparent when you consider the fact that terms used

in offset can be different from digital, or sheetfed vs

roll-fed, In-plant vs Commercial, etc.

Regardless of the industry, however, the problems,

headaches, and challenges that all business people

face every day are no different than yours, as a

printer. You are looking for new customers. You want

to best serve your existing customers. And you want

to grow your business. And that’s where a good CRM

system comes in. It’s needed for a printing business

because, as printers, you need to take advantage of

the three enormous things that a CRM provides. And

what are those three things?

A CRM system ensures that nothing

falls through cracks. This is a database.

And in this database is everyone who

comes in contact with a business:

prospects, customers, partners, vendors, suppliers,

employees, and contractors. That means that

everyone in the system has some sort of activity or

event associated with them - whether it’s the last time

they had a job printed, were visited by their account

manager, or called for a quote. Your CRM system

is a powerful communication tool; knowing the

history for each of your contacts allows for informed

communications and superior customer service.

For existing customers with existing jobs, there are

scheduled actions, tasks and appointments to make

sure things are on track. Or for those customers who

have problems or issues, there are tickets, cases,

and incidents created within the workfl ow to make

sure those problems are getting fi xed and senior

#1.


management knows about them. That guy who

ordered last year? There’s a task to check in on him

this year. That customer who got shipped 10,000

flyers last week? There’s a call scheduled to make

sure she’s happy. That big company buyer who

mentioned he was unhappy with a competitor?

There’s a reminder to take him out to lunch. People

are on lists. Opt-in communications, like newsletters

and updates and other educational materials, are

being sent. These communications will help improve

business while demonstrating the printer’s expertise.

No one can put a gun against someone’s head and

say “use my company for your next job.” But you can

make sure that customers and communities are being

“touched” frequently enough so that when that next

job comes up, they think of who’s helping the most…

first. Using your CRM to track all of these activities

and “touches”, is essential for continued success

and future growth.

A CRM system ensures that everyone

is made to feel special. When a customer

calls, a good business will know who spoke

to her last or what orders she’s placed.

Whoever picks up the phone must have real-time access

to everything that’s going on with that individual on the

other end, whether they are a customer, a prospective

customer, a supplier, or a partner. A good CRM system

tracks all the emails in a company along with tasks and

completed tasks, calendars, notes, and other customer-

relevant fields of data. So when that customer calls in,

whoever answers the phone can see everything that’s

happened – if there’s a problem, if the customer is

happy, unhappy, old, new, big, or small. This means that

not only can printers see all the communications going

back and forth, but all the orders placed too. This is

how you make every customer feel like they’re the most

important customer to your business. Because without

real-time access to the information relevant to them,

you could end up looking like...well…a dope.

Finally, a great CRM system creates

value. The printing industry is competitive

and tough. But if I ever wanted to buy

a printing company (or even start a

partnership with one), it’s very important to me that

I have access to a database of everything going on

inside that company – information from the past helps

plan for the future. I don’t want to rely entirely on the

owner’s memory, no offense. I want to be shown a CRM

database with a company’s entire community –

the history, the pending orders, the backlog, the

communications, and the profiles. Who are the most

profitable customers? Who are the least profitable?

What are the most profitable products? That’s an

enormous value to me. And I’ll pay extra for it.

Nobody has time to talk

anymore yet the business

is more and more relationship-

based. With so many businesses

going down, if you’re not on top

of the customer you’re going to

be out of business.

Jay MandarinoPresident and CEO

C.J. Graphics Inc.

#2.

#3.

Ensure that your CRM gives you the flexibility to customize fields to suit your business, without the need to pigeon-hole yourself into someone else’s lingo.

TIP

Ensure that your CRM offers instant, real-time access to current contact information, estimates and quotes, job information, historical and current invoices, customer sales, and profit history.

TIP


That’s what a great CRM does. Unfortunately, having

a great CRM system is easier said than done. Getting

people to use it is challenging. And keeping the

data accurate isn’t easy. My company has had many

successful CRM implementations, including the

printing industry. But we’ve also had some terrible,

teary, profanity-fi lled failures too! So what have I

learned? Successful CRM systems always have these

three key factors:

Key Success Factor

An Administrator. This is not an IT person. This is

a power user. A staff person. A smart, independent

person who likes to work with software and is not

afraid to make mistakes. This person is responsible

for the completeness and accuracy of the database.

And this person must be given the authority to kick

everyone’s butt so that they do what they have to

do in that database. The administrator should learn

the system and become an expert at it. He or she

responds to requests for reports, marketing needs,

and database queries. They automate alerts, manage

workfl ows, and train new (and existing) employees.

This person must spend time administering and

overseeing the integrity of the system; they manage

the gap between the CRM system and the users who

interact with it. How much time should be spent is

dependent on several factors including: the size of

the company; the accuracy of the database; and the

inherent value the company places on the customer.

Without a dedicated CRM administrator in place, the

system will fail. Simple as that. Remember the saying

“garbage in ... garbage out”.

Key Success Factor

Executive buy-in. The tone has to come from the

top. There can be no exceptions. A printing company

that succeeds with CRM has a senior executive who

“walks the talk” and commits to the system. They

must be a strong CRM advocate, use it diligently

themselves, and insist on its use company-wide. He

or she is sympathetic to the needs of users, but in the

end, it’s understood that the database is really about

the company fi rst. And to have a good database,

users have to adjust and do what’s needed, even if a

little extra work is required. When an executive says

“it’s either in the CRM system or it doesn’t exist”,

it’s like music to my ears. CRM in a printing business

is a long-term investment. It’s cultural. And senior

executives have to be the fi rst to adopt that culture.

Key Success Factor

Visibility. Sounds simple, but it’s critical. In the end,

a CRM system is just a database. Every good CRM

generates reports which, in turn, ensure you have full

visibility into the backbone of your business. My best

clients have great reports coming out of the system

daily, and weekly, through a variety of dashboards.

These dashboards deliver a graphical view and real-

time status of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

impacting customer service, fi nancials, operations,

sales and marketing – all with powerful fi ltering and

online analytical capabilities.

The most popular reports for sales is the Pipeline

Report. But sales managers also like looking at

salespersons’ activity reports and won/lost reports.

Production managers want to see reports of issues that

are both open and closed, why they happened and

how quickly they got resolved. Today’s CRM systems

Key Success Factor #1.




competitive information. Unlike static dashboards

that provide only summary information, a cloud-based

CRM dashboard links to the underlying information

(i.e., estimates, invoices, change orders, production

schedules), allowing for deeper investigation to

isolate and understand the real-time issues impacting

your print business.

As you can tell by now, I’m a big CRM fan. I don’t

understand how any shop can attempt to even do

business without one. I see printing companies who

have succeeded for years having no CRM system and

I think “good for them, but they could be doing so

much more…and generating so much more revenue!”

Every printing business needs a CRM system

because it’s not about the jobs, it’s about the people.

These people are a company’s customers and your

community. And the best managers want to be doing

everything they can to keep them happy members of

their community, so they’ll keep coming back again

and again. And that reminds me, I need a new sign

made and some promotional brochures too. Anyone

know a good printer? I forget who I used last…

can be configured to automatically generate reports

and produce data on mobile devices too. Managers

are relying on the data to run their departments

efficiently. Accurate, real-time reports lead to strong

usage; the data cannot be missing or incomplete.

Reports are a very “black and white” way to determine

the success of a CRM implementation too. Start by

using the standard reports that come with a good

CRM system. You will quickly recognize their value and

can begin to dig deeper into the information available

to you by customizing reports and dashboards unique

to your company’s infrastructure.

A printer’s best bet is to use a CRM system that’s

already embedded into his existing Print MIS. This

establishes one system of record, with everything in

one database. Your CRM should combine technology

and business strategy to give an organization a real-

time, consistent view of their customers in a way that

continually builds and strengthens the relationship.

It will produce automatic forecast reports which

are built from current estimating information, and

maintain snapshots of the forecast and expected

revenue data for comparative and historical trend

analysis to ensure forecast accuracy. Not only that,

but your CRM should monitor expected close dates,

chance of close percentage, win/loss trends, and

A CRM that’s fully

embedded into our Print

MIS addresses all of my needs,

leverages the software to its fullest

capabilities, and integrates with other

departments such as estimating,

billing, and production.

Kevin LanukePresidentBlitzPrint

In my experience, the most

successful printers consider

CRM to be the lifeblood of their

print shop.

Stephen McWilliamExecutive Vice President

Avanti Systems


Award-winning Avanti Slingshotis Avanti’s next-generation

Print MIS. The cloud-based

solution features ease-of-

use, business intelligence

and analytics, advanced integration and automation,

and touchless workfl ows. Avanti’s CRM mission is

simple: to combine technology and business strategy

to give your organization a full, consistent view

of your customers in a way that continually builds

and strengthens the relationship. The software

easily manages your critical sales, marketing, and

customer information.

Avanti Slingshot’sCRM components consist of:

Activity Tracking

Activity Tracking provides you with the knowledge

required to grow, foster, and improve the relationship

you and your staff have with your customers.

• Manage Activities, Opportunities and Customer

Complaints

• Record and track visits, calls, emails, and other

activities

• Create, track, and revise sales opportunities

• Record and submit customer complaints and set

follow-up actions and responses

Communication Center (Customer and Job view)

This guarantees that your customer’s needs are met

rapidly by ensuring your sales team and customer

service professionals have real-time access to an

up-to-date view of all customer, prospect and

suspect information.

Avanti offers instant access to current contact

information, estimates and quotes, job information,

historical and current invoices, customer sales, and

profi t history.

• Store, view, and search specifi c customer data

using user defi ned fi elds.

• View notes by Job, by Contact, by Estimate,

or by Customer.

• Ensure the appropriate resolution of all open

issues; managers can customize automated alerts,

redirecting follow-up with the proper personnel.

• Store unlimited contacts for customers, prospects

and suspects

User-Defi ned Fields (UDF)

With Avanti Slingshot’s UDFs, you have the fl exibility

to customize fi elds to suit your business, without the

need to pigeon-hole yourself into someone else’s

lingo.

• Get a full range of customization options

• Change the name of an existing fi eld

• Rearrange existing screen fi elds

• Create customer screens and menus

Sales Management

Help your company plan the activities that will most

effectively increase revenue and profi tability. Avanti

Slingshot’s CRM will properly organize and analyze

information to maximize your profi t.

• Produce automatic forecast reports which are

built from current estimating information.

• Maintain snapshots of the forecast and expected

revenue data for comparative and historical trend

analysis to ensure forecast accuracy.

• Monitor expected close dates, % chance of close,

competition and win/loss trends.

• Track competitive information

and analytics, advanced integration and automation,

www.avantisystems.com1-800-482-2908 | #ASKAVANTI7 ©2015. Avanti, the Avanti logo, Avanti Slingshot, the Avanti Slingshot logo, and

WE HAVE ANSWERS tagline are trademarks, and/or registered trademarks, of Avanti Computer Systems Limited. All other trademarks and/or trade names listed are

the property of their respective owners.

We recognize that each print shop is unique. In order to address each organization’s diverse needs, we have

developed a fully integrated modular solution that can be specifically tailored to your business processes.

Where other vendors make you conform to their software, we remain focused on our clients’ requirements

and offer the flexibility to adjust to their business processes. As a result, we are solidly positioned to meet all

your needs, both present and future. It is this attention to detail that has earned Avanti a reputation in the

industry of always being able to exceed customer expectations. Avanti’s cornerstone is our commitment to

provide superb customer service.

CRMCustomer View


Contact Us!

@avantisystems#askavanti

About Avanti

Avanti develops innovative, award-winning Print MIS solutions that help print and communication

organizations automate all facets of their business and cultivate a more meaningful relationship with

their customer.

Since 1984, Avanti has been providing industry-leading and JDF-certified print management software to

Commercial and In-Plant print shops. The company has developed the most open industry solutions for Sheetfed,

Web, Digital, Large Format, and Binderies with integrated modules extending from the Internet through to the

shop floor, CRM, and invoicing. They have been solely focused on providing Print MIS systems for over 30 years

and thoroughly understands the industry. With hundreds of implementations under our belt, we have built best

practices that we share with our clients in the spirit of this partnership.

For more information on Avanti Slingshot CRM, please visit:www.avantisystems.com/crm

Call: 1-800-482-2908 | 416-445-1722Email: [email protected]

avanti computersystems

why crm is the lifeblood of a print shop · 2015-07-29 · you want to best serve your existing...

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