Grow Sales by Diversifying Your Product Offerings

You won’t get anywhere by standing still in the print industry. Nor will you grow by only selling customers the same products you’ve always offered.

As we’ve clearly seen during the past 13 months, things change and customer needs change. The more you can diversify your offerings, the stickier you’ll be with your customers, particularly as their business evolves.

Move Upstream

On the hardware front, the greatest opportunities for dealers who sell production print is moving upstream. If your hardware offerings are limited to light production devices, consider going wider and higher end with wide format and color digital presses. Both product segments are a logical next step if you want to create new revenue streams for you and your customers. You’ll have more flexibility with wide format as the lower end to mid-range wide-format machines can be sold by pretty much anyone on your team while color digital presses require more financial resources, knowledge, and training.

Don’t Forget the Software

Your diversification journey should extend beyond the boundaries of the hardware. Software, services, and support can also keep you more firmly entrenched in customer accounts. As you and your customers move upstream, workflow software such as RSA’s QDirect output management that you currently sell or should be selling, is adaptable as new technology is added, or old technology upgraded.  Speaking of upgrades, that’s routine with any software program. New modules and related products can further lock you into that account and offer additional revenue opportunities.  RSA's WebCRD Web to print is a prime example of software that grows business. In addition to offering an ecommerce platform, if offers modules for finished goods orders, integrations with shipping, MIS and enterprise systems and more, and multiple variable data print modules.

Sell Services

Offering additional services is another diversification strategy. For example, RSA partners can diversify with our variable data template services. We provide the service, so no heavy lifting is required on your part other than the sales and marketing. VDP software such as RSA’s ImpactVDP, gives you another in with your customers, especially with the resurgence of direct mail which was prompted by the pandemic.

Consulting or professional services is another path to diversification even if it doesn’t always yield an immediate pay off. For instance, not every customer has the resources to invest in new hardware, software, or services all at once. For those customers, why not create a road map that serves as a guide for their workflow automation journey? This strategy allows them to add new products and services at their own pace, particularly when a single large investment is not economically feasible for them. In the end, you win, and they win.

Diversifying your product, solutions, and services offerings is a necessity for remaining relevant with customers. It’s also a solid strategy for growing your business and your customer’s business.