The Big Picture - June 2012 - (Page 11)

business + management Adding Satellite Facilities By Marty McGhie I n our company’s never-ending quest to grow business, we typically develop our annual sales budgets with the idea that we’ll increase our sales through traditional methods. This usually means taking steps such as adding more sales reps, or growing sales via expanding a product line, or simply adding customers. At times, however, we ﬁnd ourselves thinking “bigger.” One of these more expansive ideas: Add another location. When it comes to growth, every print provider should at least consider expanding their business by supplementing it with additional locations as a part of their strategy. But there are pros and cons to doing so. Two options When considering adding a satellite o ce, your ﬁrst determination is whether that o ce will be a sales o ce only, or, alternately, an o ce that houses production capabilities as well as sales. Owning and operating a sales-only o ce vs. a production o ce presents two very di erent challenges, and the decision should be based on the results you’re trying to achieve with the satellite location. For example, if your primary goal is to expand your sales into new geographical areas, then a sales o ce might sufﬁce. On the other hand, if your objective is to increase your overall business footprint, your better choice might be to expand with both production and sales capabilities. In the case of a sales-only o ce, the beneﬁts are pretty straightforward. A sales o ce located in a new location can be a great way to establish additional sales in that area. There’s a deﬁnite advantage to having your people actually live and work in the same area where your customers reside. Yes, managing customers from a distance by the occasional visit – whether once a month, once a quarter, or even once a year – can certainly be done, but it also creates some signiﬁcant challenges. Being nearby, on the other hand, enables you to establish a more personal connection to your customers and it provides improved responsiveness to their needs. Another advantage of an additional sales o ce is that it will bolster the perception that you are a bigger company, to existing as well as potential customers. You now have more capabilities to service them. For example: Your customers often want you to provide them with some personalized consulting on bigger projects. This can be much more e ective if you are able to meet with them in-person rather than by phone. And while this in-person huddle might be something as simple as reviewing color matches, being there can help you develop much more of a connection to your client. But, yes, there are a few disadvantages to establishing a remote sales o ce. For one, you’ll have to deal with the management of that o ce, which can be a di cult chore. We need to constantly give our sales reps the attention and support that they need to succeed – a task that becomes much more di cult when they’re in a remote location. It can be very frustrating to your sales reps to be located in a site where they don’t have the ability to see, touch, or inspect jobs being produced at a distance. Remote sales reps must trust the home o ce to manage and produce their jobs, which is a troublesome challenge for many. Too, providing your sales team with the constant feedback and motivation that they typically need becomes logistically challenging when they’re in a satellite o ce. The only way it can really work is if your sales manager regularly visits the satellite o ce to ensure that each salesperson feels like they’re truly part of the team. This strategy becomes even more di cult, by the way, if you’re setting up satellite o ces in multiple places across a large geographical area. Management of o ces in multiple time zones that might then require extensive travel for managers is something that should be carefully considered. While some companies have successfully managed >28 MARTY MCGHIE is VP ﬁnance/operations of Ferrari Color, a digital-imaging center with Salt Lake City, San Francisco, and Sacramento locations. The company o ers high-quality large- and grand-format photo, inkjet, fabric, and UV printing. marty@ferraricolor.com www.bigpicture.net 11 http://www.bigpicture.net

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Big Picture - June 2012

The Big Picture - June 2012
Contents
InSight
Wide Angle
Up Front
Business + Management
Floor Your Clients
Destination RIPs
Back to Work: ISA Sign Expo
Job Log

The Big Picture - June 2012