Febuary 2006 - The type of business stationery your customers use says a lot about who they are, or at least who they want to be perceived as.  From a corporate identity to a personal resume, their choice of stationery makes a statement.  With a little bit of knowledge and a little effort, you can become a helpful guide for your customers so their choice of fine business stationery matches the image they want to convey.

Why expend the extra effort?  The bottom line here is, well, the bottom line.  Business stationery carries a lot of margin, so selling more of it will help your profits.  You should enjoy about the same amount of profit dollars selling a carton or two of stationery as you would from an entire pallet of copy paper.  So read on for some information and selling tips to help you close that fine business stationery sale.

Here is the part you know… more and more businesses are “printing on demand.”  With inexpensive laser printers, inkjet printers and high speed copiers businesses are fully equipped to print most of what they need, when they need it, right from their desktop. 

Here is the part you might not have thought about… most businesses don’t think of their letterhead as a print on demand job.  Why?  The answer has two parts.  First, many business consumers think that they have to go to a local printer for their corporate identity printing projects because that is their best source for quality paper and imaging.  Second, no one is out there educating business consumers to think any differently.

If you are an independent office products dealer who is not selling fine stationery to your customers, then you are missing out on a golden opportunity to be a “solution hero” while making a sale with a lot of “ring” to it.

Fine business stationery does not have to be the exclusive domain of paper merchants and printers.  This is the prevailing myth, but one that can be busted.  With the significant assortment of brands and types available from United Stationers, independent dealers can now throw their hat in the business stationery game.

If you do not already know, discover what paper your customer uses for letterhead.  This can be as simple as holding a piece up to the light to see the watermark or to ask to see a ream wrapper from the “second sheets” they may have hanging around.  At most, it is no more complicated than asking your customer to call their local printer to specify what it is.

If your customer uses a sheet that is available from United Stationers, then skip down below to the section called “Do The Math.”  If your customer’s sheet is not supported by United, find out if they are happy with it and if they would be willing to change. 

You can approach the issue of making a change by “romancing” the paper… this means focus on perceptions about what their choice of stationery says about them.  If they want to portray power, is their current sheet the most powerful choice?  Key in on how it feels and its visual impact.  If they want to be perceived as progressive, is their current sheet too traditional?  Or vice versa?  Whatever their corporate image is designed to be, concentrate on whether or not their current stationery supports the perception.

Use the typical features of fine business stationery to your advantage, all the while helping your customer make an educated decision.

• Watermark.  Signals very high quality.  Does their current sheet have one?
• Cotton content.  Another premium attribute to look for.  Suggests high-end traditional.
• Texture.  What finish is on their paper?  There are many choices, from classic finishes such as linen or laid to contemporary finishes such as geometric shapes.  The way the paper feels to the touch makes a statement.
• Color.  Like texture, color says a lot about corporate image and there are many to choose from.  There are traditional solids like white or ivory and contemporary colors like “moss” or “dijon.”

Once you narrow down some possible combinations of stationery attributes, show your customer samples.  Nothing replaces the live experience of touching fine stationery when it comes to selecting a new paper.  Catalog pages or web sites alone can not capture the quality of fine business stationery, one has to see and feel the differences to truly appreciate a premium sheet.

Your customer may not realize just how much money they can save on their business stationery.  Here are a few things to explore:

• Pure price comparison.  Simply compare what they are currently paying to what you will sell it for.  If they currently purchase from a local printer, odds are you will come out the winner.
• Quantity minimums.  Many times businesses are encouraged to purchase thousands of sheets to reach an affordable economy of scale from a printer.  Compare that to the typical 500 sheet ream available from United Stationers (and sometimes 250 sheet count).  The quantity comparison could come out in your favor.
• Cash flow.  Combining the first two points above, walk your customer through the math of spending less for a ream of paper and printing only what they need when they need it using their own laser or inkjet printer versus investing in a print run of thousands from their local printer.  They may find you can preserve their precious cash flow.

At the very least, you may discover an opportunity to provide the paper to your customer even if they continue to use a local printer for the actual printing versus using their own equipment.

Consumers shop copy paper constantly and may switch suppliers every time they make a purchase.  That is not how the same business consumers buy business stationery, however.  That’s because they typically think of their stationery as “their sheet.”  Their stationery makes a statement about who they are, what their corporate image is, and that isn’t something they change on a whim.  If you can be their supplier of choice, then you have a piece of business that will pay annuities well into the future.  Ask yourself how much time you have invested in fighting for your customer’s copy paper versus their letterhead… now compare that to the margin opportunity.

A business’ loyalty to “their sheet” is your opportunity to a very high margin sale.  If United Stationers carries “their sheet” then you have your foot in the door.  If not, then it may take a little more work, but hopefully this feature has provided some avenues to pursue.  Even with the extra effort, however, winning more stationery business and the incremental margin dollars that come with it is well worth the trouble.