We're probably all working hard at being consultative already. But how do we become comprehensive and integrated, especially if we're not big players? It has as much to do with our own perception of what we're selling as anything else. And it may be time for an overhaul of that perception.

Are We Really in the Mailing Industry?

For centuries, printing stood alone as its own industry, and through much of the 20th century, mail was similarly isolated. Dedicated companies provided dedicated products. Inevitably, there has been a blurring of the two industries, with mail companies buying printing presses and printing companies buying mail equipment. But in the last 15, years the picture has grown much more complex.

Whole new marketing and communications (MarComm) industries have grown up over the last few decades around the new MarComm channels ad agencies, marketing agencies, call centers, fulfillment companies, list management, Web and e-commerce and more. Each of these has taken its own tack but is being fused together by market forces that are not asking but requiring us to be comprehensive, integrated and consultative.

Customers are tired of managing multiple tactical vendors (Microsoft has cut its list from over 200 approved tactical partners to about 20 its goal is three!), and they are looking for companies that will provide that management service for them.

As a result, we are seeing the birth of a new mega-industry which we'll call Marketing Support Services for lack of a better term right now. This over-arching entity combines all the tactical support service industries and presents them as a comprehensive, integrated and consultative service.  And there is great advantage in this approach, both for the big guy and the little guy. It should not be feared but welcomed, because it will rejuvenate profits and provide new growth opportunities for us all.

What's Changing?

Production isn't the only focus of change the umbrella under which it is being produced is changing radically. Where each tactical marketing service used to stand alone as it's own industry, with dedicated companies doing specific tactical marketing support tasks, we are seeing the merger of these tasks into a comprehensive, integrated, consultative sell that no longer focuses on the individual task but on the higher concepts such as "managing your marketing support programs," "campaign planning and execution" and "program administration." Rather than responding to requests for pricing to insert some mail, companies are now working with their customers to provide a much broader, inclusive "one-stop" shopping experience.

While many buyers are still stuck on "How much does it cost?," the savviest buyers are realizing a long-term, comprehensive partnership can save them more money through a more complete understanding and application of their business requirements in a "program" mode versus a "project" mode. The most alert buyers have reintroduced the question, "Can you do it?" in regard to providing more than just the tactical production itself. And this value added justifies higher margins, as well.

Figure 2 illustrates how formerly separate industries are now seen by the customer as one comprehensive, integrated support infrastructure, or mega-industry. This should be no surprise to us since multi-channel marketing using synchronous approaches is now common. We must stop seeing separate products and begin to see comprehensive, integrated services. We should actually be helping our customers see it this way before they do (be consultative).

Are You Too Big Too Small?

The first objection to this kind of thinking is either we're too big and focused in one tactical support service to risk broadening out or we're too small to have the resources to become comprehensive. I'd suggest a familiar book for both objections titled It's Not the Big Who Eat the Small, It's the Quick Who Eat the Slow. 

For example, at our small Denver mail facility, we had to reposition the company. We relegated mailing services to a nearly ancillary status as one of four services (not products) we offered: e-Commerce and information technologies, fulfillment, teleservices and direct marketing (print/mail). And we promoted them in that order in our new marketing materials for very strategic reasons that are too broad to cover here but have to do with the values our customers place on each service.

We purchased a $25,000 Inventory Manage-ment System, moved into a larger warehouse and set up a dozen call center workstations. · While these internal changes and branding/marketing changes were important, the key was our own view of ourselves. At the time, we called it being customized, personalized, flexible and highly responsive. But in hindsight, it was an example of a company deciding to be the quick that eats the slow.

We went after the work the big guys didn't want or couldn't handle. Every large company has small project work that falls below the radar and is not managed by huge corporate buying divisions but by the marketing manager who thought up the idea. Many times, when these projects are introduced to the large "approved" vendor-partners, they don't fit into the high volumes of other work already in the pipeline. Or they require such heavy hand holding that the big "process"-oriented vendor-partner either has trouble managing them or, in some cases, won't even bid on them.

Enter the Quick. While we never pretended to have the big infrastructure, what we could provide was the high-touch hand holding required to make this MarComm's brainchild successful. We got the company's attention by paying close attention, being highly responsive and promising flexibility in implementation (building it the customer's way, not ours). We were successful in winning its business because it saw us as comprehensive, integrated and consultative yet small enough to pay attention to its business.

We had a couple of IT people who could design a simple Web site and database, and we could answer some low-volume calls, fulfill literature or product and mail its marketing piece. But most of all, we provided ongoing, constant tactical advice on how best to flesh out its program. Confidence grew, and this led from projects to ongoing, annuity programs and quickly increasing revenues. We actually got two visits from the highest levels of one company looking to move $40 million a year in fulfillment from its approved vendor to us. We, of course, were not scalable, but still, we had become the quick who ate the slow.

Today, at Holden Direct Marketing Group, we're doing it on a much larger scale. For the last two years, we have been re-engineering our marketing positioning. We have four separate companies that have traditionally been focused on a narrow range of products or services and have done it very well. We're a Top 15 direct mailer, Top 50 Call Center, Top 70 Printer, and we ship 200,000+ product and marketing collateral orders per month. But we're not too big to change, and we're convinced that our future is in integrating these services and our extensive IT/e-commerce capabilities into a comprehensive and consultative approach. This has entailed a complete overhaul of all marketing materials and all four company Web sites to develop a single message and a consistent branding throughout the Holden Direct Marketing Group.

Both existing customers and new customers are very attracted to our ability to provide consultative management of their tactical marketing support requirements. We have a number of new customers who have given us the responsibility of managing the full range of their tactical support services. And existing customers are beginning to see us more comprehensively as well.

Change the Way You See Yourself

Do you think you're too small to become comprehensive? You can't be too small in size, only too slow or too small in your thinking. If you think you are a mail shop, then you are. If you think you can provide something bigger, look around you and see how you can make it happen. There are at least 25 types of fulfillment, and some take very little cash outlay or floor space. Collateral Kitting and simple product packaging can be accomplished with inexpensive high tables. I know of a number of small companies doing this type of work for the world's largest corporations.

If you don't have the resources to become comprehensive (on a small scale it can strain your resources), then partner with other marketing support providers who see the advantages of the more comprehensive, integrated and consultative approach.  You can build a very strong presentation this way and become a single-source provider of marketing support services.

There is a strong case that can be made for "sticking to your knitting" and not becoming too diverse. Many companies have died by expansion. And there is a real risk involved in relegating the one product (i.e., mail) that has been our flagship to the status of one of two or three or four major services. It might take a year or longer to make this transition. But the risk of not doing so in today's market is to guard an empty henhouse while the chickens frolic in the meadow.  Remember the seven last words of a dying business? "We've never done it that way before."  That's "slow" thinking, and watch out, because there is someone "quick" on the edge of the meadow who is watching your chickens.

Chuck Blakeman is responsible for Marketing and Business Development for Holden Marketing Support Services in Denver, Colorado. You can contact him by e-mail at cblakeman@Holdenmss.com. For more information on The Mailing & Fulfillment Service Association, please visit www.masa.org.