Some of the hottest applications for quick printers today are in photo-specialty products, wide-format printing and relevant personalized marketing. However a profitable application can come from nearly any market segment and are often developed when print providers probe for customers' needs by asking questions that begin with, "What if…?"
 
These were some of the key messages delivered at a recent Xerox Corporation workshop about "New High-Profit Applications" at the company's Gil Hatch Center for Customer Innovation. More than 50 print providers attended the two-day event, which featured presentations by industry experts, Xerox executives and print providers.
 
Two Xerox customers described recent successes in popular application areas. Mike Sokoloff, director of Sales and Marketing, TruColor Marketing, Printing and Mailing Services, Greenville, S.C., explained that TruColor has transitioned into a marketing services provider through acquisitions that expanded its offerings to include creative, print and mail. Jason Morales, vice president of Technical Operations, Digitech, Publishing Inc., Rochester, N.Y., spoke about Digitech's successful transition from a service bureau to a provider of digital sheet-fed and wide-format printing. Acquiring the Xerox 8265 color wide format printer has enabled the company to lower prices and increase margins, making them more competitive, he said.
 
Peter Muir, president, Bizucate, kicked off the workshop with a keynote about "Finding, Developing and Selling the Next Killer Digital Application." Other presentations focused on photo specialty products, personalized printing along with tools and resources for developing a digital printing business.
 
Among the attendees was Crysten Minzenberger, owner, PrintWorx of Louisville, Louisville, K.Y., who was there to learn more about variable information printing and to network with print providers from outside her market. "We're becoming more of a marketing-type print shop and realizing we're not just a printer anymore," Minzenberger said. "The people I've met here have been going through the same growing pains and it's great to hear how they're handling it. This workshop has been very valuable for me."
 
"It was a top-notch experience - everything they presented had value," said attendee David Casey, owner, Phoenix Marketing Services, Claremont, Calif. "Many of the attendees rode to the airport together when the conference ended, and the discussions never stopped about how we need to provide more value for our clients."