More than 100 Managers Attend IPMA 2009
“By the time they make that 911 call, they’re on life support,” he said. In-plants, he added, must be aggressive in telling their organization about their benefits and savings, before it’s too late.
Greg Cholmondeley, Ricoh’s In-plant Segment Marketing Manager, gave a session on marketing your in-plant, in which he urged managers to keep customers “ecstatic.” That way, he said, they will sing your praises, confirm the truth of your marketing messages and drive business to you. His suggestions included creating a customer advisory panel (to include non customers), conducting short, simple and frequent customer satisfaction surveys and developing a marketing plan. This last item should start with a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats). Don’t forget, he observed, an in-plant’s staff is its sales force; their attitudes and interactions reflect on the in-plant.
Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited more than 180 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, co-sponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.
