The printing industry is not short of opportunities. The harder question is deciding which opportunities deserve attention and how to pursue them profitably. That theme ran throughout the recent CPIA webinar, Business Development and Diversification in Today’s Print Market, sponsored by Connecting for Results. Five industry and business experts approached growth from different perspectives, but their recommendations shared an important thread: printers need to become more deliberate about where they compete, how they sell and the value they create for customers.
Josh Ramsbottom: Focus Your Diversification
Josh Ramsbottom of BDC pointed to a significant disconnect. Canadian businesses expect to increase sales and marketing investment, while print’s share of advertising expenditure continues to decline. Two lessons stand out. First, printers need to connect print with measurable marketing outcomes rather than assuming increased marketing spending will automatically benefit them. Second, diversification needs focus. Packaging, labels, personalized direct mail, web-to-print, finishing, fulfilment and automation all offer opportunities, but trying to pursue everything at once can dilute resources. Selecting one or two areas where the company can build genuine expertise is more likely to create sustainable growth.
Rebecca Chan: Move Beyond Being a Supplier
Rebecca Chan of BDC challenged printers to stop beginning customer conversations with equipment, specifications and capabilities. Her first takeaway was to ask better questions: What is the customer trying to accomplish? Who are they trying to reach? What outcome matters? Understanding those answers changes the sales discussion. Second, printers should work toward becoming part of the customer’s broader marketing execution. When print supports awareness, conversion or customer retention, it can be positioned as a revenue-generating tool rather than simply another expense.
Chris White: Make Growth Profitable and Manageable
CFR’s Chris White emphasized that more sales do not automatically create a healthier company. Printers considering aggressive pricing or hiring sales representatives with existing books of business need to model the impact on margins, commissions, capacity and customer service before proceeding. He also stressed disciplined sales management. Understanding wallet share, identifying cross-selling opportunities, reviewing forecasts regularly and involving senior leaders in important customer relationships can make growth more predictable and reduce dependence on individual salespeople.
Bill Farquharson: Put Structure Around Selling
Bill Farquharson of Sales Vault brought the discussion down to daily sales activity. His first recommendation was simple: maintain an active opportunities list so prospects, follow-ups and developing business do not disappear into day-to-day activity. His second was to revisit sales fundamentals regularly. Research prospects before calling, understand your target market, follow a repeatable selling process and protect dedicated prospecting time. His broader message was equally important: stop selling print and start solving customer problems.
Joanne Gore: Differentiate Through Customer Value
Joanne Gore of Joanne Gore Communications focused on a familiar problem. Too many printer websites make virtually identical claims about quality, service, technology and turnaround. Her advice begins with three questions every employee should be able to answer consistently: Who do we help? How do we help them? Why does it matter? She also recommended using specific customer stories as differentiators. Competitors can buy similar presses and offer similar capabilities. They cannot duplicate the story of how your team solved an urgent customer problem. Her comments on AI reinforced the same principle. AI becomes more valuable when it is trained with your company’s messaging, brand voice, customer knowledge and real experiences, and when its output is reviewed carefully.
Growth Starts With Better Choices
Taken together, the webinar offered a useful reminder for print leaders. Growth is not simply about generating more quotes, adding equipment or chasing the latest market opportunity. Sustainable growth comes from choosing the right customers and services, understanding the problems customers need solved, creating disciplined sales processes and ensuring operations can deliver what sales promises. For printing and packaging companies facing margin pressure and uncertain markets, those may be more important questions than how to sell more.
Frequently Asked Questions
This FAQ section answers common questions related to print business growth, including how to choose diversification options, position print in customer conversations, and build sales discipline that supports profitable, manageable expansion.
How should a printer choose which diversification opportunities to pursue?
Start by evaluating where you can build real expertise and connect services to customer outcomes. Options like packaging, labels, personalized direct mail, web-to-print, finishing, fulfilment, and automation can all work, but trying to do everything can dilute focus. Select one or two areas that fit your capabilities, market demand, and margin goals.
What is a better way to sell print than leading with equipment and specifications?
Shift the conversation to the customer’s objective, audience, and success metrics. When you understand what they are trying to accomplish, you can position print as part of marketing execution that supports awareness, conversion, or retention. This approach supports print business growth because it ties print to outcomes, not just production features.
Why can revenue growth be risky for printing companies?
More sales can reduce profitability if pricing, commissions, capacity, and service requirements are not modeled in advance. Aggressive discounts or hiring salespeople with an existing book can strain operations and compress margins. Sustainable print business growth comes from forecasting, validating job mix and throughput, and ensuring operations can deliver what sales commits to.
What daily sales habits help make growth more predictable?
Maintain an active opportunities list so follow-ups and developing accounts do not disappear. Reinforce sales fundamentals such as researching prospects, targeting the right segments, following a repeatable process, and protecting dedicated prospecting time. Structure and consistency reduce reliance on individual selling styles and make forecasting more reliable.
How can print companies differentiate when competitors offer similar capabilities?
Clarify your value by answering consistently who you help, how you help them, and why it matters. Use specific customer stories that show how your team solved a real problem under real constraints. Competitors can match equipment, but they cannot replicate your experiences, messaging, and customer outcomes.
