Greg Turner knows that flexibility and value-added services are necessities in the document management industry. "With the ever-shrinking forms market, adding value is probably more important today than ever before," says Turner, president of TBF Graphics/Digital, a 20-year-old distributorship in Saginaw, Mich.
Shortly after starting Turner Business Forms in 1982, Turner began offering commercial printing after watching his company's forms business decline. Later, the distributorship also began offering graphic design and prepress services and changed its name to TBF Graphics to better reflect its offerings. Today, the distributorship employs three graphic designers and can handle commercial printing projects from direct film output to 4-color proofing in house.
Digital Drive
More than five years ago, Turner was turned on to providing customers with digital services such as electronic forms creation, fulfillment, CD-ROM development, web site creation and e-commerce after observing the growth of those services in the industry. Soon, TBF Graphics hired an IT professional and changed its name to TBF Graphics/Digital. "We felt that if we could offer a solution that would include the printed page all the way through a web site, it would really drive business," Turner says. Commercial printing and digital services now account for 60 percent of the distributorship's sales.
Working with a freelance consultant, the
distributorship created a customized e-commerce system. Customers can log on to
the distributorship's web site to place and track orders and view details about
previous orders such number in stock, dates when items were last ordered,
prices, periodic usage, estimated run-out dates and carton contents. Customers
also can view details about jobs in progress, proof orders and email the
distributorship. The site is integrated with the distributorship's order entry
system, so customers can input variable information for documents.
Digital Solutions
Each year, TBF Graphics/Digital provides Sarah's Attic, a manufacturer of collectibles, gifts and home decor items, with approximately 10,000 product catalogs. The client provides product images for the 4-color catalogs, while TBF Graphics/Digital's graphic designers handle page design.
TBF Graphics/Digital also created an online product catalog for Sarah's Attic. Customers can log on to Sarah's Attic's web site and search for products by element, designer, collection name, product type, holiday, month of usage or item number. Customers also can use the site's dealer locator search engine to find resellers based on city, state and ZIP code. The site also includes a calendar that lists upcoming Sarah's Attic events and electronic forms that allow customers to request printed product catalogs, offer feedback and more.
TBF Graphics/Digital designed the site so that Sarah's Attic employees can handle site updates without having to learn HTML. For example, employees can log on to the web site, select a day on the calendar, input information about events held that day, then click "submit" to post the information to the web site. "Why should clients be paying us every month to do minor updates?" Turner says.
—Kara S. Carpenter
TBF Graphics/Digital created a web site for Sarah's Attic that features an online product catalog, a dealer locator search engine, a calendar of events, and electronic forms that allow customers to request product catalogs, offer feedback and more. The distributorship customized the site so that Sarah's Attic employees can update it without having to learn HTML.
Each year, TBF Graphics/Digital,
a 20-year-old distributorship in Saginaw, Mich., provides Sarah's Attic, a manufacturer of collectibles, gifts and home decor items, with approximately 10,000 4-color product catalogs.
