Andrew Associates
evolves to keep pace with client needs Not a bad situation to be in today, particularly when some in the printing industry are gloomy about stagnant demand, escalating costs, or the likely impact of a recession that is either impending or already arrived. The term “print and mail” is hardly accurate for Andrew Associates anymore. Sure, the firm still prints monochrome and full-color materials and mails much of what it prints, but it does much more for its clients, particularly those in the health care, education, and financial services industries. This array of new, data-intensive and valued-added services, when combined with the traditional capabilities of print and mail, is what gives Andrew Associates its unique competitive strength today. “This is a very exciting time for us,” says founder and owner Ginny Knapp. “We are in the midst of our biggest transition ever. Over the past few years, more printers have been getting into mail. We know we must do more to stay ahead or we’ll die or get bought up. And I don’t intend to let either one happen.” From list broker and
consultant to business owner It was a big step, and quite a risk, for the divorced mom with four children, but she is quick to point out that envisioning the future and taking calculated risks is a big part of business. Knapp was a mailing list broker and consultant at the time. Although well grounded in the targeting aspect of the direct mail business, she had no experience managing a business. Earlier in her career, she worked for a company that solicited students via mail for a series of engineering seminars put on by a prominent local educational institution. The school later hired her to run the two-day seminar program. She left that job to specialize in list buying for the school as well as other firms — and to work out of her home and keep an eye on her growing family. An overworked client, however, soon asked her to handle all aspects of a mailing job. She began dealing more directly with a number of lettershops, which led to the life-changing suggestion that she buy a business. “The initial investment of $5,000 was doable,” she recalls with a smile, “but it led to the need for 900 sq. ft. of commercial space and quickly expanded into a debt of more $50,000 for rent and equipment.”
Playing to her strength
and the help of a higher power “At the time, we both owned small Cheshire-oriented businesses. When the equipment faltered, I focused on fixing it to get the job back on track as quickly as possible, while Teresa preferred to go out and sell more business to compensate for the downtime.” Like many small business owners, both worked long hours, easily logging 70 hours a week on occasion. Teresa soon tired of the pace and left on amicable terms to start her own business once again, but when the demands of that business grew yet again, she returned to Andrew Associates to focus exclusively on selling. She is now the senior account manager at the company. The continued growth of the business allowed for more, and specialized, staff to come on board, share the workload, and lessen the need for such grueling hours. Once freed from the long workweek, Knapp reflected more on the needs of the business and especially what staff skills and production capabilities were needed to keep the company growing. She shares credit and says success is due to in part to the efforts of others. She highlights the unique skills and efforts of her staff and fosters open communications — even allowing this writer to sit in on a sales and planning meeting. And she acknowledges benefiting from a higher power. “I believe God has put the right person in my path every time I’ve needed help,” she says. “If someone leaves, someone shows up who is even better. When I worried if I was going to make payroll, a check or an inquiry from a potential client arrived in the mail that day.” Some call these things coincidences. Knapp refers to them as God-incidences. “There is no way I would have the business today without God watching over me,” she says. “I am where I am because so many people helped me. Certainly, I took risks, especially financial risks. After all, I was in debt for seven years when I started out. But good people kept me and the business moving forward.” VP helps expand value
offerings
Glen Nemeroff, the vice president for sales and marketing, is another example. He came to Andrew Associates from a health care client, however, he had little appreciation for “the magnitude of the work” behind the scenes that was necessary to get a job done. “I just knew that regardless of what I gave
them, they turned it around quickly and professionally,” he said.
“So I felt confident in their capabilities and in joining them.”
“Glen quickly got us involved in electronic messaging like e-mail and faxing and greatly expanded our business-to-business communications capabilities,” Knapp said. “He also helped us develop our unique managed service capabilities. Two years ago we hired a skilled print professional, who manages the various print jobs we get from clients. It is an interesting approach. We regularly work with 10 to 15 printers to source large printing jobs, and are interviewing other printers all the time, so we can precisely match a client’s job with the best available presses and application expertise.” As large and medium-sized corporations have trimmed internal staff, many have also lost the capability to source or manage large print jobs. “We manage the print service for them,” Nemeroff said. “Our client base just does not have the necessary skill set to buy print.” Andrew Associates is also benefiting from a related client trend: the effort to consolidate vendors. “Clients tend to select the largest print vendors when they consolidate so they can have easy access the widest array of services,” he added, “but larger vendors also tend to have higher overhead costs and longer lead times. Since we don’t invest in large presses, but have access to them on an as needed basis, and can professionally manage just about any print project, we can provide both low costs and quick time-to-market.” “No printer really likes to say ‘no’ to a potential job,” the sales and marketing chief explained. “It just makes sense for everyone involved to source the work with the shop that has the best resources or capabilities in place. We know the print marketplace and are able to pinpoint the best value for clients and printers alike.” Constantly adapting
in a changing workplace and marketplace The entire process highlights two key capabilities that keep the firm on a strong footing: data accuracy and compliance with the intricacies of the U.S. Postal Service. “Data quality is critical in this business,” Knapp said, “and we have a big advantage because we’ve been dealing with and managing and manipulating data for more than two decades.” Nemeroff agrees, pointing out a line from one of the firm’s recent advertisements, ‘Who do you trust with your data?’” The owner emphasizes the point even more. “We’ve always known that mailing is pretty much a commodity. You can make a living, but you don’t make a ton of money, however, if you a make a mistake the penalty is enormous.” If a printer makes a mistake, the out-of-pocket expense is largely limited to the cost of paper. If a mailer makes a mistake, the remedy involves re-printing and paying for postage again. So the loss can be huge. “We maintain errors and omissions insurance coverage,” she says, “and luckily have never used it, but I couldn’t sleep at night without it.” As for the USPS, Knapp points out that maintaining a good working relationship with the USPS is just good for business. “Two USPS people are on site just about everyday, checking both our mailings and our procedures,” she said. “They are very capable and very honest. They are friendly, but they are not your ‘friend.’ They are here to make sure we do our job right, and they protect the interests of our clients, the USPS and ultimately our own.” The firm also maintains mailing permits in Springfield and Hartford as well as Enfield to facilitate or streamline mailings. “Some clients operate mainly in New England, and by depositing their mail in Springfield we enable either faster delivery or lower postage costs.” One example is of a client who previously deposited nearly 500,000 postcards via standard mail in Hartford, but the delivery, particularly to the West Coast, was erratic. So Nemeroff arranged for consolidated shipping so the mailing would be in California in just four days. “The drop shipping didn’t cost the client any extra money, but they benefited from much faster delivery,” he said. “Our sales people routinely analyze all aspects of a print and mail job to make sure our clients get the best possible combination of fastest delivery and lowest postage costs.” Another notable advantage is the ability to manage the receipt as well as the distribution of certified mailings. “One client needed to send 65,000 certified letters, but had no internal resources to process the return post cards, which were the proof of delivery,” Nemeroff said. “We coded the cards prior to delivery, alerted the client via email when they were returned to us, arranged the cards in alphabetical order for easy manual searching, and delivered the entire batch to the client for eventual referral and record keeping.”
For example, the print capability is digital and looks more like the data center in an insurance company than the pressroom of a traditional printer. It consists of three large Canon digital production machines, two of which are monochrome and one color, and a smaller Konica-Minolta digital color reproduction machine. Careful planning for
future growth Interestingly, she also declines to invest in newer inserters, preferring to buy the workhorse devices at auction when replacements or additional capacity is needed. Both Knapp and Nemeroff have high praise for the capabilities of their PlanetPress variable data software from Objectif Lune. And they are especially proud of their robust e-mail messaging capability, which is based on a Strong Mail server platform. It is also housed on server farm in New York to assure full security and 24/7 technical support. “All of our clients utilize secure Web interfaces, which allows secure access to data,” Nemeroff added. “We also assign unique IP (Internet Protocol) addresses to each customer so all are inoculated in the event one email list is contaminated with bad addresses.” Indeed, staying close to a client’s data, and helping to influence the customer message as well as handle its eventual distribution via print/mail and electronic channels are the key reasons the firm brought on a new creative specialist. Some printers have in-house graphic design capability. And the new person at Andrew Associates has already designed an array of print projects, most recently for an automotive retailer, but he is more than a graphic designer. He is also a creative concept person and has experience developing advertising for both radio and television. “We’ve barely scratched the surface of our variable messaging capability,” the owner says. “Now, we’ll offer more creative and help our clients unlock the messaging potential of our managed commercial print service along with email and our new digital color print/mail capabilities.” Andrew Associates is already on track to process more
than 4,500 individual client projects or campaigns this year. Many of
those have multiple components or versions. That’s a rate of more
than 20 each workday and is an increase of about 10 percent over last
year. About the author: George
Linkletter is a freelance writer who writes regularly about the printing
industry. He can be reached by email at |
Regardless
of the precise term, you’ll see a print and mail company on the
move. The firm is upgrading the offices in its 50,000 square-foot building,
investing to acquire state-of-the-art digital color printing equipment,
bolstering its innovative and much-in-demand electronic messaging capabilities,
and adding staff, including a new creative specialist who helps clients
capture the value of variable data printing. 
Five
years later the growth of the business required another move to 7,000
sq. ft. in an old mill. And just a few years later, she relocated again
to 30,000 sq. ft. of space.
“About
12 years ago, a nearby Lutheran social services agency asked if I could
help a few refugees from the war-torn former Yugoslavia,” she
said. “None spoke English, but I gladly agreed. They are fantastic
people with an immense work ethic. And now at least half our 50-person
workforce is from that region.”
Andrew
Associates manages the customer address data for the health care client
and distributes the newsletter in both its electronic and printed form.
The six-times-a-year newsletter comes in six regional versions, none
of which can be delayed due to the need to comply with regulatory requirements.
The firm handles the entire three-week project, from managing the customer
address data, to providing accurate proofs of the various versions,
to assembling and distributing the e-mail versions and, finally, to
printing the variable print versions and depositing them into the postal
mail stream. 
If
you ask most printers about their capabilities, they will often talk
about the equipment they have on the floor, proudly highlighting the
‘speeds and feeds’ of the various devices. Not Knapp. She
talks about relative value of advanced technology and what it can do
for clients. 
or at 860-350-4043.
