This is part one in a four-part series discussing the advantages of working with a mid-sized catalog printer. This content is the product of an interview with Steve Sanfelippo, our Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing here at Arandell.

In part one, Steve shares more about his background, his responsibilities at Arandell and what happens when a printer is acquired by a larger printer. Steve has spent more than four decades in the print industry, working for print companies of varying sizes and witnessing the evolution of the industry itself. We asked him to pull from his breadth of experience to share some of what he’s learned about the differences in working with small, medium, and large print companies, as well as what catalogers should look for when finding or switching print partners.

 

Some Background

I’m Steve Sanfelippo, the Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing here at Arandell. I lead both our sales and marketing efforts, and work with our sales team here at the corporate office as well as our reps located around the country.

I started in the print industry with a company called Perry Judd’s, which was acquired by RR Donnelley in 2007. Once RR Donnelley spun into three distinct companies in 2016, my management responsibilities became limited to the LSC Communications portion of our portfolio here in the Midwest and West Coast. I was with Perry Judd’s and LSC Communications from 1984 up until April 2018.

 

What Happened When Your Mid-Sized Print Organization Was Acquired by a Larger Printer?

At Perry Judd’s, we were a mid-sized company with three production facilities. Our well-received go-to market strategy was to provide a consultative approach to our customers’ needs in both the catalog and publication segments in order to provide tailored solutions to fit each of their needs.

When we were acquired by RR Donnelley in 2007, it was very quickly understood that they wanted to avoid creating unique solution sets for each customer and instead focused on a platform approach to optimize their assets. The culture of saying “yes” and providing options to help address customers’ unique challenges was limited. As a result, I think some of the enthusiastic engagement which we had with customers, and feeling like their voice and needs were being understood and acted upon, was diminished.

As a result, the enthusiastic engagement we had with customers – as well as those customers feeling like their voices and needs were being understood and acted upon – was now diminished.

 

Stay tuned for part two of the Advantages of Working with a Mid-Sized Printer, which will be published on our website and across our social media accounts in the coming weeks. Until then, check out our News & Events page for all the latest on Arandell!