BFL&S July 20, 2004

"On the university level, I have sold everything from cut-sheets and application forms to envelopes and letterhead," said Greg Linhardt, senior account representative at Best Business Systems (BBS), Bowling Green, Ky.

When it comes to this market, however, BBS … has found its niche in commercial printing. The company provides catalog, invitation and brochure printing for several departments at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green. Said Linhardt, "We do brochures for the university’s intramural sports department. They send these brochures to students to try and generate interest in the program."

In regard to promotional items, Linhardt said that BBS prides itself on providing ad specialty items to its clients, in conjunction with printed products. "The best thing about our company is that we offer printed products and ad specialty items," he said. "If the university contracts with us to provide invitations for an even, we also try to tie in an as specialty item that will go well with the printed piece."

For instance, Linhardt describes a time when BBS provided the invitations for a wiffleball tournament held by the university’s intramural sports department. "Along with the invitations, we also sold the department the shirts for the tournament, towels, stress balls, and other promotional items," he said.

Linhardt said that educational institutions can also find many creative applications in using the school’s mascot as a promotional piece. "I approached the university with the idea of making a custom-shaped cache of its mascot, Big Red," he said. "They liked the idea so much that they ordered 1,000 pieces." (A cache is a trinket-like box that can be used to store small office items, such as paperclips.)

Linhardt admitted that it is slightly more difficult to sell to educational institutions because of budgeting concerns. However, he said that having a creative approach to selling will help distributors. "Education institutions tend to want a lot for the least amount of money possible," explained LInhardt. "It is always helpful for distributors to provide creative ways for clients in this market to meet their needs," he said.

Linhardt advised distributors to bring ideas to the table and help customers with design elements. "I did a thank you card/invitation for WKU that featured a collage of black-and-white photos, with a one-color image of the school’s mascot in the middle," he explained. "I brought them a full-color idea, but we made it black-and-white – saving them a substantial amount of money."

Graham, C. 2004, 'Make the Grade With Education Sales', BFL&S, 20 July, p. 26.