There are plenty of ‘P’ words in our industry. Print. Production. Presses. Paper. Procurement. But there’s one ‘P’ word on everyone’s lips – except Glen Draper’s.
"I had a rule in my prior world that as an internal team, that we didn’t use the ‘P’ word," he says.
"The ‘P’ word was not allowed to be used in sales meetings. The ‘P’ word is an absolute last resort in relation to the sales process. They need to sell the services that the business can provide. At times you have to walk away," he adds.
If you haven’t guessed it already, he’s talking about price. It’s a word that comes up in conversations about Geon more often than they would like, and certainly more often than they think is fair.
There’s another ‘P’ word that can’t be avoided in an interview with Draper: the past. Draper’s CV carries something unique in the Australasian printing industry: management-level positions at both major private-equity-backed sheetfed groups. Before joining Geon as Victorian & ACT general manager, Draper had spent months "sitting on the bench" after being made redundant from Blue Star, where he was executive general manager of its Victorian print and mail operations, having spent 19 years with the company.
"There is no one at an executive level who has swapped sides, in either direction," says Draper. "Sure, there have been reps, but not at a management level."
These two groups have had the greatest impact on the Australian printing industry over the past decade, and it is perhaps fitting that Draper is the rare person to span high-level roles at both. His career history is a microcosm of the changes across the wider print landscape.
A printer by trade, Draper has worked in the industry for 24 years. "Funnily enough, I did my apprenticeship at a company called Victorian Printing. If you walk back through the Geon acquisitions, that was one of the businesses they acquired, being Vic Print then Buscombe.
"But that was a lifetime ago; I left that business about 19 years ago."
After his apprenticeship, Draper joined The Craftsman Press, which was swallowed up by Blue Star in 1997. Draper remained with the group throughout the heady days of consolidation.
"I went through all of that at a senior level, which was quite exciting. Over that time, we built the purpose-built facility [in Clayton, Melbourne]. We had a great ride in relation to that facility, the workflows we put in… it was once-in-a-lifetime experience," he says.
Top brass
The top brass at Geon come from a diverse range of backgrounds. The group’s New Zealand head, Andrew Durrans, comes from a similarly ‘trade’ background to Draper. Chief executive Graham Morgan is an ex newspaper man from the UK. Australian executive general manager Scott Thompson earned his stripes in the packaging world, including five years at Visy and 10 years at Cadbury Schweppes. Chief financial officer Ashley Fenton had a similar title at Salmat and had also been finance general manager at Fairfax, while HR head Steve Hill has no printing experience in his CV, having worked at Qantas and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Old hands in print – of which there are plenty – are quick to dismiss ‘textbook managers’ who haven’t done their time on a pressroom floor. It would be hard to level that criticism at Draper. Managers with operational smarts are a blessing for any print group, but Draper’s strategic sales background (not to mention his address book) can only be a boon for a company that needs more accounts than most to fill its presses.
The vacancy was created a year ago, when Geon reshuffled its management and moved Scott Thompson from his role as general manager for the southern region to his Australia-wide position. They didn’t seem in any rush to put in a new authority figure in Mt Waverley. One reason it took nearly 12 months to appoint Draper is because the job was never advertised.
It was a chance meeting with Geon’s chief executive that attracted Draper to his present role. "I actually met Graham Morgan at a function. We swapped cards and started to talk. The reality of me joining was a lot to do with him. He told me that if he was spending time with his senior people and customers, he was adding value – and that ticked a box with me," says Draper.
But getting a job is just the start of the journey. Now comes the hard part. Draper is well-versed in the strategy of large and diverse print businesses. The way forward is about playing to these strengths – ‘solution selling’ is a term he uses numerous times. Geon’s USP is that it is a one-stop shop. In essence, solution selling is just upselling. At McDonalds, they ask if you want fries with that. At Geon, they might ask to do the client’s mailing.
Draper explains: "For instance, say we have had a relationship with a publisher for years, producing a bi-monthly. Selling in a one-touch printing and mailing is a solution. All of a sudden, that customer isn’t coordinating two suppliers – we take ownership from order to delivery."
That is a simple example, he adds. It gets more sophisticated. "It could be a print management solution that incorporates a variety of different opportunities. As an example of a print management solution, we can offer onsite services: we are controlling print and assisting the customer in reducing costs, storing products, delivering across ANZ – that’s a full-blown solution."
One-stop shop
Being a one-stop shop gives Geon the chance to win a bigger slice of a client’s spend, but it cuts both ways. On the plus side, a broad skill set gives it a knockout blow when pitching against the average mid-tier sheetfed house. But it also puts Geon in direct competition with independent print managers at the big end of town.
When it comes to multimillion-dollar accounts, clients have two main options: go with an independent print manager such as Stream Solutions, Ergo Asia, Foxprint and the like, or pick a company that combines broking with manufacturing, like Geon, Blue Star IQ or, most recently, Finsbury Green, which won the $15m Victorian government contract in April. Draper has played in this space before and is pragmatic about the ‘battle’ between the independent print managers and the big manufacturing groups.
"The customer will drive what they want. The print management model needs to have the flexibility to offer the customers what they want. For example, if a customer is hell bent on having a contestable model, under print management, they should get it," says Draper.
"In those cases, more than likely they won’t be going for a manufacturing-based print management model. They will go with Ergo or Corporate Expresses or Stream, because that is their need; they want to buy at the bottom of the market every day, even though the bottom may change throughout the year. They want the best price on the day. Things like quality and consistency of supply are not necessarily priorities," he adds.
"There might be customers out there that want a bit of both. They might want a contestable model across 30% of their spend, and a consistent, fixed pricing model fixed for the rest, which is still contestable but they know the prices at the start of the contract," says Draper.
When boiled down, this solution-selling philosophy is not as esoteric as it first sounds. Draper also has some rock solid management ideas to implement across the southern operations.
"You need to make sure you have people who clearly have the headspace to develop business and also have people who are very good at relationship building. New business and account management should not be together."
All this is constructive, but no one escapes the fact the market is exceedingly tough. Margins are squeezed and prices are at rock bottom.
The view from chief executive Graham Morgan is simple: "Geon’s position on pricing in this market is that price is where it is. We – Geon – don’t control pricing. We lose tenders because we’re told we’re too expensive, just like everybody else."
Profits are not going to come from a life in the market price. "To be profitable, we need to expand our share and grow that solution," according to Morgan.
Hence the strategy to grow into areas like design, branding and marketing strategy. The logical conclusion of this line of thinking is a possibility that within the coming years, Geon could drop the word ‘print’ from its ‘print and communication solutions’ tagline.
And if the company can also distance itself from another ‘P’ word, Draper and his new team would be very happy.
resumé
Family
Married with two kids
Age 41
Career history
2008-10: executive general manager, Print and Mail Victoria, Blue Star Group; 2003-08: general manager, The Craftsman Press/Blue Star; 1998-2003: sales manager, The Craftsman Press; 1993-97: sales executive, The Craftsman Press
Interests
Football (Hawks), sailing, golf, unique cars, travel
Glen Draper on…
Working in print
When I was on the bench, I had time to think about a lot of things in the industry. I had the choice to potentially leave the industry but I chose not to. I really enjoy it.
The future for SMEs
The reinvestment strategy is the killer. It is going to be difficult for the smaller players. There are stats out there around the average age of owners of tier two and tier three companies: they are in their mid-50s to 60s. Technology cycles are shorter; do they want to put up their house and go again? We have all been talking about rationalisation in the industry for years but my opinion is that over the coming years we will find people in tier two and tier three deciding to exit because ‘I’m 60 and I don’t want to reinvest’.
The price battle
You have to have the confidence that the business is putting its best foot forward. If we need to walk away, we walk away. We are in business to make money. These businesses are capital-intensive businesses and groups like Geon are going to be around for a long time. You have to have people in your business who have the confidence to say no.
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