AlphaGraphics Gets Creative to Generate New Business

Franchise owner Larry Furlong of AlphaGraphics on Camelback near Phoenix, AZ, doesn’t leave it up to lady luck to drive sales. Instead, he’s willing to dress up like a casino dealer or impersonate Elvis to entice potential and long-standing clients to do business with him. He hosts these parties (aka networking events) about once a year as a way to show off his 10,000-square-foot operation—and boost sales.

“Our main goal with the themed open house nights is to show local businesses that we’re not your one-dimensional, mom-and-pop print shop—that we can essentially become your marketing partner by servicing all your marketing communications and printing needs,” Furlong says.

For a typical event, the staff at AlphaGraphics on Camelback invites their top 100 best customers as well as 25-50 key prospects they’re working with to close deals. Even among clients with whom he has built great relationships, Furlong says its can be challenging to get customers in the door to see the breadth of the center’s services and capabilities, in part because the center relies on an outside sales force to procure and maintain clients.

Flashing the Bling

Hosting these events achieves both micro- and macro-level objectives for this AlphaGraphics franchise. In the past few years, executives at AlphaGraphics have evolved the brand from a quick print company into a full-service marketing communications company with a robust offering of multi-channel digital products that increase ROI for clients on their marketing campaigns. This includes, among other products, the implementation of personal URLs to track the results of direct mail campaigns and QR codes strategically placed on various print materials to provide information on the Web that couldn’t possibly fit on paper. AlphaGraphics sees the future of the printing industry as a marriage of digital and print, and inviting guests into the state-of-the-art facility is one way to share this vision with clients and make sure they are informed on all products and services offered.

The format of these open houses also lends itself well to demonstrations, especially when it comes to new technology. For each open house, the center selects one or two new products or services it has recently added or upgraded and makes them an integral part of the night. Last year, the center added a 61-inch-wide outdoor vinyl banner printer, so it created 2x2-foot vinyl banners, personalized for each guest. This way, guests not only see the impressive printer, but also the final product.

“The guests take their goodies home, whether they are vinyl banners or t-shirts with their names on it, and they are left with a tangible item that reminds them of all our products and services,” Furlong said. “It sends the message to businesses in our community that AlphaGraphics can do it all.”

Coming up Aces

One cost-saving advantage of hosting a themed event is that AlphaGraphics can produce most of the materials in house. For example, Furlong often sends out a snail mail invitation and usually follows up with a matching email blast—all designed by his staff. Once inside, guests see signage made by AlphaGraphics using the latest technology and with the same motif. Outsourced items on the party list include food, postage, prize giveaways, flowers and entertainment.

With all the festivities, it’s important to point out that the ROI of these events is not merely a roll of the dice. Furlong says it can be difficult to track immediately, because guests sometimes become clients four to six months afterward. But in several cases, he has netted an ROI of 400 percent from an open house.

As for conceiving the idea, Furlong admits there was no “ah-ha” moment. He borrowed the idea to throw a fun networking event from a Phoenix-area branch of Printing Industries of America. Ten years ago, that group threw a Mexican-themed mariachi party. AlphaGraphics on Camelback’s first event? A fiesta featuring the same exact mariachi band that played at the trade association’s party. Since then, Furlong’s center has hosted casino, circus, even superhero nights as a way to meet and greet with local decision makers.

With so much fun—and new business—at stake, one potential point of conflict may center on how the staff at AlphaGraphics on Camelback selects the theme for the next party. But the 30-plus-year owner usually takes the democratic approach and lets everyone brainstorm ideas in staff meetings. Sometimes, he says, the center draws inspiration from work it has created for clients.

“Hosting themed open house nights is a great way to boost employee morale and get to know businesses in the area,” Furlong said. “But at the end of the day, it’s really about showcasing what AlphaGraphics has to offer in a fun and different way.”

To learn more about AlphaGraphics on Camelback, visit www.MyPRINTResource.com/10771044. Contact owner Larry Furlong at 602-515-0265 or [email protected].