'Customer-centricity' at heart of new PaperlinX sales strategy

PaperlinX has announced a new sales strategy aimed at improving customer-centricity, performance and profiltability.  Key to this strategy is the reshaping of its Commercial Print division to enhance the sales function across all three of its companies - Howard Smith Paper Group, Robert Horne Group and PaperCo to better meet its customers’ needs.

PaperlinX will create one unified Account Management Team, providing customers with access to the Group’s entire product portfolio that includes paper, packaging, graphics, digital wide format printers and print consumables and separate credit facilities, via a dedicated Account Manager. This will guarantee that all its products are represented in the UK & Ireland by specialist teams with expertise and experience relevant to the needs of each individual customer.

Ongoing market challenges and the changing needs of customers have driven the decision to change the way the Group delivers customer service.

“We are adapting our current structure to enable us to meet the needs and challenges of an ever-shifting market where the global decline in paper sales has made a deep and lasting impression on the way we sell and on the customers we sell to,” says commercial director Ian Hunt.

“Our customer research revealed that 80% of our revenue comes from customers that deal with more than one PaperlinX company. By unifying product sales across Howard Smith Paper Group, Robert Horne Group and PaperCo, we are placing customer-centricity at the heart of our overall sales strategy. We are providing customers with greater choice, access to a broader portfolio of products, breadth of support and superior service levels, from a single dedicated Account Manager,” says Hunt.

Amidst a highly competitive business environment, PaperlinX has been undertaking a series of measures to revitalise and improve efficiency within its customer sales and service operations, drive performance improvements and improve profitability. The Group will continue to implement other cost reduction initiatives. This latest move that also includes creating a dedicated new business team, signals its commitment to building a business model fit for future growth.

At this stage there are no plans to change its local branch infrastructure that includes Robert Horne Group’s dedicated Northampton-based Customer Service Centre and PaperCo and Howard Smith Paper Group’s regional branches.

“We are now in a fantastic position to offer customers an outstanding range of products supported by great service, so we can continue to help them add value to their businesses,” says Hunt.