OOH Interview Today
—Interview with an OOH Print Seller
23 Questions for Aubrey Lindmark, Ink Sales, Lindmark Ink
Aubrey Lindmark lists her LinkedIn profile position as Ink Sales for Lindmark Ink. Ink Sales is a rather humble title for someone who has a
OOH, a ‘man’s domain’
bb: Welcome Aubrey. Let’s start with a hardball question. OOH is very much a ‘man’s domain’. In both space and printing. No one likes to say it. No one wants to believe it. It still is in many respects. Rather than discuss how to change it, which by the way you are welcome to, my question is, how do you navigate in this man’s space successfully?
AL: Although, yes, OOH is a very male-dominant space, I have in no way felt unwelcome or out of place in this space. I think above all else, all our customers want is to be working with a company that is honest and stands by their word. That is why we offer our customers their first vinyl free. We want to show them firsthand our service and quality. In today’s world, although there has been change there are always going to be stereotypes. No woman should be scared to be in a space just because of that stereotype, there is always a need for diversity and a new way of thinking no matter the industry.
bb: What experiences have you found to be ‘good ones’ and experiences that have been ‘not so good?’
AL: Overall, I have had great experiences with building new clients, we are a family business and treat our customers as an extended part of our family. We are looking for partnerships that are going to give us the same courtesy as we give them. It’s a mutual respect and care that we are all after the same goal… to make our customers happy and bring them the most recognition possible. I would say the only not-so-good ones I have experienced, were customers that were not happy no matter what the solution offered.
bb: Do you network with other OOH Printers? On a personal or professional basis? What about female mentorship for you? Who does Aubrey trust, work with, or take inspiration from in the OOH business? Are there any female OOH mentors? Would you like one or some?
AL: Yes, we do love to network in our space. We specialize in a limited number of products, that is how we have such a fast turnaround time. In saying that, when we have customers who need a service/product we do not provide, we will point them to a company that can be their solution. I have a great support system for women who work in the OOH space. In our company, we have equally the number of women workers as men. I would have to say the women, take on just as much if not more, than the men in our company. I am very grateful for the mentorship and inspiration I receive from them daily.
Life-to-death customers
bb: We believe people change printers when and only when they have finally had enough issues with their current printer and will make a leap to a new print provider. Do you agree? Why?
AL: I do not believe it is the only reason. I mean, let’s be honest, it is business and if another company has better prices and great quality, it is a lot of the time a big pull for a company to switch.
bb: We have found that OOH print buyers, as a general rule, are a very loyal group to their print suppliers. They are nearly life-to-death customers of the same printing company. That said, OOH Today believes it is more than loyalty that keeps this bond. What are your thoughts?
AL: Yes, I have witnessed that either from our customers or outside. I think it is very admirable and of great quality from OOH print buyers. If we are going above and beyond for our customers, we appreciate the loyalty as I’m sure other printers do as well.
bb: How does Aubrey overcome that? How do you draw it out?
AL: I have had companies not willing to even try our service because of their loyalty to their current printer. This is probably contrary to what I should be saying, however, I do respect it when I hear that from potential customers. Although I would love to earn their business, I know if something were to ever happen with their current printer and they decided to try our service, they would be very valuable customers for us. This type of loyalty must be grown over time. I have only been working in the printing space since June. However, I will always strive to meet the needs of the customers no matter the request or time, to earn that type of loyalty from them.’
24-hour turnaround
bb: Lindmark Ink and its former name Blue Sky Digital, have credited much of its success to your ability to turn around time’, speed of printing and delivery. Your current ads pitch a 24-hour turnaround. Is that a major driver for your success?
AL: Yes, I would say most of our new customers have started using us because of our fast turnaround time. Such a fast turnaround time allows you to put your customer into billing space faster. For reference, if your boards rent for $3,000 per period that is $100 per day in found revenue.
bb: What are other reasons for Lindmark’s success and how do you rank them in order of importance and value of Lindmark Ink’s success?
AL: Overall, I believe Lindmark’s success comes from our attention to detail and quality, whether it’s our service or product. We are all constantly learning and evolving, so we can strive to meet and exceed our customers’ expectations.
bb: I see from your website your hours are 8 AM until 5 PM. How do you deal with potential time zone differences with those limited hours?
AL: Our printing shop runs different shifts from 6 AM in the morning to 6 PM. Our sales reps always have our phones on us. In saying that, different time zones have not been an issue for us.
Rebates
bb: Back in the day, it was commonplace for a printer to provide an end-of-the-year check to his customers as a ‘rebate,’ yes, that is what they called it, rebate, a pre-agreed percentage for the final tally of business they received from the OOH print buyer organization. We know that it still goes on for at least one printer and OOH provider I am familiar with, as one of the parties shared with us. A year-end rebate was table stakes for the printer to even get inside the sales ropes for any opportunity to become a supplier. On the face of it, there is arguably nothing wrong with quantity discounts. Below the face of it, subject to agreements with certain customers, (advertisers if you will) rebates and discounts must be returned to the customer/advertiser/brand. Transparency of that rebate is not happening, in most cases that we are aware of. Our question Aubrey, is Lindmark Ink under arrangements to provide end-of-the-year ‘rebates’ with any of your customers? And if not, why not?
AL: We have offered rebates in the past for our customers before we made our recent changes that include free first vinyl and new pricing. We lowered our pricing rates to the lowest we possibly could and made it standard for all our new customers. We believe the money our customers are saving with our low printing rates, compensates for not offering a rebate program at this time.
Pricing
bb: Let’s talk about Pricing. How important is pricing to your success?
AL: Pricing is a very important piece of our success as well! We love being able to give all our new customers the same rates, no matter the volume they can print with us. We want to be as fair and transparent as possible to all our new customers, and our pricing reflects that.
bb: Are you aware of your competitor’s pricing? How do you keep up with the competition’s pricing and policies?
AL: Yes, we are aware of our competitors’ pricing. Most print companies’ rates and pricing structures are different. We are not trying to “keep up” with anyone, we are doing the best we can with what we have at this time, those rates and prices will keep going down as our demand keeps getting higher. We are focused on perfecting our service and product for our customers.
bb: Who is your biggest competitor in the printing business?
AL: Our biggest competitor is ourselves. We follow and match our customers’ requests/needs, that is how we are learning and evolving our company. We strive to set ourselves apart in the industry.
bb: Are the rates the same for everyone? Do you give better rates to OOH Providers versus Agencies or Brands directly?
AL: Yes, the rates are the same for all our new customers no matter the industry/company. We recently lowered our prices to the lowest we possibly could and made it standard for everyone.
85 New Customers
bb: Trent told us that you have sold over 85 new customers since you have been aboard. That is, by any measure, regardless of the size of the company, a significant accomplishment, Congrats. Are you happy with 85? Could you have landed more? How did you land the 85?
AL: I am very grateful for the 85 new partnerships we have brought in. There are always going to be more potential customers I have not been able to reach. However, I honestly believe our service, quality, and speed cannot be beaten within our industry. The product sells itself, I’m just there to meet the potential customers’ requests and questions when they need it.
bb: Are the 85 new businesses, long-term clients now or did they just drop in for the one-time free vinyl printing offer? It was our concern when we saw the ‘free offer’ that you would receive mostly ‘one and done’ business and the advertisers would return to their ‘usual’ print supplier. Has that been the case? Did you expect that? How do you propose to keep ‘one and done’ new business with Lindmark on a long-term basis?
AL: I mean that ‘one and done’ customer is something that is out of our control. We think that overall, the great partnerships that we will get from the offer will outweigh the few that take advantage. We hope that our service and pricing will be so good that our potential customers don’t have any choice but to want to use us– if not, that is on us.
bb: Agency or OOH providers…Who buys more vinyl from you? What is the ratio/ Is one significantly larger than the other? Which is easier or more fun if there is a difference, for you to work with? Which do you enjoy working with more?
AL: It is roughly a 1/3 split between the three. I enjoy working with both. I think agencies are more of a challenge because they have a lot of moving parts, I always love a challenge.
bb: How can you sell more?
AL: I am looking into different geographical regions that we have not covered yet, and also want to utilize different platforms such as LinkedIn and Alignable to reach a new market of customers.
bb: What does Lindmark or you do to attract and sell ‘new businesses? Do you find you are limited in opportunities and reaching significant success because you are located in Norman, Oklahoma?
AL: No, I do not feel that we are limited for success being in Oklahoma. We are central in the US, in saying that our ground shipping to most areas is a max of 3 days. We are looking to expand our offices to more locations soon, for our ground shipping time to be even less for our customers that are located in the far northeast and west regions.
A family business
bb: Your father is very proud of your success in printing sales. What about you? Do you feel you are successful?
AL: I am very happy with the great customers/partnerships that we have developed in such a short time. I have had experience in the OOH industry for as long as I can remember with my dad owning the billboard company. I know that has helped me learn and grow in this space faster than someone coming in not knowing anything about OOH.
bb: Do you get breaks or opportunities because ‘Daddy owns the company’?
AL: I would say I do think it does pull more weight when trying to build a relationship with new customers. I have more to lose within the company than the average sales rep if something were to go wrong, I am not just a reflection of myself.
bb: What is it like to work for your father? Aren’t you right out of college? What did you study at OU? What are your goals at Lindmark? As you must know the OOH Industry is a very paternal business. There are more family-owned OOH businesses than non-family ones, with dozens, dare I say hundreds, of 2nd and 3rd-generation family members, working for and running their fathers and grandfathers’ business. Do you have plans to take the reins from your Dad someday?
AL: It has been a great experience for me working with family. I’m very grateful for the support and opportunities it has given me so far within the company. The OOH Industry being such a paternal business is what I think makes it such a neat industry to be in. It allows an overall bond and tight-knit community. I graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor’s degree in Entrepreneurship, Venture Management, and Supply and Chain Management. I will always have a role in my dad’s company, I love the industry.
bb: Will see you on the OOH space side in the near future?
AL: Maybe, I will be working in the printing company for a while; however, I’m not opposed to working in the billboard side of the company again at some point.
Lindmark Ink is an advertiser with OOH Today
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