This mailing business marries data management with mailing to provide its clients – printers and publishers – with an added value service

The mailing business has been n the headlines recently, although not necessarily for the best of reasons, with the tier one companies Sema downsizing by two thirds, and Salmat looking to put its business up for sale. And questions are asked about the long term viability of essential mail, with an increasing  number of utilities offering discounts for consumers who receive their bills online.

However for the half dozen or so tier two mailing houses - such as Sydney’s Future Sources –who eschew the high volume essential mail jobs in favour of bespoke work for printers and publishers there has been no let-up in the work, save of course for the period when the GFC crashed the party.

Future Sources was established in 1987 by current owner Mark Sayle, initially as a business that specialises in putting financial information on microfiche and film for the big financial houses. Sayle came from a financial services background, saw a gap in the market, and in fact became the first business sin NSW to come out of a government run business incubator scheme for new ventures, which provided an office, photocopier, and more importantly, mentors.

He says, “The support I received as a young man starting out in business was terrific, a real help. And now I am a mentor myself, I believe in giving back, the country has been good to me and I want to help others get going.” Sayle has since lectured to more than 500 small business, and has been a director of the Day of Difference charity.

Less than a decade after beginning in business Sayle moved his company into the mailing world. He says, “We were already doing some laser printing, so mailing seemed like the natural next step.” For the next dozen years between then and 2009 the company saw consistent year on year growth, expanding its capabilities, footprint and client base, until the onset of the GFC, which heralded a drop in turnover by a third, almost overnight. Sayle says, “We were hit on the back of the head like everyone else, and had to respond. At university they don’t teach you how to manage when your turnover sinks like a stone, we had to learn as we went along, and it was a steep curve.”

However learn they did with strong financial advice from their financial controller, and testimony to the ability of Sayle and his team to steer the ship through the storm comes in the fact that of his management team none has been there less than nine years, and of the supervisors the new boy has been six years in the job.

Sayle says, “I’ve learned that staff are the most important part of any business. Our management team has vast experience; first there is no job they can’t handle, second they understand the needs of our clients as they have been working with them for so long, and third they can handle a crisis.”

The GFC though precipitated a change in strategy at Future Sources. Until then the company’s main business was working with agencies and brand owners, however Sayle and his team decided to switch tack to serving printers and publishers. He says, “Our former target market was volatile at best. We know of course that printers and publishers have their own crosses to bear, but we knew we could serve their needs well, thanks to our skills in both data mailing and service.”

Part of the strategy has involved the recent installation of what Sayle describes as the region’s biggest plastic wrapping system, a Sitma 950E, to build on the capabilities of the company’s existing wrapping solution.

Sayle says, “All our technology is at least duplicated, sometimes triplicated, so that our clients know we will never let them down. The Sitma we installed is the longest, fastest and smartest plastic wrapping system in the whole of Australasia, and has proved to be a winner for our clients.”

The company has made heavy investment in technology in the last 12-18 months, with a new folding line, a new guillotine, new inkjetting system, and an intelligent inserting line. Sayle says, “We believe in offering the market the benefits of the latest technological developments.”

Along with the hardware Future Sources has also developed its own in-house data management solutions, that has enabled it to offer a complete service to printers and publishers, from database management of subscriptions and renewals, through print on demand, mailing assembly, distribution through an on-site Australia Post office, and the management of returns and database cleaning.

Sayle says, “We specialise in data, which takes a lot to get right and not much to get wrong. So now we manage the subscriptions of the sone of the country’s flagship womens and consumer magazines, the publishers outsource to us because they know we are secure, have data integrity, are fast and can accommodate their peaks and troughs.”

While some believe that printing is on an irrevocable downward slide to oblivion Sayle is witnessing the opposite. He says, “Many of the magazines we handle are seeing an increase in subscriptions. Obviously we don’t deal with news stands, but there is no doubt that subscriptions are increasing. Whether that is because of smarter marketing, clean databases, multi-media integration I don’t know, but I do know volumes are on the rise across many of the titles we handle.”

Sayle says that figures show that while essential mail volumes are slipping, direct mail is increasing by 3-4 per cent year on year. He says, “All the studies show that if marketing managers make an attempt to understand their target audience and communicate directly with them then response rates rise significantly.

The ROI on printed matter that is direct to the consumer is way higher than electronic communication.”
Not surprisingly Sayle says that for printers outsourcing data management to a company such as his makes good sense, he says, “We have the expertise and the systems to make it easy for print businesses. There is no need for them to hire expensive data management staff and IT experts, no need to invest in data systems, data and mailing is what we do, and for printers partnering with us the benefits are tremendous, they can go to their clients and offer them a service with confidence knowing we can handle whatever comes our way.”

Also not surprisingly Sayle is an advocate of the smaller mailing houses like his own, he says, We have the flexibility that the big payers don’t always offer, we are responsive, we understand their needs, and we develop long term relationships. We have the smarts to service the needs of printers and their clients.”

Even in the current turmoil engulfing parts of the print industry Sayle believes that opportunities exist. He says, “People still want to read magazines, they still want coupons to tear off, they still want to peruse mail. Print has proved itself to be a highly effective communication tool over many years, and with its simplicity of access and clarity of message I don’t see that changing too much, particularly when it comes to response rates, which is the key factor.

“Clients are increasingly understanding data and segmentation, and the great results they can obtain. Loyalty programmes for instance are really gathering pace now, as companies realise the value of the data they collect, and the value of one to one communication with their customers.

“For printers having someone like Future Sources manage that data for them takes all the pain out of what is quite a complicated process, and enables them to enjoy the higher margin benefits of providing added value services to their clients. The end result for the client should be increased profit, and that’s a good thing, that’s why we all come to work in the morning, and that’s what makes the economy grow, targeted print delivers that result.”