Having new retail items or services to sell is only half the battle, of course. Now you have to get the word out. After all, you're probably losing sales to big catalogs sent out by nationwide office supplies stores, so you might as well fight fire with fire. Charrette is atypical, in that it started 30 years ago as a supply company, and only got into reprographics 15 years ago when it purchased an existing blueprinter. But regular blueprinters could take a lesson from Charrette in catalog sales.
People are in the habit of buying things that way.
Distributing a catalog would be especially helpful after introducing new products. Your outside sales staff would appreciate the advance support. A variation on the catalog idea is a regular newsletter. A well done, regular four-pager with two pages of tidbits about your shop and two pages about available products and services could attract a lot of attention. Tucson Blueprint's Mendoza says his firm has been publishing a monthly newsletter for many years, often containing information about specials on supplies the company is running in conjunction with deals from manufacturers.