Gregory Carafello of Cartridge World On How to Build Lasting Customer Relationships

Authority Magazine

I try my best to keep up with all technologies on how to best find and keep clients. However, I believe meeting people face-to-face and shaking their hand while looking them in the eyes still separates you from the others. I see both young and old thinking that emailing and texting is the only answer to building a true relationship and I disagree. It is all of the above, with the in-person being the glue to close and hold on to the client for years to come. Yes, technology can help tremendously, but only in addition to the follow-up phone calls and physically stopping by.

Building lasting customer relationships has many benefits, including increased revenue, positive word-of-mouth recommendations, and saving on acquisition costs. But how does one do this? In this interview series, we are talking to Product Managers, founders, and authors who can share their “Five Tips For Building Lasting Customer Relationships”. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Gregory Carafello.

Gregory Carafello’s career began over 41 years ago as a copier sales trainee, and he rose through the ranks of Canon to become their youngest branch director at 26. He went on to found his own company with his wife, which the couple later sold after nearly two decades to focus on franchising. In July of 2003, Gregory joined Cartridge World as a Territory Master, bringing along his profound knowledge of the printing and franchising spaces. Today he serves as the company’s President and Co-founder of Executive Franchise Group, LLC.

Thank you for doing this with us! Before we begin, our readers would like to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us the “backstory” about what brought you to this career path?

I have been in the printing industry since my first job, and even opened my first business in the industry, and in still in the printing space today. My business path was altered after September 11, 2001, when I survived the attacks on the World Trade Center. In 2003, I got into franchising, and have since become an expert in the franchising field by reinvesting in myself through learning sessions, certification training, joining franchising communities, and meeting higher-level experts than myself in the industry. I believe I am my own biggest asset and am always continuing to train and learn to expand upon that.

Can you share with our readers the most interesting or amusing story that has occurred to you in your career so far? Can you share the lesson or takeaway you took from that story?

An interesting fact is I became one of the largest customers of the company I had worked for after I resigned to open my own business, Canon MCS.

I believe every entrepreneur encounters a significant challenge or pivotal moment in their career. For me, that moment was when my wife and I attended DRUPA, the largest print industry show in the world, in Germany in 1995. The size is probably the equivalent of 25 Javits Centers and quite literally takes 5 days to walk it and meet everyone. I purchased a $1,200,000 AGFA Chromapress to change the short-run printing world in the U.S. All started out well, but then the machine never worked to what it was sold as. Five short years later, I had to pay a junk man to cut it up and take it to the junkyard. When you are pushing the envelope forward, there are some land mines you just need to chart.



Another interesting fact of mine, of the original businesses run out of the World Trade Center at the time of the 9/11 attacks, I am the only business to return to One World Trade Center. Never stop driving forward.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

At Cartridge World, we as a team are recreating the entire company from a reactionary-based, order-taking, retail model to a fast-growing, contract-based, outbound sales effort firm with great income and growth potential. We are setting up systems to simplify all aspects of the ordering process for both the clients and also the franchisees with a Fusion system of what we call “Amazon-Easy.” Clients can order all they want through “Forever Cadence Marketing,” where the system reduces the amount of effort the franchisee needs to put in and keeps the retention of the long-term clients. The goal is to make the client experience simple and easy, as well as the franchisees so they can do what they do best: take care of our clients’ needs and find more clients. This also limits the amount of technical knowledge our franchisees need to operate and grow their Cartridge World franchise.

Our No Cost Printer Program is a huge success, where we give clients printers at no cost with service included as they continue to purchase our high-quality Cartridge World printing supplies.

For the benefit of our readers, can you tell us a bit about your experience with building lasting customer relationships? Can you share an anecdote or two that illustrates your experience in this area?

I have owned businesses for most of my 42 years in the business arena. People do business with people they like and trust. If you say you are going to do something, do it and do it earlier than promised if possible.

I try my best to keep up with all technologies on how to best find and keep clients. However, I believe meeting people face-to-face and shaking their hand while looking them in the eyes still separates you from the others. I see both young and old thinking that emailing and texting is the only answer to building a true relationship and I disagree. It is all of the above, with the in-person being the glue to close and hold on to the client for years to come. Yes, technology can help tremendously, but only in addition to the follow-up phone calls and physically stopping by.

In today’s fast-paced and constantly evolving landscape, what strategies do you employ to maintain a strong connection with your customers and anticipate their changing needs?

We use many tools, but only after they have been tested and measured by a group of our franchisees, so that we can then deliver the tools to the system with honest and accurate measurements for them to ultimately make their decision.

In today’s world, we use LinkedIn with Sales Navigator in a major way, followed up by a closely-held algorithm email tickler which produces consistently fantastic results. We will use telemarketing firms as well as in-person meetings. We then advise and hope each of our franchisees invests in Pay-Per-Click advertising for many hours of the day. I believe that Google and Meta are your retail stores today with a much greater reach.

Can you discuss the strategies that companies can employ to strike a balance between driving revenue and profitability, and focusing on building customer relationships and loyalty?

Great question. Sales are important, profits are more important to a small- to medium-size business owner. That being said, cash flow can trump profits to keep you alive to fight another day. The cost to acquire a new client is 7–10 times greater than keeping your present clients and eventually expanding that relationship.

Could you describe the metrics and measures you use to evaluate the success of your customer relationship-building efforts, and how you identify areas for improvement?

We are working on that at this moment. This is where the correct technology can be of tremendous value along with surveys and calling each client to simply ask. We should all know sales, trends, customer activity, and the profitability of a certain client, which could change over time.

Regarding customer-facing teams, what steps do you take to ensure they can deliver personalized, proactive, and efficient support, tailored to the needs of each individual customer?

In a franchise system, each franchisee owns their own business under our very successful umbrella. We do sample testing at headquarters, but do lean heavily on the producing franchisees to ensure we are accurate in our path forward. They are where the rubber meets the road.

What tips do you have for responding to negative feedback from customers, and what steps can be taken to turn those experiences into positive outcomes?

Jump on it immediately. Do not wait. In today’s world, it probably will not go away, so it is your best investment of time to jump on it quickly, do your absolute best to correct the issue, and ask the client — if satisfied — to change their social opinion of your firm and then follow up often.

Lastly, how do you use technology or AI to enhance your customer relationships, and what tools have you found to be most effective in building and maintaining them?

This AI technology is now coming of age very quickly. We use cadence marketing for certain responses to the clients, as it can learn your business model to add value to the situation and clients. We also use AI to look up certain equipment to best explain the features of the hardware, what else is out there that we could deliver, reliability, etc. This saves our franchisees hours of very valuable time that they can instead utilize to find more clients. We also are beginning to use AI for competitive advantage and overall marketing.

Here is the main question of our interview. In your experience, what are five key components of building lasting customer relationships? If you can, please share a story or example for each.

Care



Invest in the long-term relationship

Understand their business as well as possible.

Stay on top of any news about your client and share tidbits in conversation with them. It shows you are real and that you care.

Say hi by Zoom or better yet, in person.

How do you ensure that these ideas are implemented throughout the customer journey?

I have used CRMs since 1989. It makes you the power of four people. This part is very easy today with LinkedIn Sales Navigator and other technology.

We are nearly done. You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

Keep it simple, keep the main thing the MAIN thing. People have a great ability to make their business very complex. I spend half my time simplifying each part of my business and day to keep the client in front of me. Client satisfaction is the main thing. Simplify and systemize your business — this effort will pay you back in spades for years.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

https://cartridgeworldusa.com/

https://cartridgeworldusa.com/franchising

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregory-carafello-3639453/



Gcarafello@cartridgeworldusa.com