It started with a proof. A longtime print buyer—a client who’d seen everything from letterpress to laser—walked into Edison Press and reviewed the sample sheet that had just come off the Sanford, Maine’s new inkjet press. She turned it over. Held it to the light. Then looked back at the team in disbelief. “This is what the industry has always wanted.” The twist came when she asked if the Edison team could put it back on toner because the client was so used to seeing sheen.
If you’re looking for that iconic moment that captures both the irony and opportunity of inkjet, welcome to the show. The inkjet technology delivers the consistency, speed and quality today’s printers and buyers crave. It’s just that it requires a shift in perception.
Selling and running inkjet isn’t about the machine. What printers using inkjet will tell you is that it’s about connecting capabilities to outcomes, mapping workflows to customer needs and ensuring your entire team—from the front of the house to the back. It’s about maximizing potential.
This is something Joe Rosenfield, President of Edison Press, sees every day. When it comes to inkjet, Rosenfield says the sales pitch starts and ends with the sheet. “We don’t have a traditional sales team. The press sells the work. From the front of the house to the back, everyone plays a part in making sure the job is done right and the client keeps coming back. When prospects see the proof, they want it.”
Inkjet is no longer emerging; it’s here. That means figuring out how to win business, run equipment and keep promises. When Jake Wallace talks to clients about inkjet at Wallace Graphics, the word “inkjet” rarely enters the conversation. “Our clients don’t come to us asking for inkjet. They come asking for faster turnarounds, more personalized content or ways to lower acquisition costs.”
“Consistency is what clients want most. They don’t care what press the job runs on. They want the first sheet to match the last.”
— Joe Rosenfield, President, Edison Press
Wallace and his team don’t position inkjet as hardware, but as a problem-solver—one that connects capabilities to metrics clients already track: response rates, cost per lead and campaign ROI. In direct mail, it’s showing how personalization at scale boosts engagement. In printing, it’s highlighting reduced waste and faster speed-to-market.
For Wallace Graphics, the shift came from needing to support healthcare clients and publishers with shorter run lengths and dynamic content. The Duluth, Georgia, printer historically was a commercial offset printer. But as client needs changed—variable data, tighter SLAs, targeted content—it saw an opportunity.
Today, Wallace and his team work to shift the culture from selling “print” to selling “solutions.” “Investing in the HP A2200 allowed us to pivot from being just a commercial printer to a true inkjet-driven solutions provider. It’s become a big part of our business now.”
Long-time industry sales strategist Linda Bishop believes relevancy is the ultimate closer. Her process begins with a deceptively simple exercise: Create a chart for each prospect that connects their problems to inkjet benefits, and then to the specific features that support those benefits. For example, an insurance marketing director may struggle with personalized policyholder communication. Inkjet’s benefit? High-quality personalization at scale. The features? Variable data printing, inline personalization, seamless CRM integration.
“I tried this using AI to build the charts, and it took three minutes,” says Bishop, President of Thought Transformation. “Now, instead of talking specs, I’m speaking the client’s language.”
Bishop says that together, these approaches highlight the key sales principles of inkjet: Frame the conversation around outcomes, not hardware; train and empower your team to sell solutions; and use proof—whether a sheet, a demo or a chart—to make the case tangible.
Operations: Building Workflows That Work
On the operations side, inkjet isn’t a plug-and-play addition—it’s a transformation. Ross Gormley, COO at Wallace Graphics, says the biggest challenge transitioning to inkjet was learning rolled material workflows. “Unlike sheets, you’re locked into finishing decisions from the planning stage rather than adapting during production.”
For the Wallace Graphics team, that required new processes, from cross-training teams to upgrading front-end workflows. Gormley emphasizes the importance of communication across departments. Prepress, production and finishing teams had to work in sync, planning every decision upstream. Proof-of-concept projects with key clients helped demonstrate value while ironing out internal kinks. “Samples and demos were far more effective than explanations.”
At Edison Press, Rosenfield frames operations as a cycle of continuous learning. “Every new machine comes with growing pains. With inkjet, it started with the basics: learning the press, figuring out estimating and understanding how to compare it to offset without losing margin.”
Solutions came through trial and error—like adding IR dryers to solve finishing challenges—and through investment in bindery equipment that could keep pace with faster output.
When it comes to quality, Rosenfield sees inkjet as its own safety net. “The beauty of inkjet is that the press itself handles most of the quality. Our main focus is keeping the printheads in top shape. Beyond that, there’s very little maintenance needed. Consistency is what clients want most. They don’t care what press the job runs on. They want the first sheet to match the last.”
His final lesson is not to obsess over uptime. “Uptime is really a sales term. What matters most is how quickly you can get back up when something goes down. That’s where the right service partner makes all the difference.”
“On the operations side, inkjet isn’t a plug-and-play addition—it’s a transformation. Unlike sheets, you’re locked into finishing decisions from the planning stage rather than adapting during production.”
— Ross Gormley, COO, Wallace Graphics
The Strategy Playbook
On the sales side, the best practices are clear:
- Sell outcomes like ROI, speed-to-market and consistency.
- Train continuously, using real-world examples to build confidence.
- Use tools like proofs, demos and AI-generated charts to speak the client’s language.
- Align compensation and culture around solution selling, not just print volumes.
On the operational side, the essentials include:
- Prepare teams with cross-training and clear communication channels.
- Map press capabilities to client needs through proofs and targeted education.
- Invest in workflow upgrades and finishing integration early.
- Focus on consistency and rapid recovery, not just uptime.
Printers using inkjet are quick to say that it is not a silver bullet. You won’t win business simply because you bought a new piece of equipment. And you won’t succeed if you treat it as just another press on the floor. With the right strategy—grounded in client outcomes, operational readiness and continuous education—inkjet becomes more than technology; it becomes a lever for growth.
“When people see it, they want it,” Rosenfield says. “The trick is making sure you’re ready to deliver it, every single time.”
5 Steps to Inkjet Success
- Lead with outcomes – Show ROI, engagement and speed-to-market.
- Train relentlessly – Arm sales with case studies and proof-of-concepts.
- Align culture – Reward solution selling, not just print volumes.
- Plan workflows – Cross-train staff and map finishing up front.
- Prove it – Win clients with samples, demos and hard proofs.
Sources: Jake Wallace, Wallace Graphics; Joe Rosenfield, Edison Press; Linda Bishop, Thought Transformation
