Above: Jerry Blaine, Tom Flesch, Bill Fraser
A conversation with three long-time readers.
Editor’s note: As part of our 40th-anniversary coverage, founder Frank G. Cannata spoke with three of our charter subscribers: Jerry Blaine, president and CEO of LDI Connect (formerly LDI Color Toolbox and Leslie Supply); Tom Flesch, president and CEO of Gordon Flesch Company; and Bill Fraser, president of Fraser Advanced Information Systems to discuss what The Cannata Report has meant to them and the industry.
Cannata: What do you think about the job we have done, or at least, what stands out in your mind?
Flesch: You do what nobody else has done, particularly in the way you look at dealers and look at manufacturers. You help us figure out what we can do when we have problems with a manufacturer. In some ways, you help us balance the relationship. This was particularly true in the beginning when we did not understand the Japanese, and they did not understand us. You obviously take time to figure out the manufacturers and balance whatever the topic quite well. Then, you have CJ, who has done an amazing job.
Fraser: What stands out to me is the information you have provided for us that I could use in talking to our sales and service teams. We also use much of it to educate our internal staff, as well as our customers. Whatever we have learned about the industry has come from you. With all the changes we have experienced in the past 40 years, your report has helped us better understand how we should best use the current developments in technology. We read all your content, and all of a sudden, things come together, and we are putting out information from the cloud to our customers and our people. You reach out to the dealers and manufacturers, and whatever their messaging is, you have covered all the bases. You always called the shot with your predictions. Are you 100% accurate? Hell, no, and you were never afraid to voice your opinions, and that has always been appreciated.
Blaine: I think of all the information you have provided for the dealers from the very first issue. I know you were the first to do a publication that focused on the industry from the dealer’s viewpoint. Being the first has its place in history. Although there have been other sources disseminating information, The Cannata Report remains unique.
You have your own perspective with a historical sense that comes from being in the industry for so long. You joined the business after working for manufacturers and selling to the dealer. You have lived through the difficulties between the dealers and manufacturers and are able to address an issue from both sides of the table. Everything is written with a passion for providing content that is worthy of you and the reader. You put it all out there and state it is an opinion that should be taken seriously no matter who the reader is. You continue to keep up with all the trends and offer the manufacturers’ perspectives that dealers should be aware of. The information is credible, and most importantly, it makes a difference.
Cannata: Was there any issue we covered that you thought was absolutely the best or one that we did not get right?
Flesch: Your articles on wide format and production print are very well understood by those of us [who are into both segments]. For us, the way you addressed analog to digital, and then monochrome to color, gave direction and the most valuable information that helped us along. I think back, and you called on Dad back in the Saxon days, and he decided not to take on the product.
Cannata: Your dad was a very smart man.
Flesch: We like the way you managed the question of diversification, and we got the message to find solutions that will give us sustainability. We are doing things to address that, such as telephony, production print, and acquisitions. We are aggressive in that area and will be closing three shortly.
Fraser: You look back at four decades, and you covered the changes from liquid to powdered toner and the transition from analog to digital. Those were game-changers in this industry. There was facsimile that you brought home to us, and you developed a facsimile transmitted news service called Live Wire, which was the best. This was before there was the internet. We were able to get information in a matter of hours to a couple of days, long before anyone else was delivering it.
Blaine: You went on the road and traveled to all the appropriate places visiting manufacturers, as well as dealers, to learn firsthand what was going on. You have been in continuous contact with the manufacturers and dealers that enable you to provide a balanced picture with no agenda. The Annual Dealer Survey is an important independent look at the dealer channel. You are unique in the sense you get the cooperation of the dealers to participate. Nobody else gets that. Everything you do is more than credible, and credibility remains at the highest value. The one thing you did that was most important was hiring an editor. No single action, article, or comment can take away from the credibility you have earned.
Cannata: What is the main reason you continue to subscribe after 40 years?
Flesch: You write about things such as e-commerce, and we have done some of that with our existing customers, but mostly on the lower end. We always feel that you will bring to the table things that we should be looking at. There have been times when you wrote about certain areas that we were already involved in, but it is always good to get your perspective. As for e-commerce, we can see Gordon Flesch Company expanding into that area in the longer term. We have a vision of improving our awareness of what our customers want online from us. This is one of those areas of change that take a little longer to figure out.
Fraser: All the reasons we have stated previously add up to the reasons we have stayed with you. Thanks to CJ, you have come a long way from when he entered the picture [nine] years ago. The message is always delivered in a tell-it-like-it-is manner. That has never changed. If there are people who do not like that, too bad. You keep writing about the things most important to dealers like backorders. As a Sharp dealer, that has not been a problem for us at all. You give us a better understanding of what dealers are experiencing, and we can more easily leverage that knowledge to make us more aggressive and more successful.
Blaine: The main reason for being a reader for 40 years is that I want to be informed, and I read it all the time and never missed one. It must be at least 400 issues.
Cannata: You’re right. We’ve published 420 issues. And we’re grateful for your continued support and attention. We appreciate you.
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