Marketing at Rolland

Luc Perron is seated, facing the camera.

In ‘86 I was on the road, marketing Rolland products. The way it worked was the same way it works today. We were very avant-garde at Rolland. We would do specification for our products, and since we had a fine history behind us,‘La Rolland’ and the plant were very well known, especially in Quebec.

Back then, we did promotion, we knew our papers very well, so we knew, depending on the job… Customers would ask: ‘Should we use such-and-such a basis weight?’ and we would guide them. Sales is simply about listening to the customer, to their needs, what their requirements will be. Because they have an edge by using my paper. Someone else might have spoken to them as specifically. Since I know a lot about paper… well, paper is sold by the pound. But I know that my paper has better opacity at a lower basis weight. Since paper is sold by weight, there’s a savings of 10%, 15%—it adds up fast. So right away the customer realizes he’s dealing with a guy who’s ‘hands-on’, who knows his stuff.

That’s sort of the principle. So a sales technique doesn’t really exist, insofar as you’re going to forge it. You become really dedicated to it.

Colour illustration from an advertisement for new LT 2000 paper by the Rolland Company, showing a woman adjusting a photocopier along with a packet of the paper.

In ‘85, photocopy paper was booming, and then the market started to shift when laser printers came in. So you had to change the paper, which was made for an offset litho application, meaning water and ink. Now you had paper that was going to get hot, in some cases up to 210°C, or 410°F. So it had to have very different characteristics than before.

The image of paper plants, the number of plants in Canada has decreased. Now, in 2013, we’re the only 100% Canadian mills left. So there were many, many closures. It’s sad, but that’s the way it was. And still is. You really have to differentiate, to stand out from the others, otherwise you won’t make it.

I represent the guys, and the girls, in the plant. That’s the way I’ve always seen it. At some point, if there’s a dispute, some kind of problem, I become the advocate for the company, in a way. And, when I visit the plant, I’m the advocate for the customer too.