Gina Testa looks back on her 32-year career in the industry and reflects on both her own future and that of the industry itself.
In a recent interview with Printing Impressions’ Mark Michelson, Xerox’s former executive, Gina Testa, gave her impressions of the industry and its current standing, reflected on the achievements she was most proud of, and revealed her plans for the future.
When asked how she had seen the printing industry evolve since her career began, Gina remarked, “My work in colour is what truly launched my career at Xerox because there was no roadmap and no one else was familiar with the technology in either marketing or sales. Our heritage had been in black-and-white in the office arena. My lack of Xerox experience became an asset, since I was not locked into the way it was always done in the past.”
She continued, “Let’s put this into perspective – there were no PCs in the mid-90’s, no digital originals, no creative software readily available, and the speed at 7.5 prints per minute in colour was 50% faster than the competition. I remember demonstrating the machine at my first trade show and people lined up six deep since, to them, it was magic. We were mainly either making copies of photos or using a special blue highlighter to circle text and change it to full colour.”
She described how Xerox’s resulting marketing program, entitled ‘Business Case for Colour’, went on to win multiple awards and how consumers still use it to this day.
Asked by Michelson what she believed to be the keys to future success for MSPs, Testa responded, “Printers today are successful when they keep a close pulse on the needs of their customers and respond accordingly.” She went on, “Printers also need to have an overall strategy and plan for their businesses,” before concluding, “In addition, successful printers have found ways to partner with both vendors and other service companies to acquire knowledge and resources, as well as to meet the needs of their client base.”
Testa achieved numerous successes during her 32-year career, despite working in what Michelson described as “still a male-dominated industry”. Yet as in industries across the world demographics have been altering and Testa stated that she had seen “a significant increase in female participation in graphic communications – from ownership to sales and marketing.” She added, “A few years ago I did a presentation at Cal Poly and they were extremely proud to note that more than half of the students in their Graphic Communication program were female.”
Among her proudest achievements during her time in the industry, she cites “creating marketing tools and programs to help early colour technology adopters sell their services. Later on, the program I am most proud of is Xerox ProfitAccelerator, which provides business development tools and services within the industry.”
The interview concluded with Gina confirming that she planned “to stay active in the graphic communications industry for many years to come doing what I love the most – using my business and marketing expertise to help other businesses and associations succeed. I’m launching a consulting practice called RT Consulting.”