Letting Go to Grow: How Dropping Two Key Clients Turned Yorkville Printing Around

In my book ‘At the Helm – The 7 Step Guide to Excel at Strategy and Leadership‘ I share an example of a crucial decision that helped ?turn Yorkville Printing around. When Transcontinental acquired Yorkville, revenues hovered around $50 million, but the company was bleeding red ink. We needed a swift and transformative change.

To position Yorkville for survival—and ideally, growth—we knew we had to exit commodity-driven, high-cost contracts and redefine our focus. Our new vision was to establish Yorkville as the premier provider of direct-marketing print products in Canada. Achieving this required investments in cutting-edge digital presses, expanding our skills, and realigning our web presses with in-line finishing equipment to enable specialized, high-value services.

Pivoting away from commodity printing was no easy task. We faced a stark choice: continue down a path of gradual decline or take a bold, uncertain leap. Two of our biggest clients, General Motors and Chrysler, were prestigious accounts that showcased Yorkville’s high-quality, precise printing we were known for, producing glossy car catalogs with exact colour matching and perfect spot coating.

Yet, while these accounts brought prestige, they came with challenges. Both automotive clients leveraged their brand influence to demand steep discounts, pushing already thin profit margins even lower. Additionally, they required the production of these catalogs during the printing industry’s peak season, pushing our resources to full capacity for low-margin work and leaving no press time for more profitable jobs. Adding to the strain, the rise of digital media was reducing demand for printed catalogs, threatening our ability to sustain this kind of work.

Ultimately, we made the difficult decision to drop these automotive accounts, which allowed us to pivot toward our new strategy. We refocused on creative, personalized direct-marketing pieces, and in a twist of fate, Chrysler eventually returned—this time as a direct-marketing client. For their Jeep Grand Cherokee campaign, we leveraged customer data to produce personalized booklets for specific clients, each tailored to showcase the new vehicle in a way that spoke to individual preferences. This campaign not only set records for response rates but also solidified Yorkville’s new place in the direct-marketing space, demonstrating the power of a targeted strategic shift.

This story illustrates a key principle in any effective business strategy: sometimes, you must let go of seemingly "key" accounts to make room for growth. By re-evaluating our product and service portfolio through our strategic vision, we turned a potential crisis into an opportunity. Focusing on our high value ‘winner’ products and recognizing the ‘laggards’ allowed us to break free from a path of diminishing returns and align our resources with our vision.

In the end, this strategic shift allowed us to achieve our three-year vision, becoming the #1 direct marketing provider, growing the business to $90 million, and reaching an EBITDA of over 15%. This experience is one of many detailed in my book At the Helm, where I outline how leaders can make bold strategic decisions with confidence. For business leaders seeking strategic transformation, I am available as an advisor to help navigate strategic challenges.