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Communication has been one of humanity’s greatest feats since the beginning of time. The learned ability to communicate has been instrumental with everything from hunting during the early ages of man to producing the world’s greatest inventions. If communication has been such a valuable asset in the past, it’s even more critical today, especially for the life of your business. “Good communication can be the deciding factor for keeping and acquiring customers for your business.” Creating a Smooth Process When customers engage with your business, they want a painless process, not an aggravating one. A typical speed bump that anyone in society has experienced is miscommunication. The unfortunate truth is that our brains are not all connected within society. We all need to communicate with each other to exchange ideas or instructions in order to receive a full understanding. Being that you work in a professional environment, your customers expect you to understand what they want and execute it as such. To ensure that you avoid miscommunication, here are a couple of things to remember: Become an active listener to your customers. “Slow to speak. Quick to listen.” Make this your mantra. Ask questions and confirm what your prospects and

By the end of 2019, it’s estimated that there will be 224 million digital shoppers in the United States alone. That statistic is shoppers, not orders. How many orders do you think 224 million shoppers place annually? A lot — as in that’s-a-whole-lot-of-numbers-math-is-hard kind of a lot. But, if you think about it, online order numbers like that shouldn’t surprise most of us. We’ve all been known to engage in a seek-and-destroy online shopping experience while in our pajamas using our weapon of choice: our index fingers. That tactic seems to make way more sense than actually getting off the couch, driving somewhere, and becoming a participating member of the retail world in person. Seriously, why would you do all that work when what is needed is right at your fingertips? Since more and more people are opting for online shopping, it’s pretty easy to conclude where your focus needs to be for selling printing. It needs to cater to your online storefront. The Pricing “What Ifs” For many small businesses, one of the biggest hold-ups for selling online is the debate of whether or not to put your product pricing on your website. After all, there are so many “What ifs…”

Do you remember when you first started in the printing business? I do. It All Started When… It was 1985, and it was my dad’s hobby in our basement. He had a beat up, old A.B.Dick 360 press with a chute delivery. I was ten years old and loved hanging out with my dad while he was learning the craft of offset printing. He would give me small responsibilities like letting him know when the chute was getting full, so he could take the printed sheets out of the press to make room for more. Eventually, as I aged and matured, I was given more responsibilities. First, I learned to do wash-ups for him between jobs. Next, I learned to set the jobs up for him, but he would still run the jobs, managing ink coverage and paper feed issues. Through this process, by 1999, I had learned the craft of offset printing all the way to running four-color work on much larger equipment. In 2006, I took over the company that my father started in our basement 20 years earlier. I realized around that time that even though I made the personal decision to make a career in the

The PRINT 18 Conference in Chicago is only days away! Are you getting excited? We sure are! Attending a trade show or industry event offers visitors incredible benefits like connection and knowledge building, scoping out the competition, and many others. When planned correctly, you can be sure to get the greatest return on your investment and your time spent away from the office. But what happens after the trade show when you’re back in the everyday life of running a company? How can you plan to bring all that you’ve learned back to the office and actually implement it in some way? Here are a few tips that will help you apply what you’ve learned from PRINT 18 (or any trade show) and move forward once you return home: Survey Your Loot If you were a good, lil’ information pirate at the show, you should be walking out of that convention center with a whole bounty of product and service information, marketing brochures, swag, and more. But, do you really need all of it? Set aside some time to go over everything you’ve collected. Review and sort the collateral you’ve received into three piles: To Pursue Further (Needs action) Hold For Now

Ever heard of a conference “high”? The easiest way to describe it is to close your eyes and imagine you’ve just picked up your three kids and three of their friends from a week-long summer camp. You’ve got them all crammed in your minivan (ok, sporty SUV if that suits you better), and all hopes of a quiet ride home are dashed when you make the ultimate mistake of saying these three words: “How was camp?” All of sudden, an excitement like you’ve never seen before prompts the longest bout of run-on sentences you’ve yet to experience in one sitting. “How can they practically turn blue like that and still not take a breath?” you think to yourself. That, friends, is a conference “high”: a chance to get away from your day-to-day responsibilities to focus on yourself and your future. Ready for a Jumpstart? If your sales are feeling a little sluggish or your business simply needs a jumpstart, it’s in your best interest to check out and attend a print-industry event. And, good news! There’s one such event just around the corner: Whether you’re looking for cutting-edge technologies, want to explore the latest products and services on the market, or

Do you know how hard it is to sell “happy”? As the owner of “The Happy Printers,” selling “happy” is one of the hardest things I have EVER done. I have climbed mountains, lived with nomadic tribesmen, lost a parent when I was young, and I’ve been married for 32 years. But, believe me when I tell you that trying to sell “Happy” is a bear. It’s so much more difficult than any of those other things (just don’t tell my wife, OK?) Generally, I’m a pretty happy guy. But for my employees, it can be a totally different story. Employees are human, which means they don’t always come to work with the right attitude. People can sometimes bring their “baggage” to work. Here are four and a half things that have worked for me to minimize those baggage claim tickets and retain our “Happy.” 1) Engage with as many employees as possible on a daily basis. Your time is important. But their interaction with you is more important. You’re the big boss, which mean they will naturally gravitate to you. Be sure to always have a kind word available for those around you. Your company may be your life, but to your

Your branding and marketing are the lifeblood of your business, and they are worth your time and energy to learn to do right. If this is new territory for you, sometimes the best way to make sure you’re on the right path means simply learning to recognize the wrong one. Check out these top ten mistakes printers make with their branding and marketing below. 1. Not Selling Your Differentiator If the message of your brand is “We’re the best print company ever!”, you’re not going to sound much different than your competition or make it very far. I mean, have you ever seen a company advertise, “We’re not the best, but we try really hard!”? Probably not. This is why it’s so important to focus on what makes you unique. Voice your differences and learn to think outside the box of mediocrity. Build your message around what makes your customers keep coming back to you. Is it your customer service? Your referral program? Aim narrow and hit hard. 2. Thinking Locally Instead of Globally Remember, you’re reaching an online audience now, not just your local customers. Thinking you’re unique by using CMYK colors in your branding or trying to be

The size of your print business is not a predictor of its success. In fact, there’s really only one thing that will help you know how successful you’ll be — your customers! Think about it: Whether it’s a large business like Google or Amazon or a much smaller, local mom and pop shop, customers are the one aspect that tie all businesses together. Your customer base is the greatest treasure you’ll ever hold, so it’s important you treat it as such. Consider that: “47 percent of customers surveyed have switched companies after a single instance of poor customer service,” according to 24/7. “A customer who is “totally satisfied” delivers 2.6 times as much revenue as one who is “somewhat satisfied.” So, how do you go about maintaining your customer base and still make your business stand out from others? The answer is: Go the Extra Mile. “Yeah, I get that,” you say. “But how?” Communication is Your First Step Not everyone is naturally a great communicator. It’s important to remember that communication is a learned skill, and you need to take the time to train your Customer Service Representatives on what to ask. For example, train your staff to run through these five

Ever Eaten a Beehive? Have you ever gone out on a limb? You know, scooching a bit too far, feeling the limb start to sag, but reaching…stretching your fingers until your joints hurt? That honey is all you want. It’s all you dream about. Right? That honey is your Holy Grail. But, no matter how far you reach, that hive of honey is just too far, too elusive, too hard to grasp. The Business of Bees Stretching for the unattainable is what being a small business owner is all about. All small business owners dream of that honey, of hitting it big. We think that when we open our doors, life will be a vacation, but that’s not how it works. Small business owners get “stung” by a million problems every day. It can be relentless. How can anyone manage through that? Execute, Execute, Execute If you want to learn to push through to reach the impossible, there are three really easy steps. Although these steps will help you, remember, it’s always about the execution. Execution is the key to success. Don’t tell me how you are going to be successful, SHOW ME. Everyone wants to sell their company for millions, but in reality,

In part one of “3 Steps to Crafting A Marketing Message Your Ideal Buyers Will Love,” we talked about how your messaging is the core that will drive your entire business. You learned that the first step to great a message is the “Who.” To whom is your message directed at? If you haven’t created a buyer persona, you’ll want to go back and make sure you complete that step. After all, if you don’t have your “who,” you won’t be able to move on to the “what” of your message. First Come Who, Then Comes What Once you’ve gone through the persona process, and you have a good idea of who your audience is, you’ll want to figure out what it is exactly that they need to hear from you. When you’re able to craft the right message at the right time, and to the right people, you’ll get more leads and, ultimately, more sales. There ain’t nothin’ better than leads and prospects that proactively reach out to you to buy. So, how do you do that? The Power of Empathy First, you’ll want to learn how to have and show empathy. Empathy is the art of putting yourself in

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