Leadership Archives - Marketing, content, & technology to help printers sell more printing

If you were given a magic formula for reducing stress and accelerating future success, would you use it? Many people set future business goals based on something they “wish” would happen instead of giving thought to what caused tension or breakthrough in previous years. As you map a fresh course in the new year, new research from the Harvard Business School shows that taking time to reflect is essential. Productivity Hack For Printers: How Reflection Aids Performance In Learning by Thinking: How Reflection Aids Performance, working paper authors Francesca Gino and Gary Pasino demonstrate how reviewing past performance helps people operate more effectively in the future. Through a series of experiments, researchers tested the theory that work outputs would improve when participants added reflective processing to their workflow. One study, based at a tech support call center, divided workers into three groups: a control group, a reflection group, and a reflection plus sharing group. As groups were trained on a specific customer account, each received the same technical training but with a few key differences. While control group employees worked a standard full day, in the reflection group, workers spent the last 15 minutes of each day writing and reflecting

Have you ever felt like you can’t do everything on your own? Or maybe you’ve wondered if your team is working as efficiently as possible. Of course, you have! Whether your team is small or large, it has the potential to accomplish much more collectively than you could alone. If you’re leading a team, you might be familiar with various personality assessments like DISC, Kolbe, Myers-Briggs, Enneagram, and CliftonStrengths (formally known as StrengthsFinder). In my experience, these assessments don’t always provide the substantial team productivity boost you were hoping for or answer the question, “How does this help me sell more printing?” But don’t worry; there’s a new tool that might just change the game for you: the Working Genius. The Working Genius Model The Working Genius model was created by Pat Lencioni. If you’re not familiar with Pat Lencioni, he’s written classic leadership books such as The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and Death by Meeting. Lencioni has an amazing way of revealing business truths in an entertaining and accessible format, and he’s done that with his latest book, The 6 Types of Working Genius. The Working Genius model stands apart from other personality assessments and tools by helping

Running a printing business is no easy task, and one of the most critical factors that can make or break your success is effective leadership. Strong leadership plays a pivotal role in steering your print company towards growth. It’s not just about managing the day-to-day operations; it’s about inspiring and guiding your team to reach their full potential and drive the business forward. What’s the Big Deal About Print Leadership? A great leader sets the tone for the entire organization, print or otherwise. Your vision, passion, and commitment can be contagious, motivating your team to share your drive and dedication. By fostering a positive and creative work environment, you encourage your employees to think innovatively, leading to improved solutions and a competitive edge in the market. Solid leadership also directly impacts customer experience. When your team is inspired and focused on delivering excellence, it reflects in the quality of your services. Satisfied customers become loyal supporters and brand advocates, amplifying your business through word-of-mouth referrals. Strong leaders are also adaptable and resilient. They embrace new technologies, staying ahead of the curve and remaining competitive. The truth is, as a printing business leader, your actions and decisions influence the success and

A while back, I told you about how much I enjoyed my comfort zone, in contrast to my risk-taking husband, in a blog titled 7 Do’s and Don’ts for the Risk-Adverse Printer. These days, I’m still not riding kayaks off of cliffs or participating in family skydiving events like the one below; however, that doesn’t mean my comfort zone hasn’t been shrinking. Stepping out of a comfort zone will look different from one person or business to the next. For some, it could be as simple as one step in an unknown direction. For others, stepping out means the daily battle of fighting their way toward a goal they’ve been working on for years. Here are a few tips to keep in mind if you’re looking to step outside your comfort zone. Know Your Motivation To move outside of your comfort zone, you must first learn what it’ll take to motivate you there. After decades of overthinking, I’ve come to understand the number one thing that pushes me out of my comfort zone is not the adrenaline rush (a.k.a. absolute terror!) of jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. Rather, I am motivated to get uncomfortable if it means helping someone

Print owners are some of the toughest people on the planet. Get to know a few, and you’ll quickly find undaunted passion, unwavering integrity, time-tested grit, and a deep love for small business and their families. But as any entrepreneur knows, owning a business isn’t all sunshine and roses. There are times when the high highs are met with low lows, discontentment creeps in, and the motivation to keep going starts to dry up. Here are a handful of motivation killers you have most likely or will most likely face and what you can do to overcome them. 1. An Unhealthy Mindset First things first, your mindset is everything because your motivation battle begins and ends here. How you think about the world affects everything you do in it. Think about this: When your goal is to go on a diet, but you pass by that display case of donuts, your mind does two things. It sends you both a list of justifications as to why you deserve a donut and how one little donut won’t hurt you, and it reminds you of your diet goals. The fastest way to kill your motivation is to let that voice of justifications become

If you were to ask small business owners what they want to be known for, most of them wouldn’t say what their business does. Well, at least not completely. Instead, there’s a good chance that you’d hear them say things like: “Integrity… and being the best dentist in town.” “Honesty… and the fastest free shipping company.” “Commitment… and one-to-one consulting services.” Have you ever wondered why that is? Because just about every human being on the planet (including small business and print owners) wants to leave their mark on the world and be known for more than what they “do.” Instead, most want to focus on the attributes that highlight the “who” of their company to build their legacy on. And that’s where Core Values come into play. Core values will help show the world that you’re bigger than what you do. Building the Heart of Your Print Company Your core values make up the foundation on which your business is built and represent the very heart of your company. Done right, your core values will be a handful of rules or principles that act as your compass, or better yet, your mirror, to show you exactly who your business

It was a long year last week at Marketing Ideas For Printers. Our whole leadership team (including myself) plus one other team member tested positive for COVID. I’m thankful we did the hard work ahead of time to be able to survive such an interruption. Well-Defined Processes “Well-defined” doesn’t mean “lots of words.” It means others have a clear roadmap on how to keep things moving when “the regulars” can’t. Build a Team That’s not adding more people to your payroll, it’s training the people already on your payroll to operate as an efficient team working towards the same goal. Team-Focused is one of our core values. What a beautiful feeling of peace knowing that someone’s got your back! Focus on Your Vision You’re going to face distractions and interruptions, but as long as you have a clearly defined vision, a True North, you have a path to get back on track. The journey may look different than you expected, but the destination won’t change. Hard Work Worth Doing You don’t want to do the hard work when everything else around you is hard, you want to do the hard work when you’re not distracted by emergencies. Do the hard

What would you do if you saw a young child drowning? Consider this story: You and a friend are having a picnic by the side of a river. Suddenly you hear a shout from the direction of the water—a child is drowning. Without thinking, you both dive in, grab the child, and swim to shore. Before you can recover, you hear another child cry for help. You and your friend jump back in the river to rescue her as well. Then another struggling child drifts into sight…and another…and another. The two of you can barely keep up. Suddenly, you see your friend wading out of the water, seeming to leave you alone. “Where are you going?” you demand. Your friend answers, “I’m going upstream to tackle the guy who’s throwing all these kids into the water.” That story is a public health parable (adapted from the original, which is commonly attributed to Irving Zola), and provides the starting point for Dan Heath’s book, Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen. We’ve all been there, right? The daily fires and emergencies demand attention. They’re all we see. But sometimes these problems are just blinding distractions that keep us from seeing

As a printer, you wear several hats. Not only do you have to manage the day-to-day aspects of running your print business, but you’re also looked upon as a leader; one who’s expected to lead in times of crisis such as these. Additionally, you wear the hat of a marketer. Whether you embrace that role or fear it, there’s one aspect of your marketing hat you can’t afford to overlook right now: teaching. Marketing is Teaching An essential part of your job is teaching your print buyers, and it’s one of the most valuable ways to invest and secure both present and future customers. Teaching positions you to make connections you might have otherwise missed. For example, follow this scenario through: You give your print buyers information on something they’re eager to learn (like direct mail or print marketing tutorials or information). Your print buyer finds the answers to their questions through your information and influence and signs up for your email or mailing list. As your information continues to help, teach, and bring your printing company to mind, your print buyer then makes a purchase. After a satisfying purchase, your print buyer then refers you to another print buyer,