Connections
How Print Shops Can Add Direct Mail to Their Service Offerings
Like your stock portfolio, your print shop needs to be diversified. Not too long ago, customers had to have a large Rolodex of options. If you wanted a book printed you went to one printer; signage, you’d go to somebody else; a specialty die-cut job, you’d shop around; and mailing, well that’s labor intensive — better find a reputable mail house.
Then came along the Wal-Mart way of thinking. More and more customers want their print media the same way they get their groceries and sporting equipment: one stop shopping. Well, we can’t put all the blame on Wally. One reason that the market is forcing this change is the expansion of media in general. If my business is juggling web design companies, social media consultants, videographers, mobile software coders, AND I need something printed — well, I’d like to know that the shop that did such a good job on the company magazine can also handle my direct mail campaign. I don’t want to add another specialty shop to my ‘to do’ list.
Your Shop Could Print AND Mail
Adding direct mail capabilities is as easy as adding the right equipment. Add a letter folder, an inserter and a pressure sealer and you’ll turn a nice little profit while making your customers happy.
Take the Formax 6402 Inserter for example. You can configure your machine to have up to six feeders including BRE’s. It’s fast – 4,000 pieces an hour. It’s easy to run – touchscreen control panel. And, it keeps your job in a neat sequential order so it’s ready for sealing and your outgoing mail bins.
When it comes to sealing, you may want to look into the variety of applications a pressure sensitive project may yield. It’s not just for checks and invoices anymore. Pressure sealed mailers offer an inexpensive direct mail option for your client and diversity for your shops catalog of services. Even mid-volume pressure sealers like the Formax 2030 model can crank out 9,000 pieces an hour. Operation is as simple as loading a stack into the feeder and pressing a button.
So, consider diversifying you portfolio. For a modest investment you’ll see a return that’s a little more reliable than Wall Street.
Three Battles Every Print Shop Owner Must Win
We’re seeing some dramatic changes in the printing industry, which makes it harder for us to keep everything afloat. We’re in a recession, the Internet is reducing the need for print, and green printing and sustainability is becoming the big buzz word, which is changing how we do our jobs.
Mitch Evans of Mitch Evans Consulting recently wrote about the three battles print shop owners need to win in order to succeed. I paid particular attention to this article, because these are the three battles I see my print shop customers fighting every day — at least, the ones who are aware it’s an issue. The ones who haven’t figured out which battles to fight, well, they’re not going to be around much longer.
Evans identifies the three as battles of Communication, Resources, and Cash.
The Battle of Communication
Communicating with employees can be tough. We’re constantly trying to walk that fine line between giving them the right amount of information or giving them stuff that we prefer to keep private. A lot of business owners struggle with whether to fill people in about finances, or keep it completely private. The problem is that owners don’t always think to tell their people what’s going on, especially when the news is bad. If you want to keep employees satisfied, and help them embrace whatever comes their way, communicate with them.
The Battle of Resources
How do you deliver your promises with fewer people, less time, and less money? Your customers are still depending on you to deliver. Their expectations — and yours — have not dwindled. Your expected productivity is still the same. But you have to do more with less. So how are you doing it? It may take overtime, changing your processes, adopting new technology, and letting go of old habits.
The Battle of Cash
This is the battle that affects, and is affected by, the other two. As Mitch Evans says, “each employee has an impact on whether your printing company is losing or winning the battle for cash.” But the challenge is that you need to communicate this battle to all of your employees, and then “manage the appropriate change in attitude and behavior.”
Cash flow is helped or hurt by your sales staff finding the right kind of customer and pricing the work correctly, the production staff completing it efficiently and without, and the accounts receivable department handling billing correctly.
As Evans says, those printers who win these battles will be well positioned when the economy turns around again. While the time to start fighting those battles is when the economy is doing well, there is (hopefully) still time to fight these battles the right way.
Four Alternatives to Layoffs in Your Print Shop
I try to stay optimistic about the economy, seeking out the positive stories like new businesses and growth opportunities, but sometimes the reality is that, yes, small businesses can be hit hard.
Small printers may be looking around their print shop and wondering how they’re going to afford things like lease payments and payroll with ever-dwindling cash reserves. The easy answer might be layoffs, but there are alternatives. If all you need to stay in the black is a little extra cash flow, full scale layoffs may not only be extreme, they could end up pushing you further down. If you can, consider one of the following:
Eliminate Overtime
If you can’t afford to pay someone’s regular salary, what makes you think you can afford to pay someone time-and-a-half? Eliminate overtime at your print shop now by releasing a clear statement that says no overtime will be approved until further notice. Alternatively, you could draft a new policy offering employees flex time in lieu if overtime is worked (remember to set limits).
If an existing overtime policy is in place, you may need to get employees to sign off on a new policy. Check with HR, your lawyer, or an HR adviser before you make sweeping changes to existing employee contracts.
Limit Travel and Expenses
It’s true that you need to spend money to make money, but sometimes you need to save money to survive. If things are feeling tight, it may be time to cut your small business staff’s travel and expense budgets, especially if it means saving someone’s job.
Today, video conferencing, instant file delivery and quick communication make face-to-face meetings seem like a luxury. Yes, you can often score more points with a person-to-person sales call, but it may be time to start looking for clients locally.
Reduce Total Hours
Whether voluntary or not, hour reductions can be a way to save jobs while reducing pay. Some employees may welcome the opportunity to work less, but have more flexible hours, while others may resist the idea.
Remember though, reducing hours may reduce your hourly payroll, but it may not have a huge impact on your health insurance costs, unemployment costs or worker’s compensation insurance premiums unless you’re dealing with already part-time print shop employees. Take this into consideration when weighing the pros and cons of hour reductions.
Pay Freezes
Employees aren’t going to like a year without pay raises or bonuses, but they’ll accept it if the alternative is potential job loss. Explain to your staff clearly why you’re implementing a temporary pay freeze and what it means for them. Done right, this move should be accepted with understanding rather than backlash.
What about you? What are you doing at your small business or print job to whether this economy without cutting jobs?
Photo: ChurchHatesTucker