Let's pretend the printing business isn't as hard as it is. Let's pretend customers actually call you and want work done. Okay, let's not make it too easy; you still have competitors so how you speak to your prospect will have a profound effect on the outcome!

I'm not suggesting that you are being rude, but are you as effective as you could be?

First of all, when you meet with someone for the first time you need to build some trust or rapport before they feel comfortable with you. If you touch the person when you are speaking, you are building a connection with that person. But remember, we're talking seconds here not minutes. You don't want to offend your prospect! Touching is a universal trust builder but women and men differ from there.

I'd hate to be a marketing manager in a typical service-based company. The problem is, in such a business, there's precious little for a marketing manager to manage!

Here's a person with little authority, no direct reports, a tiny budget and no process to oversee. While their primary mandate is to 'get the company's name out there', they seldom have a yardstick to measure their effectiveness.

Now, I'd like to make it clear that I have no problem with the title of Marketing Manager, nor with the person who holds that title. My problem is with the role that's generally assigned to that title.

Over 40 years ago, RP Graphics began as Roma Printing. President George Mazzaferro, bought the company in 1978 and RP Graphics has grown to become an all-inclusive provider of print and documents with specialization in Commercial Printing and Digital Printing.

Commercial printing has radically changed over the years but RP Graphics continues to maintain its leadership position by embracing new technology, investing in its staff and delivering high-quality products to their customers faster and better than ever.

Recently The Graphic Arts Magazine had an opportunity to interview George Mazzaferro and reveal the quality and substance of the man who was able to realize his childhood dreams.

(Part three of a three part series)

With timeframes accelerating and demographics shifting, the need for businesses to get on top of their game becomes ever more important. For example, while the pizza trend took a couple of decades to get firmly rooted in our culture, consider how quickly the cell phone has become an essential 'gotta have one' product. And camera phones, the next stage in positioning the trend, are moving even faster. Introduced four years ago in Japan, 57 million camera phones were sold by 2003, with expected sales of 338 million by 2008. If a non-essential trend product such as camera phones can foster that much growth, how will the growth of more essential products and services that serve an aging population fare?

What is the most important thing you have to do today? How do you decide? How critical is the outcome? What if you choose incorrectly? When faced with an overwhelming 'to do' list, how do you figure out what to do first? Choosing how to devote your time, energy and money is likely the most important decision you face as a businessperson. How do business owners measure their time? They don't receive a pay cheque; there is no minimum wage; they're the last to get fired and the last to get paid. So what's your time worth?

While the release of Acrobat 6.0 Pro has brought a lot to the table such as colour preview and separation, preflight and PDF optimization, the most notable changes are in the area of font embedding with implications for everyone in prepress.

Adobe has yielded to pressure from the font houses and now fully respects the creator's right to restrict and control font editing and embedding. Acrobat now checks the status of every embedded and unembedded font.

This means that you will need to own a copy of every font and have it open on your system before you can edit or image a client's job.

As the quality of inkjet prints has now caught up to that of traditional film prints, it has become possible for amateur and professional photographers to set up a high quality digital darkroom at home or in the studio. Prices of the hardware and software vary greatly according to whether you are purchasing Pro Graphics equipment or home office equipment, yet some key principles apply to all digital darkrooms. Our aim in this month's article is to give you a quick rundown of a few basic steps you'll need to take to make that leap from making just an ok inkjet print, to one that rivals any of the chemically processed prints.

One of the most common expressions we hear from business owners when discussing the sale of their business is “I want an all cash deal!” On a very rare occasion, we have seen a purchaser come forth with all cash and outright buy a business, but many factors affect how a purchaser will consider financing an acquisition.

In the past, most small- and medium-sized businesses received as much as 75% of their total capital needs from the banks and other lending institutions, which included both working capital and equipment. The banks placed a great emphasis on assets as a form of security.  

An accountant once told me that he never met anyone who didn't want to make 30% more money. Whether you want a better lifestyle or to take more vacations, buy a fancy car, spend more time with your family, send your children to college or to give it all away, you could always use more money.

If you sell services, your primary limitations on earnings are your costs and the number of hours in a week. Most independent professionals are already working well over 40 hours a week and can't work longer hours to increase earnings. Your goal should be to find ways to work less and increase your earnings. How can you market smarter and make more money?

Five years ago the only person that required a calibrated monitor was the one responsible for creating your high-resolution scans. But today things are different. Only a handful of images are drum scanned. More importantly, we are not utilizing the skills and training of the scanner operator to ensure our images are properly colour corrected for their final destination.

The majority of images used in today's digital workflow are downloaded from the web, captured on desktop scanners or captured via a digital camera. The bulk of these images require significant colour corrections. So, how do we, the non-colour-correct-by-the numbers-majority, ensure we are sending accurate images to our clients or to press? The simple answer is to purchase a monitor calibration package.  

Thinking ahead in a time of turbulence

While it is inevitable there will be many surprises in the future, the driving forces that will actually shape these surprises can be studied now. By understanding these driving forces, you not only increase your ability to respond to whatever changes ultimately eventuate but you also pick up on the emerging commercial opportunities you could otherwise miss. Thus, to better prepare for the future, understand the critical factors which will shape the commercial environment of the future.

No matter what customers say they want, what they're really looking for is “something special.” They can't quite describe it, but when they find it, they know.

Indeed, those little details of the buying experience may appear intangible. But what you sell is usually less important to customers unless they don't get what they expected.

As Walt Disney said, “Do what you do so well that people want to bring their friends to see you do it again.” Any business able to satisfy customers will consistently beat the competition.

Notice: More important than WHAT you provide, is HOW you provide it. So much attention is paid to the WHAT, the HOW often takes a backseat. Yet it's the quality of your HOW that determines whether the sale is made or lost. Buyers focused only on price are likely to be one-time visitors, but even they sometimes decide the cheapest price just isn't worth it.

The National Association for Printing Leadership's (NAPL) annual Top Management Conference was held last February in Naples, Florida.

Keynote speaker Patrick Lencioni discussed the organizational precepts from his best seller, The Five Temptations of a CEO. Overcoming the arrogance of invulnerability requires that a CEO must acknowledge his weaknesses and allow direct reports to see his human side. Differing opinions need to be drawn from the staff while encouraging passionate discussion about key issues. CEO's should give up “certainty in favor of providing clarity.” Clarity requires repetitive communication about the firm's core purpose, values, mission, strategy and goals.