Last month my career took a turn when I resigned as Association Secretary of OAQP to accept a position with PrintLink Canada. While it was difficult to say goodbye, I am excited about my new role that will allow me to continue working with my colleagues in the print industry.
PrintLink is an industry-specific employment agency that provides staffing solutions for senior and middle management positions in the print business. PrintLink demonstrates a high standard of professionalism, personal attention and strict confidentiality to both employers and job seekers, while assisting both sides to find the most productive match possible. The employer pays a service fee based on a percentage of the first year's salary once the position is filled.
Kent Hartshorn, General Manager, Houghton Boston Printers & Lithographers
Houghton Boston Printers & Lithographers was established in Saskatoon in the early 1920's as Houghton Boston Press. It was operated by its founders until 1949 when it was acquired by P.R. Wright. In 1972, Wright was joined by his son Phillip, and over the next three decades, the company expanded and diversified to include its present 50,000 square foot production facility, a range of 2, 4 and 6 color presses, state-of-the-art technologies, as well as a full pre-press, bindery and mailing and fulfillment capabilities.
There is a big transition taking place within the printing industry called CTP (computer-to-plate) imaging. From a purely mechanical viewpoint, the only difference between the old and the new is that a laser now points to a printing plate instead of a sheet of film. File formats are not altered and file preparation is as before – except that you need to have better quality control in your workflow.
There are a lot of factors to take into consideration when considering a CTP workflow. One of the main factors will be the kind of proofing device you will require. Imaging direct to plate means that you will no longer have any film to make conventional (analogue) proofs. You need to think carefully about the digital proofing option you choose to buy. There is a wide variety of digital proofers available designed to meet the demands and expectations of the industry.
Ultimately, the effectiveness of business-to-business promotional material depends on the usefulness of the information that is advertising the product. The more facts you include in the copy, the more likely it is to generate interest from the reader.
Here are four tips that you should take into consideration before you start to write.
Gather all published material on the product or service
Existing products and services usually generated a fair amount of written material that can be used as a starting point for background information. This can include brochures, previous ad material, press releases and catalogs. Any technical papers or presentations will likely contain useful information. If you have a file of competitor's ads and literature, great. This will help you craft a message that sets you apart.
When it comes to dealing with dissatisfied customers, most believe that money back guarantees and/or exchange policies will fix the problem. Lousy strategy. Money back guarantees and exchanges may fix the problem, but they do nothing to fix the relationship. Policies don't fix relationships – people do.
When I speak on how to boost customer retention, I often find that there is little attention paid to how employees can fix the damaged relationship when the customer has been let down. The consequences of this are staggering.
Inadequately trained front line employees chase away repeat customers and referrals, spread damaging word-of-mouth advertising, and become frustrated and de-motivated because they're constantly dealing with upset customers.
I recently attended a conference that brought together printers, prepress, art directors, photographers and graphic designers. The goal of the conference was to discuss the challenges we all face in dealing with today's diverse digital workflow. I came away with a greater respect and admiration for everyone involved.
The goal of this article is for you to help in the development of a set of guidelines to be used by creative professionals to include digital photographers, illustrators and graphic designers. These specifications will allow for the maximum reproduction and print quality while expediting the production workflow.
Family-owned businesses employ 4.5 million Canadians, and account for more than 45 per cent of Canada's Gross Domestic Product, according to estimates from the Canadian Association of Family Enterprise. Yet only about 30 per cent of family businesses — no matter how successful — continue into the second generation. And just a scant 10 per cent make it to the third.
Why such a high level of failure? Two significant roadblocks lie in the minefield of tax law and in the often-complicated dynamics of family relationships. Succession planning is critical for owners and their families to overcome these obstacles.
In a recent marketing workshop I attended, I discovered that most business owners rely on just two or three strategies to attract new business. Even well established companies tend to rely on one or two strategies. However, there are many ways to drive new business to your door. Here are a few:
Networking
Perhaps the most commonly used approach by small business owners. However, it is often poorly executed. Many people attend a networking function and take the wrong approach by trying to meet as many people as they can. They bounce from person to person, handing out business cards like they are vying for the gold medal at an Olympic event. They fail to realize that the most effective way to network is to cultivate relationships and give referrals to other members first.
Welcome to the summer of 2004! It's already had its moments of excitement with the federal election, the intense soccer competition for the European Cup and the momentum that's building for the Olympic Games in Athens.
The results of the recent federal election have changed the political landscape of Canada. With a minority Liberal government, Canadians can be assured that democracy will be well served. When parties have to work together, voters are often the beneficiaries.
Congratulations to Victoria Gaitskell, Dean Baxendale and the Board of OAQP for organizing a great golf tournament at Rolling Hills Golf Club in Gormley on June 24th. The Gold Sponsor was Kodak Versamarc Inc. and the Top Net Score went to the team of Cullen Simpson and Scott Nicoll of Konica Minolta and Tim Mulcahy and Tom Carty of The Graphic Arts Magazine. Congratulations to all the winners! See photos on page 32.
The print continues to be under attack from a variety of influences. Take annual reports for example. In days gone by, these reports constituted a profitable slice of the print market but more and more companies are balking at the printed format and making them available online. Our industry cannot assume that traditional printed materials will continue to be printed. Rather, we have to market and explain the advantages of the printed material. Several years ago broadcast radio faced similar decline in their traditional markets. The industry was able to regroup by promoting the benefits of their medium. The result was that the radio industry is seeing a large rebound in their audience. The print industry must do the same.
Remember to take some time to rest and relax during the summer months. In business there is an ebb and flow to the workload, so accept the benefits that come from 'recharging the batteries' during the summer before heading into the fall schedule.
As the Irish blessing says:
Always remember to forget the troubles that passed away, But never forget to remember the blessings that come each day.
As always, stay positive.
Last year, our firm visited 213 medium-sized businesses with a revenue range of between 2 - 10 million dollars. Companies within that size range will usually employ between 8 to 100 people and occupy between 5,000 to 50,000 square feet and more. Eighty-three percent of those businesses had one thing in common: No formal business plan!
Since the true value of a business lies in its ability to earn profits, it is only natural to enquire about the plans for the future. The amount of money a buyer will spend to acquire a business will vary greatly based on the buyer's comfort level with the anticipated profit that can be earned by the business in the future. The higher that comfort, the higher the price a buyer will pay. The level of comfort incorporates such things as:
“You shouldn't have put all your eggs in one basket,” howled the farmer as his errant son got up, wiping the yolk from his face.
That advice is simple yet often forgotten even by the corporate giants. Take the recent Royal Bank of Canada computer system failure, for example. Can you imagine that with all their resources and sophistication, the Royal Bank could go down for such an extended period of time? How could that have happened?
We will probably never know the full truth behind the Royal Bank's computer crash but it's my guess that one of two things occurred. It was either a software disaster or a hardware breakdown. I believe it was most likely a hardware breakdown because a software glitch could have been isolated and corrected in a timely fashion given the massive resources of the bank. Besides, the system functioned properly for so long that it doesn't make sense that the software spontaneously burned out. Lines of code don't change or wear out, so it stands to reason that it was more likely a hardware failure.
Let's pretend it's 1450 and you're managing a fledgling book duplicating business. You have a dedicated staff, mostly monks skilled in reading, calligraphy and drawing illustrations. They were not an easy recruitment, considering that most people are illiterate, and they spent their days painstakingly copying text – very fancy text.
One day a visitor drops by and tells you about a new invention called the printing press. It has moveable type that, he claims, will make the current duplicating process obsolete. He explains the new technology – in the 'techie language' of the day! – which you can barely comprehend. You review your book contracts, many which have remained unchanged for years, some for decades! There's no way that new machine will impact your business stability.
Link Paycheck to Purpose
One of the deepest needs of every human being is the need to make a difference in the lives of others. Take the time to connect with all the people who count on you and the lives you affect through your work. Often we forget the men, women and children who rely on our work to live high quality lives of their own.
Find Work that Excites You
We spend most of our lives at work so we might as well find an occupation that fires us up and engages our hearts. Most people stay in jobs they don't like because they feel they need the security or because “it could be worse.” Yet, one of the most universal truths of all is that when you find work you love and have the courage to pursue it, success is certain to follow. We are all here for a special purpose and we all have unique gifts and talents. Discover your calling and have the self-discipline to follow it.