Where do your emotions go when you watch a pride of lions stalking a herd of gazelle? Who do you champion? Would you side with the helpless animal that was separated from the herd and hopelessly fending off the predators? Or would you root for the lion, stealthily moving across the African savanna, a highly-skilled opportunist who understands the importance of timing, decisiveness and survival?
Whenever I engage an audience in this exercise, the overwhelming majority feel for the gazelle. Innocent, terrified and out maneuvered, most people identify with the fate of the victim. Even though they understand the underlying reality that governs the survival of the fittest, their emotions judge harshly. Seldom do participants identify with the prowess of the lion—the king of beasts—a highly-trained ‘entrepreneur’ whose instincts and versatility helps keep the balance on the African plains.
For the gazelle and similar grazing animals, the herd mentality shapes their daily lifestyle. There is little training required (or provided) for new born calves to adopt (and conform) to the herd’s predictable behavior. It is fairly basic: head down, munch the grasses, move on to greener pastures. There is, of course, a social structure which ensures control and conformity—the herd mentality—but little room for personal initiative to step out of the comfort zone. For survival, they stick together knowing there is relative safety in numbers.
Does this sounds rather similar to the lifestyle which is promoted in our culture. From primary school onward we are educated to accept the general consensus that, “this is the way our herd operates. Keep your head down and conform… and woe unto you if you step outside of the formatting”. We quickly learn to obey the rules and take on the employee mentality: do as we say and think within the box. Our ‘herd mentality’ is obviously much more sophisticated than grazing animals but very predictable nevertheless.
What a contrast to the world of the lion. Lion cubs are born blind. They spend the first two years learning how to hunt with the group and all the social rules of living within the pride. Unlike their prey, lions are completely dependent on their training and develop the necessary skill to survive. Each kill is a culmination of intense focus: stalking the herd, identifying the target, timing the charge and delivering the decisive deadly blow.
The purpose of the exercise is not to judge which animal is better, which is smarter, or whether it is right or wrong, but to illustrate that each animal plays a role which carries with it a specific mode of thinking and behavior. To survive and maintain the balance, both the predator and the prey are intimately linked. But the lion and the gazelle think and behave quite differently.
Entrepreneurs are the lions within our economic framework. They drive the wheels of innovation and progress. Entrepreneurs, whether they are loners, owners or CEO’s, are wired to think and behave differently. It is their essential nature. Some are fortunate to be raised in an entrepreneurial environment. Most are trapped in a herd mentality until a spark of inspiration motivates them to question the acceptable pattern. Unfortunately, it takes more than just wanting to be an entrepreneur. To be one, you have to think like one.
Our educational system denies entrepreneurial thinking. It teaches herd behavior and how best to survive within its structure. Some aspire to lead their following to greener pastures, to be more efficient and produce better results. Ultimately, their intent is to serve the survival of the herd (the company, the corporation, the organization, etc.). But no matter how aspiring the goal, it is still framed in the context of thinking like a gazelle.
Our economy is under huge pressure from an overdose of herd thinking. To restore balance in the current marketplace, owners and managers need to think like a lion. And to think like a lion you first have to stop thinking like a gazelle; that well-entrenched mindset that encourages conformity and behavior as we’ve always done. When you assume the role of the lion—thinking like an entrepreneur—your perspective changes dramatically. Instead of fearing change and hunkering down, you begin to identify opportunities and innovative ways to capture the momentum.
It’s easy to let our emotions be lured down with the victim. It takes courage to connect with the stealth of the lion. When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.
Digital colour is at the heart of every graphic communications business.
Technological advances in inkjet printing have now enabled inkjet printers to produce high-resolution, stable colour proofs. New research reveals that inkjet has become the top technology in the digital proofing arena as well. Continuous-tone inkjet printers, like the old Iris proofers, basically defined inkjet proofing in the past, but these machines have now been surpassed by piezoelectric inkjet technology.
Epson, with its new ultrachrome inkset, seems to be the leader in providing stable, reliable proofing printers, in sizes ranging from 17” to 44” output. But another key element to consider besides the printer is a reliable RIP. In this month’s column we have chosen to feature the new EFI Colourproof XF RIP.
As a professional working in this world of digital colour, you have to accept colour data in a host of formats, process it and deliver it to a variety of output devices – offset, flexo, gravure, silk screen and digital presses and wide-format inkjet printers – located in the next room, or the next continent.
The backbone of EFI’s workflow is fast, flexible, easy-to-use, consistent digital colour proofing. EFI Colourproof XF’s combination of power, flexibility and expandability will allow you to meet your proofing needs not only today, but tomorrow.
First, EFI Colourproof XF is scalable by size of network. Whether you install the complete product on one computer or need to provide 23 workstations with proofing services from one server, the software covers virtually every network configuration possible.
Second, EFI Colourproof XF is scalable by functionality. Starting with a basic package, you can add Product Options and Output Options.
Third, EFI Colourproof XF is easy. XF’s state-of-the-art user interface enables even inexperienced users to achieve top-notch proofing results. No relevant setting is more than two mouse clicks away from the main window. Training effort is low; installation and integration of EFI Colourproof XF is easy.
Fourth, EFI Colourproof XF sticks to open standards. It is cross-platform and complies with ICC, JDF and PDF/X. That makes it easy to share jobs, profiles and settings within and beyond your operation.
What makes a particular printer qualify as a high-end colour proofer is whether it has the colour accuracy; resolution and predictability needed to consistently and reliably represent what will appear on press. If a colour printer shows unstable behavior in the inkset, it cannot be used for press-matching proofs.
Standard inkjet printers are proving popular for proofing applications when correctly colour managed and I believe that the micro piezo electric print-head technology has the edge over thermal print heads. The key to inkjet proofing is the short to mid-term stability of the inks as well as the obvious colour control required for the system. The micro piezo technology is more consistent and is not as affected by the same environmental conditions as thermal technology is. Also, the thermal process requires that the print-heads be replaced more frequently – which means that the system has to be calibrated on a much more regular basis or varying degrees of colour change can result.
Epson’s proofing qualities have been greatly improved over the last 2 years by the development of the Ultrachrome inkset. These inks are halfway between a dye and pigmented water-based ink and are very stable; with tests showing a Delta E shift of less than 1.1 over a 12-week period. A feature of Ultrachrome ink droplet is that it’s contained in a resin particle that limits its spread when it’s put on the substrate, thus enhancing Epson’s maximum resolution of 2,880 x 1,440 dpi.
While I believe that Piezo inkjet printers are better suited to colour proofing and higher end colour applications, the Epson range of inkjets do have the limitation of being no wider than a maximum of 44 inches wide.
The success of inkjet CTP proofing depends very much on who installs and calibrates the printer and RIP. Profiling the RIP to the customer’s chosen proofing standard or press, means narrowing down the colour gamut to make it easier for the press operator to match the resulting inkjet proof.
It’s important to get a RIP and proofer that is SWOP certified. SWOP is one of the most widely used ink standards and there are several proofers that are SWOP certified (Best, Epson, Canon, Creo, Dupont, GMG, HP, KPG and Oris). This is an indication of the device’s output quality.
Treck-Hall supplies a variety of Rips and colour management solutions and can incorporate the individual characteristics of the press and meet industry standard profiles.
I’ve been reading about this printer for a few months and everything I’ve read has been overwhelmingly positive. So I called HP and asked for a demo to be sent to my office for testing. Upon receiving the printer, I was immediately surprised by the size of the box. Pictures can be deceiving and I was not prepared for how big this printer is. It’s a large desktop model that comes in a box the size of a refrigerator. So be prepared to have a loading dock or lift-gate when receiving it!
Unpacking and setting things up were fairly straightforward. The manuals covered everything very well. I went straight to the Quick Start Guide -– that was all I needed. One small point is that this printer comes with a USB cable. Thank you HP for this small but appreciated extra step. Take note EPSON.
After setting up the printer, it’s recommended to calibrate all the medias you plan to use. Calibration was very easy. Just launch the Calibrate Utility, select the media you want to calibrate and the printer goes to work, printing and measuring colour bars. The calibration is an extremely useful feature that should be always be activated when you first receive the printer or after replacing a print head.
The HP Designjet 130 is able to print up to 24” wide by 50’ with resolutions up to 2400 dpi and a 4-picoliter ink droplet size. The new dye-based inks are redesigned to offer much longer print life/fading than traditional photos. The printer can accept media up to 80 lbs. and offers a roll with an automatic cutter or a standard tray for sheet-sized media. The NR model includes an automatic roll-feed option as well as the Jetdirect 620n internal printer server.
The print quality from the HP Designjet 130 is as good or better than any printer I’ve tested. Where it excels is in its ability to print very dark, rich blacks. The darker blacks translate into more lifelike pictures because of the larger dynamic range. Larger than what, you ask?
I measured various prints using my X-Rite Spectrophotometer and came up with a series of L* measurements (L* is the L in Lab and is now used as a better measurement value than density. The lower the number the darker the black.)
Having a darker black increases the dynamic range of the print, producing a more brilliant and more realistic-looking print. In many images, it makes a big difference. The HP 130 printer produces the blackest black I’ve measured to date.
Epson is going the way of pigmented inks to reach the goal of longevity. But this comes with the price of a more limited color gamut than dye-ink-based solutions and is also limited in the black level you can reach. It’s also known that Epson mainly rules on matte papers while their glossy print show quite a bit of bronzing (this may change with the release of their new 7800 and 9800 and their K3 ink-set). HP decided to stay with dye inks utilizing improved formulas and uses swellable media papers that protect the inks from outside influences.
All this is reason enough to have a closer look at the HP Designjet 30/130 printers. The Designjet 30 can print up to 13 x 19” and costs about $900 (a clear competitor to the Epson 2200). The Designjet 130 can print up to 24” wide and starts at $1,600 (competes with the Epson 4000).
Each and every one of us is seeking solutions to life’s greatest problems. We’re looking for a better way to live, along with practical strategies to fill our days with a greater sense of fulfillment, festivity and abundance. I have discovered, in my own life, that I’m closest to living my “best life” when the actions of my days are most closely aligned with my highest ideals. In other words, the smaller the gap between the way I appear on the outside and the way I live on the inside, the happier, more peaceful and more fulfilled I am.
I use the term “The Integrity Gap” to describe this phenomenon. Quite simply, the more closely aligned your outer world is compared with the most important values of your inner world, the better you’ll feel, the more energy you’ll have and the more success you’ll see.
Your character is essentially who you are in your silent, isolated moments. Your character is reflected by how you act when no one is around and by “who you are in the dark.” We are great pretenders and many of us have constructed a social mask to appear “together” in front of those who matter most in our lives. But hiding behind our social mask is cheating us out of who we truly are. The authentic life is the only life. Once you start showing up fully and “act real,” every aspect of your life will change. To live your best life, you must live your truth.
Living your truth will also transform your relationships. All too often, rather than speaking our truth, we communicate in a less than authentic way. Recently, while I was at the gym, there was a woman who stayed on the treadmill longer then her scheduled time. If I would have been completely in my power and spoken my truth, I would have simply walked up to her at the time my session was to have started and, in a friendly way, spoken my truth. I would have politely told her that her time was over and it was now my time and further, that the longer she stayed on the treadmill the shorter time I would have to complete my workout.
I may have also told her, in speaking my truth, that I really needed to work out today and that I was on a very tight schedule. Instead, I loudly grumbled to the person next to her about “people not abiding by the time rules” and engaged in a conversation along these lines. Speaking your truth is not always easy but it’s the courageous and the right thing to do.
Another example of this is when we talk about people behind their backs rather than confronting them directly and authentically about an issue that’s troubling.
Here are five strategies that will help you speak and live your truth and show up fully as a human being in your most authentic way:
1. Keep your promises
One of the best ways to close “The Integrity Gap” is to be a person who’s meticulous with your word and keeps each and every promise. Every broken promise has a subtle drain on your vital and creative energy. Every broken promise makes you a little less congruent with your highest self. Every broken promise diminishes your self worth and our self respect in an ever so subtle way. Once you start keeping your promises, you feel better about yourself and you know, at a very deep level, that you’re walking your talk. This promotes self love, a higher level of confidence and a stronger character.
2. Be fanatically honest
As with promise keeping, being honest in each and every one of your daily interactions promotes congruency and authenticity. It’s not always easy to be completely honest, but it’s the right thing to do and, at a gut level, you’ll feel far better about yourself. This will increase your feelings of self-esteem and allow you then to treat people better.
3. Clean up your “loose ends”
All of us have “loose ends” in our lives. These might involve unfinished projects, relationships where forgiveness needs to be given or “incompletions” that are draining your energy at an unconscious level. Once you clean these up you’ll have more energy, more creativity and more vitality. You’ll also feel better about yourself and more powerful as a human being. The moment you take out a piece of paper, record all your loose ends on a page and create an action plan to complete them, is the moment you transform all that negative energy into positive avenues that will lift your life to the next level of success.
4. Be caring versus controlling
5. Choose being kind over being right
The fourth annual Print Oasis conference for the print buying and specifying professionals had more than 700 in attendance May 22-25 at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago, Sponsored by Print Buyers Online.
Suzanne Morgan, President of the PBO e-community, spoke on the Trends in Print Buying as reported from a recent survey involving 265 print buyers. With a five to one leverage (increase versus decrease) half the respondents expect print purchases to increase in the next six months. Fourteen percent of the firms have bought less than 5% of their total print requirements from overseas. Most of these were experimenting with the global sourcing opportunity. When asked to describe the most effective buying practice for their companies, 77% reported “establishing partnerships with a core group of print suppliers.” Morgan remarked that the most significant trend indicated from this survey was that 47% of print buyers reported consolidating their print procurement among fewer print suppliers.
Print Oasis 2005 also had its largest number of exhibitors at 64 with more than 40% of them first timers. Two of these print vendor exhibitors had unusual offerings that serve the global print buying market.
The Johnson Group, headquartered in Illinois and having five midwestern general commercial plants, discussed a strategic alliance they have had for over a year with a printer near Shanghai, China. They have two Johnson Chinese national employees on site and another two Americans who make frequent trips to China to coordinate major projects. A typical Chinese printed project is the collateral materials that would be inserted in the packaging for goods manufactured in China for export to the USA. The owner and designer of the goods is an American corporation for whom the Johnson Group provides much of their stateside printing and fulfillment needs.
The largest printer in Latin America, Posigraf Printing & Publishing Company from Brazil was an exhibitor. An ISO 9001/2000/14000 certified supplier, this high quality printer touted PDF workflow via worldwide FTP transmission. While they offer general commercial printing capability, their niche is signature products produced primarily via a battery of 8 web presses. Their primary client is their sister division, the Positivo Educational System, which is a network of 2,200 affiliated schools throughout Brazil. When asked what benefit he offered USA publishers, sales representative Ricardo Salini Abrahao responded, “Quicker delivery (than the far east) at China prices.”
Consultant Dick Gorlick offered tips and guidelines on structuring supplier relationships. He gave a series of reasons why printers lose accounts as reported by a recent survey. Here are five in the list: (1) general buyer frustration at something the printer thinks is small, (2) not being dependable, (3) pricing inconsistency, (4) slow and incomplete estimates versus the current 24 hour standard and (5) slowness of billing. He reminded the audience that the billing practice of advertising agencies of not paying their bills until their clients pay them is called “sequential liability” and it is not legal.
While Gorlick advised against reverse auctions, he asked the audience if they could report any successful print reverse auctions. A number of hands went up but here are the experiences of two. John Coudriet, Print Procurement Manager of Nationwide Insurance in Columbus Ohio, responded that his firm currently spends $50 million annually and has successfully used reversed auctions on 1,300 reprint projects valued at $50 million over the last 18 months typically realizing 40% savings in their first effort.
Mike Kontek, Allstate’s Procurement Governance Sourcing Manager, also reported unqualified success buying repeat print via reverse auctions. Because of the overall 40% savings realized, their firm has decided not to rebid many of those same projects for several years or until the designated supplier cannot hold his prices due to inflationary pressures. In other words awarding substantial volumes in exchange for the windfall cost savings to proven solid vendors. Another Allstate procurement consultant Ron Mitiu stated that Allstate’s early overwhelming success with print reverse auctions has led to more complex, multi-color, variable data projects involving higher value transaction printing documents.
Joe Duncan, Vice President for Print Innovation & Technology for Chicago’s Leo Burnett USA, gave a keynote presentation based upon his firm’s strategic transition in realigning their print resources.
Leo Burnett became the first and remains (for the third year) the only advertising agency print department in the world to be ISO 9001/2000 certified. This has led to a credible effort at continuous improvement. This has been the cornerstone for standardized digital workflows to assure timely and great execution across the potpourri of pre-qualified vendors.
Embracing color management and profiling, Leo Burnett works with the fingerprinted presses of its approved vendors in establishing a Burnett Color Curve. They buy $25 million of paper directly from mills and realize volume-buying rebates eliminating the 10-15% paper distributor mark-up.
Duncan says that they are targeting a 10% reduction in print costs each year by providing digital asset management (DAM) services and pursuing virtual proofing.
“Insanity consists of this: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
-- Albert Einstein
Did you know that most people do not think? That we but follow patterned thoughts, which generate associated actions? Is there anything beyond what we were taught to be ‘the right thing to do’? Truth be told, when we step out of the patterns that we have known all of our lives, fear strikes. It is the unknown. This applies to every aspect of your life. You may have chosen your profession and certain parts of your life, but what were those choices based upon? How often do we choose to marry a pattern matching that of at least one of our parents? Or recreate a family pattern so that we may grow out of it? If you wish to create different results, are you willing to recognize your patterns so that you may take some steps out of at least one of them now? Are you willing to walk through the fears that stepping out of the box may unleash? Remember that when something appears big and fearful, at the end of it lies a most beautiful gift for you. Go ahead and dare, it’s worth it!
Quantum physics teaches us that we are in a world of endless possibilities of movements of the consciousness. Can you imagine that we have access to 400,000 bits of information per minute but process only 2,000? So, what does that mean? Why should ‘I’ care? You should care because whatever you choose to focus on, you will create. A reality that is either rich in laughter, happiness, love, abundance, or not. It is really up to you.
What better way to begin our focus today than on money – the world wide tool, without which you cannot function in this society. Most of you are probably working for your money – that is what we were taught. Can you imagine that money could work for you instead? That there are ways to generate a legitimate income, without exchanging your time and effort for it?
A passive income is an income that you generate without doing anything, no sales, no nothing! Before reaching that point where you could live only from your passive income, you must change your thoughts. Maybe you’re there already! But, if you belong to the working body like most people do, here is some food for thought for you. Did you know that we have approximately 90,000 thoughts per day, and that most of those are either revolving around the same issues, or are destructively going in circles? Changing those patterned thoughts will help you reach the goal that you have set for yourself. Therefore, the first question to ask yourself is, “Do I know what I want to create in my life?”. If the answer is no, start digging, because it is the first step toward realizing your dreams. Once you know, bringing the goal to you, traveling with it everyday is the second step. Embracing all the experiences that it may bring to you will manifest your goals faster. Resistance, based on your fear, will slow the process. You may go at whatever speed you choose, but just be aware that discomfort may not be a bad thing. It is the discomfort of stepping into the still unknown.
Now that you know what you want, when and where – guess what? The greater design, that you are part of, will eventually comply with you. Don’t give up, just breathe your goal, and walk with it until you see it so clearly that it is undoubtedly attracted to you. It cannot do otherwise.
Let’s go back to creating a passive income… if that is the first part of your goal, then, apply the principle above and begin to learn about how you can create such an income. You may be surprised by what you find! Remember to not only educate yourself, but to keep both your heart and mind open. You may go visit websites, attend seminars, read books, whatever means you may choose to use; remember that you have to follow your intuition and acquire knowledge. There are many sources of information available, so much, in fact that it can become contradictory. Learn how to differentiate what is real from what is not. Do not believe all that you read or listen to. Remember also that it is not because you don’t know something yet, that it does not exist. Keep an open mind and begin a journey that will change your life!
In the coming months, we will explore specific issues related to money – how to make more passive income, while keeping more of it and lowering the associated risks, including financial knowledge, international outlook, domestic strategies, asset protection and structuring, alternatives through contacts and support, just to name a few. You will be introduced to a world of possibilities and hence, grow to make a difference.
Have you ever put on a jacket you haven’t worn in a while and found a twenty-dollar bill in one of the pockets? You’d forgotten all about it, so discovering it is like getting a gift. If you’ve been in business for a year or longer, you may have gifts in forgotten pockets–sources of additional revenue waiting to be discovered and tapped.
There are four ways to increase your net profits: reduce costs, increase prices, attract more clients or sell more to existing clients. When you consider that it costs you at least 60% and as much as 600% more to sell to a new client than to an existing one, it’s clear that your best prospects are existing clients.
Are you selling as many of your services or products as you could to your existing client base? Could you increase your revenue by doing a better job of marketing to your existing clients?
You’ve established your credibility and the value of at least one of your services with existing clients. They made a commitment to work with you at least once. How can you leverage this trust and client satisfaction into additional sales?
The biggest mistake that most small business owners make is to think that after they’ve completed the initial sale, their marketing job is completed. The opposite is true. Once you’ve made your first sale to a client and secured a commitment from them with a payment, you should begin your marketing effort to get them to buy again.
Of course, you don’t want to constantly be “selling” to clients. That would get tedious for you and your customers and they’d be unlikely to want to maintain the relationship. Instead, continue to educate them about their areas of need and how you help clients. Use your products and services to provide value and to educate clients so they can discover what they need and want, even if they’ve never thought about it before.
For example, I’ve been working with a sports trainer to complete my recovery from shoulder surgery. In our first session he showed me which muscles needed to be reprogrammed with exercise to return to normal functioning. The obvious conclusion of his explanation was that I needed to work with him again to achieve my goals. Just by sharing a little knowledge he successfully extended the project.
People buy solutions to problems or needs that they know exist. Get your prospects’ attention by focusing your marketing message on the problems you solve in order to get them to visit your web site or contact you. Then use your conversation or your marketing copy to help prospects further define their problems or concerns. Do this well and they’ll clearly see the need for your products and services.
Clients buy from you when they know how you can help them. That’s why they initially bought your products and services. Once you’ve signed on a new client, don’t assume that they understand the range of services or products you market. They may not even fully understand what they’ve bought. Instead of selling clients on additional services, educate them. You’ll create a perception of need and increase sales.
Do you have clients and customers that appreciate your products and services? Don’t wait until your contract is complete to tap the goodwill you’ve generated by helping them. Regularly ask them questions designed to get responses like, “I couldn’t have done it without you”, “Worth every penny”, etc. Just after your clients have provided positive feedback is the perfect time to ask them a couple of questions to identify needs and to mention the solutions you provide.
Once you’ve gone to all the effort to attract a new client don’t walk away from the rest of their needs. Educate them at every step of the way about the problems you solve and they’ll understand why they need more of your products and services. You’ll discover pockets of opportunity to help your clients and increase your revenue.
What is socially responsible investing?
Socially responsible investing, sometimes known as ethical investing, is the application of your personal values and societal concerns to your investment decisions. It considers your financial needs as well as the selection and management of investments based on your personal ethical, moral, social or environmental concerns.
There are three basic approaches to socially responsible investing which have evolved over the years:
1. Screening – the application of guidelines or “screens” to the investment process. These screens can be positive and inclusive, or negative and exclusive.
2. Community Investment – the investment of money that contributes to the growth and well-being of particular communities.
3. Shareholder Advocacy – the process of using shareholder influence to help bring about positive change at corporations.
You, as an investor, can select investments managed by professionals employing social screening, or can choose your investments based on your own screening criteria and research.
By selecting those investments employing positive social or environmental guidelines, you’re able to educate yourself on companies and issues. A significant portion of the investing public in Canada already employs this strategy, with socially responsible investing now accounting for close to $6 billion.
There are an almost infinite number of issues that you can use to select investments for your own portfolio. Here’s a list of some of the most common criteria used to screen fund companies:
Can you reconcile your social conscience with your financial goals?
In Canada, Michael Jantzi Research Associates has created the Jantzi Social Index (JSI), an index of 60 Canadian companies selected on social responsibility criteria. The index was launched in February 2000, and therefore does not have a long-term track record.
However, according to the Social Investment Organization (SIO), the index was backdated using historical data to determine if it was able to outperform indices of conventional Canadian stocks. This data shows that the value of the JSI stocks increased by 18.9% during the last five years, while the TSE 100 grew by 18.1% and the TSE 300 rose by 17.4%.
The cause of such outperformance is a matter of debate. Some researchers believe that it’s due to the fact that socially responsible companies usually reside in stable sectors and in successful industries. Others believe that there’s a social premium that leads to higher returns because of far-sighted management, higher productivity and lower legal and social liabilities.
What is clear is that, contrary to conventional wisdom, investing according to social and environmental screening does not necessarily lead to lower returns. In fact, in some cases, social screening can produce substantially higher returns.
Socially responsible investing examines the extent to which your morals and concerns determine your investment decisions. The bottom line is that you can make a difference while building a secure financial future. How you do that is up to you.
Back in 1999, when Apple announced that its new operating system was going to be based on Unix, I was pleased. I eagerly sent for my copy of Mac OS X Beta, knowing that I was asking for trouble. What would happen to my favorite applications – Photoshop, QuarkXPress, Illustrator and FileMaker Pro – and how long would it take for everything to switch over, not to mention the cost?
I was already a Unix convert and when Microsoft shipped Office X, I never looked back. QuarkXPress 6 is the linchpin holding back users in transitioning to OS X. Originally, version 6 was buggy and required patches to make it stable. Version 6.5 is now very stable. This month I’m going to share some insights to help you make the switch.
Making the switch to OS X requires the importation of those pesky PPDs (Postscript Printer Descriptions) that allow us to print to our many legacy laser printing devices. The PPDs contain information about a printer’s page sizes, built-in fonts, paper trays, as well as other printer-specific features. Under System 9 and earlier they are kept under: System Folder => Extensions => Printer Descriptions.
To make these PPDs available to Mac OS X, we need to copy them to the new PPD location. The new location (or path) is: /Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/en.lprog/ - place your PPDs here. (By the way, don’t “move” them, drag them while holding the “option” key. You can also select them in the Finder, then copy and paste them into the new location – just like Windows!) Then, use the Printer Setup Utility (Applications/Utitlities/Printer Setup Utility) to add the printers. In most cases, the Printer Setup Utility will figure out which PPD to use, but you can choose the PPD. Select the printer in the Printer Utility list and click on “Info.” Then switch to Printer Model. If you have two identical printers, you can also rename the printers to easily identify them.
QuarkXPress requires an extra step (Quark always requires an extra step)! Launch QuarkXPress on your new G5 (you do have a new G5, don’t you?) and select PPD Manager from the Utilities menu. XPress should already be pointed to the System’s PPD folder mentioned above. Click the Update button and Quark will make the printer available in it’s Print Set Up dialog box. You can also uncheck the printers you don’t need in the PPD Manager to reduce the clutter in your Print dialog box.
Here are more Quark quirks.
A colleague recently asked why QuarkXPress seems to keep the “old document name” when she used “Export to PDF.” Starting with version 5, XPress began to save documents as “Projects” with the potential to have various “Layouts” inside. Choosing “Save As” to rename and reuse an older document, only changes the “Project” name. When you Print or Export to PDF, XPress sends the “Layout” name. To rename the Layout choose “Layout Properties” from the “Layout” menu. Problem solved. If you look at the top of the document you may see the name as “Project Name: Layout Name.”
Another misconception was that QuarkXPress doesn’t seem to recognize Spot colours correctly. Spot colours, sometimes called “specials” are usually Pantone colours chosen as swatches by designers. Pantone colours are supposed to be specially mixed inks, but have devolved into a system for managing colour definitions between applications. The problem with QuarkXPress’ inability to recognize colours was actually caused by a change that Adobe made. Adobe changed the names of Pantone swatches from “Pantone 123 CVC” to simply “Pantone 123 CV.” “CVC used to mean “computer video coated, referring to “coated paper stock,” but now “CV” simply means “computer video.”
In fact, Quark has already changed it’s swatches to the “CV” naming convention to match Adobe’s products. The problem is introduced when a legacy EPS file is imported into XPress. The solution is to edit the colour name in the files original program. Eg.: Open the file in Illustrator, rename the colours with “CV” and save them as EPS format again.
One last quirk you may come across while “Exporting to PDF” or even using Print to create a PDF from Quark, is that you see the message “unable to create ____,pdf file.” Open up the trusty Print Setup Utility and click “Add.” Choose “IP Printing” from the pull down menu. Enter the address “127.0.0.1” in the Printer Address field. Click the “Add” button and close the Printer Setup Utility. You will have created a virtual laser printer and now you’ll be able to create PDFs from Quark.
By the way, if you have recently bought a new Mac, you may find that Apple is no longer bundling Stuffit Expander. Go to http://www.allume.com to download a copy.
While deliberating over paper samples, marketers must take into consideration that most promotional material is simply thrown out, often without even being read. If a 2% response rate is standard… that means that a whopping 98% of consumers will simply throw away the promotional materials that you worked so hard on!
How can you stop them? How can you increase the chances that your piece will fall into the hands that influence? Catchy phrases, exciting promotions, and enticing designs are certainly major components in the consumer’s interest level…but what about how the piece feels in their hand?
Quality of paper on a marketing piece is similar to body language during a business meeting… a silent component that has major effects. It helps to create an image. Simply put, the higher quality the paper, the more notice the customer will take – and the more credibility that will give the company.
Think about how the marketing piece you are creating will be distributed. Will consumers need to pluck it out of a stack of mail? A firmer cardstock cut to a non-standard size will be the first thing that attracts the consumer’s attention (make sure your “non standard size” conforms to post guidelines if distributing through the mail or you will end up paying additional fees!). Will the promotional piece be handed out at a tradeshow? An interesting fold or die cut might grab the attendee’s attention.
Most peoples’ views of a company are subtly, or subconsciously, affected by the very weight of the paper. From the moment they hold a promotional piece in their hand, they begin to judge. Is this a company that I want to do business with? A higher end stock, even for someone who knows nothing about paper, makes the consumer feel that they are associating with a company or organization that is successful and worthy of their attention.
To make your media kit, direct mail package or promotional piece stand apart from the sea of similar items on boring stock try an exciting stock that makes your piece pop. Although a potential buyer will certainly not consciously analyze your paper selection, it will impact their overall perception of the company.
Similarly, there may be times when you don’t want to look too prestigious or high quality-oriented. Perhaps you are creating a flier for a giant “Price Slasher Liquidation” sale. In this case, you want your consumer to feel that they are getting a bargain price – and a textured, thick stock may not be of the utmost importance. Or perhaps you are promoting a charity and don’t want to go overboard with marketing materials. Match your paper selections to your campaign goals.
High end stock selections for packaging or promotional materials will help create a perception around the product that it is elite, high quality, and superior to others. In fact, magazine advertising space pricing can often be correlated to the quality of paper the magazine is printed on. A high end glossy magazine is key in the perceptions of the reader to both its content and advertisements. Use of the same stock throughout an ongoing campaign can lend a sense of continuity to the promotion, even as the design or offer changes.
However, one can’t get away with high quality stock alone! In the end you still have to deliver good product and solid service!
Fair or not, we’re often judged on first impressions. This harsh reality is nowhere better seen than in today’s ultra-fast business world where customers size you up in a second based on your personal image. Since their impression of you will determine whether or not they want to do business with you, the impact on your career and on your organization’s bottom line can be staggering.
Ironically, when corporations ask me to speak, I often find that there’s been little or no professional training for employees about personal image. Since it’s often awkward to confront employees on these sensitive issues, you need some ammunition to make the task easier. Here are four image-related reasons that customers may not like you or your employees.
Customers prefer conducting business with individuals who meet their visual expectations, so dress in a manner that customers expect. A plumber dressed in an Armani suit makes the client uncomfortable. An alderman in khaki shorts would shock the council members of city hall.
“But that’s not fair” say employees, at the thought of being told what to wear – but they are the realities of the business world. You hire employees to take care of customers – not for the sake of expressing their sartorial individuality. Your job as a business owner or manager is to create an environment, including a staff wardrobe, where your customers feel comfortable.
The most effective way to convey this message to employees is to have a written dress code. When writing your code, check with an attorney for the laws that apply in your jurisdiction. The great thing about a dress code is that it often weeds out applicants who wouldn’t feel comfortable in that environment.
Customers don’t want to strain themselves to understand front-line staff. If you or other employees don’t speak the local language clearly, then customers will generally go to your competitors. This is doubly important when speaking on the telephone, where customers don’t have the benefit of non-verbal communication to help them interpret what’s being said.
This concept has nothing to do with discrimination based on ethnic differences or nationality. It has to do with basic communication skills that are essential to do the job. If it’s a question of improving your knowledge of the local language, then take courses until you’re fluent and easy to understand.
Don’t exaggerate to tell customers what they want to hear. If a task will take 15 minutes to complete, don’t say, “It’ll only be 5 or ten minutes.” This is called lying. Customers hate that. Organizations that stay in business over the long term adhere to the concept “under-promise and over-deliver.
‘Indiscreet’ describes the cashier at a self-serve gas station who chatted with his friends while I entered to pay. He barely stopped his conversation with his buddies to take my money. I felt like I was crashing a private party. I never went back.
A more common example is when employees converse amongst themselves in front of the customer. Numerous times I’ve been on airplanes when flight attendants, while rolling food carts down the aisles, are so engaged in their personal conversations that they barely stop long enough to take the dinner orders.
Finally, far too many employees tell customers more than they want to hear. For example, when a customer asks a front-line employee, “How are you?” they really don’t want to hear complaints. It’s just a greeting. Yet some employees use this as an excuse to complain with, “Oh, I’m 60-40,” or as a security guard once told me, “I’m vertical.” (Yikes)! Some employees respond with, “I’ll be great when my break starts.” In other words, the employee will be happy as soon as he or she can get away from their job and us – the customers.
Awareness of these problems is half the battle. A lot of employees simply don’t realize they’re committing these offenses. Another part of the solution is training. Bringing in a professional trainer to address the employees as a group provides the advantage of third-party objectivity in a fun, non-threatening manner. If you do nothing about these issues, your business will continue to suffer without anyone telling you why.
The time is ripe for digital print. The mega-popularity of cell phones, microwaves and text messaging proves society’s ever-increasing demand for speed and convenience, while the rise of spam filters and commercial-free on-demand TV shows that people only want to receive individualized messages relevant to them personally. According to consultant Rick Littrell, these societal trends spell expansion for such “addressable” media as personalized direct mail.
“The answer is the skill sets that printers must have. Everybody’s talking volumes about digital presses and equipment, but to really take advantage of these products you need expertise in two things: one is marketing and solution selling, and two is information technology.”
Myrna Penny, PrintLink’s managing director agrees. “Technology has matured, offering communications and business-building solutions like never before. But it must be driven by people – people who will define and articulate the benefits, people who will keep the data-driven resources in top producing form as well as provide robust and unique solutions.”
In marketing, printers require both internal expertise and new strategies for growth, but both are typically lacking, says Littrell. He suggests one reason is that printers are unwilling to make the necessary investment: “Marketing requires effort and dollars. If a company doesn’t budget dollars for marketing, it’s not going to do it, yet very few have a marketing budget.”
He encourages printers to invest their budgets in people with marketing experience. “In Toronto I just saw a classic case where an executive assistant was recruited to do marketing just because she had helped put together the company’s brochure. Yet nothing in her history said she could do the kind of tactical analysis required for an effective marketing strategy” – defining the company’s market segment, for example, or evaluating a direct mailer’s return on investment by tracking the revenue it generates.”
“Monitoring and evaluation are essential to discover whether a sales force or a marketing project is worthwhile,” says Littrell. “We have to continually improve our personnel and activities.” Additionally, he recommends hiring marketers with a sound understanding of personalization and how to find, manipulate and enrich customer and prospect databases. His own business, MagiComm, LLC, is a marketing solutions company using multi-channel personalized communication. Finally, he says, both owners and marketing staff need to understand the importance of solution selling:
“You need to market solutions, not your production tools. Solution selling means becoming a strategic partner with your clients – not focusing on how many sheets can I sell, but rather what I can provide that will grow their business. It means asking different, strategic questions that printers typically don’t ask. Not “Do you need any four-colour today?” but “How do I help grow your business or reduce your pain points in getting your marketing message across?”
Littrell says people with experience selling software solutions know this approach because they understand the impact of something like software on the total corporation. “It’s a complex sell. When all is said and done, only about 20% to 40% of salespeople out there can make the transition to solution selling if they want to – and if they work with companies that have the vision and drive to turn them in new directions.”
“IT is the craft of today in our industry,” he says, “so you need IT personnel with expertise not only in marketing data applications but also Web-enabled workflows. You need to empower your internal people and your customers at their desktops at THEIR convenience. Networks and servers are also mission critical because they keep our systems running. And on-line proofing is another necessity driven by time, convenience and economics. Yet most print shops are home-bred and are woefully lacking in the skill sets they need to maintain their IT strategies,” says Littrell.
“We have become a complex industry. It used to be that graphic artists knew enough about computer technology to keep a printing business running. But we’ve gone way beyond that now to open workflows where anything can plug into anything. That takes complexity to a whole new level. It’s not how good your ink on paper looks, but the ability to optimize internal workflows, set up hot folders, build scripts and JDFs that will separate the winners and losers.
“You need someone formally educated in computer science and networking, yet most printers don’t have those people. They don’t have to know colour; they need to know things like how to optimize a server, keep all the IT functions lined up and perform auto backup.
“If you think that’s not important, try taking out all your computers and running your business. And if it IS that important, why don’t you have somebody dedicated to it with a formal training pedigree? It makes your battle more manageable.”
Myrna adds: “It is now time for printers to take the driver’s seat and bring people to the technology – not wait for customers to ask for the service. Once there, printers need to deliver the compelling message and prove the value. This focus also requires a management outlook to fuel the initiative – and that is people-driven as well.”
Paper consumption has plateaued in North America. Individual personal consumption is going down but with the population increasing it’s maintaining its position. In addition, several North American paper mills have been phased out or temporarily shutdown for re-tooling – removing surplus capacity from the market.
In Asia there are several paper mills set to come online soon and provide additional paper production capacity; however the population boom in Asia will ensure that most if not all of the additional capacity will not leave the market and enter North America.
There is less supply and the cost of manufacturing is going up which lead some industry insiders to speculate that prices will increases this year but it’s not going to be anything drastic or dramatic.
In fact, an increase in paper prices may actually be good news. One trade printer views an increase in paper prices as a valid reason to raise printing prices and hopefully widen profit margins that have become razor thin.
When it comes to buying paper there are three sources that printers turn to; the paper merchant, discount paper sellers/converters, and direct from the paper mill.
Most printers prefer to buy from a paper merchant. The merchant not only supplies stock but also provides the additional services of an order desk, a sample department, dedicated delivery services and a knowledgeable sales staff. Most importantly the paper merchant stands behind their product with a return policy for unsatisfactory stock.
Most printers deal with the same dozen stocks on a regular basis and they know exactly how it will print, fold and dry. With the plethora of papers now available on the market it is inevitable that a print customer will request a stock that the printer has never used before. This is where a good paper merchant can shine by providing the printer with expert advice on how to work with this stock.
Discount paper sellers/converters are able to provide stock at lower prices – often enabling printers to shave those few extra pennies off of a quote that will enable them to win a print contract. This savings is not just on the cost of paper but also the ability to supply unusual sized papers.
The discount paper seller is often dealing with end-of-line stock or older stock in order to pass the price reductions on to the printer. These stocks may have colour shifts throughout the same batch, size inconsistencies (leading to registration nightmares) or may crack when folding. The discount paper seller will try and deliver the best quality possible to the printer but they do not have the inventory or quality control of a paper merchant.
Buying direct from the paper mill is not to be undertaken by the faint of heart. It requires a capital investment in a sheeter, sufficient warehouse space and staff in order to create press-ready stock. Once a printer has these in place they can provide several house-stocks to print customers at a significant discount – giving them a pricing advantage and a profit center.
Printers used to enjoy the economies of scale when buying paper and could count on reduced prices on stock when buying in specific volumes. The printer would supply this stock to print customers and brokers at a marked-up cost and make a profit. That has changed as more brokers and some customers are supplying their own stock.
With brokers and customers buying stock in addition to printers there is the impression that pricing is chaotic at times and that the economies of scale do not always apply. From a paper merchants perspective pricing is very rigid and segmented by actual and potential purchases. It’s the calculation of potential sales that can lead to the misconception that pricing is erratic.
One trend that is growing in popularity in Canada, directed buying, is an instance where economies of scale do not apply to the printer. Directed buying is when a large corporation arranges with paper manufacturers and merchants to buy a certain number of tons, and directs the printer to buy/use that stock which is bought at the pre-arranged set price.
While Ontario-based Willow Printing Group has not encountered directed buying to date, president Jeff Ekstein has given the matter some thought. “In an ideal world directed buying might make sense, but this isn’t an ideal world,” says Ekstein. He has two worries about directed buying – the loss of a revenue stream and quality control. If the paper is not running well on press due to a problem with the supplied stock then time must be spent dealing with the print client and the directed paper supplier to resolve the issue. “That is time spent on fixing something that we are not responsible for and we are not making a dime on,” concludes Ekstein.
In the cut-throat print industry a printer who is knowledgeable about all of the eco-friendly paper options can distinguish themselves from other bidders on a RFP.
There are a myriad of environmental certifications (FSC, SFI, Terra-choice, ISO, CFA etc.) from which a printer can recommend. Each has its own specific interests (for example one accreditation may be concerned about preserving old-growth forests while another accreditation may be geared more towards protecting indigenous peoples and wildlife).
Environmental groups demand a credible third-party certification that the fiber came from a responsible source. In order to prove that it comes from a responsible source the forest lands have to be analyzed and engineers have to go in and make sure forestry standards are being upheld. Fiber sources have to be quarantined and segregated during shipment to the mill, the mill has to set up manufacturing processes and procedures which must be audited to maintain that accreditation. The merchant also must go through the auditing process and get certified in order to carry that chain of custody. And with some accreditations the chain continues to the printer.
With all of these people paying for the accreditation and auditing the end result is that the paper is more expensive. One printer who is going through the accreditation process is Metropolitan Fine Printers of B.C. and according to president George Kallas, the experience is quite easy, especially if you have a well organized workflow in place. And print buyers aren’t adverse to paying for that additional cost.
Fiber source is only one aspect of the environmental impact of paper production. Other factors include the wildlife protection, water consumption and affluent, waste reduction, and green house gas emissions.
Recycled paper is another issue. The main challenge in producing recycled paper is obtaining properly sorted waste stock that can be turned into a high-quality sheet suitable for printing. However improper recycling can degrade the quality of the fiber from recycled paper and it can end up suitable only for tissue or cardboard use.
This would be an excellent opportunity for printers to take an active role in their communities and promote responsible recycling, whether at the curb-side or in the office. This will ensure more useable fiber for paper mills which will lead to an increase supply of high-quality recycled stock and hopefully a reduction in cost.
Paper prices will rise, and paper buying options will remain for printers to find the paper supplier for each job. The selection of environmentally friendly stocks will continue to expand and printers who invest in learning the unique features of these stocks will have a point of differentiation.