Some of you may know that I had to stop a lot of my travel a couple of years ago for health reasons. Anyway, things seem to be better now, so I am going to be doing some speaking engagements again and trying to get back to where I was at that time.

On June 4, I will be at Northwest Forest in Houston speaking for ICED. I will be doing two different sessions. I am really looking forward to the opportunity to see some old friends and get back in the middle of things. Interestingly, Bill will also be doing some speaking at the same time. He will be at MFSA in Charleston, SC, from June 3-5, presenting twice there. Who knows, this could become another career for him.

The tough deal now is trying to make arrangements for Spencer (our somewhat spoiled Cavalier King Charles Spaniel) while we are gone.

People buy from people, but for some printers, it looks like their shop is a cold and impersonal facility with equipment and that’s all.

Most quick printers could benefit by making their websites more personal and welcoming to customers. Photos of the staff and facilities will make the site more recognizable to visitors. Personalization should also include individual email addresses for the CSR, prepress, and bookkeeping staff to make customers comfortable with contacting specific individuals.

Many printing websites avoid any personalization. It is almost impossible to find a photo of an actual employee. I dare you to find contact information for a real person other than the company telephone number or a generic email address such as info@quickprintcompany.com. If you have a question, who would you call? If you work with someone at the shop, how do you contact them other than by telephone? What if you want to leave a message after working hours?

Experts say a personalized website is more welcoming and attracts more visitors. Personalization makes it easier to communicate and develop a relationship with customers online.

I recommend asking a few of your friends and associates to give you their honest opinions about how welcoming your site is. Does the website feel like it is an interface with a group of people behind it ready to help you? Or is it just another faceless information page on the Web? How does it compare to your competitors? Do they have a site that welcomes you to find out more about their company?

Since most printers aren’t very proactive when seeking work, they will need to make their websites as warm, friendly, and hospitable as possible so a person will want to contact them for more information.

More and more businesses get their first impression of another business from the Internet. You need to make sure you are putting your best face forward.

A couple of things before we take a few days vacation. First, the annual Quick Printing Top 100 survey is complete and it is pretty grim with sales down for much of the group. Of course, there are exceptions with some companies growing their sales significantly in the face of a cruddy economy. Second, the NAPL/NAQP Benchmarking study is also out and it found the same situation. With this in mind, I thought I would share this email from the Benchmark study author, John Stewart. His observations are pretty much on target. (More info on the study at http://directory.myprintresource.com/profile/10006811/NAPL)

“Although the new Benchmarking study reports average annual sales are down by more than 12% during the past two years and that average profits are down as well, that is not what disturbs me the most.

“My greatest concern is that so few companies, other than those who participate, seem to avail themselves of the valuable information contained in this key financial report. This report, more than any other produced in this industry, literally provides readers with a blueprint for how to operate a highly profitable printing and copying firm.

“The differences in how owners of similar size companies manage their key operating ratios are nothing short of startling. Profitability in the industry ranges from minus 2% to companies reporting owner’s compensation of 25% or more. The ‘Profit Leader’ portion of the study alone is worth ten times the cost of the study, considering the information it reveals. I cannot imagine a printer, especially one who is currently struggling, not being able to significantly improve his or her profitability simply by implementing just some of the advice offered by Larry Hunt’s Executive Summary.”

Hopefully, you have seen some of our announcements and press releases about our new book, “No More Rotten Eggs – A Dozen Steps to Grade AA Talent Management,” just published by McGraw-Hill and available in book stores everywhere and online.
We have been asked why we would suggest a book on hiring now when, in fact, many companies are still in the downsizing mode. Well, the fact of the matter is that this is the right time to hire. Not to add staff, but rather to upgrade staff. Given all the discussion of a structural change in the industry, it is only logical that business owners recognize the need to restructure to cope with these structural changes. And when they restructure, they need to be sure that their current staff will fit their new vision. There may be better people out there and now is the time to get them. If you wait until the recovery is underway then you will be competing again for the top performers and you could lose.
So don’t wait – start now. And if you want to know how to do it right, buy our book!

So simple it is deceptive, so basic we don’t do it, yet it has increased sales in shop after shop. The old Army bromide said, “Things that get done are what the Commander looks at.” That’s true with your total sales as well.
Sales go up when the team measures where they are in relation to the goal today; not tomorrow nor at the end of the month – but today, while we still have a chance to do something about it.
And it doesn’t do any good to just know total sales; total sales have to be related to the budget and goal.
But if you are like most shops, you simply measure your progress by comparing this month’s total with this month last year or last month. That’s a waste, for things have changed. You could have reduced staff or overhead or, conversely, added staff and overhead since last year.
So, all progress must be measured against a budget that provides positive cash flow on today’s costs: forget about last year. We’ll tell you more about how we can mess up setting a monthly sales budget next month – so be sure to look for us.
Now we assume we have a monthly budget. That’s the B in your morning PBG. Now, let’s set a goal. Huh? Thought the budget was the goal? No, the budget is not the goal – meet the budget in most places and you get to keep your job for another month. Big deal.
Your job is to beat your budget decisively, and we define that as being 20%. So, if your budget is $100k for the month, your goal is $120k. When you and your team bring sales of $105k in; well, adequate job, but not great job. Don’t expect anyone to get excited for doing what you are supposed to do.
However, pop a $135k on a goal of $120k (and thus a $100k budget), then you are going to make some serious money and that’s calls for a “Great job. Attaboy!”
Anyway, the Goal is the G in your PBG report. Now you need to calculate the P, or Projection. How do you do it? Basically, divide sales through last night by the number of days you have been open this month, and multiply by the number of days you are going to be open. Running out of space here, but if you want full specifics of a daily PBG click on over to: http://www.crouser.com/twitter/pbg.pdf.

I just finished crunching the numbers for this year’s Top 100. As expected, the totals and percentages are pretty scary. 2009 was a pretty scary year by any standards. But there are some intriguing details that might go unnoticed if you just look at the statistics.

One of the things that impressed me was that a number of printers who, despite a decrease in overall sales, were actually able to increase productivity last year. When sales fell off, they also decreased the size of their staffs, which resulted in a higher sales per employee (SPE) on the year. That’s indicative of how they got to be in the Top 100 in the first place, and how they remain in the list year after year. They operate their companies using sound business practices, no matter what the economy is doing.

At the other end of the spectrum, I was absolutely baffled by printers who responded to falling sales by adding staff or, in at least one case, opening a new location. Maybe they know something the rest of us don’t, but I rather doubt it. It will be interesting to see how that works out for them.

In my 25 years covering the printing industry, I have yet to hear many glowing compliments from vendors about any trade show exhibition locations. In their heart of hearts, many vendors probably wish trade shows would just disappear – as long as they could find an easier and cheaper way of connecting with potential customers. Maybe they will disappear someday, but not in my lifetime.

Lately, On Demand has bounced from Philadelphia to Boston, back to Philadelphia, and now will try Washington, DC; a venue that has earned the reputation of “where trade shows go to die.” Meanwhile, Graphics of the Americas has moved from Miami to Orlando, looking for a more attractive venue. That’s not a bad move since Orlando and Las Vegas have emerged as the two major cities that offer the least obnoxious locations for trade shows.

Then there is Chicago and McCormick Place, a location that draws almost universal scorn from exhibitors for the stringent, unrealistic, and expensive work rules imposed by convention center unions and the monopoly by a handful of concession contractors. Some might say that other locations, such as the Javits Center in New York, might be worse, but that’s just a matter of degrees.

In fact, the situation at McCormick and Chicago’s Navy Pier have become so toxic that six major trade shows, including Graph Expo, have threatened to flee to Orlando or Las Vegas unless something is done. The result is a so-called exhibitors’ bill of rights, which has passed the Illinois Senate and House and awaits the governor’s signature.

Among other things, the bill would regulate overtime, permit exhibitors to do light move-in and move-out tasks, set up and install items and equipment in their booths, and bring in food and beverages for their personal consumption. There would be a designated area for exhibitors to load and unload materials that they can move by non-motorized equipment. There also would be a twice-yearly audit conducted to make sure that the savings from these “exhibitors’ rights” provisions are actually being passed on to the exhibitors.

It all sounds pretty good, but being Chicago, there are some political considerations that make it far from certain that the governor will sign the bill into law. However, the fact is that city faces losing a substantial amount of revenue if something isn’t done very soon. I would imagine Orlando and Las Vegas are salivating over the chance to snag some or all of McCormick’s trade show business.

Does anyone have anything positive to say about the quick printing industry? Many of the quick printers I talk to have a negative attitude about quick printing industry. They lament the changes and talk about how their customer base is shrinking. They point fingers at competitors such as Staples and Office Max or FedEx and the UPS stores and say those businesses are taking their customers with cheap copies. They complain about lazy employees who won’t do anything or equipment suppliers who keep the costs high. Everyone is out to get them.

I can’t agree. Most of these complainers are business owners who are in charge of their own destinies. They just fail to do the basic business functions any business needs to do to survive. They don’t maintain adequate financial records to know how they are doing. They don’t make sales calls. They think making a delivery of a completed job and asking if there is any other printing is a sales activity. They don’t train their employees. They don’t take advantage of the technology they have.

Of course, the industry is changing and you will have to adapt, but you can still make money in quick printing. There are printers doing just that. Those printers get out and talk to customers and prospects. They use the technology that is available to them. They make it easier for customers to buy printing. The successful printers are proactive and get in front of customers with ideas and solutions that can be provided by a printed piece.

If you are a quick printer, I have one question: how many sales calls have you made this week? If you aren’t out asking for new business then you will probably be one of those people who are complaining about the printing industry. If you are talking to customers and learning what they need, you are going to have a better attitude because you will find out there are businesses buying printing. You will know what changes to your company you will have to make to survive in the future. You just have to make a sales call and ask for their business.

One of my first books was The Forgotten Customer. I wrote it to address the fact that your customers have expectations for a product or service that will make them say, “I Love It.” I learned long ago that in order to get that result it is necessary to hire the right employees, provide training, rewards and recognition. But that is not sufficient for business success. It is essential that we create a culture where we take care of the internal customer first. I call that a culture of Total Customer Satisfaction. When each employee of the company sets out to satisfy his or her internal customers first, the end result is the external customer will automatically be satisfied.

The internal customer, whom I refer to as “The Forgotten Customer,” is everyone who works in the company. They are involved not only in the creation of the product or service but also in every aspect of the business operation. Successful companies such as Federal Express and Southwest Airlines understand this concept and have developed a culture that seeks to satisfy all of the fellow employees and managers first. This culture of success requires each employee to understand his or her obligation to every other employee.

I’ve noted an example recently that perhaps sheds some light on this concept. While standing in line at Bruegger’s Bagels I observed the baker bringing out a fresh batch of bagels. As the baker brought them out, he announced the arrival of the particular flavor and then loaded them into the waiting baskets. In response to his announcement, one or more of the salespersons at the counter called out “Thank you, Baker”.

The baker was just doing his job, but that “Thank You” acknowledged that the baker was bringing to them something they needed so they could satisfy the people on the other side of the counter. They won’t say “I Love It” about the bagel sandwich if the bagel is bad.

What is your culture?

Murphy’s Law says that whatever can go wrong will go wrong. That might smack of pessimism, but we all know that even the most professional and well-planned act can sometimes blow up in our faces. You know, the 5,000 4/4 brochure somebody spell checked but didn’t proof read. (Just because write and rite are spelled correctly doesn’t mean they are the right words.) However, except in the most extreme cases, a good customer can be saved by a good save.

I was reminded of this by our experience flying back from Philadelphia after the On Demand show. When Karen and I got to the airport in the late afternoon we found our flight had been cancelled due to mechanical problems. The two over-stressed Delta ticket agents booked us on an alternative US Airways flight to Atlanta to make our Delta connection home. Good intentions, but bad execution. Despite our Delta status, US Airways charged us for our bags and then only checked them to Atlanta. The Delta agent also didn’t tell us that we had automatically been rebooked on another Delta flight the next morning and would have gotten a free hotel that night.

In Atlanta we told a Delta Sky Club employee what was up and she went out of channels and called a buddy who worked for US Airways who found our bags. It was too late to transfer them over to Delta that evening, but they were sent out the next morning. A day or two later I sent Delta an email about the foul-up and luggage fees.

Shortly thereafter I got a personal email from a Delta customer service representative who apologized profusely, promised to send us a check to cover the luggage fees, and put 7,500 miles into each of our accounts. The $85 check arrived a week later. Oh, and the representative said that they would find out why the incident had happened so that it wouldn’t happen again.

We will continue to give our business to Delta despite the occasional foul up because that was a good save.