Blog Archives




 

  • Gearing Up For Graph Expo
    By Bob Hall - Tuesday August 30, 2011
    Next week quick and small commercial printers will gather in Chicago for the annual NAQP/NAPL Owners Conference, which will feature winners of the PrintImage Excellence Awards printing competition and will honor Printer of the Year Craig Dellinger. Next on the agenda will be GRAPH EXPO 2011, which will kick off with the Executive Outlook Conference on Saturday and the opening of the expo show floor on Sunday. Also on Sunday morning at 8:30, I will be presenting a seminar session tailored specifically for quick and small commercial printers in Room S503d at McCormick Place. Along with the usual comprehensive seminar slate and a host of co-located events, GRAPH EXPO 2011 also will provide attendees with a chance to explore all of the new...

  • Book Two
    By Bob Hall - Monday August 29, 2011
    Several years ago I wrote a book called: “Everything I Know About Service I Learned from my Dogâ€. It was fun to write and sold rather well. It contained such tidbits as “It’s hard to get worse when you practice,†and, “In the land of the rude, the polite can be kings.†Hardly earth-shattering observations, but true, nonetheless. Well, the muse (Clio, I believe) has moved me again and I am now at work on a second tome—title as yet to be determined. Target publication date is November and the subject is small business success. Where is all this material coming from? It is coming largely from my many years of observing and working with a great group of small business owners who happen to be in the...

  • Franchisees Showing the Way
    By Bob Hall - Monday August 15, 2011
    I’ve just finished with the 2011 printing franchise convention schedule and I have had my fill of Las Vegas. This year, five of the franchise events were in that city and that was way more than enough for me. I’m looking forward to next year when the conventions will be in places like Baltimore and Orlando. Despite the venue, one thing I did notice was an upbeat attitude, even in light of the economic mess caused mostly by ideological hard liners and an incompetent Congress. I sat through many awards presentations where franchisees from the various systems were honored, not only for huge gross sales, but also for sales growth—sometimes as much as 35%. There was very little doom and gloom at any of the events. Frankly, that didn’t...

  • Dead Head Marketing
    By Bob Hall - Monday July 18, 2011
    Like many of you, I subscribe to a magazine from the USPS called Deliver which offers information and pointers for marketing with direct mail. Obviously, those using direct mail are also using print. In one recent issue they interviewed the author of “Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead.” Needless to say, this offered a great opportunity for some throwback psychedelic graphics on the cover and in the article. (These brought back some very vivid memories, but that’s another story.) In addition, it provided a couple of tidbits of real advice for direct mail marketers. Among the admonitions: Be authentic, rethink traditional assumptions, develop a network, maintain a mailing list, and mix your marketing. However, two quotes really...

  • Courtesy Matters
    By Bob Hall - Friday July 8, 2011
    I understand that July is officially Cell Phone Courtesy Month. It hasn’t come a minute too soon. Just today I was nearly run off the road by a woman who was on her cell phone, treated to one side of an expletive-laced conversation in the Lowes checkout line, and nearly bumped off the sidewalk by a businessman who was walking and texting at the same time. (I’m just glad he wasn’t chewing gum too or he would have run me over.) Cell phone rudeness is all around us, from the dolts on the plane who refuse to power off when told to do so to the parents at the park who play Angry Birds while their children run amok. My personal pet peeve with cell phone users is being dismissed and subsequently ignored when a person with...

  • Good Mood and New Technologies
    By Bob Hall - Tuesday June 28, 2011
    I’m writing this on the way home from the Franchise Services conference in Las Vegas. As usual, the conference was a first-rate event. Herewith, a couple of observations: Once again, I was reminded of industry consolidation since this single event takes the place of four individual conferences previously held by Sir Speedy, PIP Printing, Signal Graphics, and Multicopy. I recall the tensions at some of the earlier combined conferences in this and other franchise systems, but that is a thing of the past. There were a lot of new companies at the trade show – most in the Web-to-print and social media arenas. Coupled with the educational program in these areas, these newbies stirred a lot of interest among some of the old timers...

  • Doing Good Works
    By Bob Hall - Sunday June 19, 2011
    A couple months back I wrote about a little incident where a friend accidentally drove his car through our garage wall into our dining room. It was quite a shock – especially to the two dogs and the cat. At the time, I commented on the slap-dash way in which some contractors had worked up repair estimates. I also praised the folks who got the job for their thoroughness and professionalism in repairing the wall and the electrical wiring. I have come to realize such wide variances in competency and efficiency are more common than I once believed. First case in point: We needed a new railing for our front porch stairs to make it easier for a friend with an artificial leg to navigate his way to and from the house when he was critter...

  • Time Marches On
    By Bob Hall - Monday June 6, 2011
    Our car is in the shop – again. This is the second time in two weeks and probably the sixth time since the beginning of the year. If you knew that it is a 1997 Dodge Avenger, you probably would think that this number of shop visits for such an elderly vehicle is expected. However, it only has 137,000 miles on it since we don’t have to drive to work. (Our office is in the basement of our home.) That’s pretty good for a 14-year-old car. We like the car. It’s sporty, handles well, and gets good gas mileage with its four-cylinders and five-speed gearbox. We also like the fact that it is paid for. The idea of not having monthly car payments is appealing. The problem is that the cost of rental cars is starting to...

  • Printing Politics
    By Bob Hall - Tuesday May 31, 2011
    At the annual Capitol Hill Fly-in, NPES and Printing Industries of America members will buttonhole members of Congress to promote issues that affect the printing industry. Fair trade, small business taxes, health care, and “legal reform†all are on the agenda. While I may have questions about some of the industry positions on these issues, there are two with which I am in total agreement – the importance of a healthy and viable U.S. Postal Service and the need to oppose the so-called “Do Not Mail†efforts sprouting up across the country. For some odd reason, those latter two issues got me to thinking about Ben Franklin. Most in this industry are aware that Franklin was a printer. Some may not know that he was the...

  • Take Time
    By Bob Hall - Monday May 16, 2011
    Vacation, Urlaub, vacances, vacanza, vacaciones, holiday – everybody needs one from time to time. In our 24/7, constant contact world relaxation is often hard to come by, but it is necessary for both physical and mental health. As one wag once put it, vacation is what you take when you can’t take what you’ve been taking any longer. Well, we are taking a vacation next week and going back to the Gulf Coast, where Karen spent the summers of her youth. We have absolutely no concrete plans other than arriving, but I have been looking on the Internet for restaurants and attractions we might consider. In doing so, I ran across a site with advice for Northerners moving to the South. For no other reason than it’s...

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