John Giles - is the author of “12 Secrets for Digital Success” and “The DTP Pricelist.” He is technology director and a consultant for CPrint International.
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Buying Is More Than Writing the Check…
- Wednesday May 9, 2012
By John Giles With all of the cool new print equipment and technology at drupa and at the upcoming Graph Expo, printers need to make sure they are covering the basics before they add something new to their production mix, especially if it requires a big investment. Financials – In this day and time, you need strong financial information before you make a decision and ask your banker for help. Many printers are coming off slow growth years and don’t have the cash they need to safely add new debt. A strong current ratio is needed before adding to your liabilities. Not enough cash can cripple a company, even if sales are climbing. Creditors don’t want to wait until your customer pays you before they get their money. You have to... -
Printers Need To Evolve
By John Giles - Thursday November 3, 2011
There are a lot of printers going out of business or about to go out of business because they can’t change their business model. Customers no longer walk in and ask for something to be duplicated. The day of commodity printing is over. People no longer need forms to collect information. It is now done on a computer. What print customers now need is help in finding the best way to communicate their message with their customer. The answer isn’t always ink on paper. A recent report by John Stewart for the NAPL/NAQP found that the average age of a print shop owner was in the mid-50s. They opened their businesses when making a copy required expensive equipment. Today, everyone has a copier attached to their home and business... -
A Cure for the Summertime Sales Blues
By John Giles - Tuesday August 16, 2011Is the summer a bad time for printers? Over the years I have heard that July and December were down months. Printers could expect to see their sales plummet twice a year as print buyers took vacation or enjoyed the holidays. That sounds logical, but the more printers I meet the more I begin to think this is just an urban myth. I am finding that printers have smoothed out the roller coaster sales ride by constantly working on increasing sales. They don't stop their sales activities when they get busy with printing. They keep making sales calls. They use the same tools and technology they are selling to customers to improve their own sales. The new products and services driving successful print companies relate to helping customers get more... -
Don’t Ignore the Web
By John Giles - Friday July 8, 2011As printers search for new revenue, selling and supporting websites is becoming an exciting new product to sell. Websites integrate easily with printing companies since many printers are already working closely with customers to manage their message. But there are some printers who do not want to get into Web services. Printers do not have to sell Web services, but they must realize that it is important to understand the Web if they want to continue printing for a company. Printers will have to become “Web experts†because they need to help customers integrate their print collateral with the current website information, even if they don’t maintain the websites. Combining the power of the Web with print is proving to be... -
It is Hard to Believe: Customers Lie
By John Giles - Thursday June 2, 2011Rising fuel costs are pushing prices up for everything we buy. Printers are seeing jumps in paper and every other thing they buy. The rising costs mean lower profit margins if a printer doesn’t react quickly, but we aren’t seeing a jump in print prices because customers tell the printer it isn’t happening. Every day I talk to printers who are concerned about raising their prices. They tell me that they can’t raise prices because their customer told them they could get the job cheaper somewhere else. When we drill down in the conversation, I find that usually the printer doesn’t have any facts to what the prices really are. He is just going on what he was told by the customer. Printers lose jobs every day...
