David Fellman & Associates
P. O. Box 445
Cary, NC 27512
919-363-4068
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Articles about General Management by Dave Fellman

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Looking Back On 2009 To prepare for this article, I took an informal survey of 20 quick/digital/small commercial printers, asking them just three questions: (1) On a scale of 1-10, how successful was 2009? (2) On the same scale, how difficult was 2009? and (3) If you had it to do over again, would you do anything differently? The answers, I thought, were interesting. The point, or course, was how to use this knowledge to make 2010 a better year for everybody.

A Time For Heroes For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty… Those are the words that begin the modern citation for the Congressional Medal of Honor. I wrote this column because the printing industry could use some heroes at this particular point in time, when layoffs and closings are costing hundreds of industry employees their jobs. I was hoping to motivate some Sales Heroes to bring in enough business to save some of those co-workers' jobs!

Invisibility In a previous column, I wrote that a transparent selling strategy—one that a buyer can see right through—is a very good thing. Invisibility, though—not being seen at all!—is a very bad thing for a printing salesperson and for a printing company. How does a printing company become invisible? It starts with a reduction in marketing effort, and sadly, that's a very common occurrence when sales volume declines. Marketing is traditionally the first thing that gets cut when business slows down.

Getting in or Getting Out This is an updated version of an article I wrote in 1995. That one was about quitting or joining a franchise, and it was appropriate to a time when many of the original franchise agreements were running out. This one is about joining a franchise or quitting the business. It's about exit strategy, which many people are thinking about as the "graying" of the industry continues.

Comedy and Tragedy A sense of humor helps when times are tough, and the economy was definitely in tough shape when I wrote this. But the real question addressed in this column was whether to allow the economy to dictate whether you experience comedy or tragedy. The column focused on three product/service categories that I think provide real opportunity, in good times or bad: large format printing, database development and promotional products.

It Takes Focus To Be Customer-Driven I was asked recently to participate in a focus group of United Airlines customers, most of us in the high-mileage category. As I took part in the program, about half of me was thinking about my answers to the facilitator’s questions, and the other half was thinking about how to apply this strategy to a quick/digital/small commercial printer’s business. Your current customers, after all, are your best source of knowledge about what you’re doing well, what you’re not doing well, and what you could be or should be doing as well.

Copy This! I wrote this column after reading “Copy This!” by Paul Orfalea and Ann Marsh. Orfalea, of course, is the founder of Kinko’s, and Marsh is a freelancer who first met and wrote about him as a staff writer for Forbes magazine back in 1997. It’s an interesting story, containing “lessons from a hyperactive dyslexic who turned a bright idea into one of America’s best companies.” Most printers have their own opinion about whether Kinko’s is a great company, and I shared mine in this article. But like ‘em or not, there are lessons to be learned from Paul Orfalea and Kinko’s.

Use The Summer Months To Improve Your Operation This article describes an eight-week series of staff meetings intended to provide training and the development of better sales and customer service practices and procedures. For many quick/digital/small commercial printers, summer is a season for slacking off. Here’s a way to make the summer months—or whatever your slow months are—much more productive!

There's No Time Like The Present! There's an old saying-and I'm sure you've heard it before!-that failing to plan is exactly the same as planning to fail. This article will introduce you to 10 Planning Questions that can help you to set and then reach both your sales volume goals and your earnings goals.

Manage The Cost Of Quoting Every time you quote a job it costs you money. On the other hand, most of your customers and all of your prospects are going to want to see a quote before they give you an order. So how do you manage the cost of quoting? I think you start by recognizing that you don't want to quote on every job that you're invited to compete for. In fact, of the four possible situations that result in a quoting opportunity, I think you should only move forward on two of them. This article explains the how and why of that strategy.

Have You Ever Seen A Purple Cow? One of my clients asked me if I’d read the book about the Purple Cow. I hadn’t, but I ran a Google search and soon found myself reading an article in Fast Company magazine, adapted from the book Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Becoming Remarkable. The basic premise of both the article and the book is that “the one sure way to fail is to be boring (and) your one chance for success is to be remarkable.” Here’s what I think about “remarkable”—and also about something else the author wrote, describing his work as “a plea for originality, for passion, guts, and daring.” I think those four things have a definite place in your sales and marketing strategy.

Short Subjects As the name suggests, this column covers a number of subjects, including increasing your average order value, challenging a "happy with our current printer" prospect to think about just how happy they really are, building a "price concession" fund into your marketing budget, and using a "new customer appreciation package" as an enticement for people to start sending you orders.

A Proposal Regarding Your Quoting Strategy This article suggests two strategies: one for tracking month-to-month sales volume in uncertain time—like when sales volume swings wildly with little relationship to historical patterns—and the other for thinking in terms of a proposal rather than simply a price quote when you get that first opportunity to compete for an order with a prospect.

Bad Times Are Good Times Jimmy Buffett sings a song called "Desperation Samba." A lot of quick/small commercial printers are doing that dance in September 2003. The combination of a soft economy and the summer slump that many printing companies experience every year seems to be driving a lot of printers to desperate-and often destructive-measures. This article is about taking a step back and resisting the temptation to act in desperation. Yes, conditions in the marketplace can be difficult, but there are also significant opportunities out there for you in difficult times. In fact, bad times might actually be the best time to improve your business!

Will 2004 Be A Good Year? It's Really Up To You! Many quick/digital/small commercial printers arrived at the end of 2003 without much in the way of sales momentum, and that condition doesn't bode well for a sales-and profits turnaround in 2004. My objective for this column was to get people thinking about making good things happen in 2004.

New Employee Orientation The first days on the job provide an opportunity to get a new employee off to a good start...or a bad one.

Playing Defense Against Customer Loss Business success is a challenge of getting customers and keeping them, and keeping them doesn't happen automatically. A little bit of planning-and consistent execution-can help you to "lock in" your customers.

Setting Goals For Success If you don't set formal goals, you rob yourself of one of the most basic of all management success techniques.

History Lessons The end of one year and the beginning of the next tends to make people reflective. That makes it a good time for a printer to consider what went well-and what didn't! This article suggests a process of developing three lists to identify different types of problems

Surviving The Shake-Out For years, experts have been predicting a major shake-out in the printing industry, with a significant percentage of printers going out of business. It hasn't happened yet, and here are some of the reasons why...and some of what it will take to be a survivor if the big shake-out comes.

Self Fulfilling Prophecies Here's some advice on what to do if you feel like your back is against the wall.

Should You Work On Your Strengths, Or Your Weaknesses? Which is more important in developing a business plan, knowing what your strengths are, or what your weaknesses are?

The Best Printer In Town What factors would make one printer the best printer in town? Interviews with a number of printers-and a number of print buyers-answers that question.

Act Against A Summer Slump Does your shop tend to slow down in the summer? Here are five specific actions that can produce immediate sales volume when you need it most.

Time On Your Hands Not every printer is desperate for business in the summer, and a summer slowdown can also provide the time for longer-term programs. Here are a few ideas.

Product Knowledge It has never been harder to stay on top of product knowledge in the printing industry...and it has never been more important.

Partnering Possibilities Here's an article on practical applications of one of the "buzzwords" that has swept though the printing industry.

Name Changes Does your company's name project the image you want it to? And if not, how do you go about making a change.

Defining Good Customers A quick exercise can tell you how well your best customers match up to the definition of really "good" customers. This can be eye-opening!

What The Numbers Really Mean A straight-to-the-point analysis of industry sales growth information gained from The Crouser Report, and Quick Printing Magazine's Top 100 listing.

The Best Advice I Can Give You The best advice for almost every printer is to raise prices...right now! Here's why, and how!

Raise Prices Boost Profits! This is a follow-up article to "The Best Advice I Can Give You," written a few years later when the industry seemed to need a reminder.

Everybody Sells This is an article to share with every employee, because everyone in the printshop has a role to play in the sales effort.

Heres My Two Cents Worth A response to two articles which presented opposite viewpoint on brokering...from John Stewart and Cy Stapleton.

A Step-By-Step Guide To A Formal, Written Marketing Plan This is a "how-to" article...how to put together a real marketing plan which can help you reach the highest levels of success.

Its That Time Of Year An article on sales forecasting and budgeting...two of the essential skills in management.

Advertising... The Front End Of The Selling Process A general manager's perspective on what advertising can and can't do.

The Art Of Apology What should you do and say when a quality or service problem occurs. There's a right way and a wrong way to do everything.

Dealing With Problem Customers Every quick printer has at least a few good customers, but this article points out that there's really no such thing as a bad one. At least there doesn't have to be.

Making The Time...And Using It Wisely A discussion of time management technique, addressing one of the most difficult challenges most quick printing owner/salespeople face.

Partnerships Promote Profit You may not be part of a formal partnership in your business, but you are absolutely involved in a number of business partnerships, and the success of those partnerships has a lot to do with the overall success of your business.

Dont Tolerate Bad Behavior From Employees Or Customers! Far too many printers tolerate far too much bad behavior.from employees, customers and even suppliers. I think one of the secrets to success-and happiness!-in business today is to take action whenever you're not seeing the behavior you want.

A Hidden Sales & Marketing Asset I'm a strong believer in taking advantage of every sales and marketing asset. Here's one you may not have thought about recently...your shop itself! The building in which your company does business can be a significant sales and marketing asset, in four separate but inter-related ways.

Business Forms Distributors: Opportunity Or Threat? I read an interesting article in Business Forms, Labels & Systems magazine-one of two major trade magazines for the business forms segment of the graphic arts industry. The article was titled "Quick Printers: Opportunity or Threat?" Here's my response, which deals both with competing with business forms brokers and selling to them.

Changes In The Weather There's an old saying that "change" is the only constant in the world, and that's certainly true in the printing industry. This article details a couple of recent changes in the way things are being done in and around the industry, and what to do about them.

Hows Your Chicken Efficiency? While out on a sales call with a client, I spoke with a restaurant operator who was redesigning her "chicken efficiency" form. That got me thinking about the things that quick printers can track as a day-to-day means of measuring performance.

Do Customers Care About Printing Technology? Many printers love technology.hardware and software! But do customers care at all about the state-of-the-art in printing? I say they really care about four things: Done Right, On Time, No Unpleasant Surprises, and Works Like It's Supposed to.

Attitudes Are Contagious. Is Yours Worth Catching? There are far too many "unhappy" printshops in this industry where bad attitudes prevail. And more often than not, those bad attitudes are "caught" from others; either the owner or another employee. This article contains a list of the Top 10 Destructive Attitudes I see across the industry.

Getting In Or Getting Out The "traditional wisdom" expressed by many of the franchisees who leave their systems is that the franchise might have been important in getting them started, but after they "learned the business," the franchise became far less important. I think many franchisees "get out" for the wrong reasons, and I think some struggling independents ought to think about "getting in!"

Reaction Time: Lessons Learned From Graph Expo And A Few Hard Weeks On The Seminar Trail Graph Expo, held in 2000, was the largest printing industry trade show ever held in North America, and there was much to be learned there. This article also describes a few other things I learned during the summer of 2000 on the seminar trail.

A Few More Thoughts On Selling vs. Service And On Good Customers vs. Bad Ones This was a follow-up to a Sales Management article I wrote titled "The Difference Between Selling & Service." The original article prompted an interesting reply from a printing buyer, which I used as the focus of another lesson for modern printers.

Was It Murder Or Suicide? Do you have problems in your business which might require a professional "hit man" to kill? This article recounts a couple of horror stories, and offers some solutions.

Heres (Part Of) The Key To Happiness And Success In Quick Printing There are good customers and not-so-good customers out there, and having more of the former and less of the latter is a big part of the key to success-and happiness!-as a quick printer.

Whats In A Name There was a fair amount of talk about changing the name of the quick printing industry back in the early 90's-and that talk eventually resulted in a name-change for NAQP. I used my space in Quick Printing one month to offer my own comments on this subject.

The Leadership Challenge A lot has been written about various management styles. My feeling is that "leadership" simply represents the best possible style. This article describes several different kinds of leadership, and encourages you to maximize the one that you're most comfortable with.

Where Do Printers Fit On The Internet? The Internet is truly an amazing thing. From the news we here every day, it sure sounds like the Internet has created more millionaires in America than the lotteries, and it seems only natural that printers should want to get in on the fun. But where do printers really fit on the Internet?

Dealing With Quality And/Or Service Mistakes It's an unfortunate truth in the printing business that mistakes are going to happen. It's been said that Murphy's Law runs wild in a printshop, and that every job that comes into your shop is an accident looking for a place to happen. But you shouldn't be afraid of those situations, or look at them only as problems. I think you should look at them as opportunities to prove that you're willing to keep all those promises you've been making, and live up to the trust people put in you.

More Formulas For Success In an earlier article, I introduced Fellman's First Law of Good Behavior In The Printing Industry: GB = T > (D), or Good Behavior comes from Training reinforced by Discipline whenever necessary. In this one, I explain a few more formulas for success, including: E - T = C + UP, or Expectations without Training equals Confusion among your employees and Unsatisfactory Performance; and .Vi = Pp - BD, or the Initial Point of Value is equal to a Premium Price minus any Benefit Differential.

Outsmarted Or Outdumbed? I visited with a printer who has a scrap of paper tacked to the wall of his office which posed an interesting question. "Was I outsmarted," it asked, "or was he outdumbed?" This article deals with a couple of dumb attitudes that seem to be all too common in the printing industry.

Plan And Act Now To Make 2002 A Big Year! In December 2001-as we were approaching that unique point in the course of business where we tally up the operating results of one year and start another-I wrote about how what printers do over the next 4-6 weeks will have a lot to do with the results they see all through the year to come.

Meetings Of The Minds The prevailing wisdom in American "big" business is that too many companies hold too many meetings without getting too much of anything done. That viewpoint has been shared by a wide range of prominent business figures, from Tom Peters and Steven Covey to Mike Doonesbury and Dilbert. Having said that, though, I think quick/digital/small commercial printers probably don't hold enough meetings. And I think that's a significant contributing factor to the "communications gap" that keeps many printers from realizing their full profit potential.

Salesperson or Account Manager?   This column notes a trend in the industry toward integrating the sales and customer service functions, using "Account Managers" rather than "Outside Salespeople" to maintain assigned accounts and seek out new business opportunities, both within those assigned customer organizations and through some raw prospecting.

The Top 3 Ways To Lose Customers   Most of what I've written for Quick Printing over the years has been about gaining new customers, or maximizing the value of the customers you already have. This time, I wrote about losing customers-or at least about how printers seem to lose them far too often. What I'm hoping is that you'll see some of the things you may be doing-or not doing!-in this discussion, and that will help you to hang on to more of your current customers. Because one of the hard truths of this business is that gaining new customers doesn't help you to make money if you're losing them as fast as you gain them!

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If you have questions, comments-or a need for my products or services!-please don't hesitate to contact me. You can reach me by phone at 800-325-9634; by fax at 919-363-4069; or by e-mail at dmf@davefellman.com

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