Time For A Tune-Up

Published in: Georgia Printer, March 2004

Your business' engine is running now, but can it stand up to attempt to climb the mountain of success? New road conditions, or changing market conditions as it were, usually create opportunities to capture new business --- that is for companies willing to implement changes in their "tried-and-true" or at least "seemingly functional" approaches to business. But, whether you're in need of a simple tune-up or a major engine overhaul, new opportunities to capture additional business are out there, and you should go after them. This article outlines four areas that call for change.

STRUCTURE DRIVES PERFORMANCE

Our consulting firm was recently asked by a client to help examine their personnel and resources in order to support a major new investment in technology for variable color imaging and personalization.

While interviewing key personnel, we realized that an almost total lack of formal structure existed. Nearly everyone in the organization --- other than the president --- was involved in a frustrating, daily duplication of efforts. And, too often, execution was not happening as needed nor as expected.

Subsequently, we initiated a process for developing written position descriptions in addition to procedures for the most basic tasks that were causing frustration, waste and miscues. To foster an atmosphere of continuous improvement in the midst of significant challenges that required change, we also initiated bi-weekly luncheons to focus exclusively on:

• identifying what's going well
• identifying what needs to be improved, and
• determining who is responsible for drafting a plan to address what needs to be improved on each of these issues.

Finally, relentless follow-up is part of the formula for any organization's improved performance. (Note: To date, no personnel have been replaced. However, some duties have been changed in order to place the right people in the right positions.) Remember: Structure drives performance, and too many organizations lack adequate or correctly positioned structure.

PROACTIVE CUSTOMER CONTACT AND SERVICE

Most graphic arts organizations have a customer list of hundreds of accounts. Yet, most customer contact personnel (i.e., CSRs and sales reps) understandably give most of their time and attention to those customers who call them most often. But, where does that leave your "under-appreciated" accounts?

Over recent years, numerous customer surveys indicate that many, if not most, customers give their graphic arts suppliers less than 100 percent of their business. Converging with this observation is the fact that most graphic arts organizations have swings in their work loads --- with the first two weeks of each month predictably having less work than the last two weeks. Finally, in today's market of compressed time schedules, most print buyers rely on the loyal CSR to manage day-to-day communications.

Given these circumstances, imagine the business opportunities available if CSRs would initiate a process of systematically and proactively contacting those accounts that are generally neglected. While this type of contact can surely improve these customers' preference for your organization, moderate negotiations and courteous follow-up can certainly lead to additional business being produced when you need it most --- in the early weeks of each month.

To tune up your customer service and contact, create a schedule that outlines who will make the calls and which clients should be called. To boost success, role play various scenarios of what the CSR should say to customers they don't talk to very often. For instance: "We've not heard from your company, and realized that we should have called you." Or you might say, "The items you bought from us over the last year included ..."

Merely calling on neglected accounts can create opportunities for additional business. You'll help your customer understand that his / her business is important. Plus, you'll help your company keep its revenues up and its costs down. When monitoring this activity, be sure to count progress and successes, rather than negative responses.

UPDATE YOUR MAILING LIST

With customer organizations downsizing, the person who buys print (often it's multiple personnel) may have a wide range of titles. That person, regardless of their position, is often less familiar with print and graphic arts, and is therefore dependent on other key positions for advice, recommendations and even the "final decision" of which printer to choose. To complicate matters, buyers also have less time available to see sales reps from prospective suppliers --- making it increasingly more difficult for print organizations to develop new accounts.

To rev up a steady stream of new business, concentrate on keeping your company's customer mailing list updated. Work to ensure this list specifically includes the "enlarged buying center" personnel of target customers and prospects (i.e., others in the company who may buy print or influence the buying decision). These key personnel can be critical in invisible ways --- such as recommending your company for a project or even suggesting your company receive a call for suggestions and ideas to solve a problem the account is experiencing.

To "test" your mailing list, examine how many of your target customers' or prospects' companies only have one name representing them. Such occurrences indicate a failure to recognize that the "enlarged buying center" should be engaged through your company's promotional efforts.

To support your all-important self-promotion efforts, work to ensure your company's self-promotion pieces truly represent your company's market differentiation, and that target prospects are in alignment with your company's strategy for new account development. If there's little in writing regarding your company's direction or market strategy, ask that it be developed; then use it.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

There's a day-to-day opportunity that's available to every organization that is almost always underutilized: systematic education and training --- in every department, but particularly in customer contact positions. To support this statement, let's do an informal audit.

How many times in just the last month were:

• Quotes late to customers? Quote requests incomplete for lack of needed information?
• Ship-to information incomplete? Ship-to information and "carrier-to-use" instructions not followed? Ship-to information late getting to your bindery?
• Electronic files handed off to your prepress department without supporting documentation or an office-copy printout of what was on the files?
• Invoices late getting out?
• Invoices requested by customers (because they were late)?
• Customer bills "re-invoiced" because of inadequate or incorrect information?
• Customer requests not responded to positively?
• Customer calls not returned in less than one hour?
• Outside suppliers not engaged for, "What should be different and better next time that we can discuss with the buyer?"
• Important supplier information not passed on to customer contact personnel?
• Important samples of unique jobs not discussed and explained to key customer contact personnel?
  
• Opportunities to differentiate your company not explained or used with customers and prospects?
• Your all-important mailing list for self-promotion not updated?

Certainly, resources need to be in place to support performance. But, too many times execution is less than what it should be and an examination of the facts reveals not a lack of good people, but rather a lack of understanding and clarity of what should be done.

START YOUR ENGINES!

It's time to rev up those engines! Sit down and reflect on:

1. Restructuring your company to: take advantage of personnel strengths, rid yourself of duplicated efforts, and qualify your expectations for different positions, departments, etc.
2. Proactively contacting and serving your "under-appreciated" accounts to drive new business and fill downtime.
3. Updating your mailing list to include everyone in your customers' and prospects' companies who influence print buying decisions.
4. Conducting a formal audit to identify educational opportunities in areas where your employees need to improve perform and then granting them that training.

Make changes and then start climbing the mountain of success!