Published Articles

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.

Published in: IPA Bulletin, January/February 2004

Provide Abundance of Opportunities

Business conditions continue to elevate organizations willing to recognize that no change occurs without creating new opportunities. For the organization willing to "look up" and proactively engage change, rewards can be significant.

Published in: PICA Scanner, January-February-March 2004

Customer service and proactive customer contact

Changing market conditions usually create opportunities for the supplier willing to implement change to capture new opportunities for additional business.

Published in: Georgia Printer, December 2003

Company Differentiation and Creating Perceived Customer Value are Organizational

To paraphrase Mark Twain, "Everyone wants progress; it's personal change they're against." This statement seems to best describe current conditions in the graphic arts industry.

To illustrate my point, I'd like to offer a scenario that far too many of us have experienced at one time or another. Imagine receiving an offer from a desirable Florida resort that clearly promotes a 60 percent room discount from normal rates.

Published in: IPA Bulletin, November/December 2003

Properly Implemented Are Not What They Appear

If you can't, as a supplier, make a positive contribution in your target customer's priorities, productivity, revenues, and objectives and goals, you may be pursuing the wrong profile account. Assigned sales representatives or customer service representatives should pursue understanding, "What are the sources of pain for this account? "

Published in: IPA Bulletin, September/October 2003

It Comes Before Technology & Equipment Strategies

There are a number of actions available for improving performance --- for increasing revenues and company performance. However, senior management commitment, leadership, and endorsement are critical to such initiatives, because any meaningful activity for business development that's not supported organizationally has elevated opportunity to fail, and thus create greater hurdles in the future for any "re-start" of such programs.

Published in: Georgia Printer, September 2003

Strategies for Successful Business Development

For too long, "proper social graces" and at least some semblance of experience have been the primary, if not central, criteria for selecting new sales reps --- though certainly proper dress codes and grammar have always been required. However, a new game has emerged and the state of business development in many graphic arts organizations is changing --- symptomatic of buyers' feedback that something more substantive is called for in the buyer/seller relationship. You see: It's not your grandfather's ball game anymore. Suppliers must realize that their once-familiar selling turf is changing and they have to adjust their game strategy if they are going to successfully develop new business in the future.

Published in: IPA Bulletin, July/August 2003

What Customers Need From Suppliers

Recent follow-up visits requested by several clients we had not seen in six to nine months left me "emotionally cold." Basic business development activities weren't being engaged with any sense of disciplined purpose or coordination.

These first-hand visits caused me to suspect that basic blocking and tackling isn't happening in many organizations. Examples include but aren't limited to:

Published in: Georgia Printer, July 2003

... A Necessity for Improved Future Performance

In today's fast-changing environment, there are several streams of information every company should pursue with the same diligence and zeal it might demonstrate for an equipment purchase, lower-cost purchasing, prompt invoicing or improved capture of production costs. The addition of a "Business Information Officer" to your staff can help ensure that your company keeps its eye on the future and its vision focused on effectively developing new business and maximizing productivity. This vital employee can provide new and useful ways of seeing, interpreting and doing what you need to do and, therefore, can have a profound effect on facilitating improvements throughout your organization.

Published in: IPA Bulletin, May/June 2003

A Position & Responsibility Whose Time Is Now

There are two strategic information streams that every company needs, yet tends to overlook and neglect --- until it's too late. Content from these two streams of information can contribute to practically every important decision a company makes, regardless of the organization's size, location, or market position. And without timely information from these two performance areas, any organization in our industry is doomed to eventual trouble.