Most mistakes that we make in the normal course of business are not killers. And that’s a good thing of course. If most of the mistakes we made were killers, we wouldn’t be around to learn from them.

As a matter of fact, since most of our mistakes (squids) are not killers, our survival lulls us into a sense of complacency and acceptance. We make a mistake and we think, “well, the last mistake/series of mistakes didn’t hurt us all that much, so let’s just put this behind us as fast as we can and get on with the rest of our lives.”

That’s a dangerous mindset and one of the reasons why I wrote Killer Squids. Your complacency/accepting mindset of your mistakes can be fatal in the long term. As Bob Newhart would say, “Stop it!”

But some mistakes can kill you. Some mistakes are so big and so bad and the consequences so dire…there are Killer Squids.

I extended credit to a friend who was starting a business. Over the objections of my long-suffering wife, I allowed him to rack up bills of $20,000. When his house of cards came crashing down, we were stuck with big paper bills and labor costs. This was not a killer squid, but it could have been. The loss was great enough that it jeopardized our ability to stay in business.

My takeaways from this Squid?

1. Listen to your wife.
2. Don’t let friendship cloud your judgment when it comes to extending credit.
3. Don’t extend too much credit to start-ups.
4. Don’t let anyone go past a pre-determined amount of credit. Limit your potential losses.
5. Have your credit policies in place before you encounter a problem.
6. Know your policies and stick to them no matter what.

These are the lessons I learned (I hope).

This was not a Killer Squid, but it could have been. And there are mistakes that you can make that will kill your business, or your job.

I remember well a Killer Squid that took out a client of mine. Sad.

It was a big project for us; the client requested a bid for scanning and printing a 500 page book; the quantity was 2000. We won the bid and started scanning the pages. Early on in the scanning process, our production expert came to me and said, “hey Kevin, this project is not 500 pages…it’s 500 sheets, front and back. It’s actually 1000 pages.

Uh oh. Our client did not know the difference between pages and sheets. Of course when you are dealing with a 1,000 page book vs a 500 page book, the price is going to go up, a lot.

We quickly communicated the problem and a new quote back to our client, and then it went quiet. Real quiet. Crickets.

But the deadline was fast approaching, and still we heard nothing. We knew our price was good and we were prepared to proceed (not many other printers could knock this job out fast enough), and our client was in a bad situation. And so, our client authorized us to proceed.

We finished the project on time and on the newly approved budget, but our client lost her job. Painful. Killer Squid.

Takeaways?

1. Double check your specifications.
2. Understand the jargon of the industry.
3. Slow down and think through ramifications of not understanding all the specs before you begin.

Please see the previous blog post where I introduced two key decisions that were formative in our rolling out a “one-stop shop” destination for our customers.

These two decisions were to add Direct Mail and then Signs; one decision was made in the crucible; one decision was made in the timing.

This post covers two more key decisions that helped us become a “one-stop shop” destination.

This decision was made by our clients

I highly recommend peer groups. I used to be a cowboy. I thought I could figure it out all on my own, and I enjoyed trying to figure it all out on my own. But eventually I came to the end of myself and started asking for help. When I started asking for help, I realized the beauty of “the pool of shared meaning.”

Peer groups expand the “pool of shared meaning” and help you see your problems/opportunities from new perspectives.

It was in one of my peer groups that it dawned on me that we absolutely had to offer website creation and management to our clients. Even though I had heard my clients ask over and over for websites, it was not until my friends in my peer group hammered me that I finally got it.

The next decision was made in the personnel

We have wanted to offer marketing services to our clients for years. Such a natural extension for us. We have worked with over 5,000 different small businesses since 1966, and we’re a small business ourselves. We’ve seen ‘em come and we’ve seen ‘em go. We’re blessed to still be here!

We knew we could offer marketing services, but we were all so busy with design, direct mail and printing that we couldn’t prioritize them. So, when the timing was just right, two key persons joined our team, and we were off to the races. These key individuals were knowledgeable and dedicated to helping our clients.

These four decisions; to add direct mail, signs, websites and marketing services helped us become a truly a “one-stop shop” destination for our clients.

Just about everybody, right? That’s what we thought too, and the answer to “Who Wants to Save Money, Time and Hassle?”

I can’t say that we were able to accomplish this from day one. We just didn’t have the expertise or the money to roll out a fully formed “one-stop shop” destination for our customers back in 1966.

But I think we’re pretty close now. We haven’t “arrived” that’s for sure. But if our clients need marketing/design/print/digital/mail/sign integration…we’re there.

As I reminisce on 51 years of family business, there are two key decision points that defined our pursuit of the “one-stop shop” destination.

This decision was made in the crucible

One key decision point was 1996. We decided to go all-in on Direct Mail in October of this pivotal year. This decision was made in the crucible. We had printed well over a million direct mail pieces for the 96 campaign and I had trusted a friend to do the direct mail processing and get them all in the mail stream.

I was in the middle of my unsuccessful State Senate race at this point, and my friend called with some really bad news; he couldn’t get all of the mail done in time. One thing is for real about political printing; limited shelf life. The mail has to be in the mailbox BEFORE election day or it’s worse than worthless.

By the end of that difficult Monday, I had moved over 1,000,000 pieces of printing to three different mail houses in the Nashville area, and I had decided “never again.” Never again would I send mail to mail houses that may or may not meet my client’s deadlines.

Even in this difficult situation, we made all of our deadlines, and we were in the direct mail business.

The next decision was made in the timing

Another key decision point was 2015. We decided to go all-in on Signs. How did this happen? We had puttered around with sign making for years, but in 2015, our Sign Guru showed up on our doorstep. He was more than ready to join our team, and we were more than ready to welcome him!

So, the decisions to add Direct Mail and then Signs were key to our becoming a truly “one-stop shop” for our clients. One decision was made in the crucible; one decision was made in the timing.

Years ago, I launched a new business that just about everyone told me wouldn’t make it. Eventually, “everyone” was right. The business lasted 6 years, had increasing sales every year, but I shut it down when the first waves of the Great Recession washed up on our beach.

There were many reasons why the business didn’t make it, and the difficulty of making the double sale was a major contributor.

What’s a double sale? It’s easier to explain than define, so here goes. If you’re selling cars and your potential customers don’t even know they want or need a car, you’re trying to make a double sale. If you start with selling a car, you may indeed “sell” them on your car, and you will have made the second part of the sale. But then you have to go back and “sell” them on having a car in the first place.

A lot of sales efforts break down at this point.

Or, you could sell them on having a car (so far, so good!). But then a world of opportunity opens up and your potential client realizes that there are a lot of cars out there for sale. You’ve sold them on buying a car (first sale); but then you have to convince them that your car is the best for them (second sale).

Even more sales efforts break down at this point.

I’m not offering any solutions to the double sales difficulty; I’m just pointing out how hard it is to make the double sale. It is helpful to the sales professional if he or she realizes that they are in a double sale situation.

First step in making the double sale? Realizing that you’re in a double sales situation.

Good public relations do not equal good marketing. They are related, but one is not the other. Marketing is the process of wooing your customers to buy from you. PR (Public Relations) is talking to others about your service, products, or industry.

WARNING; It’s not your sales pitch; it’s a conversation, verbal or written, as a guest on someone else’s established platform. It can be one of the most powerful tools in your overall marketing strategy because being a guest is a great endorsement of you and shows you are a trusted expert.

Marketing strategies are different than public relations strategies. Marketing strategies tend to send press releases to local or national media in hopes that someone will call for an interview. Public relations strategies mean skipping the “send and wait” mentality and, instead, getting out there and getting active.

To get active, know who to call and target them directly. Remember, your endgame is a public conversation with their audience. Be willing to be quoted and willing to talk on camera. Then, they’ll think of you first when they’re doing a story where you can help “dramatize” their point. Marketing and PR are similar in one respect: they both require you to think about your first step and then take it.

PR Tips:

•  TIP 1: Pitch the right person. Find out who books guests or does stories related to your industry, etc.

• TIP 2: Engage with the editors. The person with the final say can encourage their writers/hosts to use you as the go-to expert.

• TIP 3: Follow up. Return calls and emails, and don’t wait to be contacted. Remind them you are here.

For more information contact us at (615) 893-4290 or info@waxfamilyprinting.com

Make your message magnetic—literally! Magnets are a powerful way to make your message stick. There are thousands of ideas for using magnetic marketing.

Sports:

Hand out the schedule for your local sports team on a magnet with your logo at the top!

Food:

From kitchen weight-and-measure conversions to nutrition recommendations, there are many ways your name can be a permanent fixture on any refrigerator. Think about what “sticks.”

Home and Garden:

Garden tips and home-improvement checklists are great resources you can give away.

For more information contact us at (615) 893-4290 or info@waxfamilyprinting.com

Did you know that most first-time callers to your business initially went to your website to find answers to their customer service-related questions? We live in a visual world. You may have a page of FAQs on your website, but is that enough for everybody? Many people need to “see” it to understand it. Why not put your answers on video?

Make quick, two-to-three-minute videos explaining the answers to the most asked questions. Start the video with something like: “Many people have asked us recently: how does…?” By starting with the simple question, you’ll know what to show specifically in your video.

Your call volume may go down and website visits may go up. The good news is customers are finding the answers they need, in a format they can easily consume.

For more information contact us at (615) 893-4290 or info@waxfamilyprinting.com

Some SQUIDS (S=Safety issue, Q=Quality problem, U=Unusual situation, I=Income costing, or D= Delivery) are hard to see because we don’t own up to them. Or maybe other team members around us won’t own up to them.

Why don’t we see our mistakes? Pride. Complacency. Inattention to detail. The list could go on and on. Sometimes we even cover up our mistakes intentionally. How many times have I walked through the production area of our shop and seen a print job in the recycle bin? Didn’t know anything about that squid, but sure enough, somebody else did and “hid” it in the bin.

But I’m not talking about the mistakes we know about, and then won’t acknowledge. I’m talking about those squids that we don’t readily see. There is a whole class of squids that lurk in the dark shadows that we don’t even know are there.

Former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfield famously said, “There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.”

So, now we’re talking about “known unknowns” and “unknown unknowns.”

I’ll give you a couple of examples.

Our multi-talented sign guy was on vacation. We are not adequately cross-trained in that department, so wouldn’t you know it, here comes a nice sign order. This order was a bit unusual in that it was more complicated than normal. But we had produced this very job many times before.

We simply weren’t ready. So, we jobbed out this job to a friendly sister company. We cleared a couple hundred dollars, when we normally would have cleared somewhere near six to seven hundred.

Some would say, “where’s the squid here?” We got the job, we farmed it out, the customer is happy…” what’s the harm; what’s the foul?”

On the surface, this is all true. But the hidden squid is in what we lost. We lost the opportunity to make a better profit. The team lost the opportunity to be challenged with a difficult job when our lead sign guy was out. Lost opportunities are hidden squids. They must be acknowledged and learned from.

So, what did we do going forward? We did write up the Squid; we did discuss what we would do differently.

The biggest takeaway from this squid was that we simply were not ready for anyone in a key role to take a vacation, get sick, or simply be away from the office for a few days for any personal reason. This is not healthy.

So, we have to cross train vigorously.

The problem with a hidden squid is that you might not even know what hit you. So, make sure you spend time looking for the hidden squids.

For more information contact us at (615) 893-4290 or info@waxfamilyprinting.com

 

Growing a business requires laser like focus and attention to detail. One of those details, is assessing what your competition is doing and how much of a threat they are to your company. Here are a few ways you can keep your edge in a competitive market.

·       Know the competition – Put on your best PI costume and take a look at what your competition is doing in person and online. How do their sales associates interact, how are they greeting people, is information easy to find, how hard is it to checkout, etc.  If you aren’t comfortable doing this, ask a close friend or family member to do it for you. Then compare notes and see where you could improve your own procedures.

·       Connect with leaders – You can learn a lot about what is happening in your industry by following industry leaders on social platforms and in LinkedIn communities. Connecting with like-minded individuals could create relationships that help connect you to new partners and customers.

·       Step up your marketing – Make more effort to tell people who you are, what you sell and why they should buy from you. It doesn’t have to be expensive; marketing can range from posters in your window and leaflet drops to Facebook ads and website enhancements.

·       Look after your existing customers – They will be your competitors’ target market. Provide better customer service by being more responsive to their needs and expectations. If feasible, consider offering low-cost extras such as improved credit terms, discounts or loyalty programs – remember, it’s cheaper and easier to keep customers than to find new ones.

If you need help with any of the above items, we’re happy to help! Give me a call at 615-893-4290 to talk more about it.