A Nifty Little Door Opener...
March 27, 1996
When I go to trade shows I spend a great deal of my time looking for obscure
potential profit centers or ideas that the small to medium size printer can
take advantage of.
One nifty little item I ran into at the recent Atlanta Show was in Aaron
Hyte's EMA booth (Envelope Mart of Atlanta).
Down in the lower corner of Aaron's display of envelopes he produces was a
little 2.25x3.5 Tyvek envelope. Nope, it wasn't a floral envelope, but rather
a credit card protective envelope.
Some time back I received my updated American Express card in one of these
envelopes. I never thought much about it at the time, but for several years I
have kept my card in that little protective envelope. After literally
hundreds of times in and out of my wallet that little envelope is as good and
as servicable as it was the day I received it. It shows a little scuffing and
it's a little dirtier than it was the day I received it, but for all
practical purposes it is as good as new.
The envelope protects the magnetic stripe as well as keeping the card looking
like new.
Prospects are banks, credit unions, savings and loans, department stores that
have their own credit cards, country clubs, etc. It even is a pretty nice and
inexpensive ad specialty item that you could have your own imprint on and put
on your front counter for customers to pick up. Every time they use their
credit card your name is in front of them.
Rather than going into a potential customer's office and offering to quote on
whatever printing requirements they might have, go in with the idea of
presenting them with a new idea. Once you get your foot in the door, go after
the rest of their business.
If you would like to follow up on this, you can reach Aaron at (800)
347-7921, or fax him at (404) 355-4083. Tell him you heard about it from
Helene's Hotline.
Speaking of new ideas, many printers are familiar with the various companies
who offer newsletter shells that you can add your own name to and mail
monthly to your customers. My favorite one is one that I used off and on for
the over 35 years I had my own printing company, Printer's Idea Service
(PIS). In addition to the monthly newsletter PIS also includes in their
subscription camera ready art for a number of different items that you can
offer to your customers. The sale of a single one of these ideas will more
than pay for the monthly service. Some of the ones I have used over the years
that come to mind are: a little brochure for churches to give members the
opportunity to check off some things they would like to see the church get
involved in; a pocket size folder for gift shops or department stores to give
to their male customers so they can keep a record of their loved one's sizes;
boilerplate ads for various service companies; and more, and more, and more.
After being a subscriber for several years you will have a very nice
collection of things that you will find is exactly right for that particular
customer. The thing I liked best about PIS is that while the ideas they offer
are timely, they are also not timely. In other words, there were occasions
when I went back to artwork I received from them 25 years ago and used that
artwork to open the door to a new account.
You can go into a customer and tell them that you want to quote on their
printing requirements or you can go in with a new idea. I think that Dave
Fellman, our industry's sales guru, would agree that the right new idea will
go much further in helping you capture that new account and endear you to
your existing accounts.
Printer's Idea Service can be contacted at (402) 558-6133 or by fax at (402)
558-0017. Their address is 2106 Military Ave., Omaha, NE 68101.
Til next time...
God bless you and yours... cy
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Date inserted: Tuesday, March 30, 1996 4:01:11