From: TomCrouser@aol.com
Date: Mon, 23 Sep 1996 13:48:06 -0400
Subject: Pricing Preflight TIME$ and More
Content-Length: 19515
X-UIDL: 843503859.001

Crouser Report OnLine Copyright 1996 Thomas P. Crouser, September 23, 1996 -
Material may not be reproduced in whole or in part without prior written
consent of the copyright holder.
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
If you are located within a 6 hour drive of Jacksonville, Florida and aren t
doing as well as you should, then message me with your name, address and
telephone. I am tenatively planning a special group project this winter for
six selected companies. See Success Stores at the end of this message.
***** ***** *****
Pricing Preflight TIME$ and More
Transmitted from Folkston, Georgia. . .thirty miles from Cumberland Island,
the site of the JFK, Jr. wedding yesterday. No, I wasn t invited.
*****
Index: This week our letters are about: Charging For Preflight TIME$; Air-Cond
itioning the PRESS room; who CALLS the customer when there is a problem; More
On OCE; Another idea on OLD Software; Thoughts on FLOODGATE; Employee COUNT
Method for sizing up competitor s sales; and Success STORIES, a review of how
eight companies involved in our Pittsburgh Performance Group are faring.
*****
Subj:	Charging for Preflight TIME$
From:	Boeing
To: 	TomCrouser

Dear Tom. . . Have been enjoying your online column. I need to be directed to
some discussion about the dollar value of time spent pre-flighting customer
files. Or training/consulting them so as to get some usable output in order
to proceed with their printing project. Billing that time as press time might
be a little steep. However, a value higher than desktop
publishing/typesetting time, is indicated. Informal, yet very specific,
training in deadline time, has to be worth something. The task then,
regardless of that dollar value, is to convince the customer that this time
and knowledge does have value. If they do not see that, then they will
continue to wander around until someone gives their time away for nothing.
Where do we start? Keep up the good work! David
*****
Hum. I dunno. Many service bureaus pre-flight larger files as a normal
procedure and include that in their 

normal price

 just as many of us include
proofreading as necessary. I am responding to this as I sit during a break in
our Performance Group meeting in Pittsburgh and many of the printers here
feel pre-flighting is as much a normal part of the job as marking up the
customer s copy (marking it as to what typestyles, sizes, etc.) would be. So,
let s hear from everyone else. Whatcha think?
*****
Subj:	Air-Conditioning The PRESS Area
From:	HotNSticky
To: 	TomCrouser@aol.com

Dear Mr. Crouser. . .We operate 4 single color machines and our press area
has an average relative humidity of 85%.  I read somewhere that print shops
should maintain the relative humidity at 55-60%. Is this the general rule?
Sometimes we get jobs that require multiple passes. When the weather suddenly
changes from sunny to rainy or vice versa, we encounter problems which we
assume to be due to paper expansion or shrinkage. Will air-conditioning solve
this problem? Assuming the plant is air conditioned, will there be a need to
put an exhaust system to remove the ink odor? I hope you could help me.
Thanks,
*****
Air conditioning will help you a lot but the central problem is humidity
control. In fact, Walter Carrier actually invented air conditioning trying to
solve humidity problems in a Philadelphia print shop many, many years ago. A
dehumidifier or two will be a good start at a low price and the discharge is
distilled water which can be used to mix with fountain solutions. However,
there is a second problem. A print shop without air conditioning (assuming
you are in a locale which warms up in the summer) is not acceptable when in
competition for workers. The last time I was in a serious print shop without
air conditioning was probably twenty years ago (letterpress shop with less of
a need for it.). As for an exhaust, all air handling systems need an exhaust
and an intake (otherwise you die when the oxygen is gone). The question, I
believe, is the number of times the air is completely 

turned over

 which
relates to some other factors. Anyway, that s about all I remember of my Air
Conditioning and Refrigeration training at Shepherd Air Force Base in Wichita
Falls, Texas. Anyway, get some professional advice. It s the humidity
control. Happy Trails. Tom
*****
Subj:	Who CALLS The Customer When There Is A Problem?
From:	Hudson Printer
To:	      TomCrouser

Tom. . .We had a job in house about a week and everything was on schedule.
Then the collator went down and we needed one more day. Should production
(via our customer service person) call the customer or should the salesman
who took in the order call?
*****
The person responsible for all conditions of the job after the job has been
accepted into production, is the production manager. Generally, the
production manager would do any notification required (through, for instance,
the customer service representative), or he may contact the outside
salesperson to make the customer contact if time permitted. However, the
production manager is responsible for making and meeting all customer
commitments and would, in short, do whatever contact with the customer that
was required in order to keep that commitment. In some cases the salesperson
may prefer to make the contacts with the customer and that s fine as long as
it doesn t do harm to the customer. Good luck, Tom
*****
Subj:	More On OCE
From:	averil@legendcomm.com (Averil Strauss)
To:       TomCrouser@aol.com

We have a customer in the UK (Northern Telecom) who runs 2 large
Oce printers. The head of their Technical Writing dept. seems very satisfied
with them and since he loves our imposition software, his judgment must be
sound! So far as I can gather, the performance is similar, at least as much
alike as DocuTech and Lionheart.

Averil, Legend Communications, Inc.
Makers of PostScript and Imposition Software
http://www.legendcomm.com
*****
Subj:	Even More On OCE
From:	KDLatOptim
To: 	TomCrouser

One of our customers bought Oce copiers to do their in-house copying. Since
the Oce does not fuse the toner onto the paper, when they tried to run
copies, as is sometimes done, through their laser printers 
afterwards, the toner came off in the laser printer, making a mess. People
who get Oce should remember that there will be things they used to do on
their fuser process copiers that can t be done on the Oce and keep another
copier around for those things.
Kathryn Lauricella, Optima Print & Copy
*****
Subj:	OLD Software
From:	gt@ht.is (Gestur Traustason)
To:	      TomCrouser@aol.com

As a consultant I have often been asked the question about old jobs and how
to charge customers for work due to alterations, new software and so on. My
advice has always been more hard-line than my customers want, but hey, such
is life!

When you go to a restaurant you order a meal: you don t ask how it is made
and what ingredients are in it. You are not purchasing meat, salt, pepper,
potatoes etc., but a steak-meal. The same goes for printing. The customer is
not real paying for the film, plates work etc., but for the finished product
unless otherwise specified. It is of no concern for him what tools you use
and how you achieve the final end, as long as he gets what he ordered and is
happy with it. Therefore changes are really a new job-order. You can hardly
charge for design work again, but all the time it takes to redo the job is
fair.

What if this was not a simple form but a 10MB file, and the customer had
several dozen like it on your computers. Who will pay for the necessary
storage medium for these files that MIGHT be used in the future? What if the
job was done on a long recycled image setting system?

It is your privilege whether you charge the customer for this work or not. A
good customer might get this for FREE to keep his business. You also have
some options to increase the services you offer, such as offering storage of
old jobs. By offering this service and charging for it you are possibly
accepting the responsibility you already think you have of keeping old jobs,
but getting money for it. It also leaves you a free hand if a customer that
did not want storage want a slight change some time later.

I marked the word FREE specially because I believe that it should not exist
in the printers vocabulary. Even when you do give something away, such as the
above service, make sure the recipient knows he is getting the bonus. Make
sure YOU know the value of what you are giving him, and the value of the
businesses he is bringing you. Include the FREE item on the invoice, but
deduct it with a discount. That way, you make sure the purpose of the FREE
item is reached; the customer feels special, is happy with the price and you
are not loosing money. Finally, thanks for a great column. 

Gestur Traustason
Heimilistaeki hf, Saetuni 8
108 Reykjavik, Iceland
*****
Thanks, Gestur. I like your style. Here s another view.
*****
Subj:	Jobs Created In OLD Software and More
From:	SaveIt
To: 	TomCrouser

I believe that New in Jersey is taking a short sided view. When he took the
original job, he was offering a product with a residual life, including the
ability to revise. By now telling the client that due to a change the PRINTER
made in software, he is holding the client responsible for a decision totally
beyond his control. This is an invitation for the client to find a new
vendor.

With the availability of  mega-disks such as Syquest, Bernoulli 230, and the
new Jaz, it doesn t seem unreasonable for the vendor to save these software
programs for just this purpose. At a time in the future where the revisions
are major, the vendor could use that opportunity to upgrade to the THEN
current house standard software. The client ultimately doesn t care what
software is used, just the product produced.
*****
Hummm. I think the customer is buying brochures, invoices, etc. and I am not
sure we are offering a product with a residual life, including the ability to
revise. However, I certainly agree with your comments on storage mediums
being available and the fact the customer s focus is on the product not the
process.
*****
And, now about FLOODGATE. Steve has some definite opinions.
*****
Subj:	Junk Fax is a NO NO, something crooks do.
From:	SteveW21
To: 	TomCrouser

Tom. . .About Floodgate, and Bulk Email. Floodgate is a hacker tool, that can
harvest email addresses from AOL, mainly, but other online services too.  It
will be disabled soon, I expect.  The problem is that bulk EMAIL, also known
as SPAM, is against AOL s policy, and they ll cancel your account in a
heartbeat if caught.  Also, it s probably a violation of the junk fax law,
and if not, it will be soon.  So, the penalty for sending SPAM will be at
least $500 per recipient.  

Anyway, don t you think the advertiser should pay for their own advertising,
rather than shifting the cost to someone else (AOL, their internet provider,
or the recipient)? No, Tom, sending Spam is unethical, and NOBODY should buy
anything from such creeps.  Can you believe some people send THREE MILLION
PIECES per week!  It s not like junk mail you can just throw away.  The
sender has to pay the Post Office to deliver it.  With email, the recipient
(us) has to pay for the AOL time to receive, and the overhead for the mail
server to forward it.  Then the time to delete it. Something crooks do.  Not
honest people.  Just like JUNK FAX.
*****
Okay. Junk email and the sending of SPAM is bad. And thanks for the
clarification of the use for FLOODGATE. That said, I still think building an
email list of your customers and providing them with some sort of newsletter
can be beneficial. In fact, that s what we essentially do with the Crouser
Report OnLine. Let s hear from Hotline Cy on the software itself.
*****
Re: 	FLOODGATE
From:	Hotline Cy
To: 	TomCrouser

Tom...I ve got a lot of experience with Floodgate and while it has a few


ups

, there are many more 

downs.

 It s great for those who want to send
tens of thousands of messages in a shotgun approach - like multiple
marketing, etc., however I seriously question whether it is the best approach
for what I am doing - attempting to reach printers who might be interested in
a somewhat informative free newsletter. Snip Hope all is going well with
you... Cy Stapleton
*****
Subj:	Employee COUNT Method?
From:	Designo B
To: 	TomCrouser

Tom. . .I read an article recently in the Quick Printing magazine. (I think
you wrote it) that mentioned you can estimate how much printing is available
in an area by 

the employee count method.

 Do you have any articles
explaining this? or is it so simple that you could explain briefly? 
*****
Think I Wrote IT???? You are supposed to ASSUME I wrote it unless proven
otherwise. I m kidding. Yes, I mentioned it. Glad to see someone read it.
It s pretty simple. Many of us are familiar enough with our competitors to
have an idea of how many people work there (about half of them!. . .
.alright. . . .focus, focus, focus). Check out an industry survey such as
those published by the National Association of Quick Printers. For instance,
a very high average would be $100,000 per employee.

So, one way to estimate the high volume for other shops in your market area
is to consider $100,000 per employee and just count the number of workers in
each shop. Then you may modify this estimating depending upon the type of
shop and your knowledge, again using industry standards such as what is
available through the National Association of Quick Printers, etc.

Once you have sized all of the shops, then you have an idea what the size of
the commercial market is in your area. That s about it. Let me know if you
still have questions and thanks for reading the Quick Printing magazine
column. The editors are convinced only my family members read it.
*****
Real Success STORIES

Before we head off into the sunset, I want to share with you some of the real
successes in our industry (not to be confused with the chest puffery of many
down at the trade show). Too many times, I think, I tend to write of the
horror stories or the difficult problems and ignore the successes. Well, as
in all of our Performance Groups, I handed out performance awards Saturday in
Pittsburgh. And, while I m very familiar with everyone s hard work, even I
was impressed when I stepped back and looked at this group s achievements.
Here are some of the results.
 
Sales: One has sales up 20% in 1996; another has a three year sales average
increase of 25%; and another 21% for three years. I sort of don t want to
mention the couple who has had sales increases of 70% because that would be
unbelievable. Well, perhaps you might believe one year, but this is an
average for three years. Yes, in 1993, their sales were $400 thousand and
they will finish this year at about $1.3 million. Those are the high
achievers. Three others have very respectable 7%, 9% and 10% increases for
1996.

Before someone asks, 

Yea, but does that mean they re making money?

 Let me
say, 

Yes, thank you very much.

 Our sales champ is headed for 20% income
before owner s comp or $200,000 plus. Some of the others include: one at 25%
owner s compensation on $600.000 or $150,000; another 17% on $700,000+ or
about $119,000; another 18% on $600,000 or $108,000; another is making
$100,000 or 10% which is a drop from the $200,000 range last year because of
overhead resulting from an additional start up.

Three others were in slightly different results. One had a 3% increase in
sales but has shed expenses significantly to go from a negative cash flow to
positive which allows them to safely maintain their $100,000 a year draw from
the shop. 

Another is through the really hard part of their metamorphous. They have
dropped from $700,000+ in sales and making no significant money ($30-$40,000
a year) to $400,000 and still making the same insignificant money. But, along
the way, $300,000 of yogurt printing was dumped (eat a lot of it, but nothing
sticks), systems have been streamlined (stopped doing paperwork which didn t
matter), got out of the trinket business (rubber stamps and stuff taking huge
amounts of time with no profit), the owner is now in control (one gut
wrenching personnel 

transition

 of the printer s right hand person who
isolated and insulated the owner from everyone and everything else), the
remaining crew is charged and the owner is doing significant work instead of
spending ivory tower time. I predict they will now kick butt in what we call
the blossoming stage. 

And one shop is in the awakening stage. Still, they have a 7% 1996 sales
increase, but are not making significant money, yet. They re in the awakening
and implementing stages of the program.

Sales up, net income generally good. So, how about their strength ratios?
Over a one to two year period, ALL have current ratio improvements (current
assets divided by current liabilities). In fact, the AVERAGE current ratio
went from 1.5 to 2.1 within twelve to eighteen months. Additionally, all
current ratios went up. NONE went down. Some had spectacular performance: 0.7
up to 1.1 and 1.6 to 2.9. One even went from 0.6 in 1994 to 1.3 in 1995 to
2.7 today. Some stayed strong such as the 3.3 to 3.3. That s performance.

Well, there they are. Eight companies in our Pittsburgh group who come from
all over the country. They are dedicated to increasing their performance and
they have done so. I, nor my staff, claim any responsibility for the
accomplishments. Those accomplishments belong to the printers who did it. We
have had the privilege of working with these printers and helping them apply
proven principles and techniques which pay off.

Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Eight and especially to their mentor, Keith
Einstein, Einstein Printing of Dallas, Texas. Our mentors are printers, too,
who work with me in helping the group participants prosper. As for everyone
else. . .truthfully, I just hope you don t have to compete with any of these
guys.

For a confidential discussion on your shop and whether participation would be
appropriate for you, please message me with your name, address and telephone.
We will be glad to chat with you. 

If you are located within a 6 hour drive of Jacksonville, Florida and aren t
doing as well as you should, then message me with your name, address and
telephone. I am tenatively planning a special group project this winter for
six selected 

emerging

 companies in addition to our normal work load.
Companies do not have to be 

successful,

 be making money or, for that
matter, have a lot of money. An alternative fee structure is available. The
companies should, however, have $250,000 or so in sales, be in good markets,
have the ability to print and be willing to embrace changes once they are
fully explained.

Message me with your name, address and telephone. We are tenatively planning
a special project this winter for companies interested in a quick turnaround.
*****
Until next time. . . .Happy Trails, Tom and Pamela
***** *****
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