Opinion
Are You Seeing THE
Bigger Picture?
Irish Print Awards judge and business consultant John Charnock offers some thoughts to get you thinking about the direction your company might be headed in PRICE OR SERVICE – CHOOSE YOUR POISON
Whether you like it or not, the customers you serve either value the services that you provide or they don’t. Many businesses pretend that they are a value service provider but in truth, they are not. If your customers have a champagne lifestyle but a beer budget, then you better start serving beer. Too many businesses try to be all things to all men/or women. Price – In order to run a focused, price sensitive business you need to get tough, really tough. Ditch the overheads, nice lounges, receptions and marketing and focus everything on the reduction of price. Commodity printers allocate all resources to the most efficient equipment, the minimum work mix and minimum resources. General printers, the ones that do a bit of everything, should not confuse themselves with commodity; they will never be as efficient as a truly focused commodity organisation. Alternatively, don’t focus on price. Service – If you genuinely do offer exceptional value then your customers should pay a premium, but every sinew of the business should be focused on the customer, their needs and personal service. The business should be unique, special and different and have few competitors. It’s like comparing a Savile Row tailor with a sweatshop. As I said above, choose your poison. The ones in the middle will have a tough time.
GET REALLY FECKING GOOD AT A FEW THINGS – SIMPLIFY
Many businesses are overly complex. They make 80% of the profit on 20% of the products. 2020 is the year to get tough. As above, if getting really efficient and selling on price is your thing, then get really good at it. Be the best at whatever you choose to do. This could be process efficiency, market sector specialty, product specialty like special effects, customer understanding, new markets, technology and software development. Whatever you choose and this year you must choose, get bloody good at a few things. Note: This doesn’t mean that you can’t do lots of things, perhaps inefficiently, but you must be focused on the 80%.
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I have sometimes advised businesses to split into two, one focused on something specific and the other more generalised.
PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS
Simplification is the key here. Consider portfolio analysis. Take a look at this simple Boston Box to understand where your products sit in the matrix. Cash Cow, Star, Problem Child or Dog. Which ones need investment and which ones need culling or outsourcing? By analysing and simplifying your product mix, you are beginning to prioritise the organisation. Star High market growth High market share Cash neutral Hold
Problem Child High market growth Low market share Cash absorbing Build
Cash cow Low market growth High market share Cash generating Harvest or milk
Dog Low market growth Low market share Cash neutral Divest
GET UNDER THE SKIN OF YOUR CUSTOMER
All printers need to understand their customers’ plans. All too often we are kept at arm’s length and treated as a service provider rather than a partner. It is your job, as their supplier, to try and understand their business needs as well or better than they do themselves. It astounds me that many businesses still do not have a CRM system for tracking and managing their customer behaviour and interactions. CRM is not just a database of names and contacts, it is the place where all interactions, good and bad are recorded, used and analysed so that the business is better at making customer centric business decisions. Most printers can tell me the makeready, utilisation and efficiency in seconds, but not what the customer ordered this time last year.
UNDERSTAND THE NEW BATTLEGROUND INSIGHT AND KNOWLEDGE
Many print managers, printers and service providers offer their customers insight services and yet many do not use
IRISH PRINTER
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