Vol 97 October 2013 by My Office

VOL 97 OCTOBER R50.

INC VAT

THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE STATIONERY, HOME AND OFFICE PRODUCTS ASSOCIATION

STAPLERS

KEEPING IT TOGETHER

MOVES ON MASS MAILING TV IN THE WORK PLACE TOYS OF CHOICE HOW TO BUY ERASERS AND INK-OUTS

MONTH Rexel raises over R600 000 for CANSA A percentage of the sale of these products is donated to the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA)’s Women’s Health campaign.

R678 955.89 raised to date

one 3145C / 100C 0M 18Y 18K

Pantone 444C / 9C 0M 6Y 47K

Pantone 688C / 0C 50M 0Y 20K

Pantone 226C / 0C 50M 0Y 0K

40% Pantone 226C / 0C 20M 0Y 0K

Pantone 305C / 55C 0 15Y 0K

Rexel Auto+ Shredders

Eco Stapler Rexel ET230 Punch

Nobo Easels

Rexel Easy Touch Staplers Rexel Eco Punch Fusion Laminators

GBC C12 / C20 CombBind

www.rexelsa.co.za

Contents My Office Magazine is the official magazine of the Southern African Association for Stationery, Home and Office Products. It is read by over 25 000 buyers and sellers of stationery and office products each month. Publisher

Kathy Gibson - kathy@futurewave.co.za EDITOR Mercédes Westbrook - mercedes@shop-sa.co.za PRO & ADVERTISING Manager Wendy Dancer - wendy@shop-sa.co.za Financial Controller Bill André - bill@shop-sa.co.za NATIONAL OFFICE Web Master: Neil Caetano Design and Layout: Neil Caetano New Membership: Rachel Skink Reception: Ruth Montsho BOARD OF DIRECTORS Allan Thompson, Kolok Unlimited Bill Bayley, Rexel Brian Taylor, Forms Media Independent Africa Dion Botma, Ledger Systems

NEWS Eco Pages 32 A green sustainability update.Behind the Scenes 47 shop-sa relocates and greens its office space.

Gary Pickford (Finance), Advanced Channel Technologies Geoff Logan, Waltons (Pty) Ltd Hans Servas (Chairman), Honorary/Life Member of shop-sa Ryan Bidgood (Vice Chair), OfficeNational Africa (Pty) Ltd Sam Pickering-Dunn, Managing Director, Staedtler SA Johannesburg Office PO Box 3226, Parklands, 2121 6 Edward Street, Kensington B, Randburg, 2124 Tel: + 27 11 781 0088 / 89

MARKETING SAVVY Don’t deal with stupid companies Aki Kalliatakis explains why choice is important. SALES SAVVY How to Motivate your Sales Staff Strategies to fire up your sales force.

Fax: + 27 11 781 2828 Email: info@shop-sa.co.za

BUSINESS SAVVY They’re OK people, no need to be afraid of them 04 Gavin Moffat on why he stands behind Generation Y. Top 10 Characteristics of GREAT Project Managers 22 Good project managers are hard to find, here’s what makes a great one!

Website: www.shop-sa.co.za Cape Town Office PO Box 48431, Kommetjie, 7976 Tel: +27 (0)21 780 1209 Cel: +27 (0)78 970 7633 Email: info@shop-sa.co.za CONTRIBUTIONS Letters and editorial contributions are welcomed and should be addressed to the editor at editor@shop-sa.co.za. Publication cannot be guaranteed and is subject to space and the editor’s discretion. THE LEGAL BIT Whilst every effort is made to ensure accuracy the publisher and editor cannot accept responsibility for supplied material. The opinions of contributors are not necessarily those of shop-sa. Copyright is strictly reserved and no part of this magazine may be reproduced in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher.

Stationery sponsored by

Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulation

Office paper sponsored by

Published by

SPECIAL FEATURES Needful Things 08 Action call for Promotional Gifts ahead of the festive season. How to buy erasers and correction tapes 10 The rub on ridding it. Staplers: Keeping it together all these years 12 Staplers comes a close first when it comes to organising paper work. The Ridiculously Inexpensive Magic of Mail 20 The role of letters in business communication. How to order calendars 36 Inspirational and practical advice for focussed marketing.

IN EVERY ISSUE Editors’ Welcome 02 Creating awareness around Breast Cancer. Education 26 Greatest toys of all time Break room 28 Television in the work place. Furniture 30 Ergonomics of office space. Arts & Craft 31 Themed parties Crime Alert 34 An industry sponsored page assisting in the dissemination and information networking of crime tactics currently taking place in the industry. Books 35 For business and leisure. Web buttons 28 Click to a supplier or service website quickly and simply. Product showcase 37 A highlighted showcase of office products and their descriptions available for your purchasing pleasure. Buyer’s Guide 40 Punchline 48 Send in your details and stand a chance to win with Rexel office products.

FUTURE WAVE

MEDIA PRINTED BY Colorpress (pty) ltd.

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editor’s letter

In the pink

database is only as good as its updating activity with - statistically - more than 30% of data decay taking place per year. Please update your database with our new contact details shown below and let us know if your company details have changed recently too.

This month is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. According to the South African National Cancer Registry, one in 29 women in South Africa will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Research shows that up to 90% of cancers are caused by environmental factors, however the war on cancer could be won if humans were no longer exposed to environmental carcinogens such as chemicals, viruses, bacteria, UV light and managed to maintain a healthy body weight through a balanced diet and exercise. Breast cancer, like other types of cancers, is treatable when detected early. Part of the awareness drive is to educate women to examine their breasts regularly and to go for medical check-ups and to raise funding for ongoing research. Companies are invited to get involved with the many drives and campaigns headed by CANSA, along with a PinkDrive Schools Programme initiative. Pentel has teamed up with Waltons and CANSA to raise funds for the association in aid of both October Breast Cancer Awareness month and November’s Movember Prostate Cancer Awareness month. From 28 October – 1 November 2013 for each “ladies” Energel and each “gents” Energel pen purchased at Waltons, R2 will be contributed to CANSA. Please look out for them instore. On 1 November 2013, CANSA will have shaving and spraying booths at selected Waltons stores and offices to raise additional funds. Woolworths has also become involved with Breast Cancer Awareness. For each one of Woolworth’s pink Breast Cancer Awareness shopping bags sold, R5 will be donated to CANSA. Please support CANSA and the associated companies and their campaigns in making a difference and securing healthier lives for our future leaders. Enjoy this issue of My Office magazine and please tell us what is on your mind. Send your letters to editor@shop-sa.co.za

s e d e c r ‘ e M

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shop-sa has moved! Our new address details are: Tel: 011 781 0088/9 6 Edward Street Kensington B Randburg www.shop-sa.co.za LIKE us on Facebook Vol 97 - October 2013

SHOPPING for Stationery? NEED Office Products delivered to your door? LOOK no further… My Office magazine – the only accredited publication for the office and home products industry is mailed monthly to office professionals across South Africa. Register on www.shop-sa.co.za to receive your free magazine subscription. • L earn about cutting edge office technologies • How to work smarter and faster and with best business practice • Get updates on events, promotions and latest offers • Be inspired by the hottest trends in interiors, furniture, and workplace ergonomics • Do business with accredited industry suppliers. Connect to the largest and most comprehensive database of likeminded professionals in the workplace environment. My Office magazine is the official publication of the Stationery, Home & Office Products Association of Southern Africa. Join this expanding community of office professionals, managers, procurement buyers and business owners now when you register on www.shop-sa.co.za

o.za

www.shop-sa.c

business landscape Acknowledgment Gavin Moffat (gavin@puruma.com or www.twitter.com/gavinmoffat)

They’re OK people, no need to be afraid of them It seems to me that we cannot write or talk enough about the multi-generational aspects of today’s workplace and what we need to do to get the best out of all ages.

he conversations are taking place in most businesses but I don’t believe that it is sufficiently vigorous. Why do we need to talk about this? Here is an illustration by way of an example. I sat in on the first part of a day long business strategy session with a company that has a long and successful history. Not exactly cutting edge but stable. However, one of the first bits of business for the day was sending around a box for all the delegates to put their phones into for the day. I kid you not; give me your phones in case you’re distracted by having them on your person. And most of the people in the room were Generation Y – around 32 years and under. They don’t function without an electronic device. They want and sometimes need to remain connected. So the business strategy session began by treating them like children and effectively disempowering them for the rest of the day. How well do you think that turned out for the company? Well? I think not. Is it that simple? Let Gen Y’s keep their phones? In some cases it can be that simple. In some cases it is far more complex and reaches down to levels of what motivates them, how they need to recognised and rewarded, their hot buttons etc. Trust is a great one. Those outside of Gen Y tend to believe that trust needs to be earned. Gen Y on the other hand feels that you

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need to give them trust, “What’s this earn the trust thing – I am worthy of trust from day one”. So give them trust and see what they do with it. You’ll be surprised. Someone asked me the question recently “If Gen X didn’t get this special kind of treatment or acknowledgement and we turned out fine and productive why should we do this for Gen Y?” I think that the question revealed more about the questioner than anything else, but the simple answer is that we didn’t know any better at the time. Now we do. We have information about these differences. We can harness what we know to the best for our companies and also the best for our teams and employees. Why wouldn’t we want to? We can make small changes like verbally rewarding through words, phrases and compliments. Listening instead of squashing. Looking at how we deal with a younger workforce is critical to our future. Within a decade more than 50% of the workforce will be Gen Y and that means that it’s a little pointless not having this conversation now. Look at your management team and see how many Gen Y’s you have. If it’s none then you’re in trouble. If it’s below 10% you’re still in trouble but a little less so. You need to make your company a place where Gen Y will want to be. That means looking at the purpose of your business, and that’s not just to make money! See this as an opportunity to grab a competitive advantage. Take the bull, or the generation, by the horns. Make it work, or become irrelevant. Either way, your choice. m Vol 97 - October 2013

marketing savvy

Don’t deal with stupid companies

Acknowledgment Aki Kalliatakis is the Managing Partner of The Leadership LaunchPad, a company dedicated to helping clients become more customer driven. He can be contacted at 011 640 3958, or via the website at www.DelightYourCustomers.co.za. Follow him on Twitter at @AkiKalliatakis or Leadership LaunchPad

Capitalism (like democracy), is a beautiful thing, because at its very core is our freedom to choose where we want to spend our money.

will never understand why customers keep buying from “stupid” companies that keep abusing them. By far the majority of companies where I spend my money force me to do business on their terms, whether I’m buying as a consumer or in a business relationship.

I have to buy when and where it is convenient for them, and fit in with their unnecessary “rules.” (Just look at how complicated it is applying for a mortgage from a bank.) I spend significant amounts of time repeating information that they already have on record, if they cared to look. Whatever happened to “prepopulated forms”? Their decisions are arbitrary and one-sided, and usually made to protect their business, not to help customers. For example, more and more businesses offer discounts for “loyalty cards,” but only if you jump through hoops; and the rewards are never worth the hidden costs. The huge infrastructure needed to develop, launch and administer these makes everything more expensive; and then they bombard me with marketing messages when I don’t want them. I have noticed a recent trend where I am being targeted – nay, stalked - by businesses because 17

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months ago I enquired about a product on their website. With extremely rare exceptions, I have never been sincerely thanked for my custom by any business with over 50 employees. And these are the “ethical” and accepted ways of doing business with me. I won’t even go into the frustration I feel when I encounter examples of atrocious service from demoralised staff; awful quality and reliability of products; built-in obsolescence so that I have no choice but to replace relatively new products; broken promises and last-minute changes that inconvenience me; lack of transparency in helping me to understand how everything works; and downright being ripped-off as a customer. The other side of the coin is why would “stupid” companies bother to change when their customers still keep purchasing from them? Because there is no incentive to change. Logic tells us that we have a choice if we are going to self-select into a fake and self-serving business model – but we don’t express that choice. The result is that instead of punishing businesses that abuse us, our continued support creates a benefit for those firms that create these systems that we dislike - and they will continue to abuse customers. Right now, the current economic crises we face has strong ties to the fake growth, value and efficient service we still think we are getting. It’s now time to see things

for what they are, not for what we think they are. It’s easy to accept these failings from those businesses because they are familiar, and “everyone” seems to be doing it. We also don’t always have a choice for practical reasons and have to compromise on our values at times. Until recently, I was determined to buy “green” sustainable products, and support companies that are socially responsible, but it is difficult to resist battery-bred beef when the price of free-roaming cattle is almost double. However, the situation cannot remain the same forever. The world of social influence means that customers have an allencompassing memory. Denial, spin and a lack of transparency are being replaced by businesses taking responsibility to help customers, share information, fix problems and be transparent. A lack of insight into what your customers truly want is being replaced by a desire to leverage information so that you have a true competitive advantage. There’s no reason to continue to allow mediocre, complacent and power-hungry companies to passively participate in an economy that should be encouraging and rewarding competition and excellence. As customers we need to stop doing business with irresponsible and “stupid” companies. As one course facilitator told me: “You never get what’s fair, only what you negotiate.” m Vol 97 - October 2013

M6005

HAVE YOU GOT IT? NOW AVAILABLE

needful things

Action call

Promotional products motivate people to take action. The right incentive might encourage them to meet with a sales representative, try a new product, or attend a trade show booth.

ig brands consider promotional products a significant part of the marketing mix, even when budgets are tight. Xerox, for example, always includes them in its annual budget, says Beth Ann Kilberg-Walsh, Manager, Marketing Communications at Xerox Corp.

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Promotional products are important, especially during tough economic times, she says, because that’s when companies need people to take action. Says Kilberg-Walsh. “Everybody wants to win something; everybody wants to get something.” Marketers need to be more strategic about how they launch campaigns involving promotional products. They should watch what they spend, whom they target, and how they maximise the ROI.

Promotional Product Campaign Made Simple: 5 Steps Step #1. Define the objective If the objective is to increase sales by 20%, determine that figure up front in order to track success later on. Also, decide whether the objective is branding-oriented or strategic to ensure that you choose the right promotional product for the campaign.

Vol 97 - October 2013

needful things or special product information. Lehner used this method to determine how many leads came from the mini-CD he gave out at trade shows. “How did you hear about Total Automotive, Inc.?” is a required field on the company’s registration form. Registrants can choose from the answers provided or select “other” and write their own.

Step #2. Define the budget If the objective is to generate R50 000 in your new business, don’t spend R70 000 on the promotional product campaign. Try to at least double the return on investment.

Step #3. Consider the variables Promotional products must make sense for the target audience. For example a USB flash drive will work for a techie market. Magnets are functional, versatile, easy to find when needed and not a big item to carry at a trade show. Bags, are hot commodities, especially reusable grocery bags, because so many people use them. If the message is about connecting clients with opportunity, the best promotional product might be a NERF football. Xerox used a Rubik’s Cube to symbolise putting the pieces of a puzzle together.

Example 1: Increased sales from existing clients Objective: Arby’s retail store wanted to keep customers coming back Target Audience: Arby’s current customer base Strategy: Arby’s created a loyalty coupon programme that allowed customers to sign up and get a card with a removable barcoded keychain tag. Anyone presenting the tag got an automatic discount. Each tag exhibited the company’s message, “I’m thinking Arby’s.” Promotional Product: A discount card with removable keychain tag. Results: An Arby’s in the target area reported a 25% increase in sales directly attributed to use of the discount cards.

at every store that reached their sales goal during the promotion. Result or ROI: The programme increased employee participation in selling new drinks resulting in high sales for the targeted items. The order kept increasing as more and more stores reached their goal. m

Example Two: Sunglasses increase sales of frozen drinks Product Description: Malibu Sunglasses Industry: Coffee Shop Use: Summer is a big opportunity for coffee chains to sell frozen drinks. Part of an employee reward during a promotion for a few new frozen drinks needed to include a giveaway. How was it distributed: A prize pack of fun summer goods was given to every employee

Step #4. Start with small tests Start out small and test to see what works. Then, when you find something that works, run with it. Step #5. Measure success Create an online registration form that Web visitors must fill out to get newsletters www.shop-sa.co.za

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erasers & correctors

s r e s a r e n o b u r The hool? It c s e r p name in r u o y e orporate it c r w e t h t s ir f in , having to get it right. Today r e n, albeit b io t m c e e r r o o c t Rem ods for ttempts h a t e y n m a e m ticated. m a is s h p e took o h t s e e still us hat mor oes not icles. It d rt world, we ntation is somew a p l a o us it lasts charc e sidue, th m phite and re ra u r g e c s ” p ra o u e icking ehind our d d leave b eer, “p on rks rasers. r away an sh engin

ea ma er e ngli for bber w h longer than oth e, an E f a used eted ru c rd Nairn u a consist o rk re w a m a y d ll E -m a u ly , g s e rs 0 u e in id 7 s 7 d rd w ra o n o 1 e c a t n firs . Ac d on ne oard Felt d the mpetition r whiteb e rk felt pa o o c a c d ie p rd s not a a n o a o h b develope ti it p en ck w chalk ers does picked u r an inv ered a den or plastic blo rial in these eras ey v o th c , eraser fo he inadvertently is k d in woo mate halk or rumbs, e c c e, h g d n T h a ir it in . a ll re e w e b s N . s d e ra of to rate rfac gan side to e y are satu against a hard su ed to r instead perties, and be ad was once the of rubbe re ro ; m pli b p e e p d s a th s g ra e g e b in tl b a s in era clapp h can at crus y ic b th h pen d w to e . n rubber’s r s a id o rk ri liqu ade by a are cle rasers. P remove pencil ma fluid is a s those m ery quickly n a o ti h rubber e c c e u to rr s r o C v errors n erase ed to dry te or type cover up used as a is design ri w id paper to u to fl e le h p T g peo in w pewriter. o . ll ty a e r li , o p to air is ap d er d exposed o after it etic rubb s n develope th r e n o h re y e s w te w u m in id o f u m fr o fl a e n ty d o la e in a ti u h c pop r re m a vari over it wit t versions of corre Paper, a erasers a come in il r id c d e u n n b e a s b iq p L ie ru p r rl f a brand is ers o Today tree s The ea used fo by found r famous als, not ce sers are e a ic s ra rf th ith 0 m e u o 5 e s n e h 9 A c iv 1 rs s e and pap familiar w fluid. -abra in the aging the rrection able, non e, used ns being o m li it a c a n P e h d e f p . w h r o s ro o y w u ll g rm d y E fo bran typica peciall many smearin s is e t r h e u , id it g o u th w h fl in e it s , g n r. w o ps to pape In cise era marks Wite-Out® ll cases, correcti oice for hind clum h e rs ed for pre c e b it s r u a se ft u s ra le E lo In re o e . a on c p-Ex away. and o purcha e residu brushed are Tip ting a very comm , people can als y form. Th il p m s n u a e y. e p a m w a e in fluid at are ame reflec ke th uch the s correction strands th olymers that ma phite particles m g to in in n s io rm rk it o fo p w add gra e, which ause the per -- so lmost ection tap work bec the particles of pa They’re a rr . o d c a te s f o in an es ser stickier th to the era ferent typ many dif ing stuck tt e re g a p u re e d h en ts. T a y magne o. rubber, is like stick ailable to v a as putty rs n le e b w s a o ra li n e p k y e o r, als r whit novelt ded erase y made of a grey o urs) ll The knea a ferent colo d u if s d u y is n a It . m ts in is g d rt orbin an e foun tool for a ns by ads o gh it can b ti u c o n h fu (t l It a materi or gum. bles putty and resem

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Vol 97 - October 2013

stapler savvy Acknowledgment www.nytimes.com; officesupplyblog.com; www.wikipedia.org; www.silveray.co.za; www.rexelsa.co.za; www.parrot.co.za

keeping things together all these years From the desktop to the conference room and into the retail environment, the stapler comes a close first when it comes to organising paper work.

here can be nothing more satisfying than the kachunk of a staplerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s steel teeth biting into a pile of papers to tell us when we are getting work organised.

From professional office, lightweight, handheld, fashion statement staplers to heavy duty table top staplers, this humble tool plays an essential role in any office, college or school. Once the domain of only royalty, the earliest accounts of staplers are attributed to King Louis XV of France during the 18th century. Each staple for King Louis XV bore the inscription of the royal court as required by the King.

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As the use of paper expanded in the 19th century, it led to a need for a device to keep the papers together. The first documented record of a paper fastening device occurred in 1841, when inventor Samuel Slocum applied for a patent on a device that stuck pins into paper in order to fasten them together. Historians argue about giving Slocum credit for the modern day staple as his device was really designed to fasten large quantities of papers together in more of a commercial intent as Slocum made his living selling the pins that fit into the device. Most historians credit American, George McGill, as the father of the modern day staple. In 1866, McGill applied for and received a US patent for a flexible brass paper fastener. In 1867, McGill applied for and received his second patent for a special press that

Vol 97 - October 2013

STAPLERS “Don’t fall apart!”

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Standard Staplers Stands vertically or horizontally

ST2076B - Heavy Duty Stapler 200 Pages ST2066B - Heavy Duty Stapler 200 Pages

ST2080M - Plier Stapler Steel 20 Pages ST2055B - Long Reach Stapler 20 Pages

ST2045L - Desktop Stapler Vertical 20 pages

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stapler savvy inserted the fastener into paper. European historians argue that that first true staple and stapler was designed and patented in England by British inventor C.H.Gould, although not a great deal is known about the device. In 1877, American Henry R. Heyl filed a patent on the first device that would both insert and clinch a staple in one step. Based on this design, many consider him the true inventor of the stapler in the form that we know it today. Previously, staples generally had to be laboriously loaded, one by one, into the rear of the stapler. Mr Jack Linsky, who founded the company Swingline helped revolutionise stapling by creating an easy way to fill the devices under a horizontal cap. He found an adhesive that could attach staples in rows so that they stayed together in a metal magazine until they were pushed out and bent individually to grip their paper quarry. But Mr.Linsky wasn’t satisfied to serve only the office market; he helped increase demand for staplers by emphasising their handiness in other tasks, like tacking shelf paper, fastening paper around sandwiches and constructing party hats. (“Swingline does the darnedest things!” one ad boasted.) He also expanded the business by making specialised staplers for carpeting, roofing and auto upholstery. Today staplers even appear in the operating room for internal and external human ‘stapling’ of organs. Typically however, most staplers are used to join multiple sheets of paper. Paper staplers come in two distinct types: manual and electric. Manual staplers are normally hand-held, although models that are used while set on a desk or other surface are not uncommon. Electric staplers exist in a variety of different designs and models. Their primary operating function is to join large numbers of paper sheets together in rapid succession. Staplers also come in a range of colours, shapes and sizes and can vary in their staple capacity and in the number of sheets they can puncture. The ideal stapler is a perfect melding of heft and lightness that can accommodate either in-the-air or on-the-desk fastening. Staplers are still such a fact of everyday life that we’ve lost sight of what a triumph of manufacturing they are. They can bend metal — no batteries or electricity required. They are similar to guns in that they contain magazines meant to be filled with metal objects that you load and release. “The engineering of a stapler is not fully

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appreciated,” said Mike Parrish, director of product development for Acco Brands. Under the cap of a stapler, a pusher connected to a spring forces the row of staples forward. A special blade drives the first staple through a slot at the front of the magazine. A metal square with indentations at the edge of the open part of the base, called the anvil, helps bend the staple so it can grip the paper. The bottom of the completed staple is known as the clinch, and the top is the crown. Without just the right alignment in the stapler, and the proper adhesive level and tensile strength in the row of staples, this delicate operation could go awry. You could end up with a jam (as with a gun), or an incomplete clinch (and maybe a bloody finger). A Swingline stapler is designed to be “a fusion of form and function,” said Chris Cunningham, global design director for Acco. The design of a traditional model is meant to look streamlined, he added, and so robust and durable that even if the whole building burned down, one senses that the stapler would still be there.

Robert Keller, the departing CEO of Acco Brands (he will remain as executive chairman), started his career at IBM in the 1970s, when experts were predicting that paperless offices were just around the corner. Four decades later, he continues to lead a huge office products company with paper and staplers as its core products. And stapler makers keep adding to their form and function by making their products look attractive as decorative objects, with its growth coming from uniqueness and personalisation, as well as their environmental responsibility, quality of manufacturing, performance, number of sheets it can staple and the pressure needed to press the staples in. Diversification is also seen in products such as stapleless staplers, a means of stapling that punches out a small flap of paper and weaves it through a notch, and Braille staplers which have been customised for stapling Braille books. And let us not forget the staplers essential sister product - the staple remover – for removing those unwanted staples without damaging the erroneously stapled document. Vol 97 - October 2013

stapler savvy

Staplers

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Parrot Products Parrot Products introduced Staplers into its range in January of 2010 as a natural progression in its office stationery brands. The initial range was limited but in the last three and a half years, it has grown to include 16 line items. The Parrot Products brand has always been synonymous with quality, and their stapler range has been no exception – at the same time offering value for money. Parrot Products facilitated the introduction of its range to the trade by offering personalised display stands. This performed exceptionally well, with more than 60% of the initial stands, remaining in stores today. The Parrot range of staplers offers both plastic and steel staplers, with their Steel range obviously offering increased durability. Their staplers address most requirements: Half and Full Strip; Tacking ability; maximum 200 pages down to a maximum 20 page staplers. Their specialised staplers include Long Reach, Plier and Vertical Staplers and Parrot Products aims to continue evolving in this arena. In November this year Parrot Products has announced it will be introducing their Light Touch Stapler, which boasts Finger touch technology, operates noiselessly, reduces effort by up to 50%, comes in Half strip; staples 20 pages; has a non-slip rubber base and an ergonomic soft grip handle for easy desktop operation.

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Qty Price 10

€00.00

Silveray Statmark Company (SSC), a Bidvest Group company has acquired the distribution rights for Leitz workspace products in South Africa, introducing a new era of ultimate efficiency and professionalism into the office. SSC has launched five product ranges within the Leitz brand portfolio – WOW, iLAM, Complete, ImpressBIND and Bebop. The revolutionary design, practical features and attractive colours of these products add to the streamlined efficiency they bring to the workspace. All have unique features and include: lever arch files, laminators and binders, hole punches, staplers, letter trays and a variety of functional and stylish Apple accessories. Their compact, state-of-the-art WOW stapler in a trendy, colourful and futuristic design is just one example. This sturdy metal stapler has been designed for frequent use in the office and comes with a 10 year guarantee, ensuring its innovative direct impact technology ensures perfect stapling happens every time.

Vol 97 - October 2013

PERSONALISE

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advertorial

Custom designed stamps,

made in minutes. Turn text, signatures, graphics, logos and photos into pre-inked stamps

hether it’s for a new address, or a simple “faxed,” “fragile” or “paid” message, when your customer needs a rubber stamp they will be looking for a convenient, reliable source.

The Brother Stampcreator PRO SC 2000 is a commercial system that entrepreneurs can build into a major profit centre by turning signatures, graphics, text, clip art, photos and logos into preinked stamps while their customers wait. It’s an ideal solution for anyone in the stamp manufacturing business or in the related fields of printing, stationery, mailing centres, copy centres, office supplies or other personalised product or office equipment business, who wants to grow their bottom line. “With the Brother Stampcreator PRO SC 2000, you can offer convenience and high quality,” says Dale de Villiers, marketing and product planning, Brother International SA. “Your customer’s stamps can be made while they wait.” “It’s the perfect stamp solution for entrepreneurs who want to grow their existing business, and for start-ups seeking a profitable business opportunity through the creation of customised stamps,” says De Villiers. “Because the process is so quick, customers can order a stamp from a store, mall cart or pop-up shop, do their shopping, and collect it on they way out.”

Stamps are available in 11 different sizes and 4 colours: Black, Blue, Red and Green. All stamps are refillable with fast-drying ink. Stamps will last up to 50,000 impressions with proper re-inking. Three simple steps to producing instant stamps Whether you are an established stamp manufacturer, copy shop, express service or stationery supplier, or you are just setting up your own business, the Brother Stampcreator PRO creates preinked stamps speedily, making it the most margin-friendly on the market. In the past, in-house stamp production required hours of training and expensive equipment, but the new Stampcreator PRO produces stamps in just three simple steps: and the equipment is cost-effective. Design the stamp on your PC using the included software. Choose from over 150 stamp templates or custom design a stamp using clip-art, signatures, logos, and even photographs. Expose the stamp. The Stampcreator PRO connects to your computer allowing the user to print the stamp data just like printing a document. Then the user simply places the mount in the creation bay and closes the door. Assemble the stamp. In a matter of seconds the stamp is assembled and internal inking process is initiated. In 10 to 15 minutes the stamp will be fully inked and ready to use. m

Pre-inked, refillable and fast drying “Stamps help people get through practically every job faster and easier, but no one ever plans ahead to buy a stamp,” says De Villiers. “However, when your customers need one, they need it now, and you can give it to them with the Brother Stampcreator PRO.” With the innovative Stampcreator PRO system, virtually anything that can be viewed on a computer monitor can become a custom designed, professional pre-inked stamps. A complete system The SC-2000 Processing Unit comes complete with Windows software, serial and USB cables, thermal ribbon cassette, 150 draft sheets and five stamps. The illustrated instruction manual and interactive tutorial will show you the way to use the system in great detail. A one-year warranty is included.

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Vol 97 - October 2013

mass mail Acknowledgment www.wikipedia.org

The Ridiculously Inexpensive Magic of Mail The role of letters in communication has changed significantly since the nineteenth century. Historically (and not so very long ago), letters were the only reliable means of communication between two people in different locations. Here’s to rediscovering their magic.

s communication technology has diversified, posted letters have become less important as a routine form of communication. Following the advent of the facsimile (fax) machine an entire letter could be completely transferred electrically from the sender’s house to the receiver’s house by means of the telephone network as an image.

Today, the internet by means of email, plays a large part in written communications. Letters are still used, particularly by law firms and businesses, for official (public) notifications, sometimes advertising. This is because of three main advantages: • No special device needed - almost everybody has a residence or other place at which he or she can receive mail. A mailbox is all that the intended recipient needs - unlike e-mail or phone calls, where the intended recipient needs access to a computer and an e-mail account or a telephone respectively. • “Catch-all” advertising - unlike e-mails, where the recipient needs an individual e-mail address to receive messages, individuals are not necessarily chosen, but rather can widely cover many or all addresses in a given locality. • Physical record - important messages that need to be retained (e.g. invoices; government notification such as tax or immigration) can be kept relatively easily and securely. Today, many corporates make use of direct mailing to find new prospects and inform current clients of promotional and sales iniatives. Just think of the many ways the magic that one great letter can work in a marketing programme. According to Lois Geller, direct mail expert and contributor to www.forbes.com, ‘the difference between workmanlike and great

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in direct mail is as vast as the difference between a cartoonist and Vermeer’. “The problem is that to a critical and untutored eye, a great direct mail letter doesn’t look like much. It looks simple, which is much more difficult to achieve than something sophisticated – a word that in this context usually means corporate gobbledygook. The critic reading the direct mail letter is rarely a member of the target audience so, naturally, the letter doesn’t resonate. “Let me give you an example of how simple letters work very well. We were working in Toronto and our client, Ford of Canada, did a lot of direct mail with fancy brochures. They’re great people so we asked if it’d be okay to try something new, something a lot less expensive, to sell a new Lincoln. They said sure, go ahead. (Agencies almost never suggest spending less money.) We wrote a short, personalised letter that didn’t say a lot more than “This letter is worth $1,500 to you when you buy or lease a brand new Lincoln.” Over a six month period, that little letter sold about half the Lincolns in Canada. “I’ve seen a letter lift response by 1300% over the much fancier control package, another letter pacify irate customers so they don’t mind paying shipping and handling, and another apologise for a mistake and wind up selling more merchandise than if the mistake hadn’t been made in the first place. “Take a look at your database to find customers who have stopped buying from you. A simple “We want you back” letter can bring them right back before they forget you exist. I wish more companies did this. Instead, they use email now and it’s just not as effective,” concludes Geller. Whether mailing out mass marketing mail, monthly statements, industry alerts, holiday cards, monthly newsletters, or event invitations, mail offers all the advantages of a sustainable and relevant direct mail campaign. Vol 97 - October 2013

mass mail The Magic of Merpak for a sustainable mall option Merpak Envelopes is a specialist manufacturer of quality envelopes for the direct marketing industry. Every day 260 000 trees are planted by the South African forestry and paper industry and as a whole, the industry has a positive carbon footprint. These managed plantations absorb 28 million tons of carbon dioxide and release 24 million tons of oxygen each year. The more paper they use, the more trees are planted, the more CO2 is absorbed and the more O2 is released into the environment. Paper is a renewal resource. Trees are grown to be harvested just like any agricultural crop. But unlike formal agriculture, requires no artificial irrigation. Natural rainfall nourishes these oxygen factories that are grown only in areas that are usually not suited to other forms of agriculture. In South Africa no indigenous forests are harvested for the manufacture of pulp or paper. Paper may be recycled up to seven times locking in carbon dioxide through this life cycle. In the end, paper is composted leaving no harmful traces on the environment.

Merpak is able to reproduce your marketing message perfectly, every time. Whether using a flexo or litho print process, colour, design, size and window opportunities abound in the development of the perfect direct mail piece. An international Nielsen survey has revealed that the printed direct mail piece has the highest opening and reading rate of all direct advertising techniques at 85% and more importantly it beats all other physical and electronic competitors in terms of recall and recognition at 67%.

Direct mail marketing is unobtrusive, personal and has the comforting tactile look and feel that only paper can give. For your next direct campaign, use direct mail to produce knockout results. Use paper, use envelopes, use Merpak - the sustainable communication medium!

ent er em factur r u c pro manu % 25 ialist ence. 1 i c a r es spe per you e sur is a rs’ ex n e y b no ate k a , t c a e i a d y p ma ving n t h r t u t L e 0 a a y m 4 M y) th ts le om pan nd. over (Pt int to c tpr mpos es come spe with o y p o a E o f o l c w BE lop es bon life nve ble ng nve lop car seful ina kE ddi all e enve a e a a t s p u r n u tim er ue Me ly s val el o pap ne- f its tru a o end o l 4 on lev fine a e h es. v t s f i e wi the gi lop A l ognit ter o e n e i v t c t En rke our d a rec d prin Ma ge. res an nt. ak an ail essa able times ronme Merp M g m new en nvi use ect Dir rketins a re to sev the e mail, a i m per up s in rect Pa ycledl trace se di rec rmfu er, u ha e pap Us

“Use Paper The sustainable way to communicate”

Quote requests/sales enquiries: sales@merpak.co.za Head Oﬃce: Johannesburg: +27 (0) 11 719 7700 Facsimile: +27 (0) 11 885 3174 Branches: Cape Town: +27 (0) 21 799 5740 Durban: +27 (0) 31 266 6174

www.merpak.co.za

management savvy Acknowledgment

Top 10 Characteristics of Great Project Managers Good project managers are hard enough to find, and great project managers are rarer still. Thanks to Andy Crowe, though, we now have a peek inside the top two percent of project managers, based on a study of 860 of them as rated by their peers/clients. Not surprisingly, great project management requires a lot more than the ability to move a milestone. Here are the top 10 traits of project managers who are really making ideas happen: 1. Command authority naturally. In other words, they don’t need borrowed power to enlist the help of others – they just know how to do it. They are optimistic leaders who are viewed in a favourable light and are valued by the organisation. 2. Possess quick sifting abilities, knowing what to note and what to ignore. The latter is more important since there’s almost always too much data, and

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rarely too little. Ignoring the right things is better than trying to master extraneous data. 3. Set, observe, and re-evaluate project priorities frequently. They focus and prioritise by handling fewer emails, attending fewer meetings, and generally limiting their data input. 4. Ask good questions and listen to stakeholders. Great project managers don’t just go through the motions. They care about communication and the opinions of the parties involved. They are also sufficiently self-aware to know how their communication is received by those stakeholders. 5. Do not use information as a weapon or a means of control. They communicate clearly, completely, and concisely. All the while giving others real information without fear of what they’ll do with it. 6. Adhere to predictable communication schedules …recognising that it’s the only deliverable early in a project cycle. All this takes place after very thorough preexecution planning to eliminate as many variables as possible. 7. Possess domain expertise in project management as applied to a particular field. It’s not just that they have generic project management skills; they have a deep familiarity with one or multiple fields that gives them a natural authority and solid strategic insight.

David C. Baker, www.99u.com Andy Crowe is Project Manager, Author and Speaker at Velociteach.com, find him on Twitter @andycrowe

8. Exercise independent and fair consensus-building skills when conflict arises. But they embrace only as much conflict as is absolutely necessary, neither avoiding nor seeking grounds for control of a particular project segment. 9. Cultivate and rely on extensive informal networks inside and outside the firm to solve problems that arise. They identify any critical issues that threaten projects and handle them resolutely (vs. ignoring them). 10. Look forward to going to work! They believe that project management is an exciting challenge that’s critical to success. The truly great ones view project management as a career and not a job, and they treat it so by seeking additional training and education. In summary, great project managers plan, manage, and handle details in a way that lets others relax.

Tell us what is so GREAT about your project manager at editor@shop-sa.co.za Vol 97 - October 2013

8 sales savvy

Acknowledgment

Ways to Increase Your Price

Here are 8 ways to increase your price:

1 2 3 4

Believe in what you sell – If you don’t believe 125% in what you sell and how your customers will benefit, then there is no way you will be able to convey to your customer why the higher price makes sense. Sadly, so many salespeople do not genuinely believe in their products and services. Don’t be one of those salespeople. Increase the size of your pipeline – Anytime somebody believes the only sale they’ll ever get is the one that is right in front of them, the more hesitant they will be on maximising their price. If you continually build your pipeline and build it deep, the more confident you will be when it comes to pricing.

Mark Hunter, The Sales Hunter, is a consultative selling expert committed to helping individuals and companies identify better prospects, close more sales, and profitably build more long-term customer relationships. To find out more, visit www.TheSalesHunter.com.

Do you struggle with your pricing? You’re not alone. Many salespeople and companies stumble around pricing when there are ways to handle it so that ultimately both you and the customer benefit.

7 8

Know at least 3 key benefits the customer wants – It’s only a benefit when the customer says it’s a benefit. Let the customer share with you what they need and desire. When you know at least 3 benefits, you confidently can respond to whatever the customer asks you.

Use time to your advantage – Time is a great tool when it’s leveraged. A customer can’t begin to benefit from what you sell until they buy. The sooner they buy, the sooner they can begin benefiting. Even so, do not rush a sale at a lower price when waiting and being more effective with your sales process could result in the sale at a more profitable price. The worst case situation is when the customer uses time against you. m

Just say “no” – When a customer pushes back on price, it’s imperative for you as the salesperson to just say “no.” If you cower on the initial push back, there is no way you can get through the difficult ones.

Never enter into a discussion on price – Don’t allow price to be a point of discussion. Focus instead on the benefits and in particular, how the customer will benefit. It’s essential before going into any discussion with a customer regarding price that you know either questions you can ask or benefits the customer is looking for. By having one (or preferably both) of these, you then can keep the customer focused more on why they’re buying – and less on the absolute price.

5 6

Accept the fact you won’t close every sale – It’s fine to not close every sale. If you were to close every sale, it would mean your price is too low. It’s certainly better to close fewer sales at a higher price than it is to close every sale at a lower price. Never sell the features. Only sell the benefits – Customers buy or invest only for one reason: to eliminate a pain or to better a situation.

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Vol 97 - October 2013

sales savvy Acknowledgment Emma Johnson, www.success.com

How to Motivate your Sales Staff Selling is a tough job - tough on the ego, tough on the energy level - which explains why sales reps are often some of a company’s highest-paid employees. But even a fat salary is usually not enough to combat steep competition, finicky customers and grumpy prospects.

“I

f compensation were a sufficient motivator, your people would already be performing,” says sales consultant and executive coach Mark Palmer. Instead, it is critical to identify what excites your people - maybe it’s cash, certain gifts, prestige, peer recognition or job satisfaction. But there is one unifying quality of all leading sales reps: “They want to be on top, and they want to be unique,” Palmer says. “They

want to win.” However, it’s critical to find ways to ignite an entire department, not just identify your leading sellers, says management consultant Doug Johnson. “Otherwise, the top three or four people work like crazy to win, and the rest of the people who are just regular good salespeople - not superstars - figure they can’t compete so they just give up,” Johnson says. “You have to create a programme that allows everyone to win at some level.” Consider these strategies to fire up your sales force: • Make commission a driving force. To get the results you want, shake up your commission structure. If you want to push a new product, offer a higher cut for that model. Make sure staff members are encouraged to land the big fish with proportionally big payoffs. Johnson once worked for an insurance company where the receding commission structure discouraged sales reps from going after the big, tougher-to-sell policies. The mid-sized policies were the reps’ sweet spot, and cost the company lots of lost, big, profitable policies. • Build winning teams. Creating sales teams - in which there is an incentive for each member to support, mentor and encourage the other members - has proven valuable in many ways. • Build in peer pressure. Publicly posting sales, margins

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and conversion rates lights a flame under everyone. Get the whole company behind the sale. After all, the whole organisation’s survival depends on the sales department’s success. Announce contests and campaigns to the whole firm. Encourage supporting departments such as customer service, engineering and marketing - to be supportive of the sales staff’s efforts. • Find out what motivates. Ask your sales team what they want. Experiment with different bonuses and prizes. Often, cash is king. Sometimes highly luxurious items that are reluctant self-purchases might be big winners. Other times, less tangible prizes - such as the ability to telecommute once a week - can resonate with staff. • Mark Faust, business consultant and author of Growth or Bust: Proven Turnaround Strategies to Grow Your Business, advises clients to award performers with a day off, which might include a golf course pass. “Giving a vacation day is one thing, but a vacation day that includes the fee for the pay lake or greens fee is another,” Faust says. “They are being paid to fish or golf, and they have to do it - they aren’t stuck at home with a ‘honey do’ list or just a boring day off.” • Keep it frequent. The key to successfully motivating sales staff is to build a strategy into the daily work. Small but frequent tokens of accomplishment might include a can of soda for making a daily quota, or an early out on a Friday for a week well-done. Another of Faust’s ideas: “hour power coupons” granting a contest winner a pass to play games in the company break room or hit the gym in the middle of the workday. “The key is to give them out in multitude and frequently, and let the rep choose the exact time,” Faust says. “The one hour off has an excellent ROI, since the employee returns to their desk refreshed and hits the ground running.” m •

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toy education

of choice Year on year, kids choose them and parents buy them – we look at the most popular toys of choice as seen over the decades.

ome toys are universal, perhap’s that because as humans we exhibit universal responses to things. I remember my 18 month old son’s response on seeing his first red toy racing car – there was an unmistakeable excitement that fired on all his senses.

Time’s article on 100 Greatest Toys bears witness to a complete list of the most influential toys over history. With the holiday season fast approaching, you may want to scan through the shortened list below – taken from Time’s more in-depth list - to find some inspirational toy purchases for home, school, birthdays or under the Christmas tree, guaranteed to keep lighting the little one’s fires. m Hula hoop Barbie Lego Monopoly Yo–you Slinky Bat and ball Hot Wheels Etch-a-Sketch Scrabble

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Nintendo Water gun Crayola crayons Battleships Tonka Toys Transformers Jump rope Frisbee Jigsaw puzzle Rubik’s cube

Roller skates Sticker art Trivial Pursuit My Little Pony Dominoes BB guns Wii Jenga Scaleletrix Teddy bear

Magic 8 ball Despicable me Leapfrog Learing tablet PlayStation 4 Xbox FirstBIKE Water balloons Bratz.

Vol 97 - October 2013

breakroom buys

Web Buttons

K R O W TV www.parrotproducts.biz

www.chafrica.co.za

Modern times have seen television burgeon from out of the living room and into almost every area of our lives as we stay ever more connected to the globe.

rom pubs, clubs and fitness centres, to banks, break rooms, shopping centres and airports, multi-channel flat screens entertain and inform us. From news to sport and music we can enjoy pictures, sound and colour to reduce the boredom of waiting rooms, queues and transit times - but more importantly for the corporate environment , it brings us a key component of communication as a marketing tool to customers, to brand a corporate identity both internally and externally, as well as to create a unifying force with sales training to staff.

www.silveray.co.za

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email: sales@redfern.co.za

THE LABEL SPECIALIST Stick with the best!

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www.nikki.co.za www.bop.co.za

www.hortors.co.za

www.interstat.co.za

www.rexelsa.co.za www.kmp.co.za

www.towerproducts.co.za

速

www.treeline.co.za www.penflex.co.za

breakroom buys While some management might balk at the idea of bringing a traditionally personal entertainment medium into the workplace, it offers overall advantages when utilised and managed correctly and can gear up employee engagement and overall company morale, especially when overtime is required. For a large manufacturing company, the installation of a television in the driver’s room, sees a local channel for weather and traffic updates run daily, followed up by Power Point Presentations on Safety. Covering safety topics such as health and safety regulations to simple ‘slip and fall’ power points, they run throughout the day so employee’s learn more through repeat views. Monthly, new power points are added, making it an essential training guide and company communicator that is a step up from the mundane staff notice board and hallway poster routine as a means to share ideas. A low-cost investment, television in the work place can reap huge returns. Thinking of installing a television in your break room? Consider these parameters: Have specific guidelines on viewing and

control in place to avoid any issues. Let the employees have input on what they would like and keep a mix of entertainment and propaganda to keep everyone happy. Have it mounted high on a wall so no one can reach it, with no remote management must control it Consider volume levels and the proximity of the break room from the office space

where other types of communication are taking place. Consider installing a second television in the boardroom for corporate presentations, group training and team building events for clients and upper management. See it as a tool for both increased communication but also as a benefit of providing employees with the break they need to revitalise. m

office ergonomics

At ease @ work How to find your most ergonomically comfortable posture while working.

here are four areas that a computer user interfaces with: the monitor, the keyboard and mouse, the chair, and the lighting of the environment. Setting up the interfaces with these ergonomic guidelines as well as maintaining a good posture will enhance your comfort and efficiency as well as prevent repetitive stress injuries. The Monitor Position the monitor to minimise glare by placing it at a right angle to light sources or windows. Place the monitor as far away from you as possible while maintaining the ability to read without consciously focusing. Keep a minimum distance of 20 inches. Place the centre of the screen at a 15 degree down angle from your eyes with your neck only slightly bent holding your head perpendicular to the floor. Align the monitor and the keyboard/mouse. Set the refresh rate at a minimum of 70 Hz to limit flicker. The Keyboard An ergonomic keyboard may reduce muscle strain and risk of carpal tunnel syndrome and even increase typing speed. Given the time you spend with your hands on a keyboard, investing in the newest addition to Microsoft’s best-selling line of ergonomic keyboards can pay dividends in greater comfort. Apart from comfort and support, you can enjoy quick, customisable ways to reach files, folders, and web pages with handy hot keys. Position your keyboard slightly below the elbow and at a negative angle to allow the wrists to remain straight when you sit in a slightly reclined posture. Do not use a wrist rest while actively typing. It’s meant to rest on not to lean on when working. Hold your hands and arms off of any supports while typing. If you use a document holder, do not place it to one side of your monitor as turning your head in one direction for prolonged periods fatigues the neck muscles. Instead, position the document holder directly beneath the monitor, angling it between the monitor and keyboard. If setting up for a touch copy typist, consider having the

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document holder in front of the user with the screen to one side. The main focus of attention is then straight ahead with occasional movements to view the screen. Another option would be to provide a lectern that is positioned between the keyboard and screen. The Chair Use arm rests. Place the lumbar support slightly below the waist line. Adjust the height of the chair so your feet can rest completely on the floor. Allow 1-3 inches between the edge of the seat and the back of your knees. Use a high back chair that supports your shoulder blades if at all possible Position your hips so that they are slightly higher than your knees while your feet are flat on the floor. Don’t keep your feet flat on the floor. Move them around often. Use a foot rest if you have one, but only part of the time. Do not cross your ankles. Lean back slightly. Leaning the trunk back to somewhere between 100-130 degrees from parallel to the floor will open up the hips and ease pressure on the pelvis. Hold your head slightly up so that it is roughly perpendicular to the floor. Let your upper arms hang naturally from your shoulders. Let your lower arms rest on the arm rests of your chair either parallel or slightly below, to the floor. Keep your wrists straight. Take frequent breaks. Ten minutes for every hour of work and 30 second micro-breaks every 10 minutes is a good schedule. Stretch during those breaks. Change your position frequently. Move your feet, lift your arms, adjust your hips, and just make sure to subtly alter your posture continuously throughout the work day. The Mouse Place the mouse on the same level as and immediately next to the keyboard tray. Keep the mouse in the arc line of the keyboard so that you can reach it when rotating your arm from the elbow. Lighting The office should be moderately bright, equal to a nice day where sunglasses aren’t needed. Do not use task lighting for computer work. A mix of incandescent and fluorescent lights reduces flicker and provides good light colour. Vol 97 - October 2013

event themes

No party poopers allowed! As the corporate party season approaches ahead of the December holiday break, keep your internal and external marketing and promotional events top of mind with themed and exciting calendar day ideas.

ive some added pizazz to your next event with a themed event. Order through your regular stationery supplier of choice, or source all the glitz, glam, feather boas and silly hats via your local retail store.

Halloween is observed around the world on October 31. This religious event marks the day that Christians collectively pray for the saints in heaven and the dearly departed who have not yet reached heaven. The tradition of Trick-or-Treating has also been revived amongst children and proves a relatively inexpensive way for communities to share the Halloween celebrations. Heritage Day takes place on the 16th December, where South Africans across the spectrum are encouraged to celebrate their culture and the diversity of their beliefs and traditions, in the wider context of a nation that belongs to all its people. Christmas, also sometimes celebrated in July (the southern hemisphere’s winter months), Christmas decorations appear in stores as early as 1 October. Make sure your corporate Christmas celebration brings all the bells and whistles of joy and good cheer to your company event. Staff birthdays and office incentives: Make your internal customers – your staff – feel special throughout the year with personalised desk decorations on their birthday or create special themed dress up days to honour personalised company events.

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eco news

Integrated reporting – the biggest revolution since double entry book-keeping? By Kevin Phillips, MD of idu software

t was Renaissance monk Pacioli who created the system of double entry bookkeeping that our entire profession, and to a large extent the structure of every company, is based on. But there are some things Pacioli’s system is unable to capture: The value of the ecosystems that provide air, water and food, or the social systems that allow us to run businesses in the reasonable expectation that we won’t be robbed by bandits or suffer expropriation by warlords.

As the human population has rocketed, it’s become clear that if we continue to place unlimited demands on a planet of finite resources, the consequences are going to be ugly. There have been successive attempts to devise reporting systems that account for the value that Pacioli’s system omits. Sustainability reporting, triple bottom line reporting and now integrated reporting – are we getting closer? Maybe. The aims of integrated reporting can’t be faulted – we must account holistically for the ways in which organisations create and sustain value (or destroy it). At the moment, the integrated reporting movement seems to be focussing on listed and multinational corporations. For this to have a real and sustained impact, it should also apply to SMEs. I imagine the owners of most SMEs will have questions. How costly is this going to be – will I have to employ an expensive consultant? How much will my systems have to change? How do I measure environmental and social impact? There is no invoice from my community policing forum or the Amazon rainforest, so how can I put verifiable numbers to these things? Will this be yet another exercise in box-ticking, or can it drive real change in the way we do business? Is it implementable beyond the major corporations? Is it an efficient way to promote sustainability or would it be better to give me a tax break for recycling or saving electricity? Will it really make me more competitive, or is that just propaganda? I don’t have answers – perhaps nobody does yet. I do have high hopes for integrated reporting. If it does encourage and enable businesses to think, plan and manage in an integrated way, then it has the potential to become one of the biggest business gamechangers since Pacioli. But if integrated reporting becomes just another compliance box to tick, or fails to percolate down to SMEs, then it’s just windowdressing. I look forward to seeing how this plays out in the years to come.

eco news

Social responsibility for Abland “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” – Nelson Mandela In the past, Abland has consistently increased their time, energy and focus on various social responsibility projects. Projects are the building blocks of their business, which is why they treat every social responsibility initiative as a unique project which requires they pool their resources, bringing the most optimal team to the fore in order to ensure a successfully completed project. Recently they focused on Genesis Crèche in Diepsloot. Last year they were operating out of a tent which is not the most suitable environment as it gets very hot in summer, cold in winter and the tent has been blown down in heavy winds. Abland assisted with the refurbishment of containers to be used as a classroom, office and a storeroom which has made an immediate impact on the school and the lives of the children. Abland has future plans of building a roof over the play area between the containers, septic tank and bathroom facilities, a kitchen and solar powered geysers, amongst others.

crime alert Acknowledgment

Do you have an office thief?

n a survey of 2000 employees conducted several years ago by Kelly Services, one in four Australians admitted taking home (and keeping) minor stuff that belonged to their employer. It’s not as chronic as other parts of the world, such as the United States, where three in four people honestly declare their dishonesty. Apparently, the worst offenders are men with tertiary qualifications.

Respondents said pens are the most common item they steal, followed by paper, postage stamps, mugs, toilet paper (seriously), and staplers. In a poll released last year by an office design firm in the UK, respondents said pens are the most common item they steal, followed by paper, postage stamps, mugs, toilet paper (seriously), and staplers. Other workers had stolen pot plants, filing cabinets, desks, chairs, and even – somehow – floor tiles. It seems many employers are cracking down on it. I recall first joining the corporate workforce 15 years ago and marvelling at the fully stocked stationery cupboard open and available for any employee to use. These days, every workplace I visit has the cupboard locked, with the keys restricted

James Adonis is one of Australia’s best-known peoplemanagement thinker. Read more at www.smh.com.

It’s the kind of thing that goes mostly unnoticed – an express-post envelope here, a couple of highlighters or a glue stick there. But is the stealing of office stationery really stealing?

to the reliable hands of only a couple of people. The other question to ponder is this: what precisely constitutes stealing? Some would say a pen, worth only a few cents, is no big deal – but stealing a box of them is a crime. Likewise, a thin pad of post-it notes might be OK, but a thick wad is probably wrong. Is stealing ‘stealing’ no matter the quantity? Professor Gael McDonald from Deakin University tells me that, yes, “theft is theft, but somehow, there is a rationalisation that occurs when we look at the amounts involved. For example, stealing R50 from petty cash versus R500 000 from company accounts. The reality is that the same moral rules apply to both circumstances, even if our perceptions of severity differ”. I received a group email from a friend recently who had just started a new business and was cash-strapped. He needed flyers printed out in colour and couldn’t afford to use a professional printer. So, he asked us, would we mind printing 100 copies each in our workplace? After all, our employers had “screwed us over” in the past, so we might as well get something in return, he surmised. Most of us declined. Some of us because we saw the action as immoral, while others had more practical reasons: even the colour printer was under lock and key, able to be operated only by the swiping of a security

card that tracked the amount of each employee’s usage. Perhaps a bigger issue for employers is one of trust. If managers ruthlessly restrict stationery supplies, they’re effectively saying “we don’t trust you” to their employees. That’s bound to have a negative impact on engagement and morale. If a great employee puts in a lot of hours and delivers excellent results, surely the occasional pilfered stationery item is a small sacrifice. SME owners would disagree. It may be a small sacrifice for a big company with plenty of resources, but small businesses need to watch every cent. So why do employees do it? Professor McDonald explains it’s usually due to something known as equity theory. “Individuals have a fairly good assessment of their self-worth and if they feel they are being under-rewarded, or unrecognised, they will undertake activities within an organisation that redresses this inequity,” she says. “This is why poorly paid workers often pilfer. The moral of the story is, don’t underpay the workers as they will get it from you somewhere else; either by taking something from the company, or cutting their time. Anything to address the inequity.” When is it OK – and not OK – to steal office stationery? Send your anonymous comments to editor@shop-sa.co.za

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Keeping shop-sa members abreast of criminal and fraudulent activity in the stationery and office products industry To sponsor the Crime Alert page contact 011 880 1147 REPORT CRIME AT info@shop-sa.co.za Renew your Crime Alert sponsorship today! Call Wendy Dancer on 011 8801147 to book your logo placement on the Crime Alert page as an industry leader in transparency, information sharing and anti-crime business ethics.

my office magazine

Vol 97 - October 2013

books

The all-new Digital Recorder

David and Goliath By Malcolm Gladwell Malcolm Gladwell, the #1 bestselling author of The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, and What the Dog Saw, offers his most provocativeand dazzling-book yet.In David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell, with his unparalleled ability to grasp connections others miss, uncovers the hidden rules that shape the balance between the weak and the mighty, the powerful and the dispossessed. Gladwell examines the battlefields of Northern Ireland and Vietnam, takes us into the minds of cancer researchers and civil rights leaders, and digs into the dynamics of successful and unsuccessful classrooms - all in an attempt to demonstrate how fundamentally we misunderstand the true meaning of advantages and disadvantages. When is a traumatic childhood a good thing? When does a disability leave someone better off? Do you really want your child to go to the best school he or she can get into? Why are the childhoods of people at the top of one profession after another marked by deprivation and struggle? Drawing upon psychology, history, science, business, and politics, this is a beautifully written book about the mighty leverage of the unconventional. Things to Do in a Dorp By Jacques Marais MapStudio A delightful book for those who prefer back roads to highways. Things to Do in a Dorp is a jam packed reference guide for 150 dorps within South Africa ranging from large, medium to small. Each dorp includes activities in and around the area, major festivals, history, restaurants and hotels. Also available in Afrikaans: DOENDINGE IN ‘N DORP. Visit www.jacquesmarais.co.za

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Taking dictation to the next level Breakthrough 3D Mic technology delivers best audio quality in any recording situation. Its robust yet lightweight stainless steel design offers perfect ergonomics for working over longer periods of time. Coupled with SpeechExec Pro software for efficient data management and a docking station for uploading your files, going from your voice to your text document has never been quicker.

Doctor Sleep By Stephen King Pan Macmillan A chilling sequel to Stephen King’s 1977 cult classic The Shining has hit the shelves. The epic war between good and evil in Doctor Sleep promises to thrill King’s millions of devoted followers and earn him many more.

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business communication

Calendars

Acknowledgment Allison Rice, Director of Marketing, www.amsterdamprinting.com

as a Business Tool Scientific research indicates that human beings remember things more effectively once they have written them down with an actual writing instrument onto an actual piece of paper. (Remember hearing your professor urging you take more notes in university?)

ure, we live in a time when a smartphone or computer programme can, and does, store information about a great deal of our daily lives, from appointments to birthdays to holidays off

from work.

But the humble wall calendar refuses to be completely forgotten in this age of technology. It still has a place in our hearts – and our businesses – as a savvy marketing tool and a reminder of important details every time you glance up from your desk. If you have never considered the ways a calendar can help your business stay on your clients’ minds, and walls, now is the time. Why Wall Calendars? You might ask yourself if a wall calendar is the best way to deliver an effective marketing message to potential and current clients. There are many other ways to promote a brand, including ink pens, coffee mugs and key chains, to name a few. So why calendars? Consider these reasons. A calendar is likely to find its way onto a wall, especially in an office building. A calendar has multiple purposes. People can glance up to note the date or to admire the artwork or photo. They can also write on it.

my office magazine

Most people flip the calendar when the month is over, giving your marketing message another chance to be noticed. Dreaming up 12 ideas It might seem difficult at first to come up with a theme for your calendar and break that theme into 12 distinct ideas, or months. But it’s easier than you think. What does your business do? This should be your starting point, regarding theme and artwork. If your business is real estate, for example, 12 photos of beautiful neighborhoods or homes that you work with could make a great calendar. If your business is a restaurant, you might consider recipes or seasonal produce for each month. It’s important to have artwork and photos on your calendar that will interest people regardless of whether they are clients. You don’t want to overwhelm them with advertisements; you want to provide something fun and useful that reminds them of your business. Check out the Web and get creative. The Internet provides a wealth of ideas for putting your calendar together. Once you’ve decided on a theme, surf the internet for pertinent tips, articles, trends and other information that could inspire your calendar. Coupons and Other Incentives Ah, the calendar coupon. It’s one more way for your potential client to read your marketing message loud and clear. There’s no doubt that people love

coupons. If you are fretting that you might lose money with hundreds of calendars that offer free items floating around town, consider these ideas. Offer a small incentive (such as 10 percent off) for new clients only. Offer free admission with a coupon to an event your company might be presenting. Offer a discounted good or service with the purchase of a greater good or service. Practical Matters Make sure your product appears professional – this will bode well for your business. High quality art or photography will draw more eyes – and bring you more customers. Have the calendars printed professionally. Shop around first to ensure that you get a good deal. Most printers offer special discounts for businesses. How will you distribute your calendars after they are printed? Seek events, such as business networking meetings, where a marketing tool such as a calendar is a welcome treat. Deliver calendars to current and previous clients personally so you can thank them for their business. While a wall calendar might seem quaint in today’s business world of saving information the electronic way, businesses still have walls, and people still need items to hang on them. Why not let your marketing message decorate the space? m

Vol 97 - October 2013

product showcase

Heavy Duty Comb Binding The DSB CB 240 series, Plastic Comb Binding Machine is built for professional use. This heavyweight model has an all metal case which is sturdy and durable. It features 24 selectable punching knives which allow interval punches reaching a maximum of 47 holes. Capable of punching larger sizes of paper, vertically up to 25 Sheets and binding up to 692mm wide and 500 sheets. This machine is available in Electric with Foot Pedal and Manual models.

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NEW Bostik Colour ‘n Paint Twisters NEW Bostik Colour ‘n Paint Twisters are the perfect combination of crayon, pastel and water colour in one easy twist. Use it as a crayon, smooth and blend it as a pastel and a swish of a wet paintbrush will bring a watercolour painting to life. Turn any artwork into a masterpiece with these water-based, non-toxic Twisters.

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NEW FROM DURABLE - THE TRANSLUCENT PINK RANGE FOR DESK ORGANISATION • • • • •

Stackable letter tray for A4 to C4 formats. Practical note box. Complete with 800 white paper notes Magazine rack to hold a range of magazines, catalogues etc. Practical pen cup to store pens, scissors, markers etc. Waste basket for office use, With grips for easy handling 16LT CAPACITY.