Canvas Magazine | The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

supporting print sales & Marketing executives

noveMber 2010

The good, The bad and The ugly A Perspective on 2011‌ Plus Tips on Loading Your Gun

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“ You see, in this world there’s two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig.”

– Blondie (Clint Eastwood’s character in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly)

Publisher mark potter Marketing Manager caroline farley MANAGING EDITOR lorrie bryan

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November 2010

Publisher’s Thoughts Preaching to the Choir

ART DIRECTOR brent cashman

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Editorial board

CMO Council Marketing Facts

keith bax Research Data

gary cone Litho Craft, Inc.

E-Reader Households More Likely to Read Newspapers

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Best of Reflections

tom moe Daily Printing

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dean petrulakis Rider Dickerson

A Perspective on 2011…Plus Tips on Loading Your Gun

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly?

david bennett bennett graphics

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randy parkes Lithographix, Inc.

A Paradigm Shift

Take It Personally

CANVAS, Volume 2, Issue 6. Published bi-monthly, copyright 2010 CANVAS, All rights reserved, 2180 Satellite Blvd., Suite 400, Duluth, Georgia 30097. Please note: The acceptance of advertising or products mentioned by contributing authors does not constitute endorsement by the publisher. Publisher cannot accept responsibility for the correctness of an opinion expressed by contributing authors.

CANVAS P1

I

Preaching to the Choir I’ve spent the past three-and-half years pontificating about the merits of sales, marketing, and change. I am so very proud of the vehicle we have built and the following we have creat-

ed. What is most interesting to me is that we did it with print! You know, that old antiquated

Publisher’s thoughts

thing called print…the thing that most pundits say it is, “on its last breath…deader than a doornail…out of touch.” And, the big one, “immeasurable!”

A funny thing happened during these three years, which, by the way, happened to be in

the worst economic cycle of our lifetime. We went from being unknown to having an amazing network of thought leaders, and are emerging as a who’s who in the industry. We have a following that we might call evangelists, and we have been able to make money in a variety of forms because of whom we’ve become and whom we represent.

I’m not trying to impress anyone; I am trying to impress upon you the power of branding. You see, I believe that there is so much noise in the world that it is hard to be seen or heard. I think there are people and companies that are managing their business for the short term. They only care about making payroll or satisfying shareholders right now. I see few people recognizing that the focus on the short term is uncreative and unsustainable.

Now don’t get me wrong—companies need to be able to keep the lights on. However, at what point will they realize that true leadership is about building a sustainable future rather than a survivable now? The recent elections drive that point home even further. We seem to have politicians who are more concerned about the next race than they are about our children’s future. And the fact of the matter is that it will take some time to create new jobs and new businesses. Likewise, it will take time and hard work to build a following and brands that resonate with those groups.

My rant is not directed at those that understand the power of print, marketing, community building and advertising. My rant is directed at those that don’t seem to believe in the greatness of their company or themselves. If they did believe, they would have the confidence to start building on new ideas, advertise, and build relationships with specific segments.

What is ironic is that I am writing this letter for our digital issue. However, this digital magazine is simply another tool for our community that was built with tired old print. My point is that we have invested the time and energy in building community. We did it with highly designed and thoughtful content that has staying power. E-mails, social networks, and webi-

nars are fleeting. They are here today and gone tomorrow, but my printed magazine sits on your desk waiting for you to pick it up again and again.

As you will read in our cover article, I am not alone in my passion for making the investment in change. Andy Paparozzi and Peter Muir give us great insight into what lies ahead. They talk about the idea that there is no economic recovery coming around the corner. Success will not be born out of a cost-cutting, keep-my-head-down, and wait-and-see culture. In addition, I like the fact that they both recognize that talk is cheap. It is time to put up or shut up.

These are tough economic times, and things are not going to get better by themselves.

History has shown us that progress happens. That progress is generated by people—the kind of people who take risks, share ideas, and swing for the fences. Are you one of them?

Mark Potter Publisher

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CANVAS november 2010

E-Reader Households More Likely to Read Newspapers According to new e-reader household data analysis from Scarborough research, the audience ratings measurement service for the newspaper industry, there is a strong relationship between e-reader devices and newspaper readership. Scarborough examined data from nearly nine million adults within the four million households that own or plan to buy an e-reader device. The study found: • The vast majority (78 percent) of adults in e-reader households read a newspaper in print or online during the past week, versus 71 percent of all adults. They are 11 percent more likely than the average adult to do so.

• Adults in e-Reader households are nine percent more likely than all adults nationally to have read a printed newspaper during the past week. nationally, 71 percent of adults in e-reader households read a daily or Sunday paper during the past week, versus 65 percent of all adults.

• Half (50 percent) of these consumers read a Sunday printed newspaper on an average Sunday, as opposed to 46 percent of total adults.

• Four out of 10 (41 percent) of adults in e-reader households visited a newspaper Web site during the past month, compared to 27 percent of total adults.

They are 48 percent more likely than all consumers nationally to have visited a newspaper Web site during this timeframe.

Print in the Mix has rolled out a “toolkit” which consists of templates in various formats (editable PDF, Word, inDesign) so that a company, printer, sales rep, etc. can easily copy and paste in Fast Facts and other data from the site, print it, and share relevant data with customers and colleagues. each template features a placeholder for a company’s logo.

The templates are available at: http://printinthemix.cias.rit.edu/pages/by_title?title=Toolkit

CMO Council Marketing Facts even in a challenging and rapidly changing marketplace, lower-income shoppers will generate $115 billion in incremental spending during the next decade.

(Source: new Symphonyiri research | Publication: business Wire)

about one online marketing dollar in every five spent in 2010 will go to a mobile campaign, says borrell associates.

(Source: borrell Associates | Publication: MM&T)

by 2015, the mobile share will have grown to almost two of every three dollars spent.

(Source: borrell Associates | Publication: MM&T

associating a product with a social or environmental cause americans care about is a popular marketing tactic among consumers. More than two in five bought such a product in the past year, according to the “2010 Cone Cause evolution Study” from agency Cone.

(Source: 2010 Cone Cause evolution Study” from agency Cone. | Publication: eMarketer)

open rates soared for transactional e-mails customers knew would be relevant, surpassing 100 percent for order and shipping confirmations, which were opened multiple times by the same recipients. open rates for comparable bulk e-mails were much lower: about 14.5 percent.

(Source: experian Marketing Services’ “The Transactional email report.” | Publication: eMarketer)

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CANVAS november 2010

brian Sullivan

T

hink of somebody new who you recently met who you now call friend. Why did you like them when you met them? how did they com-

municate with you? Chances are, you connected with them because they showed more interest in you than themselves. before they started telling you all about their job, family and favorite hobby, they first asked you about yours. And they really cared about the answer. They didn’t ask the question then look down to their iPhone to see who just Twittered or texted.

You will make more friends in a week by getting yourself interested in other people than you can in a year by trying to get other people interested in you.

–arnold bennett

So the formula is simple. if you want more friends, customers and more rewarding relationships, begin every conversation this week with a question. replace the “i think…” with “What do you think?” When selling, remove the “My product will make your life easier by…” and replace it with, “how do you think that feature will help you?” (even if you know the answer). by replacing your statements with questions, you will learn, solve, sell, lead and connect with more people than ever. And those relationships you create will become your most valued and precious asset.

To download brian’s FRee iPhone application of his popular sales book, 20 days to the Top, go to www.preciseselling.com.

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CANVAS november 2010

The Good, The Bad and The UGly? A Perspective on 2011‌ Plus Tips on Loading Your Gun

by Lorrie bryan

Sponsored by

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CANVAS november 2010

T

he good news is the recession ended in June 2009, ac-

“We have to create our own recovery.

cording to The National Bureau of Economic Research

Participation in the recovery ahead will not

(NBER). They aren’t wrong, because the end of reces-

be about growing with the market. It will

sion simply means the contraction has stopped—not

not be about waiting for clients to redis-

that all’s well. A modest 1 to 3 percent growth in the

cover the power of print, for competitors

print industry is projected for next year, the best since 2007, and a

to fail, or for the economy to make every-

remarkable improvement over the 14 percent decline in 2009. So

thing right. In fact, it will not be about wait-

we are technically in recovery, but the bad news is this recovery

ing at all. It will, instead, be about under-

has been, and will continue to be, feeble for at least several more

standing what’s happening in our industry

months, predicts Andrew Paparozzi, VP and chief economist at

and aggressively getting in front of it. And

the National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL).

it will be about starting now—when mean-

“There are no quick fixes. We have created excesses—private

ingful recovery is still a way off.”

and public—over the last two decades that must be corrected.

The potentially ugly news is that not ev-

Put simply, we’ve gotten ourselves in deep. Think of the economy

eryone is going to survive this recession.

as a person who has been extremely ill. Recovery is long and pain-

For many of those waiting for recovery, it

fully slow—at times you wonder whether you are recovering at all.

will never come. NAPL statistics indicate

Some treatments—i.e., policies—are certainly more conducive to

that the number of printing establishments

recovery than others. But there is no quick fix to the excesses that

in this country has declined more than 26

got us here,” Paparozzi explains.

percent since 1998, from 37,673 to 27,823

Inconsistency—business goes up and right back down—and

in 2010. More than 2,000 businesses bit the

uncertainty— about the economy, Washington, the availability of

dust in the last two years alone, and many

credit, the future course of costs, and a whole lot more—define

are no doubt digging their graves now as

our business climate. The tendency is to wait for clarity and many

they wait passively for “things to change”

thought that the November elections would bring clarity. But as

and remain unwilling or unable to change.

Paparozzi explains, the opportunity is to create clarity.

Who is going to make it? Who will walk

“ Participation in the recovery ahead will not be about growing with the market. It will not be about waiting for clients to rediscover the power of print, for competitors to fail, or for the economy to make everything right. In fact, it will not be about waiting at all. It will, instead, be about understanding what’s happening in our industry and aggressively getting in front of it. And it will be about starting now—when meaningful recovery is still a way off.”

– Andrew Paparozzi, VP and chief economist, National Association for Printing Leadership

away from this recession stronger than when it started? Not necessarily companies of a particular size, equipment configuration, or ownership structure, but companies that find the time to ask and honestly answer the right questions, emphasizes Peter Muir, president of Bizucate and a leading industry strategist. “It’s time for exploration and examination, time to ask the hard questions. And the thing to understand is that it’s tough right now for your clients, too. The probing questions you ask yourself are the same questions you could be asking your customers as you build a relationship and become a valued solutions provider.” Questions to consider: • What is the most profitable thing we do, and how are we going to do more of it?

• What are we doing better today than we did six months ago? What will we be doing better in six months than we are today? How are we getting more valuable to our clients?

CANVAS P9

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly?

• What is our value proposition? Is it creating barriers to exit? Or does it leave us looking like everyone else?

• What will our competition look like down the road? With whom will we be competing in two years? What are we doing to anticipate the competition? in our industry, this is not the story of the strong getting stronger; it is the story of the best prepared, most flexible and most adaptable getting stronger. Like blondie said in the Clint eastwood classic The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, “You see, in this world there’s two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and

here are six steps to creating your own recovery…six “bullets” to

those who dig. You dig.” blondie was the

load your gun with:

prepared adaptable guy holding the gun

• be passionate about what you do. “be the human equivalent

while his competition was digging his own

of a theme park ride!” affirms Muir enthusiastically. “Put yourself

grave. in this new economic climate, this

into your business and let your passion come across.” Muir refer-

post recession era, there are two kinds of

ences Tim Sanders’ recent book, Love is the Killer App, noting,

entrepreneurs, those who load their gun,

“Grow and share your intangibles—your knowledge, your net-

creating their own recovery, and those

work and your compassion—and become one of those amazing

who dig their graves by doing nothing.

people who everyone turns to and wants to spend time with.

CANVAS Survey Results 2) What will be the biggest change you make in 2011?

1) How would you describe your vision of the future?

Selling more digital services.

Other Bright

Hazy 57

17

48

18

25

Developing new sales processes.

48 Building new relationships.

Dark: 3

3) What is the biggest change in your clients?

4) Will you make it rain in 2011?

It will be tough.

They only care about price.

22

They want to measure everything.

17

5 I hope so...

37

32

They are using alternatives to print.

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CANVAS november 2010

30 73

They are cutting spending.

Absolutely!

The profits are going to go to the printers who contribute to their customers’ profits beyond the level of cost-savings.”

• Create barriers to exit. A barrier to exit is something that locks the client in by making it painful for the client to leave, because we are not providing a commodity they can get anytime, anywhere, from anyone. Paparozzi says that you have to become more important to your clients. “Get involved earlier, stay involved longer and satisfy a broader range of their communica-

over—you must continue to manage cost like you’ve never man-

“ To borrow from author Tim Sanders, be the human equivalent of a theme park ride!

Put yourself into your business and let your passion come across.”

aged cost before. Whether that is a review of every invoice that

– Peter Muir, president, Bizucate

tion needs. This is no longer the ink on paper business—you are in the communications business, you are a solutions provider.”

• Establish yourself as an expert. Paparozzi contends that companies that are most efficient, most productive, and most adept—not merely at printing but at putting print to work for their clients—will be the ones left standing when the dust settles. Become an expert—learn how to effectively incorporate print into multi-media campaigns using PURLs and QR codes, embrace digital printing and the power of personalization. And promote your expertise by sharing your knowledge via downloadable tips and case studies on your Web site, information-packed Enewsletters and/or an effective blog.

• Keep your guard up even as business picks up. Muir suggests that now, while things are slower, is a great time to be evaluating your processes and taking the time to make them more efficient and cost effective.

On a minute-to-minute basis—even when the recession is

CANVAS P11

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly?

News from the Front:

Perspectives from CANVAS Readers “There’s a lot of unrealized opportunity out there, but you have to re-frame your mindset and truly think from your customers’ point of view. Take time to get to know them, understand their challenges and build relationships.

When you put yourself in their shoes and do what it takes to build their trust, then you are in a position to make recommendations that will truly benefit their business and not be just sales talk.”

“It depends on others’ perspectives, but we are making a concerted effort to build alliances with other service providers to broaden our offerings without developing everything in-house. We are doing this to better serve our customers and our customers’ customers. The time is now— not a year from now.”

“Structuring sales compensation on digital products and campaigns is our biggest challenge.”

“We need to embrace the changes that lie ahead, continually educate ourselves and become a partner with our clients—these will be more important than ever! To me this is an exciting time in our industry. I look forward to the challenges in 2011 as I believe this will be the catalyst to a better economy in 2012.”

“I project that the companies who continue to invest in their brand and the sales reps who continue to take the time to truly understand their customers and provide endless opportunities for those clients to market their services will thrive!”

“I anticipate the sole focus of marketing on social media will start backfiring for most businesses and create controversy in the marketing world as a result.”

comes in or every contract to make sure you are not spending too much, you should make sure you have a quality management process in place that supports continuous improvement so you can take cost out and increase productivity. “We just have to have exceptionally run operations today to survive,” Paparozzi warns.

• ask the right questions and examine the answers. if you don’t know the answers to the probing questions above or if you are too immersed in day-to-day operations to sufficiently ponder them, then you likely have a problem that recovery—no matter how vigorous—isn’t going to fix.

• Think and act like a leader—not a fallen leader. While others are still in the wait-and-see mode, Leaders are taking the actions—getting more efficient, more competitive, and more valuable to their clients—that will widen their lead substantially as recovery progresses. Paparozzi stresses that leaders make change an opportunity rather than a threat. “They don’t do it overnight. And their numbers may not be pretty while they’re doing it. but leaders ultimately turn change—no matter how disruptive—to their advantage by making the tough decisions that others delay or avoid altogether.”

Conversely, fallen leaders are unfortunately the ones that excelled at maintaining the status quo, notes howie Fenton, nAPL senior technology consultant. “Sometimes it’s just simple arrogance—they assume that because they have always been leaders, they always will be! The internet, digitization, and structural change are everyone else’s problem.”

With 1 to 3 percent growth projected for next year in the print industry, there is still time to decide—are you going to be slinging a loaded gun or shoveling dirt for your grave? “Our industry is being redefined by this economy—some companies will thrive and some will fall behind. Companies will gain market share at someone else’s expense. There are an abundance of opportunities for those who become experts at putting print to work,” Paparozzi concludes.

be sure to visit hP’s Graphic Arts about the future of digital print and variable data.

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CANVAS november 2010

Take It Personally A Paradigm Shift

by Peter ebner

I

don’t know who it was, but the sales trainer that first said, “don’t take a no personal,” should be drawn and quartered, and the hundreds of

sales trainers that are still adhering to this philosophy and passing it on to unwary salespeople are just as guilty. although, the statement was originally intended to give a salesperson the strength to face rejection, the end result is that it removed accountability. by following this credo, lost jobs are no longer considered a consequence of the salesperson doing something wrong; instead they are attributed to some outside influence. no wonder we are always hearing salespeople say, “My territory is no good…our prices are too high… the competition is killing me.” They’ve been taught to blame anyone but themselves for lost business.

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CANVAS november 2010

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Take It Personally

“Only by taking every No personally and holding ourselves accountable for lost sales, will we achieve our best results.”

– Peter ebner, author of Breaking the Print Sales Barrier.

Only by taking every No personally

and

holding

ourselves accountable for lost sales, will we achieve our best results. And nowhere is this better demonstrated than in professional sports. Top athletes recognize that they control their own destiny. When a pitcher throws a bad ball, he

doesn’t

blame

the

coach or the back catcher; when a sprinter comes in last, he doesn’t condemn the other runners; and when a goalie misses a shot, he accepts the fact that he made an error. every professional athlete enters a competition believing that he or she will give the best performance of their

Let me share an experience that clearly shows the huge differ-

life; that they will win, because losing is

ence that taking things personally can make. i had just finished

not an acceptable result. Although the

running a full-day seminar, and i was relaxing with a group of

odds are stacked heavily against them,

salespeople over pizza and beer when one of the salespeople

every pitcher tries to throw a perfect

asked the group for some advice. he had recently purchased a

game; every goalie is working on a shut-

new toaster that, after just a few days of use, failed. For the past

out and every runner enters the race

three weeks, he had tried to have it replaced or repaired. he took

hoping to come in first. They are continu-

it back to the store where he had made the purchase, but they re-

ally striving for perfection, because they

fused to replace it, claiming that it was a warranty problem. Taking

take every error, every loss, as a reflec-

their advice, he contacted the manufacturer listed on the warranty

tion of their personal ability.

card, only to discover that they were located in Arizona and that

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CANVAS november 2010

they did not have an 800 number. At this point emotion began to rule logic; he was taking this loss personally, so he made the call.

As expected he was put on hold and transferred between departments, but was finally told that they would be happy to repair his toaster free of charge. All he needed to do was to pay for the shipping costs to and from Arizona. This would cost more than the $19.95 he had paid for the toaster. his question to us was, “What should i do next?” The response from the salespeople was fascinating because not one of them suggested that he throw in the towel and accept his loss. instead, each and every one of them recommended that the matter be pursued. They suggested contacting the store’s president, filing a complaint with the better business bureau, relaying the story to the local newspaper, contacting a consumer advocacy group or even hiring a lawyer. The amount of energy and time this group was willing to invest in order to recoup a $19.95 loss was amazing.

Yet this same group, sitting in a sales meeting, would respond to the loss of a $10,000 job with no more than a shrug. Why? in order to understand this behavior, consider this fact: People are motivated more by a loss then by a gain, because we take a loss, no matter how small, personally. if you question this statement, consider this: how much work would you do if someone offered you ten dollars? The answer is probably, “Very little.” Yet, what would you do if you discovered that a stranger was about to take a dollar from your wallet? Most of us would confront the thief, even though we knew that this confrontation could put us at great physical risk.

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Take It Personally

Most salespeople view a new prospect as a potential gain; if they land the account they will increase their earnings. But as we already know, a gain is not a strong motivator. Top income earners view new prospects from a different paradigm. From the moment that they meet a new prospect, they consider the prospect as their new account. In their mind, there is no question as to whether the prospect will buy from them—the only question is when. So, if they don’t land the account, they consider this a loss and they’ll do their utmost to prevent it.

Contrary to what you may have been told in the past, your salespeople must take every No personally by accepting the fact that a No means that they’ve done something wrong.

It is time that all salespeople begin to view their prospects from this paradigm and once again become accountable for lost sales.

It is time to dismiss the notion that selling is a numbers game, where every No brings you that much closer to a Yes. For example, when you quote a job, but didn’t get the work, are you most likely to say, A. “I didn’t get the job” or B. “I lost the job”?

These two statements are vastly different, in that they clearly reflect how you perceive your prospects. In fact, how you respond will in most cases predict your success. Here’s why. Response “A” shows no personal accountability for the lost sale. Salespeople that use this response don’t consider the lost job as a reflection of their selling skills; instead they most likely believe that the job was lost due to factors beyond their control. As such they see little value in improving their skills. So they’ll continue to lose jobs to the same objections. On the other hand, response “B” shows that the salesperson has accepted the fact that he or she is responsible for the outcome of any sales presentation, so they’ll be more likely to do something about the loss.

Contrary to what you may have been told in the past, your salespeople must take every No personally by accepting the fact that a No means that they’ve done something wrong. So, instead of turning their back on rejection, they must learn to face it headon and learn from the experience.

Peter Ebner is a professional sales trainer and marketing consultant with more than 25 years of experience.

He is author of 12 books and audio programs including Breaking the Print Sales Barrier. He can be reached at 905-713-2274, or visit his Web site at www.ebnerseminars.com.

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