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• The annual BOCSI awards are back.
• Its an opportunity to showcase your shop.

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The 2022 BOCSI Awards are now open for entries.

I remind you every year that the BOCSIes is an opportunity for you to showcase your work and your shop. The process of entering is as important as the possibility of winning. Consider the moral-boosting impact on your staff. Who doesn’t like a competition and, better still, who doesn’t like being on a winning team?

There’s also the SCOTY (Sign Company of the Year) award which: ” . . . recognizes a sign company’s commitment to excellence, customer service, environmental stewardship, and uniqueness within the Canadian industry.”

As always, the program is managed jointly by Sign Media Canada and the Sign Association of Canada.

Don’t wait. Enter here.

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• Printing United is back in Las Vegas in October.
• It has something for everyone in the printing industry.

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You don’t need the hype to convince you to attend this show, Just consider the facts:

• Three days from 19th to 21st October 2022 in Las Vegas.
• Over 500 exhibitors covering every aspect of the printing industry.
• One million square feet of exhibition space.
• Registration has only just opened and thousands have already registered.

Nobody serious about business ownership or a career in the industry should miss an opportunity like this.

You can find out more at: www.printingunited.com

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• Detailed instruction from Roland on using the Nearest Colour Finder tool

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Periodically I remind you to check out Roland’s website from time time. They post a lot of useful information on how to get the most out of your Roland equipment. Just a few minutes a month visiting the site could save you a lot of time and headaches or give you new ideas for getting more out of your equipment.

The most recent useful post is about using the Nearest Colour Finder tool in VersaWorks. It includes useful tips and step-by-step illustrations.

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• There’s usually a single critical number in every business that’s a quick measure of its health.
• Your job is to find that number and monitor it.

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Think about your car’s dashboard. Depending on the model and the age of the car, the dashboard will have a varying number of dials, gauges, and digital readouts. They all tell you something about the performance of the vehicle (and sometimes a whole lot of other information) as you’re driving.

But if you were on a road trip in tricky driving conditions and had the time to watch just one of those dials, which one would it be? I’d suggest it would be the speedometer because by knowing that single number—the speed of the vehicle—you’d know a number of other things as well. For instance, what your fuel consumption is, when you are likely to reach your destination, how quickly you could stop if the vehicle ahead stopped, whether you’re within the posted speed limit, and so forth.

Now apply that to a business setting. Business articles and books will encourage you to know your KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). But if you’re a busy small business owner with no time to monitor a series of KPIs (or the inclination to do so) what is the equivalent of your car’s speedometer that will give you a quick overview of how your business is doing at any one time? It’s your FF (Focus Figure).

To explain, here’s an example taken from a coffee shop in Calgary a few years ago. The owner’s primary concern was her monthly rent of $6,000 (it was a fancy location in a fancy building). If she didn’t make rent, all the rest was irrelevant. To put the rent issue in perspective, we came up with a focus figure based on the margin per average cup sold. At a margin of $2 per cup her focus figure to ensure that she could cover her rent, was 3,000 cups.

Every business has a focus figure, it just depends upon the business and the circumstances as to what that figure is. You need to find yours and then monitor it.

Footnote: The 3,000 cup focus figure brought the coffee shop’s high-rental dilemma sharply into focus for the owner. It defined a financial issue in units she could readily relate to—cups served. Needless to say, this coffee shop closed not long after.

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• Listen to your customers.
• They know what they want better than you do.

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It’s a simple but powerful concept—listening (really listening) to your customers. There’s an old story that goes back probably 40 or more years about General Electric vastly improving their business by simply asking users where they’d prefer to have the controls on their stoves, rather than telling them where they were going to have them.

No business, regardless of the industry, can can afford to keep its head down and allow the world beyond the walls to pass by unnoticed. So to try to stay in touch, the usual sources of industry intelligence they turn to include trade shows, trade journals, blogs, conferences, and even industry websites. But as useful as these  sources can be, they tend to provide intelligence from the “inside”—from the industry’s perspective.  What about the most important perspective—the customer’s perspective?

Customers see your shop and  industry from the perspective of their needs. They care more about what they want than what you have. And if you don’t have what they want, they don’t buy from you.

This is why customers’ questions, requests, inquiries, complaints, and product suggestions should be seen as a must-have source of intelligence. Business has a history of telling customers what they want instead of asking what they want. Your shop would be better off if you did it the other way round.

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• A webinar by Ultraflex on new trends and new products.
• Suitable for both textile and sign shops.

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Ultraflex is offering this seminar on new technologies and trends of interest to both the textile and sign industries. Webinars such as this one are well worth registering for. Not only do they cost nothing but time, but if the content doesn’t live up to the billing you can just bail out.

Technological developments come quickly nowadays and these webinars are a great way to stay on the cutting edge. So register for this one by clicking here. It’s at 1.00 pm ET on 17th May. And do so because your competitors will probably be attending too.

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• Franchise Business Review identifies FASTSIGNS as recession-proof
• Does this extend to all sign industry shops?

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This might be good news for your independent, non-franchise sign shop too. FASTSIGNS franchise sign shops have been designated recession-proof by Franchise Business Review. FASTSIGNS responded with this: “This award is a recognition of FASTSIGNS providing our franchisees the tools and systems to run a successful small business even during turbulent times, while also delivering a service that almost every business or organization will need even during times of crisis.”

When you think about it, the part about “delivering a service that almost every business or organization will need even during times of crisis” is really the critical point here, not so much the bit about “tools and systems” from the franchiser.

So, you should find it encouraging that a research firm has found that sign shops are recession-proof. Now it’s up to you to build your business model accordingly.

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• As we have said before, regular visits to Roland’s website is a good idea.
• Go there now for a detailed update on VersaWorks 6.13.1

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Staying up to date on technological advances is a must for any shop serious about maintaining an edge on the competition. If you have Roland equipment then a regular visit to their website is time well spent.

The latest reason to visit Roland’s site is to read about five features included in the upgrade of VersaWorks to version 6.13.1. Read about:

1. Printer search
2. Perforated sheet cutting for VG3
3. ZIP compressed file compatibility
4. Variation printing
5. Nearest colour finder

A progressive shop can’t exist in a technical vacuum.

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• The franchises are a gauge on how the industry is doing
• All commercial printers should attend

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This webinar is on April 20th at 1.00 pm ET. Why should you not miss it? Just read the description . . .

“Allegra. AlphaGraphics. FASTSIGNS. Minuteman. Sir Speedy. Signs By Tomorrow. Signarama. SpeedPro. Every year, Printing News and Wide Format & Signage conduct their annual Print and Sign Franchise Review. How and what the franchises are doing can be a useful barometer for understanding how the industry at large is doing. Are they growing and expanding their centers? Is revenue increasing? How are they growing? What products and services are they expanding into? What challenges are they facing and how are they confronting them?

On April 20 at 1 pm EST, WhatTheyThink Managing Editor Richard Romano and Senior Editor Cary Sherburne will share the results of the annual franchise survey, talk about how the franchises rebounded from the Year of COVID, and discuss the franchises’ plans to expand in 2022 and beyond.

Who should attend?

• Commercial printers looking to see how these businesses are addressing challenges in the market
• Sign and display graphics producers looking to know what new products and services are being added and implemented
• Distributors/brokers looking for partnership opportunities

What you’ll learn:

• The current state of the print and sign franchises—number of centers, revenue, top performing centers, etc.
• The new products, services, and other opportunities the franchise are adding or considering.
• The top challenges the franchises are facing, and how they are addressing them.

The overall outlook for 2022 and beyond.”

Go here to register.

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• Colour management is key to consistency across equipment and materials

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To take a cue from a recent Sign Media article, if you had a client that had to have various different POP signage produced for a campaign on different equipment and different substrates, could you ensure colour consistency?

Obviously for such a campaign colour consistency from substrate to substrate is essential. And for colour consistency, colour management is key. And that you achieve by ICC (International Colour Consortium) profiling every machine and every substrate you use. And the time to ICC profile materials is as soon as they come through the door and go into inventory.

This is how you’d ensure colour consistency in the type of campaign print job described above.

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• Substrates and what the best sign companies advise

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It’s interesting to take special note of signs of all types and notice how often customers seem to have been given bad advice or no advice at all by the printer. The elements of a bad sign that are most easily spotted are colour schemes, text size, font type, size, shape, and placement. But what about substrates?

Whereas the usual bad sign indicators listed above are immediately apparent, a poor substrate choice may not become apparent for some time, depending upon exposure to the elements and other ageing conditions.

So, how much of your shop’s customer-advice practice focuses on the substrate? How much time do you spend discussing the substrate aspects with a sign customer? Do your customers understand the pros and cons of acrylic versus aluminum composite material versus aluminum versus PVC versus corrugated plastic?

Deteriorating signs suggest that not all sign customers are getting the best advice.

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• A free webinar and Q&A on colour measurement

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On next Thursday, 31st March 2022, Barbieri Electronic is offering a free webinar on accurate colour measurement on digitally printed materials. The speaker will be Viktor Lazzeri.

As Barbieri point out:  “Accurate colour measurement is the foundation to achieve the highest colour quality in digital printing. Materials like textiles, paper and paper-like, ceramics, glass or vinyl all have different characteristics which affect colour measurement results.”

This sounds like a webinar every sign shop owner should attend. Register here by clicking here. 

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• There’s more to COVID than the obvious symptoms
• The impact on mental health is becoming more obvious

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Almost exactly a year ago I wrote about the impact of COVID on mental health as the pandemic dragged on. Well, it’s now a year later and in spite of the optimistic view of governments, it is still dragging on (there is now a concern about a possible “spring spike” in Canada).

So, it’s worth repeating  the message of a year ago . . .

“The impact of stress can creep up on one, particularly over a period of continual stress as has been endured by many business owners and managers over the past year. In my chapter, Healthcare Professional, in Characters Who Can Make or Break Your Small Business, I wrote, “Even among small business owners who handle stress quite well, there are those—particularly men—who are foolishly macho about their health and seek help from a healthcare professional long after they should have, if they seek it all. Don’t be one of those people.””

It’s as valid today as when I wrote it four years ago. Don’t be one of those people.

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• An emphasis on staff training has always been a good business strategy
• Deliberate, planned, and scheduled sessions ensure that it happens

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I recently read an article written for the textile industry about staff issues, including training. One line in particular caught my attention as applicable to any kind of shop, sign shops included. The writer quoted a shop owner: “On Fridays, we don’t do any production; we do continuous training.”

Now, admittedly, most small shops can’t afford to shut down production for a day every week, but the concept of routinely setting aside some time for training makes sense. And it could be more than that too. It could be a time for also sharing the latest information coming out of equipment manufacturers about the equipment in your shop. It could be about new materials, and anything else that could make the shop more productive and a more interesting place to work.

I see plenty of upside and no downside in this idea. Think about what it could do for your shop at a cost of only, say, an hour a week.

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• COVID has put some businesses under cash flow stress
• How much of your customer base has been affected?
• Bad debts can do serious harm to your business

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Cash flow was one of the first business casualties early in the pandemic. Governments offset the problem somewhat for small businesses but obviously couldn’t keep up that level of spending as the pandemic dragged on. And the longer the pandemic dragged on the greater the strain on cash flow. And therein lies the problem for every shop—under-strain customers helping themselves to longer credit terms and some not paying at all.

Receivables has always been a difficult aspect of business to manage. COVID has made it more so. Depending upon how you have been managing your receivables during the pandemic, now may be the time to transition to a cash-only or at least a mostly-cash policy. What you have in your favour is that so many cash transactions are conducted online nowadays—it’s becoming a common practice, its a mindset change.

Whenever the topic of receivables comes up, I think of the conversation I had many years ago in pre-e-commerce days with a shop owner who built his business on a cash-only basis; no credit, no receivables. Of course this disqualified him with some customers who absolutely needed credit (in itself a red flag) but his argument was that building a bigger business with a big receivables list is kidding yourself. He argued that he didn’t need the unnecessary stress and risk. No credit. No receivables. No bad debt. Less stress.

It may not be an easy transition, but surely it’s worth considering?

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• It’s a topic worth a revisit
• Generosity generates business

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About a year ago an article about how some shops were coping with the COVID-19 pandemic and and how they were planning for the post-COVID world, mentioned something in passing that prompted me to ask a question then, and it’s worth asking again: “Do you use generosity as a marketing strategy. And if not, why not?”

The owner of the sign company featured in the article mentioned that every year they give away thousands in donated and discounted signs. This struck me as incredibly generous but then I realized that it is also a clever marketing strategy. Generosity generates positive impressions, and positive impressions generate business.

So, to repeat, do you use generosity as a marketing strategy and, if not, why not?

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• Stuff you need to know if you have or are thinking of buying the Roland BT-12
• Cleaning DTG printers is essential
• White ink and fiber build-up are particular issues

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Roland’s BT-12 direct-to-garment printer.

The Roland BT-12 DTG printer is CMYK only and therefore easier to maintain. But it must be maintained. For instance, white inks require daily cleaning because the titanium dioxide can settle and plug up the print heads. Fiber builds up as well and needs to be cleaned away.

The machine has a sensor that will alert you when a routine cleaning is needed and can apparently trigger at any point between about 50 prints to 200 prints. And trying to trick the machine into thinking that you’ve cleaned it without actually having done so, does not work. It will not budge until cleaned.

With the BT-12 it is important to follow the machine’s prompts and not take any shortcuts. Follow the cleaning menu. If you need the details about the recommended cleaning materials, check out the Roland DGA site.

And finally, if the machine has been idle for three months or longer you need to use cleaning cartridges, one for each ink slot.

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• ISA International Sign Expo 2022 is going ahead
• It promises “sparks of brilliance” to transform your business

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One of the industry shows resuming in 2022 is the ISA International Sign Expo. It will be at the Georgia Aquarium and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta. The location is being promoted for its additional attractions such as the Centennial Olympic Park where the 1996 Summer Games were held and the College Football hall of Fame.

As for the business side of things, there will be 95,000 square feet of of interactive exhibits and education sessions.  The education sessions are being promoted as “being designed to provide solutions and spark of brilliance for the next big idea that will transform your business.”

COVID concerns aside for the moment, but keeping in mind that the pandemic isn’t over and you need to exercise caution, you may want to consider attending. Shows of this nature are an important resource if you’re serious about staying up to date technically and gaining an edge on the competition.

You can register here.

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• What you cannot accomplish alone you may accomplish in a joint venture.

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A recent article about two sign companies who pooled their resources to undertake a contract gave rise to an interesting possibility for smaller sign shops. Smaller shops, by virtue of limited expertise or resources, are at a disadvantage when opportunities arise to undertake bigger and more lucrative jobs.

If your shop has ever had to turn down an opportunity for lack of some of the expertise or resources the job required, could it have been different if you’d considered a joint venture with another shop?

The concept makes sense but would of course need to be thought through and executed carefully. The terms and expectations of the joint venture would have to be clearly documented and then managed in a spirit of cooperation. This would mean that the joint venture partner would have to be chosen with care.

Provided a joint venture is put together properly, with all the angles considered and covered, it could be a way to participate in opportunities that you might otherwise have considered to be out of reach.