Printavo PrintHustlers Podcast

We too often become wrapped up in "what's next". What will the next greatest technology be or equipment I need at the shop? Which competitor do I need to worry about? It can be exhausting to go through this repetitive cycle especially if you're using it as a guide for your team. Jeff Bezos, Founder & CEO of Amazon made the quote in 2015: --- I very frequently get the question: "What's going to change in the next 10 years?" And that is a very interesting question; it's a very common one. I almost never get the question: "What's not going to change in the next 10 years?" And I submit to you that that second question is actually the more important of the two -- because you can build a business strategy around the things that are stable in time. ... [I]n our retail business, we know that customers want low prices, and I know that's going to be true 10 years from now. They want fast delivery; they want vast selection. It's impossible to imagine a future 10 years from now where a customer comes up and says, "Jeff, I love Amazon; I just wish the prices were a little higher." "I love Amazon; I just wish you'd deliver a little more slowly." Impossible. And so the effort we put into those things, spinning those things up, we know the energy we put into it today will still be paying off dividends for our customers 10 years from now. When you have something that you know is true, even over the long term, you can afford to put a lot of energy into it. --- What won't change? An incredible way of thinking about your business. What will your customers want from you now, in 5 years and in 10 years? This is what we focus on at Printavo and what you can too. Your customers will always: - Want transparency to where their order is - Want faster turnaround time - Want zero mistakes - Want faster shipping - Want to be treated like a VIP client Keep focusing on what won't change and let's excel together!

When Talking to Customers, Be Confident and Show Your Expertise Everyone wants their customers to be happy. And that requires using the right words, especially since more and more customer interactions take place through writing (email, live chat, even Twitter). Start the conversation by establishing a personal rapport. Show the customer that you’re listening to their problem or complaint, and then shift to a take-charge attitude, using confident, assertive language. Use dominant language instead (“must,” “confirm,” “action”). In addition, customers will see you as more helpful if you use specific words. For example, a clothing retailer should talk about the “white turtleneck” rather than the “shirt,” and the “high-top sneakers” rather than the “shoes.” Don’t be afraid to explicitly endorse a product to the customer (“I suggest this comforter” or “I recommend this album”); doing so implicitly, by sharing your personal preference (“I like this comforter” or “I love this album”), can be less effective. An explicit endorsement signals both confidence and expertise.

Justin Lawrence, Oklahoma Shirt Company has an incredible story. After leaving med-school to dive into screen-printing he’s grown to a 30 person shop passing $6m in revenue. Try Printavo: https://www.printavo.com

I had a great podcast with Ryan Schraffenberger of Promotions Guy. Ryan has a print shop in Florida and in Michigan where he dives into how he balances this. Take a listen as we covered the following topics: - Saying "no" more leading to growth - How he found customers in a small town vs a large one - Lessons learned when hiring sales reps - The changing role of an owner - How to manage live printing - How to host open houses Try Printavo: https://www.printavo.com

As a business owner, separating your work from personal life is borderline impossible. This is your baby, it's what you created from scratch into a living breathing, separate entity. Your business takes a lot of time, care and attention. When you're at home the shop may be at a different location, but mentally you're still thinking about growth, mistakes, improvements, and people. These demands can create a tough strain on families of business owners. Being that you're mentally preoccupied a majority of the time. Here are two ways We've compiled a list of ways to push yourself to create a better work-life balance and a happier personal life. Focus on the moment. After leaving your office, pay attention to details. Ask questions about everyone's day. Create good eye contact. Focus on improving communication and listening well. Share stories. Share your day's to-do list. Ask for opinions. Treat family like your business. This is a great tip shared from Ryan Moor from Ryonet along with the book "The Secrets of Happy Families". You always want to reduce turnover and make your team members happy, do the same at home. All hands meetings to get everyone on the same page, do the same at home to correct miscommunication. Regular employee outings, schedule regular dates. Plan for improvements, shop moves, equipment purchases, create a schedule for things to improve at home. Hopefully, this helps and provides context. If you have other tips, drop them below! Try Printavo - https://www.printavo.com

Have you ever bought an item that was more expensive because of the name behind it? Shoes, a purse, equipment? The reason you feel strongly about your purchase is because of the brand. It creates an emotional connection to your consumers which makes their purchase decision easier. It is essential to create a brand your customers love and praise. Since this process doesn't happen overnight, here are 3 tips to start now: Create a guarantee. What can you do to guarantee your customers? Can you deliver goods at the best price, quality, turnaround time? This statement will help rally your team around one goal and make decisions when you're not present. Create a full experience. Every touch point of your business is a piece of your brand. How your staff answers the phone, what you feel walking into your shop, email response time, your website and social media presence. It's all apart of your brand and should be thought out carefully. Swag out your team & customers. People will start seeing your brand more in town and ask about it. Bring on the referrals and let customers be a fan! Try Printavo - https://www.printavo.com

After chatting with more successful shop owners, we've learned they all have something in common. Extreme optimism. Everyone started their screen printing shop in one way or the other. A band, clothing line, bought into a business. It didn't make much sense at the time, but you kept persevering past all odds to create a sustainable business. Between improving your workflow, managing a team, and growing sales, extreme positivity has been proven to help keep pushing you forward. Past the highs and lows. Lastly, your high amount of optimism funnels down into your staff. When things go wrong, the right attitude will help make decisions. Try Printavo - https://www.printavo.com

PrintHustlers Conf was a huge success! We had over 100 people from shops all over North America join us. In this highlight reel, Steven Farag, Co-Owner of Campus Ink, talks about five tips when automated his shop. Add all users to Printavo - Give full access to your account Automate people & technology - Allow pushing a button to print, transform data, and add data where needed. Hire a virtual assistant from Upwork to help with data input. Utilize Zapier to connect your website to Printavo to a CRM to your email newsletters, etc. Zapier is powerful and enables you to exchange data between 1,000+ apps on the web. Automate receiving positive reviews for your shop. Create a status called "Review Us" which triggers an email to the customer asking for a review. You can use ReviewPro to have positive reviews be posted to Yelp/Google Plus and negative reviews are emailed to you directly to handle. Try Printavo - https://www.printavo.com

Over time we found that sales is a team sport. It's a basketball team where the ball gets passed around with the end goal of a slam-dunk. This process requires the company to work together on the same goal together. If one sales rep creates a lead from a tradeshow, and someone back at the office closes them, you're working together to win. A company brand is the full customer experience someone encounters. This may warrant using a team-based commission structure for your sales reps. At Printavo, we switched over to a team-based commission and aren't looking back. As a customer can have multiple touch points with sales reps, we didn't want to worry about how to attribute commission. I first felt weary of this change as it doesn't highlight who is doing great work and who isn't. We ended up creating a team agreement to help clarify potential problems. For example, for the first two months of building a sales funnel, all commissions you generate are paid out directly to you. Only then will you partake in the team pool. If your performance dips under 50% of the median sales generated for a month, for more than two months, your commission is only based on the sales you created. We found it important to create these agreements before-hand to avoid issues down the road. Thus far, it's been easier to treat customers as a team rather than individually and we're pushing forward! Let me know if you're doing team commission and how it works! Try Printavo - https://www.printavo.com

Hiring A Customer Sales Rep by Printavo