Do you think it was a good idea to open a custom stationery business?
April 27, 2010 by
Filed under custom business card design
My cousin owns a printing company that does printing for all types of needs. He asked me to be a independent consultant, and made me business cards, and started promoting me. I haven’t had any income from this, just spending money trying. Should I opt-out, and say thanks anyways, or continue trying?
Discover what excites you, and fly!
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How long have you been at this? What have you been doing so far? You have to make it a good idea.
It takes a long while to establish sales. We had a salesperson who had more new clients call after we fired him than had called in his entire year here. If a client doesn’t need any printing when you first contact them, they don’t need any; you just have to make sure they like and remember you, so that *when* they do, they call you instead of their last shop. Most of our print customers (we also do index tabs) only order between once and four times per year. Multiplied out by our entire client base there’s always something in the shop, but it’s an ice-age between any single customer’s order.
Promote to new businesses that open up as you see them. Drop off cards everywhere and introduce yourself just to get in the habit and comfort of doing it.
Also, it will probably help you to be fairly intimately familiar with what your cousin does. Is he a digital (colour and b/w) shop, or does he do offset printing as well? Does he do padding, NCR, numbering, foil stamping, different kinds of binding, posters, lamination, et cetera? And if he doesn’t do some of those, do you guys have friends in the industry who will give it to you at a trade price? Can you make them?
Do you offer free delivery or fast turnaround?
All these details will enable you to know what it is you’re trying to promote. All businesses need printing. Large firms find a printer and some even have a print manager, but smaller ones tend to use Staples and the like because maybe they think their job is too small for a proper printer, or price is a big issue, or no one has approached them yet. Outward appearances are also very deceptive, so don’t assume any place is too small to be worth your effort. We had a two-man operation drop $4000 on a huge order of fancy stationery when, to look at them, you’d have thought they were using cocktail napkins. Another place calls us once a year for 2000 flyers and that’s it.
I can tell you that real-estate agents go through printing like crazy, so if you haven’t approached any, you might consider it. There are also all the little fitness and sports schools. Try to keep away from pizza places and the like, though — They do a lot of work but have a horrible reputation for stiffing their printers because their profit margins are so razor-thin and they have a way of going out of business quickly. If you can think of seasonal industries, you want to get in front of them about two months ahead of their annual rush. Spring and fall are conferences, spring is weddings and graduations, summer is landscaping, etc., so start talking to people when they’re only beginning to think about their next print order. Associations hold annual meetings, there’s all the holiday stuff coming up in about five months (dance tickets, programmes, etc.), and if you can get in touch with private schools before they’re committed to anyone for the fall, do.
But sales is a tough way to spend your day. This discouragement you feel is the wasting disease suffered by all salespeople because it’s so rare that someone is even happy that you’ve interrupted their day, let alone orders right there. This is why there are so many motivational sales books and conferences available; because you definitely can’t count on slam-dunks for the drive to keep going. When I’m really spent and uninspired, I go to the library and haul out a dozen books on this. Even when it’s good, it’s tough, but eventually it will happen.
Good luck.