http://www.piworld.com Copyright 2012 North American Publishing Company en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/piworld/blog/carl-gerhardt/~3/bFG8l03TLZ0/make-difference-do-well-doing-good-graphic-arts-industry-carl-gerhardt I have had the pleasure of serving on the board of directors of an organization that I would like everyone to know more about. This nonprofit organization is the Electronic Document Scholarship Foundation (EDSF). http://www.edsf.org EDSF provides... ]]> Mon, 14 May 2012 10:53:45 EDT http://www.piworld.com/blog/make-difference-do-well-doing-good-graphic-arts-industry-carl-gerhardt http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/piworld/blog/carl-gerhardt/~3/HyTe6L8cDms/time-rethink-2012-business-plan-your-printing-company-carl-gerhardt One-third of the year has flown by. By this time, it’s fairly easy to predict 2012 business results. When you have four months essentially behind you, it becomes pretty hard to move the year-to-date needle very far in sales or profitability.... ]]> Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:32:37 EDT http://www.piworld.com/blog/time-rethink-2012-business-plan-your-printing-company-carl-gerhardt http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/piworld/blog/carl-gerhardt/~3/AOLMCatR9hE/hp-users-love-print-is-secret-dscoop-s-success-carl-gerhardt A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to “experience” Dscoop for the second time. I say experience because this event is truly an experience and a phenomenon. For those who may not know what Dscoop is, it stands for Digital... ]]> Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:04:12 EDT http://www.piworld.com/blog/hp-users-love-print-is-secret-dscoop-s-success-carl-gerhardt http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/piworld/blog/carl-gerhardt/~3/2az2bhm9x34/marketing-roi-who-cares-printing-companies-should-care-their-clients-carl-gerhardt Recently, there was an article shared by Printing Impressions that may have been a bit shocking to those entering the marketing services/cross-media arena. The article was from Advertising Age with the headline “Study Finds Marketers... ]]> Mon, 02 Apr 2012 16:12:06 EDT http://www.piworld.com/blog/marketing-roi-who-cares-printing-companies-should-care-their-clients-carl-gerhardt http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/piworld/blog/carl-gerhardt/~3/C7tCzlAMhE0/benchmarking-your-way-profit-master-status-printing-company-carl-gerhardt One thing that is critical to successfully managing a printing firm in today’s environment is to understand what drives profitability (or the lack of it) and to have action plans to improve results. Many small businesses do a pretty good job... ]]> Mon, 05 Mar 2012 22:48:09 EST http://www.piworld.com/blog/benchmarking-your-way-profit-master-status-printing-company-carl-gerhardt http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/piworld/blog/carl-gerhardt/~3/8UsYhthxFNE/smart-financing-be-your-printing-company-s-own-banker-gerhardt Here is a comment made by one of our wise Allegra Network franchise members regarding financing a new equipment purchase: “For what it’s worth, I’m loaning the money to myself. The bank was willing to go 5 percent for two... ]]> Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:38:18 EST http://www.piworld.com/blog/smart-financing-be-your-printing-company-s-own-banker-gerhardt http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/piworld/blog/carl-gerhardt/~3/W-oVk-bndH0/announce-price-increase-printing-serviceswhy-carl-gerhardt I have written before on the importance of intelligent pricing and its impact on profitability. A question I often get is, “Should I announce a price increase?” My answer is, “No.” Why would you want to? Why call attention... ]]> Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:46:12 EST http://www.piworld.com/blog/announce-price-increase-printing-serviceswhy-carl-gerhardt http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/piworld/blog/carl-gerhardt/~3/_uuGetwboec/my-9-0-9-plan-printing-companys-surefire-2012-budget-carl-gerhardt Here is a surefire way to develop a budget for 2012 that will keep your ship on course. It would be a bit catchier to call it 9-9-9, but I can’t make that work in today’s economic environment. Given the uncertainty facing graphic arts... ]]> Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:45:50 EST http://www.piworld.com/blog/my-9-0-9-plan-printing-companys-surefire-2012-budget-carl-gerhardt http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/piworld/blog/carl-gerhardt/~3/bcgk3lGOPUY/the-lost-art-printing-customer-job-stuffing-carl-gerhardt I just received an online order delivery that reminded me of the lost art of using customer-shipped jobs as a way to build relationships and market for additional orders. I confess that this order was from Jockey.com for... ]]> Mon, 05 Dec 2011 12:11:35 EST http://www.piworld.com/blog/the-lost-art-printing-customer-job-stuffing-carl-gerhardt http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/piworld/blog/carl-gerhardt/~3/xlIYIzHE1aI/bad-customers-always-find-home-dont-let-it-be-your-printing-company-carl-gerhardt This may be stating the obvious…but, as I have worked with many owners over the years, I have found that the attitude and the policies (or lack thereof) of the owner will often result in a portfolio of either good or bad customers. Slow pay... ]]> Mon, 14 Nov 2011 22:44:41 EST http://www.piworld.com/blog/bad-customers-always-find-home-dont-let-it-be-your-printing-company-carl-gerhardt