Social Networking In The Print Realm

Very recently the word social networking was brought to my attention. I always knew of sites such as facebook and myspace, but I always used those sites for personal use and entertainment. For those of you who don’t know, social networking is defined by wikipedia as

A social network service focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most social network services are web based and provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging services.

Social networking has created new ways to communicate and share information. Social networking websites are being used regularly by millions of people, and it now seems that social networking will be an enduring part of everyday life. The main types of social networking services are those which contain directories of some categories (such as former classmates), means to connect with friends (usually with self-description pages), and recommender systems linked to trust. Popular methods now combine many of these, with MySpace and Facebook being the most widely used in North America;^[1] Nexopia (mostly in Canada);^[2] Bebo,^[3]Facebook, Hi5, MySpace, Tagged, Xing;^[4] and Skyrock in parts of Europe;^[5] Orkut and Hi5 in South America and Central America;^[6] and Friendster, Orkut, Xiaonei and Cyworld in Asia and the Pacific Islands.

I decided that this might be a tool I could use for my business. But does social networking really result in sales? I posted this topic on a small business networking site http://sta.rtup.biz/. You can see the whole thread http://sta.rtup.biz/forum/topics/does-promoting-your-business?x=1&id=2084667%3ATopic%3A2655179&page=1#comments. What came out of this thread and what I have learned so far that social networking needs to be used just as any other business to business networking technique. It is about building relationships. One must act as they would at any networking event. Put yourself out there and be prepared to help others as much as you want help yourself.

What does this mean in the print world? Well my friend, that is something I am unsure of at this point. So far in my social networking journey I have put myself out there on many sites. I actually find it very enjoyable. My husband will pick on me and say that I am wasting my time, and not actually “working”,  but I am confident that my efforts will pay off. I joined the small business group I mentioned above. That one so far seems to be generating the most traffic to our updated website www.foleybf.com. I have bought facebook ad space. We have people clicking on that but so far nothing has come from it. I also started a facebook group called Foley Business Forms & Print Solutions and so far the only members are people that I know. I am active on twitter. My name is www.twitter.com/foleybf feel free to follow me there. I am active in groups on www.linkedin.com. I find this site to be the most beneficial in the realm of printing. Here I am able to start and respond to discussion topics about the industry. I have been getting good ideas here, and hopefully will be making good contacts. So far, no sales have been generated, but I have to believe that I am on the forefront of this new networking technique.

 I am  finding that people who are in charge of buying printed products for their companies, and other items that we sell are not the ones who actively use these sites and techniques. That being said, I still believe my efforts will get my company’s name out there. You never know who will be searching for you, and if some extra time online allows them to find me, then HOORAY for SOCIAL NETWORKING!

Price Increases in a Crashing Economy?? Why??

Almost weekly I have been getting e mails and faxes from my vendors letting me know that there will be some significant prince increases in the near future. These increases are upwards of 8%, and encompass almost all the products I sell. I found this to be extremely frustrating because now I have to pass some of those increases onto MY customers, who I am sure are also feeling the economic strain.

I am aware that the first question they ask will be the same question I asked. “Why with the economy being so volatile, when people are buying less and less should prices still go up?” My next question was “How can I pass on these increases, when I worry as it is that I will lose customers due to the economy?”

I felt that I needed to do some research before I could answer this question appropriately, but what I found was very interesting and made sense. I asked one of my vendors to send me information and below is what I got.  It wasn’t pretty, but I guess neither is anything going on in the world right now.

Changes in Material Marketplace moving into 2009

Raw Material has seen numerous increases in 2008 due to a variety of factors.  The factors mainly affecting the current increase are the unprecedented raw material cost pressures and the supply tightening into the PS industry.

The paper industry has experienced a significant reduction of capacity, driving up prices.  Key components of films and adhesives have become more scarce due to supplier consolidation, supply disruptions and strong demand in global markets. 

• New Page Kimberly’s WI mill shut down removed 500,000 tons of capacity and reduced imports to NA markets.
• Wausau shut down a large paper machine in Otis, ME, mill produced 10% of US SCK supply.
• Wausau and Thilmany have significantly reduced the production of 2.5 mil SCK liners to sell more profitable products. Liner production is one of the least lucrative materials a paper mill can produce and allocating machine time to cardboard, kraft, and other specialty papers have a better margin.
• For uncoated freesheet there has been a closure of 1.7 million tons of capacity (12% of North American supply) over the past year.
• o Domtar closed Uncoated Paper Mill in Dryden, ON
• o IP converted 350,000 tons of capacity to linerboard from uncoated freesheet in Q2-07
• o Domtar acquired Weyerhauser’s uncoated paper business to become #1 uncoated freesheet supplier (32% market share).
• NewPage also acquired North American assets of Stora Enso to become #1 coated freesheet supplier (41% market share).
• Adhesive suppliers are consolidating. Consolidation and acquisitions have reduced the number of suppliers and the increase versus demand is moving the adhesive and chemical markets into an extremely tight, unpredictable motion and allowing the remaining suppliers to leverage pricing.
• o Ashland acquired Air Products and Hercules
• o Dow Chemical acquired Rohm & Haas
• o BASF acquiring CIBA
• PET resin producers continue to raise prices in response to the need to recover raw material inflation, recent hurricanes causing serious supply disruptions and increased demand resulting in tight capacity. Allocated supplies were exasperated by the hurricanes allowing current mills to require pre-set and very strict allocation numbers for 2009.
• Decline in imports for silicone have been forced due to the weak dollar, strong Canadian dollar, global demand and newly set tariffs.

 

Main Points for Paper:

• § Over 70 paper mills have closed in North America in the last 7 years.
• § Consolidations have resulted in top companies having much larger share and significant pricing leverage.
• § Most Mills are now owned or managed by financial people; short term profitability is a key benchmark.
• § Coated freesheet imports are at lowest level in last 12 months.
• § Coated freesheet exports are at highest level in last 12 months.

 

Main Points for Adhesive:

• § Refineries are choosing to refine more profitable products than crude oil.
• § Hurricane Ike exacerbated an already difficult situation as refineries in the Gulf shut down prior to the hurricane and are still not at 100% capacity if running at all.

Allocations of some of the components are as low at some mills as 0% and as high as 95% at others

 

I know that all this information applies to the print realm, but I believe the basic theme applies to most manufacturing type industries.  I hope you found this information to be helpful.

For more information about this and other print industry news, sign up for our newsletter at www.foleybf.com

 

 

 

 

 

COLD CALLING..a method of the past, or still a profitable way to get new business?

Recently I went to a seminar which was sponsored by our order entry software system company, Xetex. The main group of people who use this software are print suppliers, and therefore all the sessions focused on different aspects of the print world. I found it all to be inspiring, and it jumpstarted me back into the world of new customer aquisition.

I created a Long Island Brach of my father’s company in 2003, and I hit the ground running in search of customers.  Considering his level of success I asked the simple question, what made him so successful?

Well first let me say there is many things about the man that makes him successful; one thing I find truly amazing is the fact that he gained all his business by COLD CALLING.  Why not copy him! 

That’s right…I hit the pavement and went door to door of businesses all over the area. This tecnique was both thrilling and frustrating at the same time. Thrilling because I loved when I actually got the opportunity to interact with people, and frustrating when I got sent away with not so kind words. I perservered, and built up a successful business. I love my customers, and my favorite part of the business is having the honor of interacting with them. 

Now back to the reason for this post. Cold Calling got me to where I am today, but after this seminar I learned that cold calling may be the ways of the past, and that things such as direct mail, social networking and e mail newsletters is the way of the future. This begs the question…IS IT? 

I dove in head first to try these new ideas. I hit the internet to learn what I could of how to find success with these practices. What I found is that it CAN work….but here are the questions I am left with.

1. How can these new methods get you to the correct person in the company that you should be speaking with? Even with the nastiest of receptionists you can at least maybe get a name of the person who orders what you are selling.
2. How do I get people to want to hear what I have to say? I have to be honest, once I get in front of someone I am pretty good at getting them to at least hear what I have to say. I feel that is why I can be good at what I do. I am able to not only sell my product, but sell myself as someone who people want to buy from.
3. What I am seeing is that it takes a lot of time for this online method to work. Do I have that time? Walking through the door of an office puts me in control. Sending out a physical mailing or e newsletter leaves it up in the air as to if someone will read it.
4. Person to Person contact. As I said above, I built the business I have by using person to person contact. I am not saying that the new way of doing things takes that away, but does it lesson it? Or are we becoming a society where people prefer no other communication than that they can see via e mail or the internet?

I am not sure of these answers, but right now I am giving it all a fair shot. I am putting my all into it. I hope the new way works for me!

With this Hurting Economy why not Ask Questions?

We are officially in a recession….yes I know, we didn’t need the news to give us this information. According to wikipedia a recession is…

In economics, the term recession is generally used to describe a situation in which a country’s GDP, or gross domestic product, shrinks for at least 2 consecutive quarters.

The common dictionary defenition is a contraction phase of the business cycle, or “a period of reduced economic activity.”

The U.S. based National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) defines a recession as “a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP growth, real personal income, employment (non-farm payrolls), industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales

I think we are all starting to feel this burden whether it be in our homes or at our jobs. I am not sure that I can offer any advice as to how to get help at home, I think you will need to visit a personal finance blog for that, but when it comes to the forms that are needed to make your office run smoothly I am the woman to speak with.

I have heard all the excuses one gets while trying to gain new customers. So today, I am here to shut all your excuses down, and explain why it might be in your best interest to take the time and effort to shop around and make your print supplier work for you.

1) We already have a print supplier.

• Well of course you do! How else is your business running on a daily basis? I’m not here speaking with you thinking that it is your first day on the job. I know that you order from someone else, and I know they are most likely doing a good job…or so you think. In today’s market it is important that your print supplier serves the right role for you. You may think that they are doing a good job, but are they? Are their prices really as good as you think? Are you getting the best quality? These are things that you should think about.

2) We’re not interested.

• Well why not? I’m sure your boss, or the person who signs the checks would be curious to know if you are really getting the most for their money. A five minute meeting with me, could make you realize what you are missing from your current supplier. Taking 5 minutes of your time now could save you hours of your time in the future. Anyone who has ever been in charge of keeping track of all the forms, labels, checks or anything an office may use can attest to the fact that it’s time consuming. Why not take us up on our forms managment services? This way the job falls to me, and will be taken care of every time.

3) We already are getting the best price.

• Are you? Well you may be getting the best price, but are you getting the quality you deserve? There is so much more to a product than price. Most of you know, “you get what you pay for”, and the same applies here. I’m not saying anyone should gouge you, but paying a little more could save you time and money in the future. Sure you can buy copy paper from office max and save a few dollars, but if it jams your printer you will lose a lot more money and time in the end.

No matter who your print supplier is, you should have a good relationship with them. If your job depends on the forms and products they supply, then it is important that you communicate your needs. You need someone who is up to date with the newest products and technology, you need someone who is there when you call, and you need someone who can act as a consultant between your company and the print world.

My advice is to keep this all in mind the next time you are ready to give an excuse as to why you are not interested in learning more. In todays changing economy everyone will benefit from you asking questions.