It’s tough on my psyche to go from euphoria to, boom, the pits in the space of twenty-four hours. Saturday, the thirteenth, was perfect. There was a great sale at KMART. I now have 24 large cans of Maxwell House French Roast coffee, 108 rolls of Viva paper towels and 108 rolls of Scott toilet tissue. As you know these are some of my favorite brands. It’s not the bargains that thrilled me; it’s the stockpiling I’m after. I have a large family and it gives me comfort to know that we’re covered if there’s ever a great toilet paper shortage.
Hoarding is genetic thing that my dear mother passed along to me. When she passed away, I found 15 pounds of Keller’s butter and ten half gallons of Edie’s ice cream in her freezer. Mom lived alone.
After a great Saturday I had a disastrous Sunday. The Philadelphia Eagles were humiliated by New England 31-10 for their second straight loss. After two games the Eagles were supposed to have clinched their division title.
Next, I made a huge mistake when I called AOL to complain about being charged $23.90 four times for one month’s service on one of my credit cards. Huge mistake! I was on the phone for two and one half hours. I was transferred four times, disconnected three times and got to speak to four different CSR’s, one of whom was in New Delhi. I didn’t get my money back, but I did note I was only charged twice on the next credit card bill.
I negotiate things for a living. I’m supposed to be good at persuading people to my position. Well, my self-confidence was destroyed by this AOL experience. I think I am single-handedly financing the AOL losses and I’m their ticket to a restoration of their stock price.
This customer service experience brings me to the topics for this column. I want to acknowledge some other writers who are making powerful contributions to the printing industry.
Eric Cagle writes for this magazine. He is Senior Editor which means he writes a lot of the articles you read herein. He’s written a couple of great pieces on the importance of great customer service by talking about lousy customer service. He is such a good writer that his bosses, Attila One and Attila Two, let him have wide latitude and, as a print sales professional or a manager, you are missing something if you don’t read Eric’s columns and feature stories. Once you have written up your day’s orders around 10:00 or 11:00 PM, I urge you to visit www.piworld.com, visit the “Article Archive” and read some of Eric’s work.
About twenty years ago, when Mr. Irv Borowsky signed me on to write this column, he said, “DeWese, I’m going to make you more famous than Harris Margolis.” I’m not sure anyone is more famous than Harris Margolis who heads H. R. Margolis Company, of Philadelphia. Margolis and his professionals specialize in the printing industry and are CPAs, financial advisors and they have compiled and tabulated the PIA Ratio Studies for many years.
Harris and his son, Stuart, have been co-authoring a series of columns on finance and accounting for printing companies in another publications. Is it okay for me to name it? I’ll give it to you in with some letters left blank. It’s Prin_ing News Ea_t, a tabloid that comes to my desk about every two weeks.
Harris and Stuart are writing concise understandable “right on” advice about printing company profitability. Printing salespeople need to understand the principles of profits as well a their importance to the growth and finance of their companies. Many CEOs, CFOs and owners certainly need a better understanding and the motivation to practice what this father and son team is teaching.
I get phone calls every day from CEO’s complaining about competitors who are selling below cost. I have begged you to stop this and I beseeched all of you to raise prices by 25% on my last birthday, June 30, 2002. Dammit, you didn’t do it. Apparently, you are wimps and fear the Feds and Anti-Trust. The Feds will never be able to prove that all 30,000 printers colluded to raise prices.
Well, if you won’t raise prices, I implore you to read the entire series of articles written by Harris and Stuart. They have my highest praise for a job well done!
Dick Vinocur has been around the printing industry forever. He got his start as an apprentice to Benjamin Franklin right here in Philadelphia. In addition to writing and running the press, Dick, who was then known as “Poor Richard” had the responsibility for covering up Ben’s many affairs of the heart.
Dick is a fantastic writer and had he not gotten locked into the printing industry, he could have been a nationally syndicated columnist or a best selling novelist.
Dick has also been the industry conscience and knows no fear when inquiring into the real story. I speak at a lot of industry events and I always shudder when I see Dick Vinocur sitting in the front row (always right in front the of the podium) because I know he’s going to ask me some hard questions.
In recent years, Dick published and wrote Footprints, a newsletter. Footprints was a hard-hitting, incisive, concise survey of the real news in the printing industry and I relished Dick’s editorial comments. Dick has now retired Footprints as a winner. It had a large paid subscriber base (me included), and I’m going to miss it. Fortunately, I can still call Dick and maybe hang out with him from time to time.
Finally, I hope you all read Mark Michelson’s editorial in the front of each issue of PI. Mark is the nefarious “Attila the Editor One” who I frequently bash for the sake of humor. He has been running PI for nearly twenty years. He is a great writer, has worked to build this magazine and makes many unrecognized contributions to the printing industry. Be sure to read his column every month.
Last. DJ, you who spend hours at the bedside of sick children and who counsels and consoles parents, you are first a great humanitarian and then later a great printer.
You are asking, “What is the message in this column?”
And, I will ask you, “When was the last time you, a salesperson, artfully acknowledged the professionalism or skill of one your print buyers.” Have you ever said, “Marie, I have a lot of demanding customers, but I must tell you are among the most knowledgeable and professional.”
And, to you managers, “Do you acknowledge the good work of at least one co-worker every day?” I believe that many managers fear praising their people because they think it weakens their “supervisory” position or the person may ask for a raise. Balderdash! It will make their day and reinforce what they are doing well and improve their performance.
All right, get yourselves out there and sell something and while you’re making PROFITABLE sales, praise somebody who deserves it!
