Day 3, Bill Ruesch recession recovery diary

Dear Reader,

In my headlong rush to create a diary of my experiences in recession recovery, my wife says that I’ve been revealing T.M.I. She says that it is no body’s business how much I used to earn in the pre-recession world. Maybe she’s right. Probably she is right. She usually is.

My only excuse is that I want my readers to know that I’m not a rank amateur who has garnered a little information and decides to pass himself off as an expert. I’m also not a flop at selling printing who is now trying to make money in some other way. It often amazes me to see “experts” who have never actually done the job making tons of money selling real sales people their secrets. This may sound bitter, but my impression is that their secrets are nothing more than keeping their buyers from knowing how little they actually know based on their experience.

If they looked like this no one would be duped.

It doesn’t matter if these brazen showmen are selling on the Internet, at conferences, or at seminars. The show is what matters and I’ve never been good at the show. I have always tried to provide valuable service at reasonable rates. How about you, dear reader?

I’ve been employed full-time in printing sales for 35 years. For twenty of those years I’ve been self-employed as a printing broker or as I’ve begun calling myself an Independent Printing and Mailing Manager. For some unknown reason that I have never been able to fully understand, customers always think that my services as a Print Broker are going to cost them more. That’s just not the case. I find better ways to do their jobs and that frequently results in lower costs. Plus I negotiate to get better bids so that I can create a margin that I can live on. Whether my customers went to the same sources for bids or use my service, they’ll pay roughly the same price.

Whether you are a broker or a captive sales rep, what are your thoughts? I’d like to know.

In the last two blogs Top 5 Reasons Print Brokers P.O. Printers, and Printers, does Print Broker “Prejudice” Harm You? I’ve given reasons why Printers should consider or re-consider adding print brokers to their sales mix. The biggest reason, of course, is that print brokers have customers that are already printing somewhere and by attracting one print broker you could increase your sales by maybe millions. As for me, and I’m not the heaviest hitter out there, I swing around a million dollar a year bat — sometimes more, sometimes less, but always in the ballpark. A printer who convinces me that my business belongs with them has increased business by not just one, but by a couple of dozen new customers, worth maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars in new business.

And  you can do this without creating enemies in your local fraternity of printers. What happens when you send your sales reps out to grab business wherever they can? I’ll tell you; sooner or later you’ll take a prized customer away from a kindly competitor who doesn’t deserve this type of treatment. Maybe they helped you out in the past, or gave you good advice, or belong to the same clubs as you. When you create bad feelings among your peers it takes awhile to patch them up.

It's nothing personal -- just business.

Oh sure, you can say, “It’s nothing personal. It’s just business.” But isn’t that the same lame excuse the Mafia makes in the movies when they kill someone? Damaging a livelihood is personal. You can’t duck it no matter how you try. It’s nothing personal — BANG! — I shot you in the back, but it’s not personal. No, of course it isn’t, wink, wink.

If you decide that attracting brokers could be a good thing, here are some bits of advice:

• Make sure all of your agreements are in writing. Don’t assume that because you have done things in a certain way in the past that the broker will know or understand what your expectations are.

• A print broker is not your unpaid employee. They are independent business people who’s primary concern is their customer. If the broker is smart they will help their customer understand the printer’s point of view in the event of a disagreement, but when the chips are down the print broker stands with the customer, they have to, it’s their job.

• A broker is also not your customer. They function more like an Independent Insurance Agent. The real deal, when all is said and done, is between the printer and the customer. You can squawk about that, but in every sense of what is morally and ethically right it is the person who possesses the product who is ultimately responsible for paying the bill. A broker is no more responsible for a customer debt than your commissioned sales reps are.

• Get agreements with the print broker and their customer giving you the right to collect the debt in the event of default. You may want to insist that the customer provide a credit application and other information for your files. You should conduct a credit investigation on every customer just like you do with your own. Make sure the broker’s customer is credit worthy before offering credit — duh. Then set your terms.

• If giving any credit sticks in your craw make every broker job COD. That is the easiest way to handle the issue, but it also means you will attract less broker business. Their customers have the same needs as your regular group. If they need terms and you aren’t willing to give them what can they do?

• Print Brokers, the good ones that is, probably have a wealth of experience behind them. They aren’t naive. They usually have years of printing experience under their belts before becoming a broker. They are just as committed as you,  to getting the customer what they need, when they need it, and at a competitive price. When you disrespect the value added a broker brings and treat them in a condescending matter you ruin what could have been a good partnership. Get them on your side and they generally will move heaven and earth to help you when things go wrong.  At the very least they bring expertise that it will take your wet-behind-the-ears newbie years to learn. Weigh it out — newbie, pro. Who would you rather work with?

• Don’t begrudge print broker’s earnings. Yes, some brokers earn a lot of money. Most of us do okay, but none of us are in the Fortune 500. It can be a good business, just like printing is a good business. More printers retire well-to-do than brokers ever do. Not every printer does well, and not every broker succeeds. No one becomes a printing broker to get rich.

• Don’t moan that brokers beat down the price so you don’t make any money. NONSENSE. A broker can’t make you accept a job that is a money looser. What did they do, hold a gun to your head? Ultimately if you let anyone dictate your sell prices you are a damn fool, and in my experience anyone with enough business acumen to run a printing company is no fool.

I’m proud to announce the beginnings of a new movement toward achieving credibility and respect for self-publishing authors.

Manifesto

for

The Red Hen Association of Self-Publishing Authors

We, the members of The Red Hen Association of Self-Publishing Authors, witnessing a decline in publishing opportunities, the rapidly changing habits of the book buying public, and the unwieldiness of the traditional publishing industry, are seizing control of our own destinies and banding together for the purpose of increasing our credibility, respect, and profitability. We are not expecting or demanding that anyone else have as much faith in our work as we do, therefore, we will not shy away from the challenges and costs of self-publishing including production, marketing, and distribution, but:

1. We abhor prejudicial rejections. Self-publishers are never too old, too new, too unproven, too innovative, or too risky. We refuse to be disrespected, dismissed, or ignored. Our success or failure is determined by our own efforts, and the marketability of our work.
2. We understand that traditional publishers seek manuscripts with high potential mass audience appeal, but we know that reasonable profits can be achieved even in limited markets. Money isn’t necessarily the only goal, sometimes the appreciation and gratitude of our readers is its own reward.
3. We may be small individually, but by banding together we will have access to the finest minds in book production, public relations, marketing, etc. The finished work should reflect our highest dreams and aspirations and stand proudly with the best the publishing industry has to offer. We refuse to ever be ashamed of our products because of shoddy, or low quality workmanship.
4. We insist that those who are recommended to assist us in our endeavors are trustworthy, competent, of have the highest standards of integrity. We reserve the right to accept or reject a recommendation from the association because we are first and foremost independent business people and will keep our own council.

Like The Little Red Hen in the children’s story:

a) We will prepare the ground by learning all we can about self publishing, marketing, and distribution.

b) We will sow the seed by using every means available to establish credibility for our own work and increase respect for self-publishing.

c) We will water and fertilize by blogging, using press releases, doing book signings, appearing on television and radio, and all manner of self-promotional activity. By our efforts we achieve success and inspire others to do the same.

d) We will thin and weed concentrating our efforts on successful methods and discarding those less productive.

e) We will harvest our crop using proper accounting and other business means to create  firm bases of operations.

f) We will employ the miller no matter how competent and capable we are, there are some steps we cannot do by ourselves. We recognize these steps and rather than botch the job, are willing to hire professionals with the talents, knowledge and abilities we need to supplement our efforts.

g) We will make the bread through our individual efforts we will print, publish, and sell our books, choosing the avenues and manner of distribution, and standing behind our work until our audience finds us. We have no respect for the practice of floating new books for only 30 days, then pulling them from the shelves. We will work our titles for as long as we are willing and able.

h) We will eat the bread and happily enjoy a much greater profit on each book sell than we would have earned with just royalties alone.

i) We will save some seed from every crop to plant, and harvest again because we are writers and writers need to be read.

Therefore, The Red Hen Association of Self-Publishing Authors is formed for the purposes of:

1. assisting authors/members by offering all or part of the following services as requested: to professionally prepare their works for printing or electronic production, to manage the production process including finding the least expensive methods, to provide marketing assistance from instruction to implementation, to developing business plans, and any other services needed to assist authors to achieve their personal and business goals.
2. offering courses and learning opportunities to instruct authors in self-reliance by every means from recommending books, to on-line courses, to personal coaching.
3. giving author support, The Red Hen intends to establish quality and professional standards to provide author/members the peace-of-mind of knowing that recommended sources bearing The Red Hen seal have earned the respect and backing of the organization.
4. helping members  rise to meet high standards for business ethics and quality levels. Only those who are worthy will be given the right to use The Red Hen seal in their marketing efforts.
5. furthermore, The Red Hen Association of Self-Publishing Authors will actively represent the collected authors and promote its members in any, and every way possible, from marketing opportunities to the lobbying for fair and equal treatment under the laws. We affirm that self-publishers rights  will not be diminished.