If you’re lagging on this Friday afternoon, we have some inspiration in store for you, from ten of the most successful business leaders of all time. These folks suffered from discouragement, defeat, monetary problems and countless other roadblocks. And yet, that wasn’t the end of their careers.

The first piece of advice comes from Steve Jobs, entrepreneur, inventor, and Apple Inc. CEO: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.”

To view all 10 inspirational speeches, check out the videos linked in the article below.

Inspirational Advice From 10 Successful Leaders (Videos) [Entrepreneur.com]

]]> http://www.printinghub.org/refocus-on-your-goals-a-healthy-dose-of-inspiration-from-10-top-business-titans/feed/ 0 http://www.printinghub.org/5-steps-to-being-more-productive-at-work-today/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=5-steps-to-being-more-productive-at-work-today http://www.printinghub.org/5-steps-to-being-more-productive-at-work-today/#comments Fri, 17 May 2013 14:02:11 +0000 Hub Staff http://www.printinghub.org/?p=13785 Ever have one of those mornings that you wake up anxious to get a ton of stuff done? You get ready extraordinarily fast, hit every green light on the way to work, sit down at your desk ready to tackle that to-do list—and crickets. Nothing. Not one polished idea you’re remotely interested in pursuing. Well, what now? Tetris?

We found this nifty article outlining five steps Simon Rich—from Fast Company’s Most Creative People report—takes to up his creativity quotient.

Step one: know when you’re productive. Perhaps (despite your good intentions) your brain isn’t warmed up enough for productivity first thing when you get to work. Don’t fret if you can’t turn your noggin on first thing—tackle a more unimaginative task first.

To learn four more steps to being more productive at work check out the linked article below.

5 Things You Can Do Today to Make Yourself More Creative and Productive, Tomorrow [Fast Co Create]

Ok, don’t take that literally. You don’t need to close your doors, do some market research and figure out a new industry.

But as printers, we do need to change the way we sell.

Bill Farquharson presented at this year’s Printing Hub 2013 with an inspirational message for printers: People want what you’re selling. They need what you’re selling. But we have to move up the food chain. That means we want a seat at the cool kids table with the designers.

How to Sell Printing Products

Remember the golden age of print? I bet you do. Back when you could drop by any old office and ask to bid on a printing project. And the prospect had one at the ready for you to bid on.

But the gilded era is gone.

Customers have options now. They don’t think they need your specific printing operation–the internet and the rise of major printing stores have given them a ton of options for print. If we lead with asking to bid a project, we’ve given our print buyer the easiest out by saying our prices are too high.

Step One: Start Selling Solutions

They don’t need printers who are doing the exact same things they’ve always done. As a matter of fact, if you can’t end your sales call with something of value to your print buyer, stop what you’re doing.

We have to learn how to sell printing products in the 21st century. And that means solving customers’ problems. For instance, for every dollar a print buyer spends on print, there’s $20 being spent in using it. So we should help the print buyer lower that usage cost or increase the value of the printed piece–and be technically superior to the competition.

Customers aren’t looking for printing products and services, they’re looking to grow their business, get more customers, increase revenue, have a successful trade show or improved communications. That should be the focus of the sales call. Which means a little work is necessary before the sales call so it shows you’ve done your homework on their organization.

Step Two: Find the Right Customers

You have all the information you need to discover new prospects. A company’s website is the window to the soul of an organization. You just need to read between the lines to see what the company truly values. Scan through the company’s history, look at recent news articles, discover their upcoming events and understand the language they use to present their products and services. More often than not, you’ll get all the contact information you need of the decision makers.

Then go beyond the prospect’s website and look at social media to understand what your customers and prospects are discussing on LinkedIn, Google, Twitter and Facebook. Don’t disregard more traditional methods such as business journals and job postings. This tells you what industries and companies are growing.

Believe or not, the library is rich with prospect data. Libraries typically pay for subscriptions to extensive business databases such as Redbooks. Reference librarians will help you dig to get the data you want about particular prospects. These librarians love to dig for information so there’s a good chance they’ll keep working on your request long after you’re gone.

There’s also something to be said for traditional networking and aligning yourself with associations to unearth more printing projects.

Step Three: Go Above and Beyond

The key of how to sell printing in today’s environment is to build a brand and differentiate yourself. Then create a prospecting process like no other in your marketplace. Adopt an environment of educating your customers, speaking their language and tell them how you’re going to solve their problems.

So let’s start small. Go find three prospects, do some research on those companies, create your prospect process, make some calls and bang on doors. Maybe even send a handwritten note. But above all, stop selling print–and start selling all the ways that your printing company can help other businesses be the best version of themselves.

Good luck.

To encourage usage and engagement, simply tell them what to do. Provide instructions on how to engage with QR codes and insight to what they’ll receive. Use helpful text or an image that drives the point home for the user. Simply put, tell them.

For more tips on increasing use of QR codes, follow the link below.

4 Tips to Increase QR Code Scans [QReate & Track]

In addition to improving your printing website’s SEO, drawing in readers for multiple articles will improve your bounce rates. And Google also uses bounce rates as a metric to determine how useful your site is—users spending longer amounts of time (as opposed to searchers jumping into a single post and right back out of the page) are clearly being enticed with more useful content.

Learn more about the complexities and secrets to successful backlinking in the article linked below.

Why Interlinking Your Blog Posts is a Must (and Not Just For SEO) [ProBlogger]

 Your focus should be on improving the community you serve. If you must “keep up” with something, keep up with your customers. Be deliberate in what you put on your plate, and don’t risk being miserably stuffed after you finish it.

Learn more on feeling less overwhelmed at work in the article linked below.

Are You Feeling Overwhelmed? [Human Business Works]

When we first explored the newest chart topping app Vine, we thought the creators were slightly cruel for limiting the video length to such a degree. But yet again, as with Twitter, there is value in the constraint and standard of such a short clip—it forces you to get to the meat of your content instantly. No fluff allowed.

So, how can your printing business embrace Vine? Check out the article linked below for 11 possibilities (and be sure to peruse the comments for a few bonus ideas!).

11 Things A Business Could Do With the New Vine App [Chris Brogan]

Photo via: Business Insider

According to NAPL’s State of the Industry report, commercial printing sales have decreased 20.6% since 2007. But that doesn’t mean every printing company is struggling—there are companies seeing increased sales. So what are these printing companies doing?

For one, they’re getting to know their clients better, and shifting the kind of relationship they have with them. To hear how you can transition from a transactional based relationship with your clients, and the benefits of doing so, watch the short video below with NAPL’s Chief Economist Andy Paparozzi.

Professionality on your printing blog is key. Any grammatical, spelling or usage errors could cause readers to stop enjoying your otherwise lovely article because your credibility has been damaged.

But we’re humans. We understand that mistakes happen. So we found a list of common compound word errors that could cost you readers—and we’re not about to let that happen. Check out the linked article below to learn more:

11 Compound Word Errors that Might Make You Look like a Numbskull [Copyblogger]

Take a minute to step outside of the industry. Instead, put yourself in the customer’s shoes. How do they make a purchase? What’s their thought process? Once you stop focusing on the industry and start focusing on the industry consumers, your marketing can shift in the right direction.

For more on stepping outside the industry and ahead of your company’s competition, click the article linked below.

Stepping Outside the Industry and Ahead of the Competition [MarketingSherpa]