Hey..That’s Just MY Advice..

A lot of people go to a lot of places for advice. Blogs, Forums, Dealers and even other Sign Shops. I love exploring Sign & Digital Graphics Forums and finding out what other people have to say, but sometimes I truly wonder whether people take the RIGHT advice as something to follow, or do they just follow the advice of what seems the to be the easiest and in most cases, the least expensive path.

It can often be summed up to human nature. You walk down the streets of New York City in the dead of winter, and you are in desperate need of a wool hat since it’s so cold. You see two street vendors within 50 feet of each other, the closer one is selling a more durable and much warmer hat for $10 but 50 ft away is a less durable and cheaper hat. Instinct takes over and you go and walk the extra 50ft to buy a cheaper product. Some people say “yeah exactly what I would do”, but let’s think about this. In the long run is it really saving you any money? Cheaper products never outlast a quality made product and in the end you end up spending more money to replace the product you bought when you went the “cheaper route”.

It’s the same way in my line of work, over the past few years, people have seen a drastic change in the economy and have come up with some pretty “unusual” for lack of better terms to do what they think is best for their business. Now I’m not going to go and name any companies in particular that I have dealt with over the past few years, but let’s just say some are still in business and some are struggling now more than ever. The decisions you made 2-3 years ago are now the same decisions that can be holding you back from succeeding today!

SUPPORT DOESN’T MATTER-A while back, I had a customer come to me and took up four hours of my day running around my shop pointing to things, saying “I want this, and I want that” So I did demonstrations on each and every piece of equipment I had in my showroom. I carefully explained what each one does, the good points, the bad points and how each machine can help him be successful. I take pride in what I do. I don’t play the “well this is the (model) and here is the price...you want it?” game.

I gave the customer a price and when he saw that we are charging for training and support, he proceeds to question me and tell me he doesn’t need it. WOW. So let me get this straight. I have been doing this for 13 years, and I’m still learning each and every day but you wake up one morning and decide you want to open a business and you don’t need any training or support. I’ll just leave it at that.

Here’s the cold hard facts: When you pay a dealer in this industry for support, you are paying for their time to help you be successful and keep you running smoothly. Whether you like it or not, this is a whole new era, and the days of “I want the best price and best support at the same time” doesn’t exist. Period. The money you pay for training covers our time that we AREN’T selling to help you out. Now if we get a guy who chooses to nickel and dime a sales rep, when the time comes for him to need support, the last thing we’ll want to do is help because we need to focus on our next sale. Simple reality. Ever hear of “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours”?

TRADE IN VALUE-This story always makes me laugh. I had a customer come in and wanted to do a trade in from an SP-540V to a new machine. I gave them the trade in value and instantly they became upset “THAT’S IT? DON’T THESE THINGS HOLD ANY VALUE?” Let’s look at this a little closer. The customer was trading in the machine because he was out of warranty and a head was blown. With time and labor that’s over $1000 right there at least. Not to mention AFTER the machine is replaced, TyrrellTech adds a warranty to it so we can resell it to a customer. That’s also IF there isn’t anything else wrong with the machine.

So now we move on to the new machine he wants. I give him the price and first thing out of the customer’s mouth is to offer me $3000 less than what the price I gave him. Again, I tell things like it is, and I call it the way I see it. You mean to tell me that you want MORE money for a machine that is 5 years old and needs a lot of work, but a brand new, faster and not to mention under warranty machine is worth LESS?? Think about this one.

SAVING MONEY v MAKING MONEY-You don’t start a business to SAVE money. No one starts a business called “Saving Money Inc”. I had a customer who I had helped out of so many situations literally tell me in front of a group of people that a competitor was $0.40 cheaper on a roll of vinyl. No trust me, you read that right. FORTY CENTS! Really? I started to laugh and thought he was joking. Apparently he wasn’t. At the end of the day I felt bad for that customer because I tried to make them realize that you can get into any business to MAKE money or you can get into a business to SAVE money. But you can not make money by saving money. It just doesn’t happen.

The same goes for this whole 3rd party ink mess. I’ve had customers walk away from service contracts and say “Ok well I guess my machine is not going to be able to get a service contract from you since I put third party ink in my machine, but hey it will all work out. The 220ml cartridges are only $48 each so I’m saving so much!” Are you really? I’m not about to get on my high horse about 3rd party inks. There’s been enough of that posted around that whoever doesn’t get it by now, they are on their own. Bottom line, no matter how you spin it, first service call that pops up on your machine, call me after you get the bill and let me know how much you “SAVED”

Look, I don’t sugar coat things. I don’t mix words. There have been a LOT of machines, a LOT of dealers, and a LOT of 3rd party products to come and go. I choose to work for the best and work for a company that carries ONLY the best. This is your INVESTMENT. This is the equipment that you want to be successful with. This is the occupation that you want to send your kids to college with. Why take chances? Why waste time spending less money with the wrong people to get mediocre support and the runaround when you need help? Why sit around and shop 10 different vendors and set yourself back two weeks when in that time you could be printing and selling to your customers.

A lot of people go on forums looking for the best prices. They spend all day every day posting and emailing people asking where they can save a few bucks. The time you spend doing everything but working on selling your product costs you money. I know this just as well. It’s 7am as I write this. Why? Am I crazy? No. I know that at 8:30 my day starts and my customers are calling. So why take away from their time. This industry is not a giant infomercial. The manufacturers and the dealers work hard to provide you with the RIGHT information to help make you successful and bring you the absolute best. Follow their words and listen to what they are telling you. They haven’t been able to get to where they are today but nickel and diming everyone. It’s all hard work and perseverance. Nothing else.

Forums can be filled with a LOT of useful information don’t get me wrong, but if you spend your day using it for the wrong information, your business will suffer. I have a lot of customers who follow TyrrellTech’s advice and share the same beliefs and they are kicking butt right now! Unfortunately, it’s those who sat back and held onto their money until CNN reported a change in the economy that are now light years behind. Take it from me, I get calls all day long from businesses out there. I ask each one how things are going. There are so many people out there that are extremely busy and it’s easy to tell how they run their shop compared to those who are struggling saying “well what’s my price?”

The price is the price and the advice is the advice. Like or it not, that’s my two cents. My words don’t come off friendly to everyone, but at the same time, you need to ask yourself one question. Do you want to do business with someone who will tell it to you like it is? Or do you want me to tell you want you want to hear? It’s the same way in life, marriage, education, and so on. The key word in today’s world isn’t CHANGE. It’s REALITY and the more realistic you are about your business practices, the better off you will be.

Until next time.