Printers Will Succeed If You ….

By Debbie Nicholson, Think-to-INK!
https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbie-nicholson-24a53627/

Many times during the process of writing my article(s), I find myself in a struggle. I hold back on things I know I should be stating, not because I fear my readers' misunderstanding – but because I don’t want to share negative content or stories.  However, I also strongly desire to discuss the urgent industry issues that I know need to be addressed if our goal is to grow and prosper, not just today – but in the future.

So, having just asked for forgiveness, I now feel a profound sense of relief knowing that my heart has permitted me to push forward to share insights and provoke thoughtful consideration of industry issues with you. But remember, with every challenge comes an opportunity for positive change.  Hopefully, many of the bulleted points I share below will help you initiate change.

You will succeed if you (in no particular order).

• You will succeed if you don’t undermine your company’s Values and Mission.
• You will succeed if you treat customers as relational rather than transactional.
• You will succeed if you finally admit your Company Culture needs improvement.
• You will succeed if you hold your sales staff accountable by establishing goals and standards.
• You will succeed if you acknowledge your CSRs need continual support and training.
• You will succeed if you don’t allow Leadership Members to stand in front of progress.
• You will succeed if you encourage employees to suggest best production practices openly.
• You will succeed if you devise and commit to a strategy plan for long-term growth and profits.
• You will succeed if you don’t retain underperforming employees.
• You will succeed if you in no way allow toxic employees to cause chaos and destruction.
• You will succeed if you share progress and wealth with your employees.
• You will succeed if you don’t ask employees to take on more work than was initially expected.
• You will succeed if you quit ignoring employees’ performance reviews and pay raises.
• You will succeed if you stop under-valuing your company’s worth to customers.
• You will succeed if you meet your customer’s needs (i.e., quality, on-time deliveries, collaboration, and respect).
• You will succeed if you realize pride is keeping you from fixing what needs to be fixed.
• You will succeed if you offer every employee continual learning (CL) opportunities.
• You will succeed if you research and purchase faster and more advanced technology.
• You will succeed if you promote employees even when they are unreplaceable in their current position.
• You will succeed if you quit accepting projects that are not profitable.
• You will succeed if you are honorable at work and in the community.
• You will succeed if you are a customer-facing print service provider!
• You will succeed if you quit saying everything is fine when it’s not!  Ask for help!
   

In closing:

If you are serious about the printing industry, if you genuinely want to out-perform your competitors and build a company that will stand the test of time – then you must accept that change is not just a necessity but inevitable.

Are you willing to pay the price for change?