To Win Like a King, You Must Be a King
Male or female, young or old, if you own a business in the graphic arts industry, you cannot be truly successful unless you step into your rightful role and lead as a King does on the chess board.
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Category: Grow
Everything you need to know about how to sell a business.
Preparing for the Mental Game of Buy-Sell-Grow
Like chess, the process of buy-sell-grow is a long game that requires strategy and forethought. Follow this series for the best tips and advice on how to win. […]
Business Growth Strategies: Updating Your Website
Your company’s website still makes a powerful impression of your brand when potential customers begin researching vendors who can supply certain products or services. If it’s been awhile since you updated it, here are some ideas to consider. […]
What New Managers Need Most
Whether you promote an employee or hire someone from the outside for a key management role, setting them up for success from the jump is key. Rock details how to get them off to a good start. […]
Discovering Your Purpose and Role After You Sell Your Business
Many owners go through the grieving process of leaving their core mission behind as they begin to reinvent themselves. As you contemplate the sale of your business, what does the post-arena picture look like? […]
Four Things to Consider Before Signing a Buy-Sell Agreement
Before signing a buy-sell agreement that stipulates what happens to an exiting partner’s shares of the business, it’s important to consider many possible scenarios.
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How Do You Build a Team That Will Follow You Anywhere?
Building a loyal team in your graphic arts organization starts with great leadership. But it can end with a higher valuation of your business when you get ready to sell it. […]
Growing a Print Business: Selling Through Brokers and Distributors
Who doesn’t want to increase sales? Consider offering wholesale prices to well-connected, independent print experts. These value-added resellers can bring a steady stream of new orders through your web-to-print portals.
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Six Good Reasons to Update Your Branding
When was the last time you updated your company’s branding? Considering how many changes have occurred in the marketplace over the past 3 years, maybe it’s time for brand refresh.
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Using Video Sales Messages to Grow Your Print Business
Is your print sales team using video messaging yet? If not, you should consider it. If you have difficulty connecting with clients and prospects in person, providing personalized video messages through emails, texts, and social media posts can be the next best thing.
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Employee Engagement in the Real World
Studies have shown that improving employee engagement can help improve employee recruitment and retention. But engaging employees in authentic collaboration is hard. Bill Finnegan of RainPath offers a practical approach. […]
Six Ways to Improve Employee Engagement
Research shows that companies with low levels of employee engagement have higher levels of absenteeism, turnover, safety issues, and quality defects. Improve employee engagement and improve your company’s resiliency, productivity, and profitability. We’ve got six ways to get started.
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Why Updated Leadership Training Is a Must
Business leaders must adjust to the realities of the post-pandemic workforce. Updated leadership training is required to achieve the high levels of employee engagement that can help your shop reduce turnover, retain key employees, and improve productivity.
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Six Hot Trends for Print Businesses in 2022
Are grow and prosper your top goals for 2022? Geting on board with these six trends can ensure you hit those marks. […]
Lessons Learned from 2021 M&A Activity: Commercial and Wide Format Printing
A look back at the mergers and acquisitions that closed in the commercial-printing and wide-format graphics segments in 2021 shows how print-business owners use acquisitions to expand services or grow their customer bases. […]
2021 M&A Activity in Labels and Packaging: Lessons Learned
To get a big-picture view of 2021 M&A activity in labels and packaging, we have summarized a collection of press releases that acquiring companies issued in 2021. The summaries provide insights into what private-equity investors and owners of labels and packaging companies hope to accomplish through different types and sizes of mergers and acquisitions. Use these insights to start preparing your business for sale in 2022 or beyond. […]
Four Start-Up Mindsets That Will Transform Your Business
Looking to recapture that sense of passion, optimism, and urgency you felt when you founded your business? Hoping to attract new talent and investors? A mindset change might be just the thing you need. […]
Workforce Development: Reskilling Employees for New Career Paths
When developing growth strategies for your business, take time to evaluate what skills your employees already have and what skills your company will need to move forward. Before assuming that you must hire new people, consider these strategies for offering more fulfilling opportunities for your current employees. […]
The Whirlwind: The No. 1 Obstacle to Strategic Plan Execution
Guest blogger Doug Wick, executive coach at Positioning Systems, cautions against getting sucked into the whirlwind of urgent daily priorities that rob you of the focus required to move your team forward and offers four tips to get that focus back. […]
7 Priority Tasks to Complete Before You Buy or Sell a Business
Whether you are buying or selling, these 7 key actions will get you ready to move quickly and plan strategically in the new world of M&A. […]
Rethinking Workplace Culture Amid The Great Resignation
Your employees are the driving force behind your business. Are you driving your best people away? With employees quitting in droves, it may be time to rethink “how we’ve always done things.” […]
Fostering Optimism in a Multi-Generational Workplace
Workplace disruptions from the COVID pandemic may have created an opportunity for business leaders to teach younger generations how to be resilient. […]
What is Corporate Venture Capital?
CVC can be a win-win deal for big corporations as well as cash-strapped small companies seeking growth.
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Print Business Growth: Should I Focus on the Top Line or Bottom Line?
According to Mark Coudray, a certified Master Profit First Professional, companies seeking to grow their print businesses before selling should focus less on top-line growth and more on bottom line results. He explains why in this interview. […]
Growing Your Business: Earn the Heart of a Horse
Groom your business like a top-performing racehorse if you want it to attract high-value offers when you are ready to sell it. […]
Ten Hot Markets for Print in 2021-22
According to Vincent Mallardi’s 2021-2022 “Hot Markets for Print” report, the printing industry is expected to reach $221.2 billion in sales this year. This is a 2% increase from 2020. Learn which categories offer the most attractive growth opportunities. […]
Talent Acquisition Tips from a Print Industry Executive Recruiter
Professional recruiter Michael Brenk explains why so many good sales and business development managers for specialty graphics firms are seeking new opportunities and how to attract revenue producers who can help grow your company. […]
2021 Megatrends that Will Affect Print Providers and Their Customers
Businesses of all types and sizes must adjust to major changes in the post-COVID economy. Print businesses that take heed of these 2021 trends will be positioned to create new solutions for customers. […]
2020 Hindsight: Winners, Losers, and Lessons Learned
The print businesses that made money in 2020 share some common traits. Learn their secrets so that you can successfully weather tough times. […]
Accelerating Business Growth in Uncertain Times
If sales at your print business have dropped more than 15% in 2020, you may need to pivot in order to grow your business. According to Kelly Lawrence of Lawrence Innovation, you can reduce fear of the unknown by addressing four root causes of business failure. […]
6 Good Reasons to Update Your Website Now
When was your website last updated? Before connecting with potential buyers for your company, an update is a must. […]
Three Terrible Reasons to Postpone Selling Your Business
Holding onto your business because of inertia or fear of the future can be detrimental to both your company and your personal life.
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Inertia is Not an Option
If you want to grow and sell your printing business, you must plan for changes — even when business is booming. While 2020 demonstrated that developing a 5-year strategic plan can be a waste of time, other types of plans can help create a guiding vision that will make your business more attractive to buyers when you are ready to sell. […]
Is Your Business Trapped in a Death Spiral?
Our quick quiz can gauge the severity of your situation and alert you to the need for immediate action. […]
10 Actions You Can Take to Avoid Past-Due Accounts
As business returns to normal, now is a good time for your print shop to take steps to reduce your percentage of past-due accounts each month. To increase your odds of getting paid more promptly, here are some actions that can help make your billing process part of the overall customer experience. […]
Three Change-Management Strategies for Print Business Owners
Print business owners who want to sell their businesses in the next few years must start leading workplace changes now. […]