McPrint vs Local - Its no different than Big Box vs Local (Oldie but Goodie - Reposted)

This article was written back in January 2013.  I chuckle every time I read this.
This is why you need to find and use your local printers and designers - The are the experts in your home town.

Buy Local and Preserve the Expertise

So this morning I went on continuing my research on "Local" and, in particular, "NetBetter" printing.  I walked into Staples just to get up-to-date info on the McPrint business (Understanding the Changing Print Market).  I have difficulty sounding anything but sarcastic in this article, but it's the epitome of Big Box and McPrint.  Here is how my conversation went this morning (with some injected commentary).

• Me: "Hi, I'd like to get some pricing on some business cards". 
• Staples: "Sure, we have several different types. You can order them online.
• Me: "Wow".
• Staples: "If you need them now, order the "Instant" cards, we do them here".
• Me: "What size are these, I don't like the undersized business cards like from Vista".
• Staples: "Our cards are all standard 2" x 3"."
• Me: "You mean 2" x 3.5"." (thinking she just mis-spoke).
• Staples: "No, our cards are standard size, 2" x 3" (at this point she looks at me and sighs (like saying, 'you see which side of the counter I am on')).
• Me: "No, standard business cards are 2" x 3.5"."
• Staples: "No they are not". (the 'your stupid' look continues).
• Me: "Go grab one, let's measure it - I just want to make sure they are not undersized like Vista cards".   
• Staples: As she walks away with a frustrated look, grabs a card and measures - "Oops, we are both wrong, they are 2" x 3.25"."  She tosses the card on the counter next to a sample I brought in.
• Me: "That's 2" x 3.5"."
• Staples: With frustration she remeasures and then humbly states: "Oh yea, these ones are 3.5" wide".
• Me: "OK - I'll check the pricing online".
• Staples: "Order the 'Instant ones' if you want them produced here".
• Me: "Bye"

My morning - I must remind myself that this is McDonald's and not Morton's: "NetBetter" all !.

Bob Leonard
561-371-4113 (Call My Cell) 
512-593-8830 (in Austin)
 

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Business Cards - What Information Should it Contain and Not Contain - Some History First

Let's talk about the future of the business card, but to understand it, the history of the business card comes into play.

Business Cards existed before the phone thus early business cards would have name, company, mailing address, title and usually some tag line about the product being solicited.  The term "Traveling Salesman" was coined - They would travel with Business Cards and order forms so people could reorder product after the salesman left.  Imagine the pace of business - a snails pace compared to today.  Business Cards were printed with a process called "relief letterpress" - one sided, one color at a time and one up - that is the reason most real old cards were one color - Black.  Every feature would double the cost of the business card.  Back then we saved business cards out of necessity; we even treasured them.  Business Cards were also the icebreaker, the grease that made it easier to introduce ourselves - not much different then today.

Let's move the clock forward about 100 years - the early 1980s - about when I was starting my career.  Cards were still pretty much one or two color and one sided, but now they contained a telephone number (for about 90 years).  Business cards were still printed relief letterpress, but efficiencies were being played. Gang printing similar cards was common so to reduce production costs by as many cards as you could put together ( 4-up would reduce production costs by 75%).  Multiple spot colors, logotypes and raised printing (Faux Embossing) was common on most Business Cards.  Everyone had a business card; we still saved and distributed business cards out of necessity.

A few years ago, I was talking about the printing business with a tech CEO friend of mine.  I stated that "even the business card has a limited life - look at all the cool apps on our smart phone that allow us to share contact information" (remember bump?).  His response to me was not what I expected - "We hire a lot of kids out of Stanford, Berkley, the Ivy schools . . . The first question they all ask after getting hired is 'where do I get my business cards'".  This made me think of my first set if business cards - they made me real and legitimate.  They still do today.  They are what we lead with - they open the conversation - they do it with a little grease.  We did so with prowess.

Bring on today - you can print anything on your business card;  full color, two sided, pictures - anything.  Your card has become a mini brochure.  You can do so at a much lower cost (inflation adjusted) than could be done 140 years ago, or even 30 years ago.  Today, there is so much more information we want to get out: Email addresses, Website URLs, Cell Number, Fax Numbers (why, I do not know), etc, etc...

OK, So Finally the Gist of this Article.

So, what should be on a business card today?  Name, title, cell, company phone, mailing address, some slick tag line (The Makers of Quality American Made Widgets) and finally pictures, maybe of you on the front (maybe not) and your product(s) on the back (Maybe).

So, what should NOT be on a business card today?  Your website URL.  Your website is to get you found - you have already been found.  Sending a prospect and/or client  to your website only introduces them to competition and alternatives to you - be careful.  Yes, there are many exceptions to this - there may even be the need for alternate cards.  Maybe you put your Facebook page or your Twitter name - all better then a web URL (IMHO).  Evaluate your situation and how your cards are used / perceived - and how you want them used and perceived.  Remember, they have found you already.  If your client wants your web address, they will ask - If they cannot ask (they will if they need it), they will find it in your email ("Bill@AmericanWidgers.com") - if it is not there (like you are using a GMail address) call me, we need to fix that.

Also, kill the fax number; does anyone still use one?  Does your fax work? Again, there are exceptions (not many).

Its 2015 everybody, let's evolve.

Bob Leonard
561-371-4113 (Call My Cell)  
512-593-8830 (in Austin)

We do business all over the Northeast, Austin, South Florida

and in the SF Bay Area (actually Everywhere). 

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Where the Money Goes in Growing Small Businesses - Not to Easy Street

Small businesses have several phases  they go through in their early years much like a puppy or a child.  Each of these phases present different challenges and a different understanding of the numbers as they happen.  I am assuming a successful business startup here; success does not mean Easy Street, it simply means we have a product / service to sell that actually does sell at more than it costs and the business has cash flow.

The first feeling in a successful business startup is truly amazing (remember my definition of  "successful business startup") - the selling - the making of 'all the money' - the satisfaction of  'doing something good' and making the world a better place (seriously).  We feel 'in-the-money' as we are making money for each of the process elements of the product / service.  We feel the 'Magic' and want to do it more - the same feelings we get when we win at a casino (except you are betting on yourself) - you can taste winning.!.  Welcome, you are now an Entrepreneur.

Then the business grows - we have a product that people want and we can sell it.  The results though are not quite what we expect - twice the sales do not generate twice the personal income.  Additionally, we hit some stumbling blocks - all of a sudden we have employee issues, sick days, differences in throughput and a lower commitment than we ourselves have as owners - don't try to pretend this does not exist but also don't let this consume all your time and focus.  Sometimes we think we need to adjust prices to compensate for the additional costs - in reality there are no additional costs - those costs are simply not going to the entrepreneur anymore - you are not getting paid to clean the toilet anymore; someone else is.

Remember: Price has nothing to do with costs except

that it must be higher than cost to be in an ongoing business.

 

Assuming we can get beyond making a lower percentage on sales (maybe even less money), we then run into the next entrepreneurial stumbling block - hiring sales people.  They will never be as good as you and they are motivated by money, not your businesses success (normally).  This is the point where the entrepreneur must become more of a manager then entrepreneur.  This is difficult as the business is the entrepreneur's child.  Success here has more to do with building an asset and creating wealth than making more money.  What I tell business owners, that are lucky enough to reach this point, is that they will now feel forever broke as they continue to build the asset (the business).  This is one of the most difficult things to comprehend in small business.  They ask, "when I did one, I made $110K/year; now that I am doing 15 why am I only making $130K/year?"

What many entrepreneurs fails to realize is, if they stepped back from the business, they would still make $110K/year and they now have an asset generating cash flow and profits.

Bob Leonard
561-371-4113 (Call My Cell) 

 Connect with me on LinkedIn 
www.linkedin.com/in/robertleonard5699
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@T4Leonard
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Sell, Sell, Sell - Business Does Not Occur Until a Sale Occurs

I used to do volunteer counseling and training work for an organization called SCORE, the "Counselors to America's Small Business".  I primarily talked to start-up businesses about the ideas.

What amazed me about many budding entrepreneurs is that they make "going into business" more complex than it needs to be.  Going into business is not about finding a good accountant, not about having a lawyer nor is it about finding the right computer, right sign or right office location.  It is about selling and selling and selling some more - selling cures all and selling makes all (this coming from an engineer).  I don’t need a plan but I need an idea and a set of business cards. Then, what are we going to do – sell, sell, sell that idea! I make only one assumption here, that if you are planning on going into business, say the chocolate business, you know something about chocolate.  If you are lucky enough to be successful at selling, it then becomes time to think (while you are selling more) about those other things you need to do when you are in business - a plan.

So then, I should tell you more about selling.  Yes I will do so will in the very near future.  The thing to remember is selling is a Game of Numbers much more than technique.

Happy Selling.

Bob


About SCORE
SCORE is a nonprofit association consisting primarily of retired executives and business owners (almost all volunteer) dedicated to educating entrepreneurs and helping small business start, grow and succeed nationwide. SCORE is a resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).

Never Send Your Local Customer, or Even a Local Warm Lead, to Your Website - Even if They are Not Local

Never send your customer, or even a warm lead, to your website - Why?  Let's set the stage first.

Do you ever get the feeling the "Internet" is spying on you as it knows exactly what you are doing, even offline?

Maybe you have been doing some home improvement or some car maintenance in the last few days; maybe you have been doing a little research on how-to.  Then, all-of-a-sudden, it seems like every web page you visit has very specific ads for items you have searched; maybe an air filter or a circular saw - the very one you were researching or searching for - scary...

You need to understand - Websites do know what you are doing and it is not scary.  When you are are researching a product or a service, "cookies" (small bits of data and information) are planted on your computer. They are not harmful and there is nothing you need to do (or can do about it). Cookies are designed to improve and enhance the user's Internet experience (your experience).

Let's get to why you should not be sending your customers and warm leads (or any referral) to your website.  Very simply put, the same Internet spying that happens to you, happens to them.  Let's say you are the local Sherwin Williams paint store and you get a phone call (warm lead) asking, "Do you carry "X-Quality Paint" and rather than answering them immediately, and potentially writing up an order, you send them to your website, after they look at your website, that warm lead will likely be exposed to ads from other websites that will not only be specific to the product they wanted to ask you about, but  even more specific ("X-Quality Passion Blue at Lowe's").  It's gets even worse if you email the answer to a public mail service like GMail - the ads are email specific - all these ads pop up IN YOUR EMAIL that say"ME TOO - WE HAVE X-QUALITY PASSION BLUE TOO".  This is called Intelligent Ad Delivery.  Obviously I am embellishing my point here, but the question still is, who wants to expose their customers to the competition.

Why does the Internet work like this?  Very simply put, it is the Internet companies that have an interest in you buying there.  Advertisers bombard us with information because they have identified us as A BUYER.  Whats even worse, the Local Sherwin Williams Paint Store, can't profitably compete there, even if it knew how.

Sometimes we need an analogy - It's like sending a caller (warm lead) back to the phone book to see the list of colors you carry.  Think about how dumb that sounds.

This situation seems so obvious if you understand all the ingredients, but so few of us do.

Make your website is a one way path - from your website to you.  That is its purpose - to make your phone ring. If people are calling, they want to talk to you and get questions answered - answer them and take their order.  Your website did its job.

So what inspired this article?  I called a local HVAC company who I knew carried the AprilAire air filter I needed (high-tech air filter not available at Home Depot or Lowe's).  Instead of giving me the information over the phone (I was a buyer), he told me he would immediately email me if I gave him my Gmail address (collecting email addresses).  He did immediately email me the pricing information as well as pricing for removal of the old filter and installation of the new filter.  Up popped ads with similar pricing and detailed removal/installation instructions - stupid-is-as-stupid-does - convenient local instantly became very inconvenient.  Don't repeat his mistake.

Lesson Learned.  You have zero privacy anyway . . . . Get over it."  ~ Scott McNealy

Bob Leonard

Where the Money Goes in Growing Small Businesses - Small Business Week

Small businesses have several phases they go through in their early years much like a puppy or a child.  Each of these phases present different challenges and a different understanding of the numbers as they happen.  I am assuming a successful business startup here; success does not mean Easy Street, it simply means we have a product / service to sell that actually does sell at more than it costs and the business has cash flow.

The first feeling in a successful business startup (remember my definition of  "successful business startup") is truly amazing - the selling - the making of 'all the money' - the satisfaction of  'doing something good' and making the world a better place (seriously).  We feel 'in-the-money' as we are making money for each of the process elements of the product / service.  We feel the 'Magic' and want to do it more - the same feelings we get when we win at a casino (except you are betting on yourself) - you can taste winning.!.  Welcome, you are now an Entrepreneur.

Then the business grows - we have a product that people want and we can sell it.  The results though are not quite what we expect - twice the sales do not generate twice the personal income.  Additionally, we hit some stumbling blocks - all of a sudden we have employee issues, sick days, differences in throughput and a lower commitment than we ourselves have as owners - don't try to pretend this does not exist but also don't let this consume all your time and focus.  Sometimes we think we need to adjust prices to compensate for the additional costs - in reality there are no additional costs - those costs are simply not going to the entrepreneur anymore.

Remember: Price has nothing to do with costs

except that it must be higher than cost to be in an ongoing business.

Assuming we can get beyond making a lower percentage on sales (maybe even less money), we then run into the next entrepreneurial stumbling block - hiring sales people.  They will never be as good as you and they are motivated by money, not your businesses success (normally).  This is the point where the entrepreneur must become more of a manager then entrepreneur.  This is difficult as the business is the entrepreneur's child.  Success here has more to do with building an asset and creating wealth than making more money.  What I tell business owners that reach this point is that they will now feel forever broke as they continue to build the asset (the business).  This is one of the most difficult things to comprehend in small business.  They ask, "when I did one, I made $110K/year; now that I am doing 15 why am I only making $140K/year?"

What the entrepreneur fails to realize is, if they stepped back from the business, they would still make $110K/year as they now have an asset generating cash flow and profits.

Bob

McPrint vs Local - Its no different than Big Box vs Local

So this morning I went on continuing my research on "Local" and, in particular, "NetBetter" printing.  I walked into Staples just to get up-to-date info on the McPrint business (Understanding the Changing Print Market).  I have difficulty sounding anything but sarcastic in this article, but it's the epitome of Big Box and McPrint.  Here is how my conversation went this morning (with some injected commentary).

• Me: "Hi, I'd like to get some pricing on some business cards". 
• Staples: "Sure, we have several different types. You can order them online.
• Me: "Wow".
• Staples: "If you need them now, order the "Instant" cards, we do them here".
• Me: "What size are these, I don't like the undersized business cards like from Vista".
• Staples: "Our cards are all standard 2" x 3"."
• Me: "You mean 2" x 3.5"." (thinking she just mis-spoke).
• Staples: "No, our cards are standard size, 2" x 3" (at this point she looks at me and sighs (like saying, 'you see which side of the counter I am on')).
• Me: "No, standard business cards are 2" x 3.5"."
• Staples: "No they are not". (the 'your stupid' look continues).
• Me: "Go grab one, let's measure it - I just want to make sure they are not undersized like Vista cards".   
• Staples: As she walks away with a frustrated look, grabs a card and measures - "Oops, we are both wrong, they are 2" x 3.25"."  She tosses the card on the counter next to a sample I brought in.
• Me: "That's 2" x 3.5"."
• Staples: With frustration she remeasures and then humbly states: "Oh yea, these ones are 3.5" wide".
• Me: "OK - I'll check the pricing online".
• Staples: "Order the 'Instant ones' if you want them produced here".
• Me: "Bye"

My morning - I must remind myself that this is McDonalds and not Morton's: "NetBetter".

~B 

 

Collaboration - Why Collaborative, Cooperative, Complimentary Sales Efforts Work.

Call it what you will, it’s all pretty much the same. Any time you can build a team of people who call on like customers, and refer those customers to each other, develop a win-win for all involved. It’s formalized/structured networking. BNI groups do this better, on a general business basis, than any others I have seen – they say “Givers Gain”. The giver, by making the referral, is building trust within the customer by recognizing a need and assisting outside their normal business scope. The customer, by receiving the referral has saved time by receiving it from someone they already trust thus shortening their search effort (even if they need to evaluate multiple suitors – one down).  Finally, the receiver of the lead - a warm lead - a sale that is theirs to lose. It still takes follow up with the lead and making the sale – Sales Is All About Numbers – I call this an easy number.

Collaboration multiplies your efforts, reduces risks and creates more opportunity - Why Pay Twice!

Don't play well with others? Learn.

Bob

Buy Eat Live Local

Talk - Demo - Talk - Demo, etc... and Loving It

 I am enjoying the reception and feedback I am getting from postal stores as we prep to sign up our second phase of "BetaLocals".  They so clearly understand new business opportunities and the value of a referral and a customer.

The biggest obstacle seems to be developing an understanding of collaborative relationships and marketing as well as collaborative branding and collateral.  Read our thoughts on collaboration and then what the local printer needs to do.  Learn a little more about collaboration at Wikipedia.

The print stores are going to be a different animal as we start to roll that out in a couple weeks.  Because of the tightly reined in and restrictive UFOCS, we may have to limit our sales effort to the franchisors.  The "why's" on why they should will be the subject of a forthcoming blog entry.

Bob

Fixing the Local Print Business – The LightsOn Solution – Part Two – "Who" is Invited to Dinner.

Previous blog entries have outlined the changing market, the problems (as I see it), and solutions with general business examples that were somewhat vague, non-specific and non-committal; this entry begins changing that.  As I always note, these blog entries are my white paper outline / business plan.

To be specific in our “how’s", "why’s" and "who’s”, we must define a specific “who” and then the “why” – Those are the easy parts; “how” is the magic part - I am going to pretend I have that answer too (No, I did not major in Dr. Seuss in college (RIT BS ’79 - - UnivDayton MBA '83).  Dr. Seuss's microscopic creatures were "whos").

The biggest obstacle to get over (common amongst all the ‘who’s’) is that they can bypass us and draw a higher gross margin (we pay 30%) – let’s pretend that is true, which if it mattered, I would argue, but it doesn’t. If the phone rings to one of our affiliates, we tell them, take the order and bypass the website – it is all about the service you provide.  Our objective is not to get your customer, but get the Vistaprint customer to come to you.  You will come to us most of the time as our program is ‘priced right’, but this is not the entry for defining this.

The Who’s

‘Who One’: Independent and Freelance Web & Print Designers.  This is by far the easiest group to identify and get to – the problem is, it is individuals, each one, needing to go through the learning and training process individually – remember, we are not selling a product, but a collaborative process.  Some of these ‘Who One’s’ just do design, some partner with a printer, some broker the work themselves and some (our favorites) broker through us.  By the designer affiliating with us, not only do they make the 30%, but they stand to get new clients as well being our local affiliate. The most important thing here though, is that they have made it easier on the customer, the print buyer, who now has one less vendor to deal with saving them time (and thus, money).  Remember, printing is a service business – sell service with the product – your client will love you more for it.

‘Who Two”:  Independent local printers, marketing and promotional product firms.  Much like the ‘Who One’s’, but typically have a larger base and physical location.  To be a Local Primary Affiliate / Partner, they must be at least this.  The best thing about this group is that they are happy with 30% of something (because they understand the ‘why’s’) versus 35%-40% of nothing.

‘Who Three’:  The franchise local printer and the local independent printer.  When I first conceived this concept, this was my logical and obvious 1^st choice – the problem comes with the bureaucracy of the franchisor, current UFOC stringencies and an attitude of defeatism (maintain business rather than get more).  This is a slow process, but will have one soon – they seem to understand the opportunity when we talk about mini-franchisees (our secondary affiliate) to their retail franchisee (our primary affiliate).  This is the only area when we may have an exclusive grouping, even though not an exclusive LightsOn affiliation.  These local print franchisee’s understand this and us better than anyone else.

‘Who Four”:  The local postal store, franchise or independent.  These businesses are winning purely on the market’s force, with little knowledge or expertise – and they are everywhere.  The only stores with more organic foot traffic are the Apple stores (but it’s Location – Location – Location).  I would venture to say, they are the water cooler of the 2010s – where busy (key word = “busy”) small business people pass almost daily.  Most, if not all, are already in the low end print business.  Just one funny note – I was in a postal store the other day (doing research) mailing a package and the client ahead of me requested EDDM help – He sent them to a local printer to get their brochure printed and said “come back when you have that and we will handle the EDDM”.  That customer never came back as the printer surely closed the loop and did the EDDM as well (many are today).  I shook my head thinking “box of rocks’…. Shame on the franchisor for inadequate / incomplete training (or simply not keeping the franchisees up-to-speed).

For more information about how the LightsOn Graphics affiliate program works go to www.LightsOnGraphics.com/affiliate_long/.

Blog entries (expanded insight) specific to “Who Three” and “Who Four” coming soon – Stay Tuned.

Bob

Addressing The Questions and Calls My Last Blog Entry Generated - "Fixing the Local Print Business – The LightsOn Solution – Part One - First Taste".

Several calls with several similar questions were generated and asked from my last blog entry Fixing the Local Print Business – The LightsOn Solution – Part One - First Taste – so let’s address those questions for everyone.  I have summarized and paraphrased the questions and are in the order of the interest.

Just a note - if you want to leave a comment, there is a problem with Firefox, use IE or Chrome or Log-in to your G-Mail account and post anonymously (if necessary).

“Why would I use the LightsOnGraphics.com website rather than my own?”  There are several reasons here making this a complex answer unless broken out into individual pieces – I am trying here.

• Cost in knowledge, time and dollars.  If you have the knowledge and the time and dollars to do this, you are most likely not in the printing business and definitely not a potential partner of ours.  I am not questioning the knowledge (you would not be here if you did not have that), but the time and dollars; I estimate at least 5 person years in this so far.

• Doing this alone, as in your storefront, will not get the traffic it needs to satisfy the objective.  The objective is to get new business that is currently going online, recapture that business that has been lost to online and finally, add new foot traffic to your store. Our object IS NOT (and your object should not be) to move your foot traffic online.  When someone picks up the phone and calls, you should bypass the website, assuming you make more by doing so, and strongly suggest in-store pickups for obvious reasons.

• By our estimates, at about 200 partners we will be on top of the search engines almost everywhere because of “relevance”, an important component in being on top and on the 1^st page.  We know that business really well.

• Collaboration brings the knowledge and power of many to one place and shared amongst the collaborators.  The knowledge and power is much much larger than the sum of its participants.

“I understand this, I like this and I want this, but… I am part of a franchise group and do not have this flexibility to do so per my UFOC, what do I do?”

• Contact your franchisor and have them contact us!  If their interest is to the franchisors prospering and not in just selling more franchises, they will be all over this.  The quick print franchisee and the shipping store franchisee will have different reasons for doing this, but the results for everyone is the same – increased business opportunity, increased market share and increased revenue.

“Why can’t my franchisor do this for me?”

• They can, but will they recreate the wheel; probably not.  For those that have a “oh, we have one of them” answer, you really don’t.  I am going to seem to pick on the PostNet franchises here; only because they are such a perfect example (several companies use this exact same service).  The website component (it’s not theirs) does not permit ordering, it permits, basically, a request for information (no prices either) Click here to try it.  They would be better, in my opinion, to simply say on their website “We Will Do Your Printing Too – Call ###.###.####”.  This is not a debate; simply ask yourself, “have I EVER received an unsolicited order from the site?”  Go back to our objectives addressed in the first question.

• Collaboration and the benefits that will come from having broader geographic coverage which no franchise has enough of, in our opinion.

• Finally, the postal store franchisor and the quick print franchisor have different reason to do this which I will lay out in future blog entries.

More questions, email me or call me, here is my cell - 561-371-4113

Fixing the Local Print Business. Other Companies Solutions (so they think).

Within a Changing Print Market (and the marketplace in general) we inevitably have chaos created by the noise of so many ideas being tested.  This is true in the local print market as companies have the next best idea in fixing the business.  As in any business plan (a white paper in this case), we must have knowledge of what other companies are doing to address the same problem and issues we are trying to solve.  When there is no one else trying to address the same problem and issues, you should question the model itself. First, is there a real need?  In our case, there are plenty of people trying, thus we can more comfortably assume there is a market for what we are trying to do.

LightsOn Graphic’s objective is to provide a tool to acquire locally that share of business being lost to the online exclusive world, ie: Vistaprint as well as the McPrints - We are not just trying to move the same business from one pocket to the other.

What doesn’t work:

                 Any system that provides a web tool for simply communicating to the printer glorified email).  Your customers know you and your number – don’t move them online – printing is still a service business (and they know that).  The companies I am going to appear to pick on today are PostNet and Minuteman Press, both are franchise businesses that are locally owned and operated (the good guys).

Observe where both PostNet’s and MinuteMan Press business card pages go (the resulting URL after you click) (Just a note, we can list many other companies here using this service and ending up at the same URL):

PostNet: http://co105.postnet.com/order/business-cards/

A Minuteman Press in Austin Texas: http://www.austinmmp.com/index.iml?mdl=jobcenter/main.mdl.  This is NOT a Minuteman Press standard.  Most Minuteman Press websites actually have a pretty good online presence and tool in my opinion.

Note the similarity in the URL (resulting forwarded URL after you click); they both use the same service for the online component. The problem is, this online component is nothing more than a glorified email system for the postal store/printer.  What this allows is the PostNet franchisee to say: “Oh yea, we have an online printing component too”, or should I say, what the franchisor says to the prospective franchisee.  Try to order something (there is no way); in my very humble opinion, it has no value.  I question whether it ever generates orders. Compare that to Vistaprint, which is mult-multi click, but at least you can complete an order there.  Finally compare that to LightsOnGraphics.com where entry is real quick (few clicks), especially if you are a repeat customer.  There are no Vista distractions on LightsOnGraphics.com.

Adding one other note to this - their Alexa ranking (the print redirect page) is 239,302; considering there are about 300 PostNet’s using this (as well as a multitude of other printers, etc.) that is a pretty bad number.  That compares to LightsOn Graphic’s Alexa rating which is 317,360 which we have not rolled out yet.  Alexa is a website ranking company owned by Amazon; download their tool bar; I find it fun to see who is real and who is not.  Note the PostNet and the MinuteMan Press pages have the exact same Alexa number.

Finally, we have to also consider the McPrints in this comparison as they are local and do have very good online presence and websites.  The problem comes from expertise, knowledge and customer service that the real local printer provides; the McPrints don’t compare in my opinion (including in price).  This makes them one of the bad guys in my opinion.  As an analogy, compare ACE Hardware (a Good Guy) to the Big Box Stores (Bad Guys) – I am sure I don’t need to say any more.

So what will make LightsOnGraphics.com different?  Stay tuned..!!