HOW DO YOU DO IT?

In these times it is imperative that we get our brand out and that we have name recognition for the type of work or product we produce. There are a myriad of PR and Advertising firms that are willing to offer their services and expertise, for a fee, to help you do this. But! I wonder how a small company can achieve this on it's own.

We build web pages and do blogs like this one and a dozen other web related things to try to draw attention to ourselves, to try to lift us in ranking on sites like Google, Bing or Yahoo, but does that really help or are we just trapped in an ever changing technology where the rules of play are subject to change on a daily basis and the things you create for this media become obsolete as you write and apply them. A challenging question don't you think?

I believe that the advent of the "cold call" is coming to an end. I don't make them because I don't want to intrude on a person's time with an unexpected call and sales pitch that was unsolicited and 99.9% of the time unwanted. We can send postcards, letters, invitations; do television or radio commercials, print ads in the newspaper, offer coupons for discounts, erect billboards and signs and do any other type of publicity stunt the human mind can think of to get your product or company noticed. But all of these seem to be fleeting, no soul or substance to them. So what do we do?

To date, the best method of keeping our name in perpetuity seems to be in servicing the customers we have and through their satisfaction in the product and service we perform they recommend us to other companies who might have value in what we do. There is warmth, substance and a camaraderie between people because there is familiarity between you and your client and your client and his referral.

So maybe we should try a non technological method called talking to people. Contacting our current customers and asking for referrals, seeing if they are satisfied with the job we are doing and giving them the knowledge that we care, we are here and we appreciate the business they give us. The best source we have is the people who trust and count on us.

Give it a try, you may be surprised in what you accomplish.

What's In An Attitude

HOW MUCH IS A SMILE WORTH?
Recently I did a reality check on how I was coming across to customers, family and friends. It was a very enlightening self analysis that really helped me get back on the right track. I found that I had the ability, no the right, to choose how I purveyed myself to the people around me. I found that the choices I made not only affected others but deeply affected me.

I have been going through physical therapy for a car accident I was involved in, last October, I learned that my physical well being was directly related to the attitude I chose to encompass. What I mean by this is if I wanted to feel sorry for myself, or wanted to feel anger about the situation, I could do so but it directly affected my level of pain. The more uptight I became the greater the pain I felt and less receptive people became to me. They didn't know my situation, yet they had to endure the results of my attitude whether it was bad or good.

I had a particular customer call me one day, with expectations of a welcome to their call, and when my greeting was less than happy they actually questioned me as to why I was so sad. I had given them the feeling that their call was not welcomed, which was totally the opposite of how I felt about them, but I was in such a personal negative attitude due to the pain level that morning, I came across as a totally different person than they were used to dealing with.

Last Thursday I was in Physical Therapy and my therapist, Mike Ko

and I were discussing my situation and he said something that really hit home with me. In referring to my neck and back pain I was told there is no magic pill for this and that there is really no Gold Standard to measure or diagnose this by, but that it was more of a state of being rather than a disease. What he meant by that is the pain is a physical presence and through therapy and exercise you can overcome the pain and may even prevent it from returning by exercising and working to keep it contained. What I have been discussing in this article, is that a state of mind and attitude directly influence how this will affect your ability to over come an obstacle, like this, and how a positive attitude can affect your professionalism, your happiness and your health.

In today's business world we are faced with a whole new host of challenges and problems to overcome. Everything from keeping our jobs and businesses afloat to trying to cope with the failure of our economy. All I am trying to say is you can choose how to deal with this. What kind of attitude do you want to send out to those around you and how do you want to feel about yourself?

The choice is yours!

gary@galaxypress.net

Gary Borelli
9255-798-3212

WEB 2.0

If you don't know how it really works, why write about it?

Well the guys at inner architect do know how it works!


I just finished reading an article, written in a printing trade magazine, about what a waste of time facebook and twitter are to the sales professional. The writer basically called anyone using these sites lazy and made a comparison that playing connect the dot or tic tac toe as being of equal value.


Now I don't mind somone who has actually tried marketing with these tools writing a commentary or a critcism, but when you are speaking solely from conjecture and have never really marketed using web 2.0, then I think your opinion would be better used on something that you have tried, successfully!

inner architect

I have had the privelage of working with a company called inner architect and they have been absolutely fantastic to work with. Susane Hanshaw & Dean Guadagni are extremely knowledgeable in this area and have helped me market and brand Galaxy Press with great success.

In the past 3 months we have added 5 new accounts to our customer base and it has all been basically for free, other than my time to set up accounts for web 2.0. All of the accounts needed are free and only require as much time as you are willing to put into marketing. All I can say is, it is working for us and give it a try.

The accounts I am using are:

• Twitter follow me on twitter
  
• Linkedin follow me on LinkedIn
  
• Facebook Join Me on Facebook

And of course this blog.

Give us a call at 925-798-3212 or contact me gary@galaxypress.net

Customer Service

Galaxy Press voted "BEST VENDOR" by Mountain Mikes Pizza!

By an overwhelming majority of franchisees, Galaxy Press was acknowledged, that we are the one vendor that delivers as promised, is a pleasure to work with, and is on time every time. We appreciate Mountain Mikes confidence in us and work hard every day to deliver this type of service and quality to all of our customers.

So let's talk about service. It seems, in this day and age, that we pay more for what we have to purchase and receive less in value in terms of customer service. The old adage "The customer is always right." seems to have gone by the wayside.

How many times have you walked into a business only to find an employee on a personal phone call, doing something and ignoring you, or having just a general negative attitude towards you and your purchase? That seems to be the standard more than the exception these days. I get very incensed when this happens to me, only because we offer such a high level of customer service at Galaxy Press.

When I walk into a store I want to feel welcomed, appreciated and know that they have my best interest at heart and want to meet my needs to the best of their ability. Sound like a fairy tale? Well it isn't! This is how we treat our customers and will always treat our customers.

Galaxy Press has been in business since 1977 and does not employ any sales people. All of our business has been generated by word of mouth, referrals and customer loyalty. For a company to have survived this long based on their level of customer service and the quality they provide proves that there has to be something to the philosophy "The customer is always right!"

Give us a call at 925-798-3212 or contact me at gary@galaxypress.net

What It Means To Be A Green Printer

Galaxy Press recognized as a leader in the Green Business Program

In a program sponsored by the Contra Costa Green Business Program we, along with 9 other companies , were recognized as being at the forefront of the Greening of the business community at an event held at the Lindsey museum in Walnut Creek.

Being a green printer takes a lot of thought, planning and commitment. Galaxy Press was the first certified green printer in the San Francisco Bay Area and the standards for becoming a green printer are based on the process we went through.

http://www.greenbiz.ca.gov/BGPrinter.html

We had over half a dozen engineers from different agencies throughout the East Bay going over every inch of our facility to make sure that our procedures in disposing of used chemicals and printing waste were not polluting the environment. The questionnaire we had to fill out was 75 pages long and encompassed every imaginable scenario that could be foreseen. It was a grueling experience but well worth the effort.

We have had to change the chemicals we use in the plant to lower the caustic effect on what we do to help the environment. Now that doesn't seem like a lot on the surface, but to us it was a major change. We had to abandon the chemicals that made cleaning the presses easy for more environmentally friendly chemicals that added extra time and labor for the same process. We had to change to different solutions that we mix with our inks. We track all of the VOC's ( Volatile Organic Compounds) in our plant and we wrote custom software to do it.

All of our employees are committed to being green and every day we look for new and different ways to accomplish this. We have gone from printed and mailed invoices to emailed invoices, the majority of our proofing is done electronically with pdf files. All of this to reduce the use of paper anywhere we can.

The papers we use to print, unless a certain paper is specified by a customer, is recycled stock and we have a growing relationship with New Leaf paper a manufacturer of recycled papers. http://www.newleafpaper.com/

One area I do want to address is what this has done regarding the cost of running our business. Because we have chosen to be a green company our expenses are higher than they were before we made the change to green printing. We have tried to keep this as an internal expense and not pass it on to our customers, but, even the price of a true recycled paper is higher that most of the non recycled papers. I guess what I want to get across to everyone is that the cheapest price is not always the best price! When deciding on which company would be a better fit for your printing projects, please take into account who they are, what they promote and what is the level of service they provide. Take a close look and be sure to see actual samples of the work they do. It's your image you are are putting into their hands. Remember, the more we try to do our daily business in a green fashion, the more we save the resources of our planet. The cost may be a little higher but the end rewards are significantly better for everyone concerned.

If you have questions about being a green business, contact us and we will more than happy to help in any way we can.

Galaxy Press 925-798-3212

How to save money on printing!

Most people take the hard route to get their marketing ideas and printing needs actually processed into a finished product. What could be a simple, start to finish project, is made into a maize of misinformation and mistakes.

One of the biggest problems we come across is the end user trying to be their own graphic designer when they don't have the proper graphic programs, the knowledge on how to go from idea to printed piece and a lack of communication with the printer. What I am trying to do with this article is give you some basic steps that will save you a lot of time, money and frustration.

1. Block out your idea. Take the time to do a very basic layout of your thoughts on what you want your marketing piece to be and to say and what kind of instrument are you going to use. Do you want a brochure, a flyer, a postcard? Make that decision and you have a good start going for you.

2. What do you want this to do. Who do you want to send these to? Do you want to use your existing customer list or do you want to mail to new prospects in your area or, for example, do you want brochures to hand out at a trade show or with each sale?

3. If you don't have a graphic designer you have worked with, call a printer you have confidence in and ask them if they can recommend someone or if they have designers in house. They have a lot of knowledge that can save you a lot of money in the long run.

4. Get a quote from the printer and ask for pricing in multiple quantities. Ask them to offer their suggestions for the best way to save you money and still get the look you are after. Don't be afraid to ask for a discounted price. Ask if they have any special pricing availabe. Most printers are willing to help y0u and will give you a discount off retail pricing.

5. Proof read everything word by word and line by line and then have someone else in your company do the same. More money is wasted on reprinting for mistakes in spelling and concept than there needs to be. DO NOT rely on the printer or designer to proof read for you. It is your project and you need to make sure it is right and it is what you want.

6. Don't be afraid to ask for a press check. It is a last chance time to catch anything that is not right before the piece is printed and will also allow you to see that the quality is what you want it to be.

7. Be sure to give the printer all the information necessary for them to finish the job and get it delivered for you or to you. If it is a piece that is to be mailed, your printer can handle that for you and make sure it gets done correctly.

If you follow these basic steps your printing experience will be a lot less stressful and you will receive the end product you are looking for at a reasonable cost.

If have questions or need some guidance, you can reach us at 925-798-3212