MyOrderDesk from PagePath

Fake winnings, dead debts, false bills: How to recognize scams

jimatpagepath — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:33:08 +0000

A few days after the funeral, a “collection agency” calls and says your deceased mother or dad owed $500 and it’s up to you to pay the bill. This scam takes advantage of people who are still in grief.

Elderly people are often targeted. When threatened with legal action, they may rush to settle. Another goal of the con artist is to obtain bank account and Social Security numbers. Unless you are a cosigner, you are not responsible for the deceased’s debt and you should not pay, whether or not it’s a legitimate bill.

Police say con artists are ramping up their old false winnings game. In difficult times, people are eager to win at something. Some will send thousands of dollars to “pay taxes in advance” to receive lottery winnings.

After getting the money, the con man disappears.

One type of improper “bill collection” may be initiated by legitimate companies. It involves accounts that are settled for one reason or another. But five or six years later, the company sells a list of old debts to a collection agency for pennies on the dollar. In one case, a cardholder’s brother asked to borrow his card so he could use it “just to check into a hotel.” The brother charged $3,000, moved to another city and couldn’t be found. The card company settled for $1,500. Six years later, a collection agency came after the former cardholder for the balance. In spite of the threats, he insisted the account was settled. He never heard from the collector again.

Other cases involve smaller amounts of money.

A collector called to say a woman owed $55 in bank charges on an account that had been closed for several years. He said he could ruin her credit by reporting that she had a bounced check and never paid for it, which wasn’t true. Though some people would be bullied into sending money, this woman was not.

The AARP Foundation offers advice about fraud. Call 1-800-646-2283 for information.

Jim Dummer is the Sales Manager at PagePath Technologies. PagePath was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Plano, Illinois. PagePath’s MyOrderDesk is an eCommerce solution that combines, Web-to-Print, automated proofing, pricing, reordering and more. It seamlessly integrates into a printing organization’s existing website or can be used as a standalone site. MyOrderDesk is known throughout the printing industry as the leader in Web-to-Print software.

We’ve looked at the economy from many angles … but not this one

Joe Kern — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:27:47 +0000

We’re running hard to get new customers and increase sales with those we already have.

We’ve turned out the lights and saved power wherever we can, and we’ve checked for every possible savings on material and supplies.

These steps would help any organization preserve the bottom line, but there is one factor that can do more.

Keeping people satisfied with their work is a big item. We all have more to do today. Some of us are wearing two hats, according to job descriptions.

That could be one reason university professors say today’s workplace is rife with rudeness and lack of respect for each other. Some 60 percent of their study respondents say the situation is getting worse.

Workers who are in a hurry may think they don’t have time to be polite. But it saves time in the long run because it increases cooperation and creativity.

Civility goes beyond please and thank you (but those words can help). It includes listening and body language.

A study published in one psychology journal says positive relations with co-workers are a big factor in how people feel from day to day. They are less stressed, even if they are very busy, and more productive.

Besides respecting others, as well as yourself, it’s important to know what makes you angry or frustrated. Decide that when it happens, you will have a solution-driven attitude. Focus on the problem, not the other person.

When one person becomes a role model for civility and respect, those qualities can spread to others.

Joe Kern is the Marketing and Customer Care Manager at PagePath Technologies. PagePath was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Plano, Illinois. PagePath’s MyOrderDesk is an eCommerce solution that combines, Web-to-Print, automated proofing, pricing, reordering and more. It seamlessly integrates into a printing organization’s existing website or can be used as a standalone site. MyOrderDesk is known throughout the printing industry as the leader in Web-to-Print software.

Do you suffer from “time poverty?”

Joe Kern — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:06:03 +0000

The most common problem in the workplace is “time poverty.” It’s a term for not having enough time to handle all your work responsibilities.

Putting in a lot of extra hours could help a little, but it’s not the answer. Neither is trying to do two things at once. Some steps that would help:

Become an expert at what you do. Study the work practices of people who are very efficient and copy them. You will find that they are extremely well organized. Learn from experts in your field.
Decide what is the most important thing to do. Decide how to do it, then concentrate on that alone until you are finished. No email, phone calls or pleasantries for people who stop by to see you. Tell them you can’t stop now to chat or deal with anything else.
Be open to new ideas. Consultant Brian Tracy says some overwhelmed people think they already know all they need to know on a subject. Never stop learning.
Be flexible. Saying “I changed my mind” solves many uncomfortable situations people get into. They stay there because they are unwilling to admit they have changed their minds.
Face up to mistakes. Saying you made a mistake is a sign of mental maturity, personal strength and individual character.
Become an expert on time management. Read books, listen to audio programs and take a course. Then practice every day until you master time management skills.

Five Reasons Why JDF Will Save You Money

Joe Kern — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 12:00:16 +0000

Today’s post is a guest post from Jack Perry. Jack is Vice President of Product Management at Onpoint On Demand. Jack’s role is to help commercial print companies become POD profit leaders through practical application of JDF-enabled technology.

JDF is here to stay and with good reason. It can deliver significant financial, operational and competitive advantage to those companies who leverage it the right way. Here are five reasons why JDF will save you money:

JDF reduces print production costs by removing manual, repetitive steps from the production process. And lower production costs yield higher gross margins
JDF shortens lead time, the downtime that eats into a printer’s value add percentage. Shorter lead times yield higher value add
JDF optimizes the equipment on the production floor, generating greater productivity out of existing investments. Greater productivity yields faster return on capital invested
JDF also makes it easier to manage order volume variations yielding tighter resource management. When volume is down, fewer people on the production floor reduces overhead cost
JDF Reduces mistakes. Less mistakes equals less waste.

What makes a good flyer?

Joe Kern — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 12:00:35 +0000

I came across this article on producing good flyers. This might be something that you can pass off to your customers or prospects.

Getting a flyer printing project to work effectively for your business is like looking for a husband (or a wife) to be with you through thick and thin, for richer or poorer, till death do you part.

In order for your relationship with your flyer printing project to succeed, it takes a lot of hard work and perseverance. It’s not something that you can just come up with in a flick of your fingers. You need to have the patience to carefully plan your flyer printing design to get the attention of your prospective clients.

What makes an effective and successful flyer printing project? Here are a few of the factors that should be considered in your flyer printing project:

White Space

White space is basically used to lead your target readers’ eyes to the most important part of your flyer printing project.

Contrary to popular belief, your white space is not there to create an aesthetically pleasing appearance in your flyer printing piece. White space is provided to emphasize, as well as provide your eyes with an area in your flyer printing design where they can rest, to be able to see the focal point of your print flyers.

Although it’s a tad tempting to squeeze in as much information in your flyer printing project, always remember that a sea of gray or black text only makes for an overwhelming design that will only confuse your prospective readers.

“S”- Pattern

Actually, the pattern looks more like the letter Z than the S. It is how your target readers’ eyes go when scanning an ad – it starts from the top left corner of your flyer printing ad then ends up at the bottom right.

Although they look at your flyer printing design according to the S-pattern, make sure that you make it easy for your target readers to understand what you have to say to them. It doesn’t do you any good if your target readers suddenly ask whether they’re still reading the same flyer printing piece halfway to your design.

Consistency

Being different is laudable, especially when it makes you stand out from the rest. But making it hard for your target readers to know your top from your tail is also not commendable.

People expect consistency in whatever marketing material they come across (e.g. brochure printing, flyer printing, postcard printing, catalog printing). They want to see certain elements at certain areas of your flyer printing piece. And believe it or not, they do look for them whenever they look at your flyer printing ad.

Simplicity

Always keep your flyer printing project simple and short. People have other things to do aside from skimming through your print flyers. So make it easy for them to get your message fast. Don’t put too much elements that will only make them distracted. Include fewer elements in your flyer printing project.

Sales Calls on the Cheap (continued)

Michael Herz — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:37:17 +0000

Last month I discussed sales calls on the cheap which essentially was all about price. Well cheap is great but what about quality and reasons behind choosing Skype other than price. Let’s face it if it’s cheap and the quality isn’t there it’s not worth it especially if you’re conducting business.

Let’s address the fist point of quality. What is Skype? Skype is a VoIP based phone system that relies on your internet connection to make phone calls. In order to use it you must be connected to the internet and the connection needs to be high speed. Being that high speed internet is becoming the norm and not the exception this allows you to make phone calls from virtually anywhere in the world. In my particular situation I use it at home the majority of the time over a cable internet connection but I do go into the office a few times a month where they have a DSL connection. At either location I have no issues with call quality. When I fist started using Skype I would occasionally ask my prospects “how’s the phone quality, we are testing out a new phone system”. Every response was favorable and they had no idea that I was using Skype. Now I haven’t had the opportunity to test the dinosaur of dial up but my suspicions would be that the results are unfavorable. In fact my new laptop doesn’t even have a modem to connect a phone line. In those rare particular cases that I am not around a high speed connection I just use my cell phone. Even then I can use a SkypeToGo number to make my calls using a local number even though the call is international.

The second point was reasons for choosing Skype. Most of the time sales people like to be mobile so they’ve got their trusty laptop to be on the go. Being that Skype is software based you can take it with you where ever you go. At the very least you should have your Skype headset with you as well. So, not bad a laptop that you lug around anyway and a headset that weighs only ounces. With other VoIP solutions such as Vonage and Packet8 you need to lug around a little box and a phone or phone/box combo. That may not sound like much but you have to plug in the power cords and network cables. What happens when you can’t plug in a network cable and only wireless is available, uh oh! Since Skype is installed on your laptop no wires necessary. Look mom no wires!! At least till your laptop battery dies but it’s much easier to find an outlet than a wired network connection. Also, if you think about when you go to a hotel, airport or hotspot what do they have you do? They have you sign into a webpage to enable the wireless connection, try doing that with Vonage or Packet8 hardware.

I mentioned earlier about getting a Skype headset which is very important. Since it is designed to be used with Skype this means they’ve done all the testing for you there’s no need to play Russian ruellet with headsets. Make sure you get a headset that has a USB connection. The USB headset can be assigned to only be used with Skype within the Skype application. So when instant messenger pops-up or arriving emails make noises they won’t be blasted in your ear. Computer noises are directed out the computer speakers and Skype calls are directed to the headset. This also allows you to mute the computer speakers but not the headset.

There you have it just about as mobile as you can get on $8.95 to $18.95 a month to make those paycheck impacting phone calls.

Michael is a Sales Representative and Support Manager at PagePath Technologies. PagePath was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Plano, Illinois. PagePath’s MyOrderDesk is an eCommerce solution that combines, Web-to-Print, automated proofing, pricing, reordering and more. It seamlessly integrates into a printing organization’s existing website or can be used as a standalone site. MyOrderDesk is known throughout the printing industry as the leader in Web-to-Print software.

Your PC and your business – Keeping it lean and mean

pgrandsard — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 12:30:32 +0000

Let’s face it, you almost need a PC in order to run a small business these days. From communicating with clients in email to managing your books, a computer is a necessary evil. Yes I called it an evil because your computer lives in a very hostile environment- the Internet. A computer basically does what it is told and unfortunately thousands of unscrupulous people are telling it to do bad things. How do you keep it safe? There are many ways, but I’m going to focus on one area- the web browser.

There are a handful to chose from but they pretty much do the same thing- allow you to surf the web. And what you have to be careful of are the multitude of add-ons and plug-ins and tool bars available. There are some that I would consider a necessity: Adobe Flash, Adobe Acrobat, Java, Microsoft Silverlight to name a few. These allow you to access the content on almost any web page you visit.

For your business PC this should be good enough. But alas, there are tool bars for almost every search engine, plug-ins that let you play games or stream music, plug-ins which offer to optimize your PC or Internet connection. These are not required in a business environment, so don’t install them! Not only could they slow your PC down, they could also cause conflicts with other programs or even be malicious. I have been called several times to help friends and family that somehow have downloaded viruses or spyware. They usually masquerade as anti-virus programs or toolbars that will make searching easier. If you are running your business from a PC it’s best to keep it lean and mean and only run the software you require.

Phillip Grandsard is a Software Developer at PagePath Technologies. PagePath was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Plano, Illinois. PagePath’s MyOrderDesk is an eCommerce solution that combines, Web-to-Print, automated proofing, pricing, reordering and more. It seamlessly integrates into a printing organization’s existing website or can be used as a standalone site. MyOrderDesk is known throughout the printing industry as the leader in Web-to-Print software.

How to select candidates and interview them for an important position

jimatpagepath — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 13:45:08 +0000

You might be ready to hire your first employee, a right-hand “man,” or an important addition to your business.

You may not be sure exactly which role the new person will fill, but you know you need help. Decide first if you are looking for someone to take on some of your responsibilities or for someone to whom you can delegate tasks. If you want to delegate, carry a clip board around for a day or two and list everything you do. This will help you create a job description.

The Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) has another idea: Consider whether you could use someone with skills you don’t have.

What skills are you weak in that might make your business grow? In your job ad, give a clear outline of duties. Play up the opportunity to influence the direction of the business, advise consultants quoted in Money.

For the interviews, SCORE recommends:

* Provide candidates with a company profile in advance so they can relate their experience to your company.
Prepare a list of questions. Use openended questions like “Tell us about a challenge you overcame in your work life.”
Allow a full hour between interviews. Create a relaxed environment and spend 30 to 45 minutes with each candidate. Use the rest of the hour to write down your thoughts of the person immediately after the interview.
Ask each person the same questions so you can compare their answers.
Be careful not to dominate the discussion. You should talk only 20 percent of the time and encourage the candidate to speak 80 percent of the time. The more they talk, the better picture you will have of them.
When looking at candidates’ employment histories, be wary of someone who moved around a lot, particularly for more money.

PagePath Announces Marketing4Printers

Joe Kern — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:48:18 +0000

PagePath Technologies, a leader in the Web2Print market since 1982 has developed Social Media Marketing Classes specifically targeted for printing and graphic arts related companies. Classes are designed to teach printers how to leverage the benefits of Social Media in their marketing efforts. You will learn how to harness the strength of Facebook, Twitter, Blogging and LinkedIn.

Class registration, $49 per class, will give participants access to the live webinar classes as well as the recorded video of the session and any slide deck or class materials. To register for a class, click the links below. If you have any questions on the classes themselves, feel free to contact Joe Kern at 866-770-7569 or by email at jkern@pagepath.com

Facebook Marketing 101 for Printers

Next session, Janaury 15, 2010 at 1:00pm Central

Twitter Marketing 101 for Printers

Next session, Janaury 22, 2010 at 1:00pm Central

Blog Marketing 101 for Printers

Next session, Janaury 29, 2010 at 1:00pm Central

Sales fundamentals have not changed-Earn the Order

Joe Kern — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 02:22:19 +0000

“I am sitting in my office late at night (ah, the life of the self employed!) watching last minute sign ups for my January Sales Challenge (which begins Wednesday Jan. 6, btw). This little program continues to blow me away and has ever since I introduced it last March. I’ve been a sales trainer in the printing industry for, um, wait, I should know this, oh, a bunch of years and in that time I have introduced a couple dozen training programs, produced E Learning material back before there WAS E Learning material, spoken in front of thousands of people and written unknown numbers of articles and blogs. But it is this little program—which came to me in the middle of the night last February—has become my biggest seller and I am having so much fun adapting and changing and watching it grow. It’s times like this that make me happy to be in business for myself.

I’ve always been a Fundamentals kind of guy. The first company I worked for, UARCO Business Forms, had a fantastic sales motto. It said, “Solve the problem. Earn the order.” How can you go wrong with a foundation like that? I believe that regardless of the economy, the fundamentals do not change. It’s amazing to me that there are still people out there who “sell printing.” What are they thinking? Have they never heard of Dale Carnagie? Even today I was coaching a guy who told me he goes door to door. That really shocked me, but his lack of success as a sales rep did not. So, I model every program I put together after what I learned way back when about solving problems.

When was the last time that you sat with a client and talked about his challenges? Fears? Opportunities? Did you ever wonder why no one returns your voice mails? You complain about the lack of courtesy but maybe your messages, well, suck! Why not learn to talk about THEM and not you; about solutions and not printing? Hey, if what you are doing is working, that’s cool, but is it really working?

Do you want to know how to grow your business? Here’s a freebie for you. These are the fundamentals:

Diligence
Call Quality
Creativity
Differentiation
Luck

Improve the quality of your calls. Make them relevant to the customer. Increase the quantity of calls and be pleasantly persistent. There you go. In four sentences, I just gave you a world of wisdom. Want more? Take the Sales Challenge. I start a new one every month (HEY! There’s another sign up coming in now!). I’d be happy to help you!

Bill Farquharson has a long history of driving sales momentum through his various training programs and initiatives. Every Monday, over 4,000 people from all over the world listen to Bill’s free audio—and now video!—sales tip, which ranges in subjects such as time management to overcoming objections to beating voice mail. Bill is unapologetically Old School in his thinking and coaching, but New Age in his approach and communication style. As a columnist and Blogger for Graphic Arts Monthly, Bill shares wit and wisdom from the experienced mind of a 27 year print sales veteran. Bill can be reached at bill@aspirefor.com or by calling 781-934-7036.