My first article for Quick Printing magazine was published in May 1990. Since then, I’ve written almost 350 more for QP and Printing News/WhatTheyThink. This is going to be my last one, as I get closer and closer to removing the “semi” from my semi-retirement.

So what’s left to say? How about this. With all the things that have changed in the printing industry over these last 35 years, there’s one thing that hasn’t. This is a people business. Your success is dependent on the people you sell to, the people you buy from, and perhaps most of all, the people who work for you. Putting ink or toner or anything else on paper, vinyl or any other substrate is secondary to your relationships with the people who are critical to your business.

Sell To vs. Buy From

I might have said the people who buy from you. I didn’t, because there’s an important distinction between sell to and buy from. One is passive, the other is proactive, and I want you to be proactive. On the new business side of the equation, that means proactively seeking engagement with people who buy what you sell. That can be prospecting, or networking, or responding to inquiries generated by your marketing. Just understand, those are three variations on the starting line. The goal is to get to the finish line!

On the current customer side of the equation, proactivity means staying in touch with your customers and talking about past performance and future opportunities in addition to current projects. First and foremost, you must know that you have happy customers, not just hope so or think so. Beyond that, the more you know about the direction of their businesses, the more opportunity you may find to help them get there.

The People You Buy From

Here’s an observation: Suppliers are an underutilized resource. I’m pretty sure you’re not getting maximum value from most of yours. Now, I fully understand that some of the people you buy from are mostly transactional, they see value as quality, service and price. Let’s go back to the idea of you knowing your customers’ direction, though, and using your knowledge to help them get there. I encourage you to mine your suppliers’ knowledge to help you get to where you want to go.

And if they can’t or won’t provide that kind of value, you might think about buying from someone else.

Your Employees

There are two sides to engagement with your employees. One concerns your level of satisfaction with their performance. One-A concerns their level of satisfaction with their job. Please consider two things: (1) There is usually room for improvement on both sides of the relationship. (2) Any behavior/level of performance which is tolerated will likely be repeated.

Anything you can do to build a better, stronger team will benefit your business. And probably more so than anything else you might invest in. In a people business, the people inside the business are its most important resource.

Thank You!

Final thoughts. Thanks to everyone from QP to WTT for giving me a forum all these years. And thank you for reading me!