Newsletter Archives for 2010
January: Happy New Year
March: Before you buy
May: Laser print less costly than inkjet
July: Promotion using color print
September: Price shouldn't be the only factor
November 2010: Business is slowly picking up
Newsletter January 2010: Happy New Year
I am still seeing companies going out of business but it seems to have slowed down quite a bit. When I talk to people, I hear that things are slowly starting to pick up and some people are crazy busy. Hopefully it will trickle down to everyone and we will start seeing an increase in business. I think that if we all just keep working we will see an increase in business.
When business is slow, that is the time we should look at cleaning and maintaining our equipment. By just keeping fans free of dust you can help keep your printer running for a long time. You can vacuum out the vents on the printers to increase air flow. When you change the toner cartridge if you wipe out the inside of the printer it will help keep the printer lint down. You can also wipe out the paper tray to remove some of the lint in it. Make sure that the printer isn't up against a wall and the vents are clear so it won't overheat.
Newsletter March 2010: Before you buy
With so many new printers and multifunction devices coming out, it is hard to know which to purchase. A lot of the manufactures have websites with tools to help your figure out the upgrade to your current equipment. You just have to let them know what you currently have and they will tell you the new equivalent. On some sites you can compare different models to see which is the best fit for your situation.
Also, check out the supplies to see if they can be remanufactured so you can save some money over the cost of new. If you find a couple of pieces of equipment you are interested in, let me know and I will let you know the cost of the supplies. Some of the cartridges come in a regular and high yield. Check the models to see which can use both.
If you want to print in color the laser printers cost less to operate than the inkiest, because you can get thousands of pages per cartridge verse hundreds. So, don't just look at the cost of the printer, but also the supplies.
Newsletter May 2010: Laser print less costly than inkjet
Everyone is looking for ways to save money and make a profit. When you choose remanufactured products you can save from 10 to 50% off the cost of new depending on the product.
Whenever I look at getting a new printer, I always check to see what options are available for the supplies before I make the purchase so I don't get stuck with an inexpensive piece of equipment and very expensive supplies.
If you want to print in color the laser printers cost less per page to print than the inkjet but a lot of people go with the inkjet as the cartridges are less than $50.00 but you are paying a much higher cost per page. There are a lot of inexpensive laser printers out there with toners below $75.00 so it is making it easier for people to see the cost benefits of the laser printer over the inkjet printer.
When you purchase remanufactured cartridges, a large percentage of them are done in the USA so you are helping to stimulate the economy by keeping jobs in the USA. When you buy a new cartridge, most of them are made overseas so we aren't helping our economy.
Newsletter July 2010: Promotion using color print
More companies are trying to get noticed by printing in color. Before you jump on the bandwagon be sure to check out your choices. You can use an inkjet, ink stick or laser printer. When trying to decide which to get, figure out what you want to print in color. Some printers are better with pictures than others. When you have decided what you want to print, go out and look at the output from the different brands to see which will work best for you.
Inkjet printers work well, but if the paper gets wet the ink will run. This wouldn't be a good choice for doing a mailing. The ink stick printers can make the page feel like crayons have been melted on it. The laser printer is fine, but sometimes when it runs through the postal service machines it can make the toner ghost on the page.
Be sure to check out the cost of the supplies and if remanufactured or compatible are available. Look at the monthly duty cycle to make sure you get something that can handle the volume of printing you will be doing. You don't want to have to replace the printer after a few months because it couldn't handle the print volume. You want something that will last for years and give you great print quality.
Newsletter September 2010: Price shouldn't be the only factor
We are all trying hard to stay in business and keep the business we have. I see companies that are trying to get market share by pricing their products below everyone else. This might seem like a good marketing strategy but do you really only want customers that are looking for the lowest price. The only thing that matters to them is the price of the product not the quality or reliability of it.
It makes our jobs a little harder to let prospects know that price shouldn't be the only thing they look at when comparing products. You might be able to get some of these prospects to buy from you but they will always want to compare pricing on every order and if they find someone cheaper they will switch. Most of the time you don't make any money or very little on these orders and they require a lot of work.
When someone tells me they found a product that I quoted them on at a very cheap price I wonder where it is coming from. Sometimes these products are counterfeit and can cause a lot of problems for the prospect. A lot of the time they try the cheap product and aren't satisfied with the results.
November 2010: Business is slowly picking up
Most companies are starting to notice that business is slowly picking up. They said the recession was over last fall but I don't think the economy knows that yet. I see in my business that customers are starting to order more supplies and are saying that their businesses are picking up. I think if we all do some spending it will snowball to everyone and the economy will pick up.
When the banking industry started freaking out about business credit, a lot of companies ended up going out of business, as they couldn't get the credit they needed to keep their businesses running. Also, they had to pay back their lines of credit immediately which forced more out of business. That trickled down to other businesses and everyone quit purchasing which brought about the
recession.Hopefully, we are all ready to get back to business and get the economy humming again. We are all looking for new opportunities to bring more value to our customers. If we listen to our customers needs, we might be able to find new sources of business and new ways to increase our business.
Becky: 651-776-3657/800-249-8576
fax 651-772-4574
or
beckyp@customofficeproducts.com
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