I’ll take Manhattan! - Shaun Visits The Big Apple, Gauges The Future

By Shaun Meany
President, The PEiR Group

Last week I traveled to the Big Apple to meet with some of our members and attend Canon’s ImagePROGRAF Reseller Roundtable. I took some time to walk this great city and see for myself if "the city that never sleeps" was awake or not in terms of new construction around town.

I was surprised to see so many open lots with nothing being built on them. Reprographers in Gotham tell me that many projects had been put on hold for a variety of reasons - the biggest and most obvious one being a lack of funding.

It floored me. Here I was in the financial center of America and things were basically standing still. An exaggeration, maybe, but it was a matter of perception - the financial capital of the world finally appeared to be asleep.

The Canon Roundtable was interesting, an event Canon hosts in conjunction with the US Open Tennis Championships in Queens, NY. It was great to meet with some of Canon’s top resellers and learn what they are doing to be successful in their respective markets during these challenging economic times. Canon let us in on some of their new market share statistics and they confirmed that Canon is serious about large format.

They are, it seems, quickly taking market share from HP and Epson in the aqueous inkjet large format market space.

Back out on the town, I had to resist the urge to hold a finger in the air to see which way the financial winds were going to blow. We're in a waiting game, I think, but there is an underlying sense of optimism that things will pick up once money starts flowing again.

PEiR members are struggling with the reality that they can't be focused solely on AEC - still. This confuses me. You don't have to look far to see that the people who are doing the best in these stagnant times are the ones who are out there hustling new business, owners networking and mining every last dime out of connections made at social networking functions and pre-established business contacts.

Others are streamlining their pricing model, removing every last barrier that would make a customer say "Hmm, I dunno..." and offering "Read the Meter" solutions charting a company's use of services at the beginning of the month and end of the month and billing them once for everything in between.

It's clean and it's working, particularly as businesses are watching every penny and can't afford to spend more time than they have to accounting for them.

There are some other trends developing in the market... we'll talk about them in the days to come.

In the meantime, stay in touch and let us know how you're doing.

Regards,

Shaun

Paradigm Imaging Group Releases imagePRO Gx 42 HD Plus Scanners

Paradigm Imaging Group is announcing release of their imagePRO Gx 42 HD Plus series scanners.

The company says the imagePRO Gx 42 HD Plus series scanners deliver the sharpest CCD image capture available on the market. With true 1200 dpi optical resolution, 2D LED illumination and low energy consumption, these scanners are the industry leaders in versatility and efficiency. Not only can the imagePRO Gx 42 HD Plus scanners handle high fidelity color graphics, these scanners are also capable of capturing fine line detail in technical documents. This unique combination of vivid color reproduction and highly accurate line and detail replication make these scanners the perfect fit for reprographics, fine art, design, architecture, engineering, and facilities management.

The imagePRO Gx 42 HD Plus scanners also boast a state-of-the-art paper transport system, allowing for the safe scanning of delicate originals. The thick media (T) models can accommodate mounted originals up to .8” thick, making the GxT 42 HD Plus perfect for fine art applications. All Gx 42 HD Plus models are Energy Star® compliant, reducing energy requirements by using 30% less power when in operation and 94 percent less power when idle.

Interested?
Contact:
Jane Hicks
1590 Metro Drive, Suite 116
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Phone: 714.432.7226
Fax: 714.432.7222
Email: jane@paradigmimaging.com

Support Your Local Museum: It Pays

By The PEiR Group

Recently we talked with a busy reprographer who had just packed up and sent off a sizable print job to "some fancy blah blah New York address."

Naturally, that got our curiousity up. "Really?" we asked, "what's the name of the museum?"

Our reprographer checked his invoice, mangled the name a little and then gave us the name of one of the most prestigious museums in the country, small but with ties going back to the Revolution. It turned out he had just provided them with banners and signage for an upcoming exhibit on the origins of freedom. Centuries old documents and other artifacts were being flown in from around the world just for this showing.

It was a big job. A nice job. And we were happy for the reprographer. But we were a little chagrined to find that he may not have fully appreciated what he had just done - and the marketing potential such a job brings to the party.

Museum curators are always looking for people to support important exhibits, and if your shop has the skill set to bring off the sleek sort of signage museums want - you'll be in demand. You may want to reach out to your local museum or historical society and ask them if they have an exhibit planned now or sometime in the future.

If they do, gauge the look and feel of the exhibit and submit your work. It can be steady, lucrative, and fun.

History, it turns out, really can pay.

Prospecting In The "Days of '09" - Sometimes, You Have To Toss The Little Nuggets Before You Find The Big One

By Rick Ysunza
The PEiR Group

As a salesperson out there prospecting for business these days, I have found that the comparison could be made between us and the old miners of yore - armed with pick and shovel and searching for the elusive Mother Lode.

What would you do if that first pan gave you a tiny, yet shiny return? Would you be excited? You're darn tootin' you would. And you'd probably go back to the same spot and dig up another pan full to see if you could wheedle away another tiny fleck.

But that's not how the successful miners did it back in the day. They were looking for larger nuggets, signs that they were on to a larger vein, and they would work their pans until they yielded three good-sized nuggets, then five - and then, if they were lucky and persistent, they shouted "Eureka!" when they finally hit it big.

My message here is drawn from this approach: don't be so enticed with those initial, glinty successes that you fixate and forget to focus your prospecting efforts where you can get the most return with a decision maker further up the line.

There's a payday at the end of the vein for those who aren't afraid to pass over smaller flecks of success and follow the signs to the "Mother Lode" we all seek.

Good hunting!

Rick

Standees Proving Popular - Do You Sell Them?

With all the kids back in school and sessions ramping up again The PEiR Group thought we'd remind you of a potential market you may find lucrative.

Some shops we know run life-size standees for local schools - everything from easel backs of the principal to the entire football team for use in pep rallies and assemblies.

This usage has dovetailed into jobs requested by proud parents eager to capture an image of their child for use at graduation parties or special events.

Have you guys done any of these? Send us your images and we'll run the best of the bunch! Shaun says it may be worth something to you!