By Dan Davis, PEiR Group Technology Consultant
Let’s face it; competition is not getting any easier. In order to stay competitive, you need to really keep an eye on costs, while you tweak pricing to ensure that you will still be in business tomorrow!
I spend a good deal of time working with different companies to migrate their price lists into PlanWell and EWO. I am constantly amazed at the variety of ways that our industry scales, twists and discounts pricing. Whenever I encounter a novel pricing scheme, I always ask were it came from. Frequently, I hear something like this: “Our price list was developed by the previous owner. We’ve just raised them from time to time.”
Back in the day, we ran Diazo prints. The first set through the machine was a test set, and we used special non-print pencils to speed code the originals for the paper that we were using. As we ran more sets through we would develop a bit of a rhythm and, as a result, we would get a bit more productive. Therefore, it made sense to have a pricing structure which fairly represented the labor involved in the process depending on the size of the order. Diazo price lists of five or more levels made a good deal of sense.
Today, however, those older schemes really don’t add up. Our machines are automated, different medias are fed on demand, and it takes just as long to print the 300th set as it takes to print the second set. True, there will be some economy of scale for a huge job but then again, how many huge jobs have you billed off of your price list lately?
If in fact you are dealing with a legacy price schedule, it may be a good time to crunch some numbers and see if it still makes sense. Reducing the number of tiers in your price list will make it easier to quote a job, and will give you the opportunity to generate a price increase by eliminating some of the upper tiers.
Another frequent answer is: “Our price list reflects the way our competitors charge.”
This may very well be true. But is it still true when you consider your walk-in or list price business? Your price list after all has very little impact on your negotiated accounts. When you close a deal with a new account, you may have to tweak things for competitive reasons, but it is very important that you have well thought out pricing structures for your other products that will allow you to remain profitable even with a few loss leaders.
So, if you are thinking about raising one or more of your prices in order to cover your increases in costs, you may find that simplifying your price list may be a good way to get started.
Showing posts with label Dan Davis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dan Davis. Show all posts
Friday, June 27, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
Understanding Your Hosts File – and Using It
Technical Insight From The PEiR Group
By Dan Davis
The PlanWell Job Tracker provides a direct link to files which have been uploaded by your customers using EWO.
By clicking on the folder icon for the EWO order, the Job Tracker will open your FTP folder where you can access the zipped order files, and distribute them to production.
When you click on the file it will look in the database to find the address for your FTP server, and log you in automatically. If this does not work for you, it may mean that you need to add an entry into your Hosts file.
The Internet allows every computer to have its own unique address. These addresses are generally an IP number, but can also be in the form of a name like ftp.reproshop.com. This is what is known as a Domain name. Domain names are leased from various companies, and registered with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). When you register a domain name, Domain Name Servers throughout the world will add your domain name to their lists, so that Internet requests for ftp.reproshop.com will be forwarded to your correct IP address.
In general, this addressing scheme will then allow anybody but you to connect to your FTP. However, your network might be set up in such a way those external addresses, like your FTP may not be reachable from inside your firewall. But you can make this work! All you need to do is find out the internal address for your FTP server, and set up an entry in your Hosts file.
The Hosts file is a text file which resides in one of the following locations on your computer:
Windows Vista - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC
Windows XP - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC
Windows 2K - C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC
Win 98/ME - C:\WINDOWS
It will have no extension, and can be opened using notepad.
Once you have located the file, scroll down to the bottom and add the following:
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx ftp.reproshop.com
Replace the x’s in the sample with the internal IP address for your FTP server.
Now each time that you try to browse for ftp.reproshop.com , your computer will first check the hosts file to see if you have a special address for it, and if it finds one, it will use it, instead of the address which are given out by the DNS server.
Once you understand how the Hosts file works, you may wish to take more advantage of it by adding shortcuts to frequently visited sites, or by pointing ad-based web sites to your localhost to speed up your internet browsing.
Samples:
72.10.44.177 peir - This will allow you to just enter peir in your browser to get to the peir web site!
127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net - will block all files supplied by that Double Click Server to the web page you are viewing, which will make many pages load much faster!
Several organizations publish Hosts files that will greatly eliminate annoying ads and other time wasting promotions, and update them frequently. If you would like to learn more, please visit one of the following sites:
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/
http://hostsfile.mine.nu/
By Dan Davis
The PlanWell Job Tracker provides a direct link to files which have been uploaded by your customers using EWO.
By clicking on the folder icon for the EWO order, the Job Tracker will open your FTP folder where you can access the zipped order files, and distribute them to production.
When you click on the file it will look in the database to find the address for your FTP server, and log you in automatically. If this does not work for you, it may mean that you need to add an entry into your Hosts file.
The Internet allows every computer to have its own unique address. These addresses are generally an IP number, but can also be in the form of a name like ftp.reproshop.com. This is what is known as a Domain name. Domain names are leased from various companies, and registered with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). When you register a domain name, Domain Name Servers throughout the world will add your domain name to their lists, so that Internet requests for ftp.reproshop.com will be forwarded to your correct IP address.
In general, this addressing scheme will then allow anybody but you to connect to your FTP. However, your network might be set up in such a way those external addresses, like your FTP may not be reachable from inside your firewall. But you can make this work! All you need to do is find out the internal address for your FTP server, and set up an entry in your Hosts file.
The Hosts file is a text file which resides in one of the following locations on your computer:
Windows Vista - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC
Windows XP - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC
Windows 2K - C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC
Win 98/ME - C:\WINDOWS
It will have no extension, and can be opened using notepad.
Once you have located the file, scroll down to the bottom and add the following:
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx ftp.reproshop.com
Replace the x’s in the sample with the internal IP address for your FTP server.
Now each time that you try to browse for ftp.reproshop.com , your computer will first check the hosts file to see if you have a special address for it, and if it finds one, it will use it, instead of the address which are given out by the DNS server.
Once you understand how the Hosts file works, you may wish to take more advantage of it by adding shortcuts to frequently visited sites, or by pointing ad-based web sites to your localhost to speed up your internet browsing.
Samples:
72.10.44.177 peir - This will allow you to just enter peir in your browser to get to the peir web site!
127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net - will block all files supplied by that Double Click Server to the web page you are viewing, which will make many pages load much faster!
Several organizations publish Hosts files that will greatly eliminate annoying ads and other time wasting promotions, and update them frequently. If you would like to learn more, please visit one of the following sites:
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/
http://hostsfile.mine.nu/
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