63-second cost cutter: Business Cards May 31, 2008

FRUGAL: Researching how far printing has come, and learning the tricks of that trade to your advantage.
CHEAP: Printing them at home; using a free service that tells everyone how little you had to spend.
The cost cutting? It’s in understanding the print world, and how cheap it’s become for professional results due to advanced technology.

Digital printers have put many conventional press houses out of business. Google the term if you are feeling scholarly, but in a peanutshell, digital printing is to conventional press as the hand-run mimeograph is to a Xerox™ machine.

Online printers abound; I use one particular service that I’ll endorse in a moment. The pricing tends to be much better because the setup has been removed–no more setting up metal plates, inking them with CYMK, changeouts, hand-cutting, proofing, etc. With online printers, you upload your files in the acceptable format (most will give you templates to download), proof the file they email you, watch the status, and track your shipment. I just ordered 1,000 postcards, glossy both sides, full color both sides, 4×6, for under $50 including shipping via UPS. I’ve also ordered 500 full color (both sides), glossy stock business cards for $13 including shipping. No more “These cards were printed FREE with VistaPrint” on the back for you, sir. No more Kinkos, and no more home printing.

My guys? GotPrint.com (just ask me to mail you some of my stuff to see what I mean).

Are You Positive About That? May 31, 2008

The anonymous nature of the Internet frequently empowers those who visit blogs to make more strongly worded statements in a comment section than they would if speaking face-to-face. If you have a blog, you’ve undoubtedly encountered some scathing comments. And in a post at MarketingProfs’ Daily Fix blog, Mark Goren suggests a way to handle this negativity, which usually fall into two general categories:

Free Challenge Inside! You know it’s a good hospital when… May 31, 2008

Recently my fiance had surgery at a local hospital. We could not have been surrounded with a happier, nicer group of staff. This was my (our) first experience with the hospital system here in the Triangle (but then, do you really want many experiences?), but I still did not expect the level of service we received. I expected a name to be called, to be pointed this way or that, brusque demeanors. But instead, as I watched, everyone working there just seemed happy. They smiled even when alone, they cracked jokes, they called out to each other and said things like “Have a great evening!”. A happy staff means happy customers, typically. But in my past hospital experiences, I had not yet encountered it.

Every single person was kind, looked us in the eye, asked questions, made us feel comfortable, and had bedside manners to be rivaled. Before I was even allowed to take him home I thought, goodness, I almost want to sign up for a surgery–so we don’t have to leave! Now, how ironic is that? Not wanting to leave the hospital because you’re having a good time. Yes, it goes against logic; logically I wanted to get us home so I could continue to care for him. But it also got me thinking–

What is a place you received some of the best service? The challenge: it must be a place you never thought you’d have such a good experience.