INDUSTRY TIPS | THE ONLINE PRINT COACH Fix the Leaks Before You Chase New Leads: The Print Business Growth Trap If you want more sales, you don’t necessarily need more customers. What you need is a tighter system. One of the most common issues I see in print businesses is holes in the Customer Value Journey (CVJ). It’s like having a beautifully printed brochure with a few scuffed corners and ragged edges; the core of the product is great, but it’s not presenting your business at its best. When your processes don’t guide your customers smoothly from interest to repeat order, you’re leaving money on the table. Let me give you a few examples: no welcome email after someone signs up, no follow-up after a quote goes out, or no reminder when a customer hasn’t ordered in six months. These aren’t rare issues, they’re widespread, and they’re stopping good print businesses from becoming great print businesses. Here’s the thing. Most print business owners think growth means going out and finding new leads. But often, the real opportunity is sitting right there, in your inbox, your CRM, or your re-order list. It’s about fixing what’s supposed to be working already. Make Print Easier to Buy If you’ve worked in print for more than five minutes, you know the difference between matt and silk, embossing and debossing, and roll folds and concertina folds. But your customers probably don’t, and that’s not their fault. Where we go wrong is assuming what’s obvious to us is obvious to everyone else. That’s where your content can play a huge role. You don’t need to be flashy or overproduce things. A short explainer video, a simple guide, or a “did you know?” post can demystify print for your audience. Your job isn’t to overwhelm people with technical jargon, it’s to be the print partner who makes it easy to understand and easy In this edition of Industry Tips, Colin Sinclair-McDermott, the Online Print Coach, gives his advice on how to get ahead of your competition and ensure your business looks as good as it can when communicating with customers Having been in the print industry since the mid-late 90s, Colin Sinclair McDermott entered the world of self-employment in 2004 and over the years that followed, experienced a number of highs and lows running his own print company, learning what does and doesn’t work. In 2022, he trained with The Business Coaching Academy to become a fully certified corporate coach with the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches. Through The Online Print Coach, industry members can access an online training platform, Print Mastermind and private 1-to-1 coaching with Sinclair McDermott. www.theonlineprintcoach.com to buy. When you do that well, customers trust you, and trust leads to bigger jobs and longer relationships. Your Website Is a Sales Rep, Not an Online Brochure You wouldn’t hand a prospect that tatty brochure we mentioned earlier, would you? But some print websites still load like it’s 2005, slow, clunky, unresponsive, and riddled with broken links. That’s a branding problem, and worse, it’s a missed sales opportunity. Your online presence speaks for you when you’re not in the room. That includes your website, your emails, your social posts, all of it. Research shows that up to 70% of the buying decision is made before a customer ever reaches out. So, ask yourself: “What does your content say about your business?” Does it say you’re helpful, knowledgeable, and trustworthy? Or does it say you’re just 48 email: editor@printmonthly.co.uk September / October 2025 - Issue 356
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