Spread the Love – Nominate Your Super Sales Rep

National Business Media is looking for an outstanding Supplier Sales Rep to feature in an upcoming issue of Sign & Digital Graphics Magazine.

LexJet wants our customers to participate. Tell NBM, in 50 words or less, how your LexJet sales rep has gone above and beyond.   Submit your nomination and if he or she is featured you will receive a gift card worth $50.

SGIA Releases 2010 Market Trends Survey Report

SGIA has released the 2010 Market Trends Survey Report for the specialty imaging community. Based on 472 responses to a survey conducted in May, the 33-page report provides insight into how sign and graphic companies and garment decorators are responding to the ongoing changes and challenges in the marketplace.

“The survey shows strong evidence that specialty imagers are exploring new markets and opportunities as a way to bolster their business,” says Dan Marx, SGIA’s vice president of markets and technologies. “Further, the survey shows how specialty imagers are using sales, management, and production initiatives to strengthen their competitive advantage.”

The full report is available to all SGIA members and survey participants and includes data on primary markets served, top methods used to attract new customers, and sales and promotion expenditures.

Although LexJet isn’t involved in the garment decoration side of the specialty imaging business, we’ve been keenly observing the evolution of the sign and graphics business over the past 16 years. Here are some of excerpts and statistics from the SGIA Market Trends Survey Report that caught our eye:

• “The graphic and sign community is truly a multi-technology industry, with 54% of the companies reporting they are multi-technology shops. While more than 44% report digital to be their sole technology, the number of companies reporting they exclusively use screen printing has dwindled to less than 2%. Screen printing, however, has proven to be a value-added capability that provides a competitive advantage.”
• The top five business concerns in 2010 are: sales growth (64.8%), pricing (62.4%), the national economy (61.8%), health insurance costs (56.4%), and maintaining margins (55.8%).
• Some of the ways companies are responding to the tight economy are to reduce operating costs (67.3%), add new product lines (58.8%), and add finishing capability (47.9%).
• Some shifts have occurred in which markets survey respondents perceive as growing. Between the 2009 and 2010 surveys, the number of respondents who expect the interior décor market to grow jumped from 42.7% to 48.4% An increasing percentage of respondents also see opportunities for growth in the following markets: government and government contractors; non-profits and associations; health care institutions; hospitality services (hotels, night clubs, resorts, casinos);  transit advertising; and business-to-consumer sales.
• Despite the current hoopla about social networking tools (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn), only about 10% of survey respondents rate them as effective or very effective in generating results, and 35% of the respondents don’t even use them. According to the survey respondents, the most effective ways of getting results continue to be referrals (70.2%), outside sales (24.1%); and inside sales (21.3%). However, the percentage of respondents with company blogs has grown from 4.6% in 2007 to 13.5% in 2010.  The use of published articles has dropped from 33.3% in 2007 to 17.7% in 2010.

If you are an SGIA member or participated in the survey, you can click here to access the full report.  If you would like more information about joining SGIA, or participating in its next round of surveys, visit: www.sgia.org

Would Your Seniors Like to Be Supermodels? New Site for Photography Pros Can Help

When teens pose for senior portraits, the experience often allows them to imagine what it might be like to be a professional model. In fact, many clients often ask portrait photographer Cindi McDaniel: “What steps would I need to take in order to become a model?”

So when Cindi and her husband Ralph decided to joint develop a web-based enterprise as a sideline to their senior portrait business (Studio EnVogue), they came up with the concept for Supermodel Seniors.  The site will feature professionally photographed images of high-school seniors from all across the U.S. who dream of becoming models. The galleries on Supermodel Seniors will make it easy for modeling agencies to find fresh faces or a particular look that might be needed for a specific job. READ MORE

Grizzly Creek Gallery Helps Bring Serenity of Nature to High-Stress Workplaces

Georgetown, Colorado is a former silver-mining camp nestled in the mountains about 45 minutes west of Denver. Although the town only has about 1,000 year-round residents, a steady stream of tourists visit Georgetown to get a sense of what life must have been like during the Colorado Silver Boom in 1850s. The well-preserved, historic town has proven to be the ideal location for the Grizzly Creek Gallery operated by nature and wildlife photographer Gary Haines and his wife.  And in fact, the gallery is located in the town’s first framed commercial building, which dates back to 1867.

Most images displayed in the gallery are Gary’s, but the Grizzly Creek Gallery also represents other photographers who specialize in Colorado scenics. In addition to selling a wide selection of matted prints, notecards, and decorative furnishings to tourists, Grizzly Creek Gallery offers customized mounting and framing services and large-format digital printing. Gary also provides complimentary, on-site consultations to interior designers and art consultants who want help choosing which images would work best with existing home or office décor. READ MORE

Photographer David Ziser Starts His Captured by the Light Seminar Tour Sept. 7

LexJet is proud to be a sponsor of David Ziser’s 20-city 2010 “Captured by the Light” Seminar Tour. The tour kicks off Tuesday evening, Sept. 7 in Phoenix, AZ and runs through Nov. 4, visiting cities throughout the US.  (Click here for a complete list of dates and cities.)

Each fast-paced, entertaining evening runs a full 4-1/2 hours and is jam-packed with practical advice for wedding and portrait photographers, photography students, assistants, emerging pros, and anyone else who wants to expand their knowledge of digital photography, beautiful lighting, image composition, and sensible posing. READ MORE

Not Just Another Sports Metaphor

By Jason Metnick

Naked service providers and consultants will give away their best ideas and start consulting to the prospective client during a sales call. In fact, they’ll do no real selling at all, forgoing that activity in order to find a way to help a client even if they never actually become one.

–Patrick Lencioni, “Getting Naked”

It seems in recent years whenever you read an anecdote about business, examples are given in terms of sports, e.g., Vince Lombardi’s thoughts on the“Will to Win,” The Red Sox inspiring comeback in 2004, or how an athlete overcame extreme obstacles and hardship to become extraordinary.

This blog post is not about any of that.  This is a true story about a couple of personal trainers who care about healthy lifestyles and introducing everyone to the world of triathlons one person at a time. In the process, they create so much value, they do not need to ask for the sale.

One-and-a-half years ago in an effort to get our company healthy, LexJet hired two personal trainers (Eric Kahl and Jackie Miller of etricoach) to start a two-month Boot Camp (one of those one-hour, early morning workout sessions where they take you to the edge of exhaustion twice a week). The plan was to run the Boot Camp for two months, and the company would pick up the cost for anyone who signed up and completed the course.  If you did not complete the course you would be charged $150.  A year-and-a-half later many members of the LexJet team have completed the course seven times over. READ MORE

Portrait Photographer Eric Gray Wins LexJet Printer Giveaway

Eric Gray, the professional photographer who owns FineArt Portraiture in Pottstown, PA, was the lucky winner of the 24-in. Canon imagePROGRAF iPF6300 that LexJet gave away August 9.  Eric’s name was selected at random from the list of subscribers to the LexJet Blog.

Eric says he had never won anything before, so after LexJet account representative Kelly Price called him with the good news, he experienced a 10-minute period of disbelief: “It was awesome to win something like this!” He received the Canon iPF6300 three days later, and has found it remarkably easy to set up and run.

Because he likes controlling the final look of his images, Eric says he has always printed many of his own photos, either through the darkroom when he shot film or on an Epson Stylus 4000 after he made the transition to digital.

Although he is a Canon shooter, he had never used a Canon pro-model printer before. So far, he is very impressed with image-quality, paper-handling, and speed of the Canon iPF6300, noting that “It’s amazing how much more productive I can be.” He says that setting up the printer was straightforward, and when he added it to his network, “It configured beautifully.”

Eric has already loaded the settings for LexJet’s Sunset Photo eSatin Paper into the printer’s Media Configuration Tool and is ready to use the iPF6300 for a wide range of portraits, wedding pictures, modeling portfolios, and art prints.  So that he can experiment with other types of LexJet paper, he recently ordered the LexJet Sunset Fibre-Based Portfolio Pack, which contains two 13 x 19 in. sheets of five different papers: Sunset Fibre Gloss 295g, Sunset Fibre Gloss Natural 300g, Sunset Fibre Satin 300g, Sunset Fibre Matte 285g, and Sunset Fibre Elite 285g.

Eric said he had considered buying a new, wider format printer later this fall. But because he won our special thank-you promotion for LexJet Blog subscribers, he won’t have to!

If you haven’t yet subscribed to the LexJet Blog, now’s a great time to do so. It’s the best way to keep up with all of latest news and ideas from LexJet, including new product announcements and future contests and promotions.

LexJet Simple MTS Adhesive Vinyl Bonds Graphics to Rough Surfaces

If you have a project that involves posting temporary advertising graphics and wraps to rough surfaces, consider using LexJet Simple MTS Adhesive Vinyl for multi-textured surfaces. Simple MTS Adhesive Vinyl is a 3.5-mil, bright white, opaque matte vinyl backed by a 2-mil high-performance aggressive adhesive. It was specifically designed for a range of difficult installation scenarios involving rough textured surfaces.

“This adhesive has been formulated to apply temporary advertising graphics and wraps to rough-textured concrete walls, construction barriers, vending machines, and other surfaces that don’t form a secure bond with conventional removable adhesives,” explains LexJet product manager Dione Metnick. “We have found that it also works well for more permanent installations, such as product identification labels and industrial safety signage.”

As is the case with the other media in the LexJet’s Simple product line, Simple MTS Adhesive Vinyl is compatible with low-solvent, solvent and UV-curable ink systems. It offers a bright white surface that produces superior, high-contrast graphics reproduction. READ MORE

A Pleasurable Trip to the Orthodontist, really? A Customer Experience Worth Sharing

By John Lane

Customer service is more than just a clever slogan or a marketing campaign. It’s the personal interaction between a company and a customer. The key to fantastic customer service is going above and beyond for every customer. As all parents like to do from time to time, we are going to live vicariously through my eight year old daughter for this week’s outstanding customer experience.

The situation…

My 8 year old daughter learned during her last trip to the dentist that it was necessary to visit an orthodontist.  The fear sets in and the questions begin.  Will it hurt?  How will I eat?  What will I eat?  How long will it take?  Why did daddy wear braces and his teeth are still not perfect?

The first visit to the orthodontist…

The initial entrance to the office gave us and our daughters a positive feeling.  A TV with kids shows, a game room, complimentary bottled water and floor to ceiling windows with views to the perfectly designed garden, bird feeders and local wildlife wandering the grounds.  Reflecting on my first visit to the orthodontist, this is far from what I had expected. READ MORE

LexJet Named One of the 100 Best Companies to Work for in Florida

In order to keep our customers satisfied, it’s important to keep our employees happy. That’s why we are so pleased to announce that for the second consecutive year, the Florida Trend business magazine has named LexJet as one of Florida’s Best Companies to work for.

The publication singled out 100 Florida companies for recognition, including 35 large companies (250 or more employees), 40 mid-sized companies (50-249 employees), and 25 small businesses (fewer than 50 employees). LexJet ranked 20 in the list of 40 mid-sized companies.

The best companies were selected through a two-part survey process. During the first phase , LexJet was evaluated on the company’s workplace policies, practices, philosophy, systems and demographics. Part two of the survey measured employee satisfaction at LexJet. The scores from both parts of the survey were combined to determine the best companies and their rankings. READ MORE