Regaining Motivation

[DavidWH]

Lately I've just lost the 'ooomph' I had. Turnover & profit are up on the same period last year, helped by a few larger projects.

We've had a few issues on one project, where deadlines were pushed to the extreme, and we've taken that on board.

It seems that we're constantly rushing jobs for customers who leave things to the last minute, and we've never charged a premium for rushing stuff through.

Example was yesterday, customer needs 4 tshirts printing, so order them for delivery today. We're installing until 1pm, then back to office, mess about with artwork for the shirts that was received at 10am, then print the 4 shirts.

I had no enthusiasm doing them, and would rather no be.

I'm thinking to perhaps stop rushing stuff through, without charging a premium just to regain some control, and start planning the days out.

I feel that we need to slow things down a little and get organised again, and make a determined push to get to the next level.

Any suggestions on how to get back in the groove?

 

[susanhiggscreative]

Maybe put in some minimum order terms for rush jobs to make it worth your while. I don't do tshirt printing but generally once the artwork is ready and the plates set up for print etc that's the hard bit done?

I.e. We can deliver within 24 hours for free on minimum orders of xx and anything below the minimum order will be charged a £xx,xx quick turnaround fee.

A bit like you would if using a courier etc you pay a premium for it quicker....

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On the other hand you don't want to be rushing things as this may knock on and affect the quality, then your reputation. So perhaps make a contract saying 48 hours delivery turnaround ( or whatever ) and if you do it quicker that's a bonus for the customer.

I'm a graphic designer so if you ever need to outsource any artwork give me a shout, I am at my computer almost all day so can do quick turnarounds if needed.

 

[TheClearance]

Sometimes you just lose the spark. Happened to several projects I was working on. One project I spent 4 years working on, about 80% complete to date, and I have lost that spark to continue with it.

Try new things out & or take a break from it.

 

[tony84]

September 2015 was the last time I felt like you do. I had a 2 week holiday booked for Vegas and LA and in the run up to that I just lost all motivation. I thought it was just the holiday mood. When I came back I still had no motivation. I basically just handed off all enquiries from September through to January to other brokers I know.

I had worked really hard all year, smashed my target and I think I just needed an extended break. I suspect it was easier for me to do that as I had no wages to pay out but my own which I had in savings anyway. That year I had basically set up on my own with a load of debt so worked like there was no tomorrow to clear it and I think it just exhausted me.

JAnuary the 2nd came and I had set myself a new target for the year. No idea what clicked to throw me out of the groove or what clicked to get me back in to it, but it just came.

Can you take an extended break and switch off from the day to day stuff? Give yourself time to plan for 2018?

 

[DavidWH]

Not much chance of an extended break.

Lately we've been outsourcing some bits we could produce in house, simply because it's cheap, and it saves us messing about doing lots of finishing, so whilst turnover & profit is up, we're actually doing less work ourselves. That's probably not helping as we're not physically doing much in the day.

Surcharges on rush jobs are going to happen from August... the stress and agro they sometimes bring sucks the enjoyment out of the job. So we'll slow things down a little, take more time, concentrate on maintaining the service & quality right 1st time round.

Along with that, I should have more time to put out some mailshots, and get pro-active on the selling front.

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

If someone wants it doing right, they can't expect things to be rushed... Whenever we get a rush job in, say for instance this morning a customer wanting 20 master suited locks for Friday this week... was told sorry Friday next week was the quickest I could get them done... and that's providing he ordered today...

He didn't want to give me the order there and then, so it'll basically be quite simple... 20 locks = minimum 5-7 days...

 

[DavidWH]

That's the approach we'll be taking... I can't be bothered rushing about, for little reward. We'll concentrate on the better work we have coming in, and take our time working on those!

 

[DEFCON1]

I would say take a break even if it's a small one.
Most likely then a solution will come to you of how you should be working.
Nothing like taking a step back once in a while.

We work in a similar industry where everyone wants everything yesterday & it can get frustrating at times.
We often find that those who pay less are the same people who expect the most!

My advice would be to set times that are comfortable for YOU & make this clear from the outset, be it on a delivery page on your website or whatever.
We state that most of our orders will be dispatched within 1 - 2 Working Days (note: "most"). But in reality 95% of our orders will be completed in one day (wiggle room).
If someone then asks us for a 'rush job' we tell them that we dispatch orders within this time frame however we will do our best to dispatch it sooner for you.
Believe it or not we find that most customers are satisfied by the simple fact that we appear to be putting in an extra effort for them (over other customers) - If we then actually manage to achieve an earlier deadline most are then extremely happy.
In short, don't hype the customers expectations at the outset too much but leave yourself room to surprise them later when possible. This approach works for us.

I also note that you say you want to get onto other work like marketing rather than making the T-Shirts. Is this the work you prefer doing? (I know I do).
If that's the case then I'd look at getting other people to do the printing work whilst you get on with the stuff you like doing. Otherwise you may as well be employed.
Best of luck!

 

[DavidWH]

I hate printing t-shirts with a passion... it's something we kind of have to offer, but aren't a great money maker. I like working on the business, being the sales guy, but I also like spending a day up a tower fitting a few signs.

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

With all due respect, if it's not a money maker for you... drop the service.

No point in wasting your time with them if you don't like doing them.

Or alternatively, find someone else @DEFCON1 to do this side for you so you can concentrate on what you want to do.

 

[DEFCON1]

We don't actually do T-shirts etc. ourselves (sorry if my post wasn't clear).
Although I'm sure there would be others here that do that kind of work if you wanted to outsource it.

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

ohhh you little T Shirt Tease you!!!

 

[DavidWH]

We had someone do them for us, he couldn't be arsed with low volume stuff we got, so told us what to get.

It's OK for simple, straight forward bits, but you always get someone who wants it plastered with logo's.

 

[Noah]

With respect to "we're constantly rushing jobs for customers who leave things to the last minute, and we've never charged a premium for rushing stuff through" : I think it requires a fundamental shift in your perspective of why you are in business and what you expect from your customers. I used to operate on the principle that bending over backwards for the customer and protecting them from the financial consequences of their bad and late decisions was just good customer service. Well, it may be in principle, but in practice I found that customers took it for granted, and even devalued such efforts almost because they weren't charged for service. Now I am comfortable charging for services and equipment we supply at a reasonable rate (still very cheap) in the knowledge that customers who are not prepared to pay are not the sort of customers we want to be dealing with anyway. Mostly.

Knowing you are being paid for your extra efforts makes them a lot less unpleasant.

 

[DavidWH]

Yes that shift is happening.

Taking our time, cover our backsides to ensure everything is correct before production, then more time producing things so less mistakes.

You're right, we're having our pants pulled down!

 

[The Byre]

I'll give you a typical run-down of how one of these rush jobs takes place.

We agreed to go into a joint venture over a music school. The person running that business told me that she already had signs and other material. OK, with a month to go to opening, I put the whole thing out of my mind and concentrated on getting other things ready for the school.

With a couple of weeks to go, I asked if she had signs. No, she had lost them, but she would get some locally, as she still had the PDFs from the first lot of signs.

With three days to go to the grand opening, the school operator told me that she did not have any signs for the end of the road, etc. and she did not have the PDFs to the original ones that she had made. So Muggins recreated the school logo, sent it to a sign company (a member of this very forum) and with hours to spare, they arrived by courier.

In other words, these rush jobs are nearly always simply a result of someone's stupidity.

 

[DavidWH]

Perhaps not your stupidity @The Byre but surely the operator should have said something earlier?

I get sometimes things happen. If we can we will, but we're going to have to charge more.

Those customers who don't leave it to the last minute get shunted to the back of the que. Upsetting 2 customers to please 1, kind of scenario.

I had a call at 6, asking if we can produce & install some window graphics tomorrow morning. As if I have nothing else on?

 

[Bello_1]

You either charge A LOT of money and it becomes worth it, or you say no and do whatever else it is you had on.

I've done it myself before. Had a call on a Sunday from a contact can we do a job next day (bank holiday). Yes I can but it will cost this much. They decide how important it is then. If yes, well happy them and happy me. If not then happy me I still get to eat my ice cream in the park, unless it's raining.

 

[DavidWH]

We made changes, and those rush jobs don't happen as frequently, the customers who repeatedly had rush jobs have moved on with detremental effect.

However, we seem to have another issue arise.

It seems obvious (to me anyway), that a printed item, or vinyl for a van, isn't of any use to anyone but the intended customer.

For this reason we take a 50% deposit before production commences. It has not been an issue... until lately (the past 2 months) we have been plagued by enquiries where they just vanish from the face of the earth when it comes to a deposit, or worse, pay a deposit and then vanish.

I am stumped as to why it's suddenly changed?

I feel like I'm p'ing into the wind.

 

[The Byre]

We always pay in full and in advance for stuff like signs.

 

[DavidWH]

At first I thought "at least we lost the sale now, rather than producing it and binning it"

We've had an influx of enquries where it all falls apart at that stage... it's wearing me down.

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

So you'e had a deposit paid you've produced the product and they'e buggered off ... disappared without trace?

Has the deposit covered time Labour and production... if not up your deposit requirement to 70% or as @The Byre said payment in full before going to print...

 

[tony84]

You could just be getting them all in one go.

There was a point last year where I spoke to 6-7 people I thought were guaranteed mortgages where they all just vanished. That has never happened in 5 years and then all of a sudden it went back to business as usual.

Every now and again I go back to potential customers who I liked and thought was a dead cert to see what happened. Some say it was our fees, some say they never moved and others actually appreciate the call and do come back to use us. There is no harm asking why you lost out on the business, the trick is to not take it personally and see if you can learn from it.

 

[DavidWH]

We take a minimum 50% deposit, if it's a £100 job, we'll take the full amount.

If it's £1000+ a minimum 50%.

Yes the deposit covered the time spent, trouble is now one has re appeared months later and we've had numerous price increases on raw materials.

It's been pretty relentless, and it's hard to keep motivated. Perhaps it is just an influx of them, and it'll blow over.

 

[The Byre]

or as @The Byre said payment in full before going to print...

As a B2B customer for various capital goods, as well as signs and other similar peripheries, I fail to see why I should not pay in advance. I don't need credit.

Heavens above, the thought process is simple enough - either we have got the money and can pay, or we haven't got the money and can't pay. If we haven't got the money, then I should not be ordering stuff. Simples!

And, no, I'm not going to worry unduly that the company I've ordered from will go out of business or otherwise try to cheat me or do a bad job, because I will have done my due diligence on them. I will have checked that they are making a profit and are going to still be in business when the order is due for delivery. I will know if they can do what they claim to be able to do. And if the goods are expensive capital goods, the chances are, that I will have known that company for many, many years.

If someone needs to pay a £1,000+ invoice in stages, that, to me, sounds an alarm bell. If this is a B2B deal then you are supposed to be a company - a company making profits, a company with turnover, staff, customers, trade, cash in the till.

We've had an influx of enquiries where it all falls apart at that stage... it's wearing me down.

There has been a distinct down-turn in the economy lately and loads of "I wannabe a business person and row my own boat!" merchants are out there and one has to weed those creatures out at the enquiry stage.

Every business seems to get them and the 'waves' of these creatures just come and go. When the X-Factor was in full swing, recording studios used to get pudgy little pimply girls wanting to 'make a record', blissfully unaware of what it takes to be a successful pop star. A few episodes of 'Dragons Den' and the 'I wannabe an entrepreneur!' crowd are out there, making pointless phone calls around the general topic of starting a business - getting a sign for your shop/office being one of those pointless calls!

Ten-to-fifteen years ago, a few indi films make it big and all kinds of idiots rushed out to buy HD video cameras, in the vainglorious hope that greatness would descend upon their efforts. In their mind's eye, they were the next Merchant-Ivory, unaware of their own short-comings.

Back in the 80s and even into the 90s, as desk-top-publishing became cheap and easy to use, all kinds of dreamers thought that they were going to start newspapers and magazines. Some even got a few editions out.

Sometimes, fantasies combine. As the price of recording equipment fell and digital recording using PCs and Macs was cheap, budget demo recording rooms sprang up everywhere and soon there were about 50 recording magazines vying for space at the various pro-audio trade fairs.

These people come to our OP and want a sign for their home-office or a vinyl for the car. When they first start-up, they have a launch budget. A few months in and the launch budget is blown, but no turnover has occurred - so you need to get the money up-front, before they've spent it all!

 

[DavidWH]

It is our choice to stage the payments. Deposit taken then we design the sign/van/etc, balance when they pick their van up, or before we install.

If you were to send print ready artwork, we'd invoice you in full.

I've just sat and had a meeting about this now, and we're going to endeavor to get a budget from a customer (which usually results in being told cheap as possible), a few prices guides and examples, and get the deposit before we lift a finger.

I know some companies in our industry who don't take any deposit

I'm glad it's not just us who get these influxes

 

[Caledonian TV]

We run with 50% deposit + any third-part expenses in place before the shoot... And they have to be in place seven days before the shoot. With bigger jobs where you're maybe a year or more in development we split that 25%/25% between the core script and the pre-production work.

I'm not sure this would work for you - but the way we mitigate rush jobs is to base our core prices on a 'rack rate' (much as a hotel does) which we apply conditional discounts to; the main conditions being that we're given sufficient lead time and all stage/final payments are made in time. And we don't release copyright on the final item until that final payment is in place and everything's signed off...

In the past ten years, I think we've had one 'nutter' (who it emerged had been sacked from his CEO post at a high profile property company) who paid a (non-refundable) deposit then started trying to shift the goalposts; eventually disappearing up his own aspirations. And another (PR company client) who was taken down due to his own (rogue) client stiffing him. - Mind you, if I don't feel a client is sufficiently engaged/realistic about the process, I'll refuse to take a deposit off them.

...Being a sole trader, I've had to learn to be very cautious; at the end of the day it's the shoes on my bairns' feet that's at risk. My attitude to to other things that might be ring fenced is no different though!

 

[DavidWH]

We've got a few orders in this past week, so that's perked me up a little.

We've had an e-mail today (identical email through two websites we have) asking for a price on some van signage. We've quoted our base price as it's fairly simple, and they've asked for a visual.

Due to the number of requests and time we spend making pretty designs, for the customer to take it elsewhere, we now take a deposit £30-£50 before we do any visuals... it tends to weed out the time wasters.