Happy Holidays from BPI!

We at BPI Media Group wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We hope this time of year brings you much happiness, health and joy as you are surrounded by those who are special to you and your families!

Until next time...Elizabeth

Hard Work Does Pay Off

As many of you know, I'm a sales girl who runs. I do my best thinking, planning and soul searching when I'm pounding the pavement on a long run. During the recent training runs for the Columbia Half Marathon that was this past Saturday, I spent a great deal of time thinking about how I can improve my sales approach, how to better prospect and how to better communicate all of BPI Media Group's awesome solutions.

All I can say, is look out, 2013! We at BPI are all going to be working hard next year to better help you, our customers and future customers! I'm going to keep running and keep planning to help improve my time and my sales. I completed this race at 1 hr 50 min 30 sec, but I'm determined to get a personal best in 2013 to get under 1 hr 43 min. I'm also determined to have my best sales year EVER in 2013. Who's with me?

Until next time...Elizabeth

Pick up the Phone!

Have you found it EXTREMELY difficult to get customers and prospects on the phone recently? If you're like me, dialing and leaving voice mails is part of my daily routine, so if you actually get a live person on the phone, it catches you off guard.

We at BPI Media Group have found that having a reason to call is helpful to get a response or a live person on the other end of the line. Try sending out a postcard or lumpy mailer then follow up in a few days by phone. Even if you have to leave a voice mail, your prospect will more than likely correlate the mailer with your phone call and maybe even pick up the phone next time. You can also try email marketing as part of your communications mix. Nothing new, but I know many prospects of mine reply much more promptly to an email than to a voice mail. You could even mix all three channels together and use mail, phone and email. For the "cream of the crop" prospects, you may even consider an integrated campaign using Purls (personalized urls or landing pages) to engage them in the conversation.

Whatever your marketing mix, I know I sound like my boss here, but don't stop picking up the phone. I was reminded of this twice recently when a customer's momentary anxiety was put to rest by a simple phone call to assure them their project was in good hands and would be completed on time. The other instance was when they had a project and had been "meaning to call me" but had not had the time to do so yet. Sometimes, clients and prospects actually want to hear from you and hear your voice. So, keep your messaging brief, relevant and most importantly friendly!

Until next time...Elizabeth

Power of Proof

If you're like many customers and prospects I call on, you may be a little skeptical of change and relinquishing control of print ordering to your reps, branch locations or regional offices. That's why I wanted to share this case study with you to show you how well it works and why. My hope is that after reading this case study, you'll feel a bit more confident in why a web-to-print system with BPI Media Group can be the best decision you make in 2013!

This case study by PODi shared by Print in the Mix shares a tremendous example of how an organization benefits from engaging their print partner and utilizes a web-to-print system. Putting this system in place allows the following:

• Gives corporate a means to maintain brand consistency
• Allows branch locations to customize the collateral to their location
• Provides a way to manage print-spend budgets for each location
• Gives corporate a dashboard to download and/or review all order history
• Allows for order approval process if needed
• Streamlines ordering process of marketing collateral
• Allows for versioning of corporately-branded materials
• Provides a an easy-to-use interface for users
• Utilizes templates from which locations can choose
• Takes advantage of print on demand for short-run needs
• Choose from options of customization to best fit your company's needs

For an online demo of how a web-to-print system can work for your company, drop me a note. We'd love to show you how this can simplify your print management of your marketing collateral, stationery, business cards and even promotional items.

Until next time...Elizabeth

Rave Reviews

It usually takes an either exceptionally great experience or terrible one for me to review a product. We all feel compelled to share a positive experience or warn others about a negative one after we try something new. We tell family, friends and colleagues about these experiences and then compare notes. Have you thought about how your customers would review you and your company? (PS-You can gather customer feedback from a landing page campaign, and we can help with that. )

Here's my review of an app I recently downloaded (per recommendation of my boss), and I must say, it knocked my socks off! Print Apply is an app for smart phones where you can have a multitude of tools at your fingertips. Not only is this a necessity for print sales reps, but I'm also going to recommend it to customers. If you spec envelopes, papers, folds, or need a fraction converter, this handy app has it all and a few more bells and whistles. My personal favorite is the animated folding demonstration. Check it out and then let's compare notes!

I'd also like to encourage you to give BPI Media Group a review. Visit our contact us page and tell us how we're doing. Our philosophy is that we can only improve upon things if we know where our weaknesses lie. Hope to hear from you soon!

Until next time...Elizabeth

Thankfulness

The turkey is in the roasting pan, the sweet potato casserole is in the oven, and the pecan pies are cooling. What are your family's or company's Thanksgiving traditions? At BPI Media Group, we are "a family" as well, and we want to extend our thankfulness to those who work with us. Not only are we grateful to handle your print projects, mailings, fulfillment, websites, storefronts, and design, but we are most grateful to have the opportunity to develop relationships with each of our customers. Those relationships are what make us your partner. For the opportunities you've given us and the trust you place in BPI's team, we say "thank you!"

Happy Thanksgiving!

Until next time...Elizabeth