Business in a Rut

[ScreenPrintMe]

Has anybody gotten into this situation....

They bought some brand new equipment from a manufacturer. Maybe it was more machine than they needed but the MFG salesperson promised them they would see new business or that the MFG would even help them find new business.

The salesperson was great and you trusted the company but in the end you wound up stuck underneath an expensive machine without the business to pay for it?

Just wondering, I have a couple of friends going through this right now and wondered if it had happened to anybody else...

Thanks, Rogeo!

 

[Dottonedan]

It's a sad thing to not meet ones expectations in sales. I fear that my self in ways. I have to say tho, it sounds like you fault the sales person for your friend not making the money on it. We al know, (we) need to make the sales. it's not the sales persons fault no matter what they told us we would do in sales.
A press is only a machine and you have to go out and get sales to make that thing need to run. It's o us. Not a sale person and not the press type. When one is purchasing anything, you have to realize that sales people are their to sell and be knowledgeable and answer your questions and sell a respectable product. What we do with it after that is all on us. Now if the press was faulty, then we can blame the sale person.

[Im-Magic]

With equipment I have found that you should only buy it when you cannot possibly go on without it.

[ScreenPrintMe]

D

You are spot on that it is OUR responsibility as business people to grow our business. If we don't do the right things to sell... well it is what it is. we are personally responsible for our success or failure at anything we do.

So I don't think I really blame the salespeople.

Its just that if somebody says they will help you and they don;t or can't and learn this after you spend 1000's, well it's just tough to understand.

And mind you when the people are friends of yours and it has happened to more than one of them you wonder if it hasn't happened more...   which is why i asked this question...

I know this is atough topic and that most people would rather just shy away, thats' why i appreciate any feedback anybody has to share....

[Inkworks]

Only buy equipment to fill a need, not create one.

[3Deep]

Sound like your friends are really not the business type of folks, you have to ask yourself these questions #1 are the sales there #2 can I make the payments during the slow months #3whats your average size order.....I thing we talking about an auotmatic press here right..#4 once i get this machine what else I,m going to need to run it ( Larger screens, bigger exposer unit, compressor, eliclectric just a whole host of things one might not think about.  It might cost you right out the gate 5 to 10 K just to print your first order and it better not be 36 shirts and them if you have never run an auto just count the wastesd shirts.  If the sale person said they would have you get customers that should have been your first red flag that you don't need an auto, cuz if the biz was there that question should never be brought up at all.

Darryl

[beanie357]

This situation goes to having a business model to build to. I see many in this business overloaded in some segments, and slack in others. For instance, maybe in a small shop, production takes too much time, so an auto would free time up for sales. Perhaps a one person front office needs to send out some art work, or get a front end program that integrates to accounting. Buying equipment based on a salespersons reccomend action may mean the sales persOn saw a need the business owner did not.

We all need more time for sales and marketing, as well as budgeting.

Or the chap could have been sold a bill of goods, but should know where it fit the model.

[dave58]

Sounds like lessons from the mortgage crisis not quite understood.....if you can not afford it.....don't buy it.
If you have the sales (income) to justify the purchase...it's not an issue.
Simple economics vs. pipe dreams.

[mk162]

I agree, also why is the salesman offering them to help find sales?  I don't see this working at all.  I will say that when we added digital garment printing, it seemed like people were coming out of the woodwork to get stuff printed.  I certainly wouldn't bank on that with a purchase though.  I would make sure that I had the business to support it first, and then get the equipment.  You can always outsource until you have enough sales to justify it.

[royster13]

This sounds like a selling problem versus an equipment problem......Everyone wants to be a printer but only a few realize that sales is where all the money is made....

[GraphicDisorder]

You should be buying equipment based on a need for it. 

For us we bought our press based on not being able to do the work we had in the amount of hours in the day.  It was simple math, hire or get a press.  Press can be had for a good bit less and certainly drastically improved our output.  Which then allowed us to hire anyway without being so strapped and still printing manually. 

IMO most salesmen shouldn't be trusted.  They are trying to SELL YOU SOMETHING.

[Socalfmf]

hey ME....

what is your business plan like?  can you send it to me sam at palomarprinting dot com?   I will look it over and give you some advice on how to get more business....

sam

ps. also where are you located?

[royster13]

IMO most salesmen shouldn't be trusted.  They are trying to SELL YOU SOMETHING.

So are you not one of these rats as well?.....

[GraphicDisorder]

IMO most salesmen shouldn't be trusted.  They are trying to SELL YOU SOMETHING.

So are you not one of these rats as well?.....

Loaded statement, it really depends I guess on your opinion, I would say no, at least not very often or in any conventional sense of the term.  Nearly all of ours sales are from people contacting us for a quote, we don't even follow up to see if you want to buy, so we send you a quote and if you don't write back we never talk again, so we don't pressure people to buy, we don't even really up-sell unless they are close to the next price break I make them aware.  We don't do phones, email blasts, mailers, tv, radio, bill boards, news paper ads, we have a tiny sign on our street, nothing that would be considered "sales" in those terms.  We have only visited a few customers in our companies life time to discuss business.  Other than our retail club stuff our facebook is just a bunch of pictures of what we just printed or embroidered.  So I guess you could say our work sells it's self and that is "sales" sorta.  But we are certainly not standing in some guys business telling him to buy shirts/hats/etc.

[royster13]

I hope not too many people think they can sit back and let business come to them.....That applies to very few businesses.....

And as far as your business, I can only imagine how much more successful you would be if you did not leave all those potential sales in your rear view mirror....