Clay Forsberg

Why is it most companies only concentrate on making sure things run perfectly without event—hoping nothing bad ever happens? That, unfortunately, won’t create any good memories either; just no memories at all. We remember the out-of-the-ordinary experiences—whether good or bad.

Your customers—and especially your prospects—don’t care about you. They don’t care about the products you’re selling, and they don’t care about your company. People don't buy features, they don’t really even buy ROI. What they buy is what that ROI will do for them.

Here’s an idea. Be different by being “old school.” But you have to show clients why they should take a step back rather than two forward. It’s all about the applications and uses for print; uses they forgot about.

Over the last few weeks, I've read several reports on the state of the printing industry and the outlook for 2011. I’ve been surprised. Most of them project sales, especially in the direct marketing sector, to be up.

Groupon is a one night stand for businesses. Now I know I shouldn't feel sorry for the lemmings out there masquerading as business owners—but I kind of do. How can you not be mesmerized by the all attention and media fawning Groupon's been getting.

Isn’t there a way of presenting our value to the world other than just through the money we make and our consumption habits? In light of the sky-high valuations of Facebook, Groupon and Twitter, this matter seems to be especially relevant.

Ego is a double-edged sword. On the positive side, if you don’t have an ego, don’t have faith in yourself, then you’re probably not going to have a lot of success in life. But on the other hand, very often our egos make us feel that we’re infallible...incapable of making anything but the correct decision, regardless of what advice we get.

Gen Y isn’t going to need to take over anything here; well, not anything but your clients. Because in a couple of years, if it isn’t happening already, most of the clients will be their peers.

I’m done with the negativity. Now it’s all about solutions. Print is going to stay. The question is: What is it going to take for your firm to be one of those that makes the cut?

It’s ink on paper—and that’s it. Solutions, consulting, communications...for the most part, it’s just lip service, a 21st century angle. Who are we to stay that we are qualified to be a communications or solutions consultant in any of the diverse industries we try to sell?