Business Management - Marketing/Sales

EDITOR'S NOTE: Many readers have written us to inquire about the creative process behind Harris DeWese's zany columns in our magazine. The source of Harris' inspiration is a mystery to us. We do know that the fool has a monthly creative meeting with his alter ego, The Mañana Man. We share your curiosity, so we tape recorded the pathetic "creative meeting" between DeWese and The Mañana Man that led to the column that follows. Audio Transcription: DeWese is heard muttering to himself, "He was supposed to be here an hour ago. He's late for every creative meeting every month." DeWese: Oh, there you are.

WESTMONT, IL—Printers who want to connect with customers from the creative side of the business should consider providing them with more information about the printing process, according to a recent survey conducted by MAN Roland. More than 87 percent of the creatives pooled declared that they need to be more knowledgeable about the printing process. Responding to a separate question, 91 percent say they would be willing to attend a free seminar to acquire more graphic arts expertise. "Clearly, a lack of communication exists between printers and creatives," says Yves Rogivue, CEO of MAN Roland. "Our study shows that the gap today seems to

Caveat printer! Do you know what your competitor, er, colleague down the street is doing to attract new customers and possibly take away some of your market share? Chances are, it's not a calendar adorned with scantily-clad females. That may fly with the good people at Snap-On Tools, but in a business where image—the printed one, that is—is indeed everything, it behooves printers large and small to develop promotional pieces that not only accurately and succinctly inform people of your products and services, but also incorporate a nice sampling of those capabilities.

This will be a two-part column. Part one will be my blockbuster predictions for the future of the printing industry. Part two will be invaluable education for print salespeople and company owners. I am truly blessed with healthy modesty. Occasionally, however (never more than once a day), I go on to the Internet to the Google search engine and type in "harris dewese." Up jumps about four pages of references to me—vitally important stuff that I've written, enormously significant stuff I've said, and places where I'm scheduled to appear where I will say even more valuable stuff. Sometimes, my wife of 41 years,

By Douglas P. Harbach WASHINGTON, DC—Many printers are creating a new revenue steam by tapping into the plentiful amount of printing work offered by the government. This can include local governments, state agencies and all the way up to the federal government. Work from state and local governments, along with colleges and universities, is plentiful. Qualified printers are asked to bid and the low bidder is normally considered for the award. Using the Internet Nowadays, access to bidding invitations can be found on the Web, though you may have to look through a myriad of sites frequently. If you are serious about expanding your business into this market,

The list of winners in the Mañana Man's second Great American Print Sales Prospecting Contest can be found on the next page. We just finished tabulating all of the results prior to the deadline for this issue. My crack staff comprised of Marvelle Stump (I had to hire him to get him out of rehab) and Wanda Thrillkill, who will be contacting the winners to arrange for photographs and for their prizes. I'm not sure my doctors are going to let me travel to wash all the winning sales teams' cars. There is talk of brain surgery or shock therapy and even a radical fatectomy

This is one of those columns where I'm going to reach into the ol' mailbag and reprint some of the letters you readers send me. The idea is that I reprint either all or excerpts of the letters, and then I'll tap into my enormous wisdom and solve the reader's problem or I may have to single-handedly turn around the poor soul's life. Okay, here's the first letter. I am reprinting it because it comes from a young person who beautifully summarizes a major problem in the printing industry. *** Hello Mr. DeWese, I wanted to contact you to let you know that

This column is for women only! It is strictly private and confidential. Women should enter their user names, passwords and proceed to read my column. Men should just flip the page and read the equipment ads. About 18 years ago I wrote a column that predicted women would have a bigger role in printing management and printing sales. Didn't happen. What actually happened was that women who couldn't get a decent job in printing got jobs as print buyers. (And, by golly, female print buyers have noticed that the printing industry is male dominated and, as a result, they are irritated.) We have female

This is a column about showin' up. Woody Allen said it when he wrote, "Eighty percent of success is showing up." This column is about the importance of just showin' up. I have mostly shown up for all of my 60 years and, with my many limitations, showin' up has saved my butt. Those of you who have seen me know that I have always shown up for supper. Lots of printing salespeople don't ever really succeed because they don't show up.

It was a few days before Christmas in 1998. A light snow was swirling in the 30 mph winds blowing off of Lake Michigan. The winter wind in Chicago seems to gain strength as it whips through the buildings and down Michigan Avenue. It was about 2:30 p.m. and a stocky businessman on the wrong side of 50 entered the hotel bar. His flight home was scheduled for 6:55 p.m. and he wanted to relax before leaving for O'Hare Airport. He was tired and chose a stool near the end of the bar. He was carrying an expensive overnight bag and a matching attaché