Have you ever thought about adding some new production capabilities to your shop?
I know you have.
It’s hard to be a screen-printer and not think about adding embroidery, DTG or even sublimation into the mix. Embroiderers want DTG or other offerings too.
Especially when you go online and see what other shops offer, or walk a trade show floor. All that new stuff can be really dazzling.
After all, it’s really easy to dream how some new production capabilities could solve your problems or bring your shop truckloads of cash. It’s like winning the lottery, right?
Not so fast my friend.
Don’t plunge into serious trouble by adding production capabilities you don’t quite understand to your shop’s lineup.
Before you pull the trigger, here are a few points to ponder to make sure you are making the correct decision:
Ask Questions First
Take a moment and do a company assessment. Is it healthy and thriving?
Yes?
That’s awesome! You might be ready to embark on a new journey.
No or maybe?
Hold on, let’s take a look at what’s going on here. If you are considering adding a different production method to your shop with dreams of “saving the business” or offsetting a major sales challenge, you may want to do some more legwork.
A new capital expenditure shouldn’t be used as a Hail Mary.
New production capabilities that you might add to your shop are going to take enormous energy, resources, employee training, and entirely new sales and marketing effort. Before you head down that road, you may want to rethink your effort with your existing infrastructure and dive into how you can make that better.
Solve the problems in front of you first before you add new ones.
Adding a new decoration method isn’t going to save your business.
Resolving your dwindling sales success probably will.
Next, Answer These Questions
Get your thinking straight with the ultimate objective regarding why you want to add the new production capability. Is it solving problems or making more money?
Maybe a little of both?
What is both the short-term and long-term payoff for adding the new decoration method to your business?
Can you describe the end state? What will you win in a few weeks?
Fast-forward a few years. Will this help your shop achieve your next level goals?
Is it what you want to be known for and fits in with your customer focused strategy?
Do you understand the market, pricing, competition, and risks involved?
Other businesses are competing in this space too. How are you going to differentiate your offering to win orders?
If you have to undercut others on price to get work, do you think that is a long term strategy that will scale your business?
What do your customers need?
Do your research.
What training do you or your team need to implement? How are you getting this?
Those machines don’t operate themselves. Starting something new requires a lot of effort to learn how to do it properly.
Can you think your training and learning process through before you invest in the equipment? Who will be teaching and who in your shop will be learning?
Seriously define this effort.
How will the new process impact your workflow in other departments?
For example, if your receiving team has a hard time checking in the inventory on the day the goods arrive for screen-printing, what do you think will happen when they have twice the volume when another production stream is added?
In your shop, a lot of processes are connected.
Make sure you understand how adding a new production department can impact other teams.
Can you add production capabilities without a capital investment by outsourcing the work?
One strategy that I’ve helped shops with before is simply outsourcing the production while they build the sales pipeline for the functionality.
It makes sense.
Sure, you will have to give up some margin to the contractor. However, you’ll learn how to sell sublimation or embroidery. You will be able to discuss the ins and outs of digital printing and price it correctly.
Call it your “education phase”.
You’ll quickly find out if your sales strategy is working before you have to start making equipment payments.
Could you dip your toe in the water with used equipment? What are you sacrificing with that?
Another great strategy is to find a deal on a used machine.
Just like with anything, these items depreciate in value and you can find some great deals out there in the market.
Buyer beware though. Do your homework.
There’s also may be a dropoff in production quality between the make, model, and brand that you would buy new, and what you might find used.
Make sure you have a technician check out the equipment before you start handing over money.
Business & Marketing Plan
Here is a failure example that you can learn from:
What is the number one reason why shops fail in their efforts with a DTG printer?
Lack of sales.
When you dive into the reasons, you’ll discover that they never got around to writing a business or a marketing plan to sell this type of decoration.
The equipment worked fine. But, that DTG printer just sat there like a gigantic paperweight waiting for work.
Eventually, it became a self-fulfilling prophecy of doom when the print heads clogged because they were never used.
Frustrated, the shop ends up selling the equipment at a fraction of the purchase price. Then, they loudly claim that this print method is a loser.
Yet, there are thousands of shops everywhere that make good money using this technology. What sets them apart?
First, They Wrote A Business Plan
It’s a basic step for any company. However, few in this industry have gone to that effort.
I know it’s a stereotype, but for a lot of shops, they focus on the decoration work and the creative craftsmanship first. The business end is just a step to monetize being creative.
Business planning from the 30,000-foot view just doesn’t make it into the daily mix for some unexplained reason.
It’s the daily Ready, Fire, Aim way of doing business that is not sustainable long term.
Unfortunately, this way of “not” thinking can catch up with companies.
They might be moderately successful with running a screen-printing or embroidery shop just because they are hard workers and offer a creative flair to their work.
When something new, like digital printing, is introduced that doesn’t end up working because it runs differently than what worked before.
It Doesn’t Have to Be That Way
The shops that operate successful multi-decoration production capabilities have the sales plan dialed in for each offering.
They have built the sales funnel and pipeline to feed the equipment constant work.
Yet, all is not lost if you haven’t taken this step. Click here and download a free business plan template from the Small Business Administration.
This is a step by step guide to thinking things through.
- Who are your customers?
- What do they need?
- What problems are you solving?
- How do you reach them?
- What does it cost you to operate daily?
- What are the risks?
These questions and more should be asked and answered. Especially before adding a new production method.
Then, They Wrote a Marketing Plan
For customers to buy from your business, they first have to know, like and trust you.
Successful shops are masters at positioning their product offering to appeal to their customer’s needs.
This means that they had to understand those needs and sell the value of solving that pain point.
For the new production capabilities you are considering, how can you connect that idea to an emotional response from your customer?
It isn’t just that you can decorate a garment. Anybody can do that.
The emotional response is “Holy cow! I gotta have that shirt!” or “Wow! I can get that tomorrow!” or even that they are connected to an idea or a brand.
We all want to fit in, and selling the idea that you are part of a popular tribe works too.
Marketing is all about making that connection. You have to constantly show how your product or services differentiate you from the competition. Why are you better?
If you can define that, then you can implement the tactics and strategy to connect to your customer.
Remember, this shouldn’t be about price. Sell the value you provide.
Shops that only sell on the lowest price do so because they have nothing better to say.
Offer more.
Put Customer Needs First
Over the years, I’ve had plenty of conversations with shop owners that expressed regret about adding production capabilities to their shop.
They fell in love with the idea or technology they saw working for other shops. “Hey, if they can do it, we need to be doing that too!”, was the thinking.
What they never stopped to consider was did that new idea matter to their customers at all?
It’s hard to sell snow to an Eskimo. Easier is to sell them the snow shovel. Or better yet, the snow blower.
This industry is filled with businesses that cater to an incredibly diverse array of market niches. The thing that makes them different are the customers they serve.
Can you define your ideal customer?
Who is your Eskimo and what is your snow blower?
5 Ways to Put Your Customer Needs First
Solve their pain by giving them what they want.
This may be hard to define sometimes.
It’s easy to say, “they want a design on a shirt” and think you have the correct answer.
That is until someone else can sell them a design on a shirt, but it gets there faster. Or is printed with a softer hand. Maybe the small type in the logo was embroidered this time so you could actually read it.
What do your customers really want? Will your new production capabilities you are considering help with this?
Always connect your sales efforts to what your customers truly need.
Make it easy.
And when I say easy, you need to look into your process from your customer’s point of view.
Every roadblock along the way that stops your customers from doing something should be targeted and redesigned. Customers need to understand not just what to buy, but what is the next step in the process.
It should be intuitive. Simple.
If you can, reduce the steps in the process.
Listen.
Your customers will tell you what isn’t working. This happens two ways.
The first is silent, as when nobody is buying…something is wrong with what you are doing.
The second is with complaints. Have an open channel with them. Use your customer feedback to improve.
Do you have your ear to the ground?
No detail is too small.
They say the devil is in the details.
When you think about adding some new production capabilities, what details are going to derail your intent?
Think about the risks. Ask, “what could go wrong”?
Can you eliminate or mitigate these challenges proactively?
Employee training & shop culture.
Do you have well trained, self-motivated and accountable employees on your staff?
- Everyday, are the needs of the customer put first?
- Do they want to do it better? Shipping it early?
- Is the emphasis on craftsmanship?
- Do they work on building the “Wow!” into their daily actions?
This doesn’t happen by accident. This is a leadership and culture driven effort.
If you throw a new production method into the mix, are you getting your employee’s buy in?
Do they understand the direction and expectations?
Your strategy can’t operate in a closed bubble. The big picture impact with any new initiative needs to be built on transparency, performance, and goal achievement.
How you emphasize extreme customer focus with the need to constantly improve makes a difference.
When considering any new production capabilities, this is the link that needs to be solidified before you put it into action.
That’s the big picture thinking.
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“Plans are nothing. Planning is everything.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower
“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” – Mike Tyson
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Ben Franklin
