Sublimation Tips, How-To Videos, Tricks, and Techniques

iPhone Covers make great fundraisers .

Posted on January 12, 2012 by bmcmullen@conde.com

By Steve

iPhone 4 and 4s is a hit. Millions of people have them, including hundreds of thousands of kids. The High Schools and Middle Schools are inundated with them.

“So what” you say? Here’s what. We are missing a huge opportunity to use these little covers as a fundraisers for schools, PTAs, sports programs and any other group that needs to make money for their cause.

The cost of a finished iPhone cover is less than $5. I retail mine for $20 but many people are selling them for $25 or $30 because they are personalized. I offer mine to schools and other fund raising groups for $15 across the board. The group can charge whatever they want to. The price includes their logo or school mascot and their name. So far as I am concerned they could also include a picture but most groups want to keep the order taking process as simple as possible so they look for a single, generic design.

Sublimation, or Photo Gifting, is a great fundraiser for all kinds of groups. There is no money up front, they order only what they sell and the products are so unique, they probably can’t get them anywhere else in their town or city.

On top of all that, these iPhone covers are so easy to make. Just print a piece of metal – that’s it. No special, complicated set ups or expensive jigs to buy. Just print a piece of die cut metal and stick it on the back of the phone cover.

Although there are 9 combinations of iPhone covers you can offer (white, silver or gold metal and white, clear and black covers), encourage your reseller to offer only one combination and let that be whatever best compliments the school mascot or design. For example: I have one school whose colors are orange and black. Their mascot is a tiger. For them, I offered a combination of a black case with a gold metal cover completely over-printed in black except for the tiger. The gold plate causes the tiger to almost jump off the plate!

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Posted in Sublimation Tips and Tricks | Tagged conde, fundraiser, high school, iPhone cover, middle school, Photo Gifting, sublimation | Leave a comment

DOG TAGS FOR MILITARY FAMILIES .

Posted on January 10, 2012 by bmcmullen@conde.com

By Steve

It is unfortunate indeed that so many brave men and women are overseas and in harm’s way. Perhaps you were in the military and if so, you know how important it is to keep close to loved ones. Letters, cards and emails all help but there is another way too. That is with sublimated dog tags.

Consider offering a package deal to families of military overseas – or anywhere for that matter. On one tag, place a picture of the service person’s family. On the other tags, place a picture of the person on active duty.

These tags can be worn at all times to remind each family member of their missing member and in some way, help them feel a little closer. It is great too, that they always have a picture of their loved one(s) to show people when the subject comes up in conversation.

These tags are inexpensive and easy to make so they can be sold cheap and still show a handsome profit. Consider offering two UNISUB tags for $20 and $5 extra for the children’s tags, regardless of how many. Tags for in-laws and other relatives can be $5 each after the first two. Of course you can set your own prices and packages but you want to sell your tags in packages, not singly if you can. This approach almost always ends up in a bigger sale and a greater profit.

Of course Condé can provide you with a variety of dog tags to offer your families. These can range from the UNISUB tag to real silver and of course the price tags vary accordingly. People love variety so order in a sample of each tag you want to offer. I stock a pile of the UNISUB tags since that is what most people order (everyone so far) but they like the fact there are options.

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Posted in Sublimation Tips and Tricks | Tagged active service, conde, dog tags, military families, unisub | Leave a comment

iPhone Covers are a Hit!

Posted on January 6, 2012 by bmcmullen@conde.com

By Steve

I got my first order of the new Condé style iPhone covers just before Christmas and although time has been limited, they are definitely a hit. I offer all four colors: white, black and clear with black and white rims. I especially like the clear. I also offer all three color metals: gold, silver and white. The white is the most popular and my favorite over all but there is some artwork that is greatly enhanced by the gold or silver. For example: I did one cover with a black background and a very vivid orange and black tiger on it (school mascot). I used the gold metal to help bring out the orange in the tiger and the customer loved it!

I know there are several companies selling these and I haven’t tried anyone’s except Condé so I can’t compare them. I can however tell you I really like the Condé design. It is very low profile. You hardly know it is on the phone. The metal used is excellent. It has a great finish and produces a beautiful image. It is also very durable.

The covers fit on the IPhone 4 and 4s leaving plenty of room for the buttons and plugs to be used. I use the Intuit credit card processor with my iPhone which uses the earphone plug on the top of the phone. I was very pleased to discover that even with the cover on the phone, the credit card adapter works just fine.
Although you can certainly sell yours for anything you like, I offered my covers for $20 each or three for $50. Several people bought three and plan to swap them out according to where they are going or what they are doing.

The one thing missing from the iPhone covers is a case to carry it in or a way to hang it on your belt. I solved that with the neoprene cellphone cases offered by Condé for $2-3 each (I sell them for $9.95). I make them complement and match the covers.

I found making a flyer with several possible designs really helps. I included a design for high school with a mascot, a design for parents and grandparents with their children, a design for Compassionate Friends with a picture of a deceased loved one, one for military with a crest and family members, one with a pet on it and one with a wedding picture on it. The options are endless and could include trains, fire trucks, churches, organizations, hobbies, cars, boats only to mention a few.

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Posted in Sublimation Tips and Tricks | Tagged conde, iPhone cover | Leave a comment

Seven Keys to Better Client Retention

Posted on January 5, 2012 by bmcmullen@conde.com

By Steve

I don’t usually copy other people’s work but this one is so good, I’ll make an exception. Credit goes to Sign and Digital Graphics Magazine (a Division of National Business Media). Although you could just read it yourself at http://sdgmag.com/tips/seven-keys-to-better-client-retention, but most of us in the Photo-gifting industry probably don’t spend a lot of time reading sign websites, I’ll give an abbreviated version.

1. Market to Existing Clients – Your current customers are already doing business with you and are more likely to buy from you again. Focus most of your time, efforts and resources on understand and meeting their needs.

2. Be Honest – Treat your clients with honesty, good humor, and respect, and do so consistently over time. At some point they will see you as dependable, credible and trustworthy.

3. Do What You Say – If you say you are going to send information, or do a follow up – do it. If you promise delivery by a certain day – do it. By following through with your commitments you will gain loyalty and trust.

4. Make it Fun – Clients want to work with people who enjoy what they do. The more fun you can have while providing strong outcomes, the longer your clients will stay.

5. Become a Long-term Vendor – let your customers know you will be around long after the sale. Let them know they can come back whenever they need help, advice or service. Position yourself as a long-term resource.

6. Offer Help Outside the Box – Do you have the name of someone who could help a client move ahead on a business plan? Tell them about it. Sharing resources is a terrific way to build loyalty and satisfaction.

7. Offer Rewards – Consider implementing a customer loyalty program, where your long-term clients are rewarded for staying on. You might offer them discounts, free product, or services for a certain level of ongoing participation with your business.

There. I couldn’t have said it better myself!

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Posted in Sublimation Tips and Tricks | Tagged clients, customers, Honesty, loyalty, marketing, trustworthiness | Leave a comment

WHEN YOUR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN IS A BUST

Posted on December 29, 2011 by bmcmullen@conde.com

By Steve

Over the years, I have tried hundreds of promotional campaigns. Some went gangbusters; some did pretty good and some did just so-so. But I have never had one fall on its face like my last “great idea”.

I hesitate to tell you what it was because it sounds s-o-o-o good on paper, you might be tempted to try it – but don’t. We sent out 250 personal invitations to people living around the shop to come and do their Christmas shopping by appointment. No crowds, no rushing, no waiting. Total personalized service. I expected a 10-15% response that would bring in about $4,000 in gross sales, maybe more. The cost of the campaign was about $300 and included a full color Condé catalog, full color flyers of new products, and a personal letter. A number of people complimented us on the idea and the quality of the promotion but….
But…nobody came. I mean nobody. Zero. Less than one. It was just plain embarrassing, disappointing and demotivating.

You ever experienced this yourself? I expect that if you have tried many campaigns, you have experienced disappointment too. Many people become so demoralized, they stop trying and that is the last thing you should let happen.

Promotions are a crap-shoot. Some work and some don’t. This one didn’t (that’s an understatement!). The next one I dream up will do better – it can’t do any worse. I have nowhere to go but up.

This is why I suggest to Photo-Gifting businesses doing sublimation to keep their promotions small until they know they will work. Be slow to jump into any form of advertising that you can’t ‘try on for size’ first. The cost of a promotional campaign is not significant so long as it brings in enough business to pay for it and still make a profit but those what end up being a bust can really hurt the bottom line. I was prepared to expand my campaign to another thousand homes. Maybe if I had, I would have hit pay dirt but my test market said otherwise and I pulled the plug before I threw good money after bad.

Why did it fail? Was it out too soon or too late in the holiday season? Was there too much literature included? Was the catalog and price sheet too complicated (and it was)? Was it that people were turned off by the appointment concept? I don’t know and I will probably never know but it certainly put me in my place and I learned (or relearned) that not every idea is a good one.

So what do I do now? I’ll spend a few days licking my wounds and then I will try something else. There are a lot of industrial companies around I haven’t shown sublimated labels to. Maybe that will be next. What about you? What are you planning for 2012?

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Posted in Sublimation Tips and Tricks | Tagged advertising, bottom line., conde, Condé catalog, labels, marketing, Photo Gifting, photo-gifts, promotion, promotions, Sales, sublimation, test market | Leave a comment

BUSINESS CARDS FOR THE SUBLIMATION INDUSTRY .

Posted on November 21, 2011 by bmcmullen@conde.com

By Steve

We have talked about business cards before but here is one more thing I think is vital to a sublimation business – full-color business cards.

Until recently, full-color cards were just too cost prohibitive for a small business like mine. They still aren’t cheap but they are affordable and they sure turn heads.

I never believed I would drop $150 for 1,000 business cards! And that was the wholesale price! Retail would have been closer to $300.

Now, before you turn your nose up to this quickie idea, hear me out. You can get some really nice full-color cards from Internet printers like VistaPrint.com for next to nothing. You don’t have to spend $150.

Now, here is my rule of thumb: “It doesn’t matter what anything costs so long as it pays for itself and then some.” The question here is, “Can a full-color business card bring in more business than a regular one?”.

Here’s what I have found so far. If I give someone my normal card which is actually far above the norm with it’s translucent tear-proof paper and two colors of raised letter printing, they might be a little impressed but they rarely say anything.

If I give them the full-color, fold-over card that is printed on all four panels with pictures of sublimated products, they always seem to say something like, “nice card” or “I like the pictures”. Just that extra few seconds of taking note of the card would be, to most companies, more than enough to justify the extra expense.

Time will tell if the cards really pay for themselves but I am pretty confident they will bring in business because I think my new card communicates more than my company name. The fact it is in full-color conveys that our work is in full-color. The pictures show what we do. There is a picture of a plaque, a group of gift items, and a half dozen more. The fact that it is a fold-over says we have a lot to say, i.e., “we have a lot of products and we are excited enough to go the extra mile to show the customer what we do”. The card tells our story. Not just our name but what we make. The focus of the card, beyond the pictures, are the websites where they can go to see more pictures and hopefully, in the near future, actually place orders.

A business card should tell your customer who you are and what you do at a single glance. Not only does a full-color card help you do that but it sets you apart of all the other guys out there who are competing for your customer. Having a really nice card says you’re a professional; that you are proud of your business and so much more.

So, is it time you redesigned your business card?

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HOW TO SELL A $10 CHARM FOR $50 .

Posted on November 18, 2011 by bmcmullen@conde.com

By Steve

Granted, I don’t sell many of them but I offer a heart shaped charm (sold by Conde) for $49.95. The charm costs me less than $10.

Along the way, I learned how I could sell this innocent little charm (necklace to be more precise) for $50. Here is something of what I learned. I used to look at this heart shaped charm and see something with a perceived value of about $20. That’s because I’m not a woman who might wear it – nor a mother or grandmother who might cherish it.

You see, as nice as the charm is, I could only see the intrinsic value of the silver and not the emotional value of the image sublimated on it. When I got hold of that concept, I began to see the true value of the charm.

As I saw more of the emotional value of a charm with pictures of grandchildren or children on it, I began to sell it for $30 but I wasn’t very happy with that since it is only a 300% margin and I like products that yield more like 500%.

Then I realized something else. If I took that same $30 charm and put it in a velvet jeweler’s box, I could sell it for $50. Same product but now its perceived value was higher because of that silly little box! There is a reason why jewelers put rings and things in those fancy boxes! I’m even tempted to order some with my company name on them! That might not be as impressive as some big Jeweler’s brand but I willing to give it a try.

You see, perception is a major part of any sale. If the customer perceives value in something, they are willing to pay at least that much to own it. Since most of the value for something like this is on the part of the recipient who is often not the purchaser, the trick is to taunt the perceived value to each person in a different way. To the recipient whom you will rarely get to meet, there isn’t much you can do. The purchaser, who may see only dollar signs, has to have his or her attention diverted to things other than money. “She will treasure it because it has the faces of her grandchildren” or “Mom will love having a necklace with her family’s picture on it”.

To the purchaser, we must display the perceived value by how it is presented and packaged. If you just throw a necklace into your showcase, it isn’t going to demand much respect. But put it in a jeweler’s box and attach a sign with the words, “Sterling Silver” and “Hand Carved Florentine Finished Edges” and it begins to take on a new appearance – one of quality and value – it’s the same charm but seen through different eyes.

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Posted in Sublimation Tips and Tricks | Tagged charm, conde, jewelry, necklace, perceived value, Silver | Leave a comment

Never Sell Just One

Posted on November 18, 2011 by bmcmullen@conde.com

By Steve

When you are selling a product, wouldn’t it be nice if every customer always ordered two or four of everything they ordered? Think what that would do to your bottom line?

Well, I don’t know how to guarantee that but I know how to encourage it, and it really works.

I show prices for everything in my showroom. Nothing odd about that. But I also show on every price tag the price for buying two or four or even more of the same item on the each price tag.

Everyone loves a bargain and your customers are no different. “Just think, if I buy two, I’ll get one free”. That is the magic word above all magic words in the retail world – FREE.

I was in a big tool store recently that had sent out flyers offering a pair of free scissors if the customer visited in a certain time and brought in the coupon. This one guy was beside himself because they had run out of scissors before he got there. Now these weren’t finely honed shears from Germany, they were $1 scissors made in Asia with cheap plastic handles! Yet, because they were free, he probably drove from the other end of town to get his prize.

To some extent, we are all like that and your customers are no exception. To try and cash in on this trait, I always offer a second product, with similar imprinting, for about half what the first costs.

Here’s the logic. I usually don’t charge a set up so I build that into the price of the first item. That makes the first item, even if it is as simple as a nail file, worth my time and effort. But once I have the art work done, how much time does it take to change a name in the art and make a second product? Usually only seconds.

Of course, I don’t make as much on the second product as I did the first but I don’t have the set up time I had to invest in the first product either. What I want to do is to spark them into spending that extra $5, $10 or $50 dollars they might not have spent otherwise. In some cases, such as keepsake boxes, I offer a free one if they buy two at the regular price. Coffee cups are always an easy sell. For every grandfather who gets a cup, there are usually grandmothers or aunts or uncles who would appreciate one too. All you have to do is put the idea in their heads.

So, if you only have one price on all your products, consider going back and adding a “2 for….” price with it. On a few products, like luggage finders, I offer them in sets of 3. Of course, I will make just one if they want it but who owns only one suitcase? This helps the customer to see the added value of the product. You could also offer this item as a sale item, “Buy one, get two free” but I like the “3 for…” price myself. There is no “wrong” way to do this so long as it encourages more sales, and you make a reasonable profit. Have some fun with it and offer “Today’s Special” or “This week only”. Whatever you can think of to add value to a sale will also add to your bottom line and that’s how we win this game – by increasing the bottom line!

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Posted in Sublimation Tips and Tricks | Tagged Buy two get one free, increase the bottom line, luggage finders, pricing products, sale, today’s special | Leave a comment

People Don’t Buy What They Can’t Touch .

Posted on November 16, 2011 by bmcmullen@conde.com

By Steve

One of the facts of life is that people don’t buy what they can’t touch. Each year, I spend thousands of dollars for my wife and I go attend the Las Vegas ARA Trade Show. Why? Because I want to see what’s new in the marketplace and by that, I mean I want to touch it, hold it in my own hand, feel and see the quality of it. In short, I want to fondle it.

Why? Because, pictures lie. Have you ever ordered a dinner based on a picture in a menu only to be disappointed when the meal arrives like I did at a Ruby Tuesday’s the other day? The picture showed a plate full of food. Two slices of golden fish with potatoes and a mountain of broccoli only to be served a nearly empty plate with only one piece of fish, a few floweret’s of broccoli and an ice cream dipper of potatoes. The taste was fine but I was so disappointed at the appearance, I almost sent it back.

Most people have been fooled like this. Either consciously or subconsciously, people want to make sure something is what it is supposed to be before they buy it. “Is it live or is it Memorex?” the old commercial used to ask. It’s a fair question and the only way we can assure the customer is to let him or her hold a sample. It’s really to our advantage after all. If a person sees and holds a sample of a product before they order it, and you deliver a product equal to the sample, how can they ever be disappointed?

We have said it for over a decade now, “Samples sell” and it is just as true today as when sublimation first came out.

Oh, one last thing: Never, but never show an unprinted sample. Unprinted samples are ugly! Now, you might show all the sizes in an unprinted stage with one glowing example printed in all the glory you can muster but raw products are not going to sell anything. You have to invest in samples!

Don’t just let customers handle finished products, encourage it. And if they damage it, so what? If it wears out and gets scratched, so what? Make another. Let them feel the weight of it, the smoothness of the surface; let them try to rub the image off or try to figure out how you got that image on there.

Sell a product you don’t have on display? Great, make two. One for the customer and one for display. Tell the customer, “I was so impressed with your photo, I just had to put one on display. I hope you don’t mind.” They won’t. They will be as proud as punch (whatever that really means). Go ahead, try it.

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Posted in Sublimation Tips and Tricks | Tagged ARA, photo, pictures, samples, sublimation | Leave a comment

Condé Systems – The Sublimation Blog

iPhone Covers make great fundraisers .

DOG TAGS FOR MILITARY FAMILIES .

iPhone Covers are a Hit!

Seven Keys to Better Client Retention

WHEN YOUR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN IS A BUST

BUSINESS CARDS FOR THE SUBLIMATION INDUSTRY .

HOW TO SELL A $10 CHARM FOR $50 .

Never Sell Just One

People Don’t Buy What They Can’t Touch .

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