How successful will stationers and stationery designers be in near future?

How successful will stationers and stationery designers be in near future? Will they become stationary (spelling intended)?

This question looms over head while I take on the first steps of operating my invitation/card business here online. My objective is to attract online and offline vendors that sell boxed notes, find brides that want a special pen and ink, hand drawn invitations or sell birth announcements and other paper imprintables to individuals or shop owners. This can all be done through an online venue, which is an incredible medium for communication. The internet will allow me to reach more people than on foot. This is the upside of what I love to do.

On the other hand, what I’m finding is that the stationery industry depends on postal service, paper and the need for more trees and printing. But as the web world takes over with e-invites, “Green” sites and email thank you notes, along with the postage increase for letters and shipping, I’m wondering if I am doing this job in Vain. Will stationers become obsolete?

One shop keeper said “No way! The stationery industry depends on the sentimentality of the customer as well as the professionalism of the purpose behind the purchase”. I began to think positive again and reached deep within to ask myself a couple of questions. One: would I ever send a wedding invitation via email? And two: how do I feel when I receive a letter in the mail from a friend or relative? My answer didn’t surprise me. I would never send a wedding invitation via email ( I didn’t back then and I wouldn’t now) and I love to receive letters from friends and relatives on lovely stationery or note cards. So I beg to agree that as long as people are sentimental or long to project a tangible professional image about themselves or company, stationery designers and stationers will continue to thrive.

As a designer I know the need for technology is imminent and is impressive when it comes to the “new” tool department. We no longer need just pencil and paper, paint and canvas or clay to mold. So with this in mind I welcome technical advances while I hold onto the old school of thought that romance can be found in letters, and that sending an event invitation projects the image or theme of the day, while professionalism is evident in custom stationery.

Why think in only 2 dimensions. It’s receiving that quality note card, stationery or invitation in the mail that makes the 3 dimensional world interesting!

Kristine Sheehan
The Merry Bird…pen, ink and design
http://www.themerrybird.com

It's a Case of Memories

IT'S A CASE OF MEMORIES

Today the greeting card business is worth over 7 billion dollars in the United States alone! Can you imagine all the written, sentimental memories being held onto out there? This fact made me wonder, what the hek do people do with all the wonderful greeting cards they receive? Do they save them? File them? Box them? Throw them away?

I heard the answer with a drum role ….. The Greeting Card Case Company, a solo owned business located in Akron Ohio, knew exactly what people needed to have, to organize greetings, invitations and paper memories in one place, a greeting card case.

In a personal interview with Yeukai, sole proprietor of the GCC Company, I learned that a big plastic bag of saved cards, that were received on birthdays and other events through the years inspired the GCC Company. Last year, Yeukai created something cute and portable to store all of the cards and memories in, a greeting card case. Yeukai said, “I really believe that the cases help to protect our memories. When I read my greeting cards from the past there are all sorts of funny jokes in them and the greeting card case helped to treasure those memories efficiently”.

This patented idea immediately pushed the manufacturing process to begin and the cases are presently on the designers table overseas. The cases will be offered in different sizes and materials (leather, cloth etc.) The cases should be available this August 2007.


The GCC Company will be extending its product line and will be introducing 3 new products in 3 months. So don’t be an unorganized sentimental fool! Keep your personal greeting cards in a Case of memories. See the GCC Company at http://www.gcccompany.com/

Author/Interviewer
Kristine Sheehan
The Merry Bird…pen, ink and design
http://www.themerrybird.com

No Pain, No Gain

To make the sale, you need to do what's difficult.
By Barry Farber Entrepreneur Magazine - July 2007

Sales breakthroughs have a lot to do with your ability to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. In many situations, success comes from understanding

how to turn present discomfort into future gain. Many of the actions that aren't enjoyable now--such as making cold calls or working after hours when you feel like stopping but know you need to finish--are necessary to add value to each new step you take. Here are some thoughts to keep you motivated when the going gets tough.

· Hard work now will pay off later. All the sales you've ever made did not happen overnight. They were likely accounts you worked on for long periods of time. Everything you have today was brought forth by all your past efforts. Think about what you've accomplished by doing the things you didn't want to do.

· Learn from every experience. Understand and appreciate that the upside of difficulty is that there will always be new opportunities for learning and improving your skills.

· Focus on the positives. Find something unique about each contact you encounter during the day to make something you might not enjoy enjoyable. Once I was making phone calls to new companies shortly after a snowstorm, and I found it to be a great time to make calls. You'd be surprised at how many people were in pleasant moods. On one call, I was speaking with the assistant to the vice president of sales, and she said she loved the sight of the snow outside her window. She was in a great mood and was very helpful. Following the call, I sent her a nice handwritten note about our brief talk and thanked her for her time. This won't close a sale, but it builds your chances of standing out in a positive way as you move forward with your next steps.

· Pick the difficult action over the easy one. Doing so will make you grow stronger as a person, not just as a salesperson. Call on the bigger accounts, start at the top and sell your way down and across departments, and make the calls after you're ready to go home. In the long run, this is what will separate you from the average performer.

· I'd like to share a technique I use as a metaphor for both sales and life. A good friend of mine told me that he takes cold showers every day and rarely gets sick. Right after a hot shower, he turns off all the hot water and lets the shower run down his spine and all his joints. Does it feel uncomfortable at first? Yes. Does it shock your body? Yes, but then something strange happens. After a few weeks, your body becomes warm after a few seconds of the pain. Eventually, you begin to look forward to it. What was once uncomfortable is now comfortable. There's no difference between this and making uncomfortable calls to new people or making a presentation to a large group. In the beginning, it's difficult and uncomfortable, but later it becomes easier and produces rewarding results. I've been taking cold showers for more than four years now and have not gotten sick since.

Remember this the next time you're uncomfortable working through the details of your sales cycle--and take comfort in being uncomfortable.

Barry Farber, author of The 12 Clichés of Selling, has taught thousands of individuals and corporations how to break through barriers to achieve their sales, management and personal goals.