Print
Solutions July 2005
Young
and Fearless
Seven
energetic entrepreneurs reveal
their winning strategies.
Entering
the printing industry as a young
entrepreneur can be difficult:
Banks offer leaner loans, some
prospects assume “young”
equals “naïve,”
and many vendors prefer doing
business with established companies.
But
as the seven people profiled in
this story show, you don’t
need a track record to thrive
in the fast lane. Lack of experience
doesn’t always equate to
lack of knowledge, and the energy
among the next generation of industry
pros is infectious.
It’s
also necessary. Many company founders
are reaching retirement age, and
the industry can benefit from
an infusion of new ideas and technology
skills. Each person featured on
the following pages is 18-39 years
old and represents a sampling
of that infusion. The young entrepreneurs
recently entered the industry
with a hunger for challenge, a
resolve to learn and a drive to
excel. They learned from others,
then designed effective strategies
to differentiate their firms,
attract customers and excite employees.
Today, their companies are growing.
THE
QUEEN OF SPEED
Deborah
Sahlin was a jobless single mother
with two kids (one handicapped)
and a mortgage on her new home
when she launched PrintSource
in 2000.
Sahlin
had worked for two years selling
hospitals in the Washington area
when she decided to start her
own firm. “There was never
a thought in my head that it’s
not going to work,” she
says.
Sahlin
discussed her plans with a graphic
designer friend, and the two named
Sahlin’s distributorship
PrintSource. She soon met with
a contact at George Washington
University Medical Faculty Associates
(MFA), who asked Sahlin to write
a manual describing how 1,700
MFA employees could place orders
for printed materials, and a price
list showing how PrintSource saved
the organization money.
Sahlin
says she didn’t realize
it then, but MFA’s demand
forced her to define her business.
“In the manual, he made
me think about my business and
how I would make it smooth for
MFA [and future clients],”
she says. “I had to come
up a way to make it easier and
smoother for them to order products
from us.”
Sahlin
wanted to offer MFA and other
customers more than just better
pricing. She guaranteed that PrintSource
would give MFA proofs in 24 hours
for any document fewer than 10
pages and in only two days for
longer documents. “I just
wrote down in the manual: ‘Proofs
guaranteed in 24 hours,’”
she says. “I didn’t
know at that point if I could
do it, but I knew that’s
what clients wanted, and it had
to be a key selling point.”
MFA was impressed and awarded
PrintSource a 2-year contract
for business forms, envelopes,
letterhead, folders and medical
record labels. Today, the 24-hour
guarantee is a key selling point
with other customers, Sahlin says.
Prior
to launching PrintSource, Sahlin
borrowed money from an investor
friend and obtained credit from
three manufacturers. The distributorship
began operations from a 200-square-foot
office in the bustling Van Ness
area of Washington. Today, the
3-person company rents a 600-square-foot
office in the same building and
offers brochures, letterhead,
envelopes, business cards, labels,
folders, forms, banners, posters,
bound books, plastic cards, mailers,
roll paper, promotional products
and document management consulting
services. Its fiscal 2004 sales
totaled $516,401.
Emphasizing
personalized customer service,
Sahlin visits clients regularly,
a factor that improves customer
retention, she says. “I’m
at MFA three times a week,”
she says. “We know what’s
going on with them. We try and
make sure everything they do is
so intertwined with us that they
feel they need us.” For
example, if a customer ordered
labels in May 2004, PrintSource
sends a reminder email to the
customer in April the following
year. In some cases, it sends
email as frequently as once a
week. If a new customer calls
Sahlin asking the distributorship
to supply labels, she uses the
opportunity to visit them and
win additional jobs.
Many
of Sahlin’s clients don’t
know she owns the company, which
she cites as a successful strategy.
“I don’t want them
to think that I am a bigwig,”
she says. “You have to look
at the client and know what personality
you should assume. People will
not buy from someone they can’t
relate to. You have to be able
to get down to their level, or
get up to their level.”
Sahlin
also takes advantage of running
a woman-owned business. “It’s
important because you can call
other women-owned businesses and
tell them who you are, and they
talk to you,” she says.
Recently, Sahlin left a voice-mail
message for a woman CEO who runs
an association of 300 employees.
“She called me back and
wants to deal with me,”
she says. “It’s just
easier to get in the door.”
PrintSource
Name:
Deborah Sahlin
Age:
35
Title:
Owner
Company:
PrintSource Inc., a distributorship
in Washington, D.C.
Quick
Fact
Women
and minority entrepreneurs have
become more prevalent, with both
experiencing tremendous growth
in recent decades, according to
a report, “Entrepreneurship
in the 21st Century,” released
by the U.S. Small Business Administration
and the Ewing Marion Kauffman
Foundation, Kansas City. Self-employment
among women increased from 1.76
million in 1976 to 3.75 million
in 2000.
