9 South Albany Road, Redruth, Cornwall TR15 2PE | Tel: 01209 213784
I have just read a really good blog from Rene Power about how to make the most of your Agency. I thought I would share it with you.
We are, after all, working towards the same goals, so if can work together on achieving those goals, the success will be greater.
As a Graphic Designer I am the first to admit I am no sales person, so it could be I have got it wrong, but if someone told me they were not interested in my services, then I would accept it and not bother them again.
Not so with Thomas Sanderson blinds.
They phoned a week after our name had been passed to them and asked if we were interested in their product. We said no – I have lots of lovely curtains and I don’t need blinds.
It seems they haven’t accepted that we are not interested. First mailing arrived a few days later, with a thick A4 perfect bound catalogue. Now I am impressed with the design and printing of the catalogue, but what a waste of paper! Doesn’t fit in with my green principles at all.
Couple of days later, we have a 12 page full colour brochure, letter and offer leaflet (although the offer says if I order by the end of the year I can beat the VAT rise – is this the end of 2011 or an old leaflet?)
So the result is – I still don’t want blinds but actually if I did they would be the last people I would now use. Why? Because as a potential customer they have not listened to me.
I have just spotted the “Respecting your Privacy” tear off slip at the bottom, so I will fill it out and tell them not to bother me again, but I do find it infuriating that I have to tell them twice.
Just read a fantastic article by Ilene Strizver, founder of The Type Studio, in this weeks Creative Pro online magazine. It is all about ten rules that, if followed, result in a very professional looking project.
Read the full article on Ten Commandments of Type.
Someone else who has a thing about Widows and Orphans – it’s not just me!
Abbreviations are always a subject of discussion, how should they appear, here is some helpful advice.
To follow strict rules of abbreviations, unless the abbreviation is in capitals, a full point should always follow.
The approved abbreviations for the days of the week and months would appear like this
Sun. Mon. Tue. Wed. Thur. Fri. Sat.
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEPT OCT NOV DEC
If it is a mixture of upper and lower case it can have a mixture, for example I.o.W (Isle of Wight), Ltd. (Limited), St. (Street), Ph.D., exceptions would be Dr (Doctor), Revd (Reverend), Mr, Mrs, where full points are not required.
Use a full stop for a footnote, i.e., e.g., c., p., pp., a.m. and p.m., all in lower case.
Use St for Saint, C (for centigrade) and F (for fahrenheit), also without a full stop.
As a rule print century in full, as in nineteenth century, and not 19th cent., with 8 per cent and not 8%.
These are British rules, as taken from Hart’s Rules for Compositors and Readers, as published by The University Press, Oxford (1982).
There will always be exceptions and the important thing is that they are consistent throughout the published work.
Any website should contain a few basic MUSTs, as far as I am concerned
and if shown
Sounds simple doesn’t it.
Unfortunately over the Christmas period I discovered a website that didn’t have that information correct.
My Mother-in-Law’s stairlift broke down, she phoned her contact number and there was no reply, we went on to the website phoned the number given but also no reply.
We eventually found the opening hours (under Stairlift), according to the website the only day they were closed was Christmas Day, so we tried the email address that was on it. We didn’t get any response on any of it.
Eventually on 4th January we managed to speak to someone on the phone, who said the phone number was incorrect. So it is a mix of a very frustrating website, with incorrect data and not very good customer service.
To be fair, once we managed to speak to a human being, they came out within 4 hours and repaired it, the battery had gone flat. Unfortunately after a period of over a week walking up and down the stairs not sure my Mother-in-Law will be “repaired” quite so quick.
I have just had an email from Rachael at One & All School of Motoring who has been getting some good results on searching on Google for her driving school – here is what she said.
Just thought you’d like to hear that I’ve been getting quite a few website enquiries lately. When asked where they found me the comment is coming back “you come up top on the searches everywhere” So basically, thank you!!!!!!!!
This is really good news, Rachael is an excellent driving instructor and I am delighted that Hooper Graphics has helped people to find her.
When you received all your Christmas cards did you notice extra logos on the reverse?
Quite often you just see the manufacturer, perhaps the store they were purchased, the charity/charities the card supports, but this year there were a few extra logos on some cards. Perhaps the FSC logo and/or the Woodland Trust logo.
What do they mean? The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international, organisation that promotes responsible management of the world’s forests. The FSC logo is its registered trade mark and its use is very carefully controlled. It means the paper or board can be traced back to the tree where it was cut down.
The Woodland Trust is a UK based Charity that is concerned with conserving trees, this year they have launched a Recycling campaign for Christmas cards. The money they raise through recycling christmas cards will be put towards planting more trees.
So if you are interested in environmental matters, look out for these logos next year when buying your Christmas cards.
Today the newspapers have been full of news articles on the VAT increase and how it will affect people.
Here is some good news for you – Hooper Graphics is not currently VAT registered, so this means no increase on my prices!!!
It is a bit like having a January Sale where you can save 20% on ALL your design work.
In real terms this means if the design cost is £500, then with VAT that would be £600, or a £1000 design fee would be £1200.
So by using Hooper Graphics the total cost of your work will go towards the design fee and not the Tax man, which helps if you cannot claim back your VAT.
Now that would be a nice January Sale feature, but of course in order to have an item classed as a Sale Item, it needs to have been sold at the higher price for a certain period.
Good value all year round – not just at Sale time.
