Have All of the Songs Been Written?

Have all of the songs been written? I wish I knew where I heard that. I know it was a book on tape I listened to in the 90s. At that time in history I had a long commute. I listened to books on tape to pass the time and grow my perspective.

The person that asked the question was talking to a young artist that was afraid of trying. He wanted to go to Nashville but knew the competition was stiff. He was afraid of competing in a world full of talent. Whoever his mentor was (the author of the tape I was listening to) asked, “Have all of the songs been written?”

I’ve never forgotten that paradigm. Think about it in the context of your own career. There is competition, innovation, changes in possibilities. How do you stand out when there is so much noise and so many options?

I write about it every week. Talk to your clients. Don’t ask them about specs. Don’t ask them about pricing. Don’t talk about some new machine or gadget you’ve got. Talk to them (ask them) about the world they live in and what they wish existed. Then, write a new song.

I was on a great call last week. My customer, a printing company owner, said, “buying printing is too hard. If I’m a small business and I want a mailer, the process of finding sources, deciding what to do and how to do it is too hard.” He’s spot on correct.

We live in a mature printing world. People that invent stuff employ people to buy stuff. Payroll is required to turn concept into actionable information. It slows the process down, adds expense and creates more opportunity for error.

The printing world is conditioned to this paradigm and accepts it as required. We improve print speeds but not the process. This printer sees that and is inventing ways to solve that problem. He’s writing a new song.

I work with a brand that buys labels and tags. They buy more than they need to get their unit cost down. Someone somewhere has decided that the labels or tags don’t work if they add more than X cents per package.

But they throw away thousands each month. Changes make what is printed incorrect. Obsolescence isn’t considered. Mature printing processes rock along with that, toss stuff in the trash and print again.

Stepping forward with data opened some eyes. They were paying more for stuff than they thought. Just in time, digital printing looked more expensive but it actually saved money. The cost of operations, examined over a year, improved.

Moving from flexo to digital at higher prices was accretive not dilutive. That’s a new song. It had to be sold above the bid collector but it turned into a billboard hit!

I take calls every week from reps that are stuck. On the phone they profess selling with vision. Before our call is over they will contradict themselves and talk about price, an equipment disadvantage or a lack of marketing. The real problem is they’re asking the wrong questions. They’re playing the same old song.

I’ve written about this before. I’ll write about it again. I was out of the business for three years. I interacted with some really cool brands but not as a print rep. We talked about marketing and growing brand sales.

Not one of these people understood or cared how printing was done. They didn’t know a halftone dot from a digital press. They were focused on case sales, shelf space, subscriptions or lives enrolled in a health plan. They wanted ease of use and results, not faster machines. These guys were ripe for a new song.

A new song doesn’t necessarily mean new technology. It’s more likely a better idea. How do you use what you already know about customers and our industry to design better solutions?

Right now there is a lot of noise about AI. I think that is awesome. Get educated. Learn all you can. Ask yourself, how can this innovation help you and your clients?

But don’t be afraid of it. Don’t panic. Don’t sign up for the poop being peddled that you have your head in the sand if you don’t immerse yourself neck deep in AI solutions.

Years ago, I was part of the “dot.com bubble.” I helped raise millions for a start up that never made a dime. Wikipedia says that more than $5 trillion dollars were lost during that frenzy. I saw some of that first hand. Most of these songs were flops.

Know the difference between technology that solves a problem vs. technology looking for a problem to solve. Learn all you can. Look at how your clients do business. Ask yourself how you can solve client problems with the new stuff. Until you answer that, nothing else matters.

The best study you can do is with and of your clients. Meet with them. Ask questions. Learn what frustrates them about our industry. Ask what they wish was easier. Ask what keeps them up at night.

Then write a new song! Look at the available technologies, AI included, and determine what could be better. Go to your client with “What If” questions. “If I could solve this for you, would it be valuable?”

Do that and you’ll be ahead of everybody. You’ll be invited to meetings above the budget. You’ll have a string of hits that your competition can’t compete with.

Parting shot: I’ve got a pal in Texas. He works for a commercial printer. They are sheetfed only and don’t own the first digital press. The innovators of our industry would consider them backward.

They’re growing like a weed. They aren’t some tiny firm that makes that statement easy either. They’re rock solid and compete in the most crowded portion of the printing industry. They’re bucking every trend, adding equipment and new space. It’s sales ingenuity, hustle and service design. They ask the right questions.

Write your own song!