Where do you want your screen printing business to be three years from now?
If you’re relatively new to screen printing, perhaps you envision a bigger operation that offers a wider range of printing services from either a bigger facility or multiple sites.
If you’re thinking of retiring after decades in the screen printing business, maybe you are considering selling your business or turning it over to your children.
No matter which type of transition you have in mind, the right cloud-based print-business management software can make the process go smoothly. Systems such as Ordant software can help you scale up your business and/or effectively transfer all of that knowledge rattling around in your head about customers, processes, materials, and pricing.
One way to grow your business is to continually offer new types of printing services, either to your current customers or new ones. Adding new services is less chaotic when you have systems in place to handle functions such as estimating, purchasing, or online sales. The process of setting up a business workflow for new products and services forces you think through key cost and efficiency-related details that might have been overlooked until problems arose.
And if you start with a systematic, professional method of serving new customers, you can create the type of favorable first impression that leads to longer-term relationships.
Some emerging business opportunities might take your company in directions you might not have anticipated in your original business plan. Or you may come up with an innovative niche product that differentiates you from other screen-printing businesses.
So, it’s important to find business-management software that can easily be customized. You don’t want to be locked into an inflexible program that was designed exclusively for the type of screen-printing work you do now.
If you diversify into different types of digital printing, sign-making, or finishing services, switching from one type of print-business program to another can be disruptive. It can slow down your forward progress.
If you are thinking of retiring, the right business management software can help ensure that the shop will continue to flourish even when you’re no longer involved.
When turning your screen-printing business over, the new owners will find it immensely helpful if you have already set up automated systems for customer relationship management, estimating, purchasing, tracking job status, shipping, and invoicing.
Potential buyers may also be impressed if you can demonstrate that a certain percentage of your monthly orders are already coming in automatically through web-to-print portals. And, the new owners are also likely to prefer a customizable program that makes it easy for them to diversify or incorporate their own approaches to pricing.
Whether you own a startup or established screen printing business, your passion for the craft is invaluable. You understand what makes the screen printing process unique and can see gaps in the marketplace where you can make your mark. Your enthusiasm fuels growth..
It also attracts a steady flow of business-expansion ideas from customers, business partners, and vendors.
A good print-business management system can help you gather the real-world data you need to make smart decisions about recommended options for future business. For example, how many of your current customers are likely to order promotional products, posters, or marketing collateral along with screen-printed apparel?
A flexible, well-executed business-management system can also ease the growing pains by accurately tracking all of the data associated with a higher volume of incoming orders each day. .
If you’ve been in the screen-printing business a long time, you know that change is constant. And the pace of change is accelerating every year.
Customer expectations are changing too. While some customers may appreciate the craft of screen printing, that doesn’t necessarily mean they will settle for the slow,manual business practices of days gone by. In our fast-moving, interconnected world, everyone expects to be able to order many products and services online and get fast, accurate service and information about their jobs in progress.
Whether you are just getting into the screen printing business or looking to sell it after decades, you can be certain that the screen printing business will be far different five years from now than it is today. You need tools in place that can help you adapt.
Ordant’s easy-to-use cloud-based print-business software is ideal for screen printing businesses who understand the value of flexibility. We have helped hundreds of print business owners build scalable, customizable systems for estimating, order management, purchasing, job approvals, customer relationship management, and invoicing.
We would be happy to give you a demo and highlight the features that can be most helpful in growing or selling your screen printing business. Visit www.ordant.com