Features

Ltd Ltd is known for its high-end creative work. Melony Rocque-Hewitt spies on some of its more ground-breaking work.

They’re a restless bunch, the crew at Learn to Dream, or Ltd Ltd as its more commonly known. This restlessness is not a phase but a defining condition that has been part and parcel of this London-based, wide-format, digital printing company from the off.

Understand what new Timber Regulation (EU) no: 995/2010 (EUTR) means to you as a printer. Matthew Botfield, environment manager at Antalis UK, explains. 

Did you know that on 3 March this year the European Union implemented Regulation (EU) no: 995/2010, otherwise referred to as the European Timber Regulations (EUTR), making it a criminal offence for any organisation to place illegally sourced timber or timber-based products onto the EU market. If you think that has nothing to do with you, think again.

So says the Forum of Private Business as the first companies start to use the system this month. If you’re still not fully prepared here’s what you need to do…

Large-format digital print company PressOn in Rochester was formed (as Press On Digital) in 2000 by Andy Wilson and Nigel Webster and has since specialised in indoor and outdoor advertising. But the directors recognise that to remain competitive, the company needs to keep developing new opportunities. Already this year, it has set-up an online job calculator, launched a Schools Arts Award and has actively started to recruit across various parts of the business. So how is all this activity expected to impact upon the business? 

… and where else 3D printing is likely to impact. We muse over the possibilities for wide-format print providers as the technology gains ground.

A Roland VersaCamm SP-300i printer/cutter has proved crucial to the set demands of Coronation Street.

There's no easy way to put this so let's get straight to the point: are you Peter Sellers? By that I mean, when you present to your staff, customers, investors, do you give a passable impression of the politician in his famous Party Political Speech? Listen to it here (http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=GxBtGuu9BVE&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DGxBtGuu9BVE) and hear a fluent, easy to follow speech hitch says nothing at all. Sellers' politician isn't missing the point - he has no point to get to. Before you next present to your staff or customers, watch this speech and learn. 

Ron Johnson is not stupid. He made Target hip and launched Apple's fabulously successful retail operation but he is having a tough time as CEO of American retailer JC Penney. One of his mistakes was to do something very logical. Instead of offering shoppers constantly changing markdowns on a high priced product, he thought it made more sense to just start with a low price. The trouble is shoppers didn't agree. As James Suriowecki noted in the ‘New Yorker’( http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2013/03/25/130325ta_talk_surowiecki) the "game of cat and mouse with regular, ever-changing discounts is illogical, but it's one that lots of consumers like to play."

Surely there's a lesson here. If retailers, who have been manipulating prices for decades, can get it so wrong, what hope is there for the rest of us? One of the secrets of a successful pricing strategy is to persuade each customer they are getting the best deal. Sounds obvious but by the time the number crunchers have analysed each proposition to death, this powerful, simple truth is often forgotten. Remember that all finance departments in whatever sector or country they are based have one thing in common: they never lose a sale - at least that's what they'll tell you.

George Osborne isn't the only British boss looking for growth. The effect of recession on the UK high street, the development of wide-format and the decline of commercial printing have prompted an intriguing debate (http://whattheythink.com/articles/62098-wide-format-graphics-printing-numbers-speak-loud-clear-those-first-mover-advantage/) sparked by a report by industry analyst Marco Boer who sees industrial print as the great growth opportunity. You'll have your own opinion but wide-format printers should read his forecast before defining their strategies for the future.

That was what the ghostly voice told Kevin Costner in the inspirational baseball fantasy ‘Field Of Dreams’. It works in the movie but the surprising thing, as Steve Blank points out in his book ‘The Four Steps To Epiphany’, is that many companies operate under this very belief.

Companies have various methods for developing new products but often the last people who are considered in this process are those who matter most: the customers. In too many companies, the voice of the customer is refracted through someone with a vested interest - typically the sales or marketing director - and, for everyone else involved in product development, the success or failure of a product seems entirely mysterious. As one engineer who bought this book put it, if a product didn't succeed we just tried again.

Blank suggests that companies stop focusing purely on product development and think about customer development. What does he mean by this? For a start, he means get out and engage with customers, arguing that: "Inside your building there are no facts, only opinions." Listening to customers isn't the same as making a list of what each one wants and then trying to tick them off but it should give you a clearer idea of whether your views about your products and services are realistic or delusional. It's much cheaper to find this out before you launch something than afterwards.

Managed properly, this process can encourage your staff to see customers more clearly. Too many managing directors curse employees for not understanding the marketplace while doing their utmost to prevent their staff from interacting with customers. Sometimes, this reaction is driven by fear - what if they say something inappropriate? - but too many organisations just fail to make time for this crucial activity.

Blank's book is turgidly written at times but it is essential reading for anyone running a business who isn't sure why product a worked and product b didn't. In other words, for almost anyone who is running a business.

Image Reports speaks to Gary Wallace, MD, Wallace Print.

Business Rates proving too heavy to bear? Scott Conway of Venture Banners puts out a rallying call for SMEs to join him in a revolt against expected rate rises in 2013.