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Serving Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming
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Reserve Your Tickets For The Events Of The Year
The Print Excellence Awards showcase the very best in print produced right here in this region. Last year more than 200 print leaders attended the programs in Phoenix and Denver and a great time was had by all. You don't want to miss this year's programs where you can network with industry peers, catch up with old friends and see beautiful print showcased. Each Print Excellence Awards event will also feature the presentation of WSPA's Employee Recognition Awards - where the finest employees in the area are heralded in front of their peers. This year's Phoenix event will be held on Thursday, April 7th at Rustler's Rooste. To reserve your tickets or a discounted table, click on PHOENIX REGISTRATION.This year's Denver event will be held on Thursday, April 28th at the Downtown Embassy Suites Hotel. To reserve your tickets or a discounted table, click on DENVER REGISTRATION.Detailed information on both events can be found on the WSPA Website. |
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Major Management Study
Printers recognize that improved strategic and operational management are the keys to higher profits. However, what are the key strategic and operational management practices that printers need to implement?
A new PIA study will answer this important question. The study is being conducted through a new on-going partnership between PIA's Center for Print Economics and Management and the Department of Management at Middle Tennessee State University.
The study findings will help members gain a competitive advantage over non-members. For completing the study survey, members will receive a comprehensive report of the findings (a $500 value) as well as a free volume of the ratios (valued at $99 for members).
However, the greatest incentive is for the potential knowledge gained. To participate in the study CLICK HERE
For more information contact Tai McNaughton at 1-800-910-4283, ext. 756 or tmcnaughton@printing.org.
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Arizona Legislative Update
The Arizona Legislature is entering the next phase as it looks to wrap up the session in less than 100 days. Committee hearings are complete, other than an extra week for appropriations committees and rules committees as necessary. Now is the time for caucuses, floor action, conference committee AND the budget.
What makes the wind down of this session especially interesting is that both Senate President Andy Biggs and Speaker of the House David Gowan are announced candidates for Congress. Biggs is seeking to replace retiring Congressman Matt Salmon. House Appropriations Chair Justin Olson also is running for the nomination. Gowan faces plenty of competition in the primary race in CD1, where incumbent Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick is running to replace five-term US Senator John McCain.
Elaine Arena |
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Revealing New NLRB Election Data
Last April the National Labor Relation Board's new rule for union elections took effect, much to the delight of labor unions and chagrin of employers.
The key goal was to shorten the time from when petition for election was filed and the actual election date. A new NRLB report shows that for the first three quarters since the rule took effect, the median number of days from petition to election went from 38 days to 24 days. A shortened time period gives an employer less time to get their message out to employees.
However, when comparing the number of representation (RC) elections held over the same time periods the number of elections increases slightly (by just 16). Plus, the union win rate actually went down slightly (70% to 68% for representation elections). Apparently the initial increase of elections held after the rule took effect was due to a hold on petitions filed by the unions. |
Believe it or not, Social Media can help your business and you needn't have to have a full time staff person to generate results. Here are some tips using Twitter.
Create engagement by using brand specific hashtags. Cap'n Crunch did it with their #CapnStache promo. What they did was put a cut out mustache on the back of their cereal box and urged their buyers to post a picture of themselves on Twitter wearing the stache. Their engagement was remarkable. Check it out for yourself on Twitter using #capnstacheentry1. This was a great way for Cap'n Crunch to engage with their buyers. Here are some questions to help grease the gears. What is your brand? What are you trying to sell? How might you create a brand specific hashtag?
Use hashtags to search and connect to leads. There are over 300 million people using Twitter. There's a good chance that your lead is on there. The question is how do you connect with them? First of all, you need to look for them. Second, follow them. Watch their tweets. What hashtags are they using? How can you engage them in conversations perhaps using common hashtags? You can re-tweet their content and you can mention (@mentions) them in tweets to engage them directly.
Share lots of content. Whether it is other peoples' content, your content, quotes, or maybe even the content of your prospects, sharing anything on twitter with good use of hashtags is a good way to stay in front of your prospects and perhaps even attract new leads. It's also a good way to engage with groups that are posting similar content. It's about networking, educating, and developing trust in relationships. Twitter is different than LinkedIn for social networking. If you're going to be a ghost on Twitter, most likely no one will see you. Try to get others to share your content. The best sales are often those that come by word of mouth.
Those are just a few ways hashtags can help you prospect. The truth is that the power of hashtags in social networking is immense and it's going to keep growing. If you're not on board now, you're going to have some catching up to do later. Why not give it a try and see if you can find some new prospects and maybe make some friends along the way?
Source: Jennifer Grace, The Dingley Press
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Drug Testing Options For Employers To Expand Next Year
Buried in the 490-page Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act, which was signed by President Obama on December 4 last year, is a provision (section 5402) that eventually will allow motor carriers "to use hair testing as an acceptable alternative to urine testing in conducting pre-employment testing for the use of a controlled substance and in conducting random testing."
The Department of Health and Human Services by next December will issue scientific and technical guidelines for hair testing. This means companies will be allowed to use hair drug testing DOT drivers sometime in 2017. Hair testing has been around since the 1970s and can detect drug use for up to 90 days. Plus, there are no known ways to fudge the test.
How bald employees would be treated is another question.
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Just Say Thanks!
You don't need grand gestures to make a positive difference to the people you work with. The simple approach can work wonders! Make a point of thanking at least one person for his or her work every day. Don't turn it into a big deal. Just say what you value about the person's effort, being specific and clear. Your employees will appreciate it, and the atmosphere at your workplace will flourish.
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Save On Towels, Mats and Uniforms
WSPA has partnered with Prudential Overall Supply to provide members with great prices on towels, mats and uniforms. Prudential's sole business is to provide environmentally based clean and reusable towels, uniforms and mats. Their cleaning system is designed to clean towels soiled with solvents (low and high VOC) and inks (petroleum and vegetable based).
Contact Ashley Carrol at ashleyc@pos-clean.com for more information and pricing. Make sure you mention you are a WSPA member.
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Stay Honest!
You can't turn your employees into ethical people with speeches and emails However, you can reduce at least some of the pressures that might push otherwise honest people to do unethical behavior. Do your best to minimize the following:
Pressure from management. Faced with seemingly impossible objectives and deadlines, employees may cheat. Ask yourself and your fellow managers - are your demands realistic? Do employees feel they can discuss difficult assignments with you without being told "my way or the highway?"
Threats to career and livelihood. To protect their jobs and income, employees may cross the line. In good times, do you keep people informed about opportunities/ In bad times, do you show them the support that your organization offers so they don't feel they lack options?
Ignorance of what's unethical. Determining right and wrong under a codified law is tricky enough, but identifying them according to individual moral standards can be harder still. Have you walked your employees through their most complex work tasks and clarified what's acceptable?
Negative environment. When employees and managers don't trust each other or the organization, or when they see no serious consequences for bending the rules, a "me first" attitude can take root. Have you spelled out, reiterated, and enforced the organization's standards, so employees know you stand for integrity?
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Sales Tips From Leslie
Sales guru Leslie Groene offers the following wisdom: Learn The Customer. Every time you're with a customer, make it a point to learn something personal and professional about them. Don't allow your time together to be so focused on the immediate business opportunity that you miss out on additional, long-term information. It's the long-term information you gain that will help you retain the customer, and the longer you have the customer, the more likely they are to refer others to you. When you're gathering information about the person, look for items that are of common interest to you both. These are the items that will help you propel the business relationship to the next level. Opening The Sales Call. Always start off the sales call by covering three things: 1. Get a clear understanding of the amount of time the call will take. 2. Make sure the customer knows what the objective of the call is. 3. Relate the reason for the current sales call to the previous sales call you had with the person, or to information you may have sent them. Connecting the current sales call to something previous gives the customer the comfort of knowing you remember fully everything that may have already occurred. This also gives the customer the comfort of knowing you respect their time and that whatever is decided in this current meeting will be acted upon by you.
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A great member benefit of WSPA, through Printing Industries of America, is access to economic Flash Reports, produced by Dr. Ron Davis. These outstanding research reports can help you identify trends in our industry and cover such topics as profitability, economic output, manufacturing efficiencies and much more. If you are not already receiving the Flash Reports and would like to be put on the mailing list, simply forward your information to June Crespo at jcrespo@wsprint.org. You can also access, free of charge, all archived copies of flash reports for 2014 and earlier by clicking HERE. You must be logged in to the PIA website to gain access. If you are having any difficulty, call Member Central at 1-800-910-4283, ext. 770. |
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Weekly Photo Feature: Are you Kidding Me?!
Each week, E-Connects shares incredible photos on just how lax individuals can be when it comes to safety. The goal - to keep a safe work environment front and center on the minds of all of your employees. Pictured: "Shocking" stupidityIf you come across a funny safety pic you think should be featured, email Michael Makin at mmakin@wsprint.org. |
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Thank You Print Excellence Award Sponsors!
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Free Resources
As a member of WSPA, you are automatically a member of Printing Industries of America, the largest graphics arts trade association in the world. PIA's website has literally hundreds of free resources for you and your employees. Have you checked out www.printing.org/free?
If you need any assistance logging in to access the free member content, simply call PIA's Member Central at 1-800-910-4283, ext. 770.
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Quote For The Week
"A strong positive mental attitude will create more miracles than any wonder drug."
Patricia Neal
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Want Others On Your Team To Receive E-Connects?
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WSPA | 844-237-1550 | wsprint.org
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