Printing Industries of America has been made aware of a major scam involving a fraudulent direct marketing agency operating out of Montreal and Toronto. The company purports to represent clients marketing weight loss products.
 
The scam is simple but effective and has claimed a number of victims. The marketing agency contacts printers via their website with a potential win-fall job to produce millions of marketing pieces. The marketing agency literally banks on printers offering a line of credit based on initial feedback from credit references, which are similarly fraudulent.  
 
When printers ask for a check to cover postage, it is promptly sent via UPS. The check looks completely official including hologram and printers deposit it thinking all is well, not realizing that any check drawn on a foreign bank account will take 2-3 weeks to validate and collect funds. This is the scam - some companies will drop the printed pieces and mail them before the check clears leaving the printer to cover the postage and printing costs. Sadly a number of PIA members are now out tens of thousands of dollars because of this scam.
 
The United States Postal Service and law enforcement officials are investigating the matter in the US and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has been made aware as well.
 
If you are to be contacted via your website or any other means for work by a foreign marketing agency you are not familiar with, proceed with caution.  If it looks too good to be true, it probably is!

• Triple check the validity of the enterprise.
• Never offer to do work without funds clearing in advance.
• Do not accept funds drawn on a foreign account.
• Only accept US money orders or wire transfers approved by your bank, ideally into a separate account from your operating account.

If you believe you have been a victim of a similar crime, contact local law enforcement officials immediately.

Many sales reps say this every day as it seems like the way to start a relationship.  The problem is that nothing is being offered to the prospect except, possibly, a low bid.  The rep asking the question has no understanding of the prospect's business nor the role that print could have in its success. 

Consider the difference when the rep has done their homework and instead of asking to quote on the status quo begins by suggesting a change in the prospect's marketing strategy: look at more powerful direct mail using variable data or perhaps augmented reality, look a package designs that scream "buy me" when they're sitting on the shelf, look at the power of print to drive interested buyers to the prospect's website, etc.

It takes time and effort both to learn about the prospect's business and then get to talk to the right people (not the purchasing agent), but it pays off big.  It can also be leveraged as learning about one prospect makes it easier to work with other prospects in the same business.  Also, if the rep clicks with one prospect in this way, it's easy to ask them for referrals to other similar firms that they probably know.

Bob Lindgren is the President and CEO of Printing Industries Association of Southern California, the largest affiliate of PIA. Mr. Lindgren has more than 40 years of experience in the industry and is an expert in the area of print finance.

    

Technology plays such an important role in the strategic direction of printing companies.  The right investment in technology can provide profitable dividends for years to come.  The wrong investment can spell disaster.

Each week, E-Connects shares incredible photos on just how lax individuals can be when it comes to safety.  Some pictures showcase carelessness, others plain stupidity.

The goal - to keep a safe work environment front and center on the minds of all of your employees.

Pictured: Ingenuity may be the mother of invention but stupidity is the mother of most accidents.

If you come across a funny safety pic you think should be featured, email Michael Makin at mmakin@wsprint.org.

"A bureaucrat is a person who cuts red tape sideways."

James Mccabe