Candid Comments – February 2020

[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]This is the first edition of a monthly series with the purpose to increase transparency throughout the Perfect Imprints organization. With transparency comes the ability to correct problems faster, improve the workplace, develop our company culture, and increase accountability in reaching our goals. While our name may indicate perfection, I can assure you we are not perfect. However, we will never stop pursuing perfection for our clients. I invite you to follow our journey of growth as I relay how we overcome obstacles, strive to reach and surpass our goals, and ultimately steer Perfect Imprints to become a better company. 

With a full month of 2020 already passed, there’s still a ton of excitement for the new decade. Dozens of puns and corny marketing slogans surrounding vision and clarity are continually being spewed by marketing departments all over the country. Not that I’m complaining about the puns because after all, I’m a dad and I love dad jokes. Therefore, it stands to reason I love punny slogans. Guilty as charged. So keep bringing on the 2020 puns and may they help your customers see the clarity of your marketing message.

The beginning of a new year for many people is the time for goal setting for both their personal and professional lives. I hope everyone reading this has already set their annual goals. Not only should we all set goals, but we should have a plan so we have a chance to meet our goals. Below I’ll share a few personal goals for myself as well as some of our company goals.

Personally, I have set goals for this year to strengthen my relationship with God, become a better husband, become a better father, read the Bible cover to cover, and develop deeper relationships with friends. These are goals that will require me being intentional in my prayer life, intentional about reading more, and intentional about being present in the moment, which can often be a challenge for me. While the word “intentional” is a major word of action for me in 2020, the primary word I will focus on will be “basics.” That means I will be intentional about getting back to the basics in order to meet my goals, which will, in turn, help me meet all of my personal goals.

Professionally, for Perfect Imprints, the overarching goals include doubling our sales in 2020, increasing our efficiency, and strengthening our client relationships. Did you do a double-take after reading that first goal? Yes, after 20 years in business, that is our goal. It is real and we feel it is obtainable. Our team has 100% buy-in and is excited to rise up to the challenge. It’s a bold and lofty goal, especially to put out there in writing, but I’m confident that a year from now, I’ll be sharing excitement about reaching our sales goal, along with our other goals.

A couple of projects we are working on internally include a brand new website and changing to a much better order management system which will help to increase our efficiency. It will help keep us more organized to better serve our clients, which is what I’m most excited about. Our company’s mission is to make the ordering process for promotional products easier for our clients, therefore, many of our goals surround improving the customer experience.

My goals for my personal life and my professional life are now out there. Now it’s time to take action. In years past, I’ve been guilty of riding the wave and not stepping out to do the hard work of preparing our company infrastructure for growth. It wasn’t the hard work that kept me from doing what needed to be done, but a paralysis caused by disorganization. That disorganization led to the neglect of sharing my vision with the Perfect Imprints team. 

Neglecting to share the full company vision caused me to try to reach my company goals and visions alone, rather than utilizing our very capable and skilled team. Combine that with a few major setbacks over the past few years (losing a long-term, amazing team member and friend to cancer, and overcoming financial stress from a past accountant who wasn’t doing her job well) and it was easy to sit back from exhaustion and be content with the status quo. While we have still been growing year over year, it has been much slower growth than I’d like and well below our potential.

Our company has been in a rebuilding phase. Over the past year, I have assembled a team of people who are each very talented in their given fields. I have replaced past team members who did not align with our Company Core Values. Our company has firmed up many of our internal processes to run much more efficiently.

With our current team and our 2020 plans, we are ready to emerge into the future highly organized with improved technology to greatly increase our efficiency. Overall, this will benefit all of our clients through faster and better service. This allows us more time internally for promotional products education and staying current with the newest and best marketing strategies to continue to develop the experts on our team that our clients deserve and want. This will allow us to be more proactive rather than reactive. This will help us deepen all of our relationships with our clients. On all fronts, this will be a win for our clients, our suppliers, and our team!

I wish you all a prosperous 2020 and look forward to what this year brings![/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row]