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Sublimating Apparel – Why, What and How

Sublimating Apparel – Why, What and How

Sublimation

Why – If you have read anything else I have written on the topic of sublimation, you will know that I am a true sublimation evangelist. I find the process fascinating and the possibilities endless. On top of the possibilities, the real area for success is the value proposition for the decorator. For all you … Read more

Wide-Format Sublimation Offers Big Advantages

Wide-Format Sublimation Offers Big Advantages

Sublimation

Wide-Format Sublimation Offers Big Advantages For Decorated Apparel Shops

As sublimation printing has become a mainstream process in the apparel decorating industry, there a number of reasons to consider investing in a wide-format sublimation printer.

As technology in equipment, inks, papers and performance wear continue to improve, sublimation printing has continued to increase in popularity.

It is a great solution for short custom runs, photorealistic images, and the explosion of polyester-based fabrics and sublimatable products is making sublimation the preferred option for more and more applications.

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Overcoming Sales Objections

Overcoming Sales Objections

Sales

Many times small business people or even professional sales people reach the end of a sales cycle and they run into objections that normally seem to feel like a price or cost objection.

From my experience, I have found that a pricing or cost objection is not actually an interest in a lower price, but it is actually a lack of perceived value. To overcome sales objections, make sure that you explain to them thoroughly why the products value is what it is and help them find a perceived value before lowering price.

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Decoding 3D Sublimation

Decoding 3D Sublimation

Sublimation

What is 3D Sublimation? If you’ve never heard of 3D Sublimation before, don’t be alarmed. It is a relatively unused process that is currently being adopted by specialized markets. It sounds a lot harder than it is since the sublimation process is the same as using a standard flat or mug press. Remember, a combination … Read more

My Take on Proper Customer Service

My Take on Proper Customer Service

Customer Service

In the past, I had written a blog about how to NOT perform customer service and gave some examples of large companies that in my opinion didn’t have customer service perfected yet. Unfortunately many companies big and small struggle with proper customer service daily. There is a fine line between potentially hurting your business and offering top of the line customer service. You have to remember, your company must be in business to actually offer customer service so you can’t just give into everything. But that is not really what it is all about anyway, and typically most customers and businesses can have a great partnership and work together to solve any challenge. Here are 3 quick tips for achieving the best customer service your company can offer.

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Using Spray Tack Adhesive with Sublimation

Using Spray Tack Adhesive with Sublimation

Sublimation

Using Spray Tack Adhesive with Sublimation I recommend that you only use spray tack adhesive on soft goods like mouse pads, can coolies and garments. There are some hard surfaces items where you must use spray tack adhesive like awards plaques where tape could damage the edges.  For those items and your soft goods, it … Read more

Stop the They

Stop the They

Customer Service

In my nearly 20 years being involved with sales, marketing and technical support, I have been fortunate to work with a wide variety of folks who are both really good and really bad at customer interactions. I have observed many of them (including myself) and have come to discover that there is one key word that people dealing with customers should really REMOVE from their vocabulary. By removing this word, those individuals were able to more smoothly interact with customers and resolve issues quickly. 

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Dealing with those Pesky Transfer Lines

Dealing with those Pesky Transfer Lines

Sublimation

There are tons of great benefits of working with sublimation and 100% polyester garments things like moisture wicking, durability, soft hand and beautiful bright vibrant colors are just a few of them. Unfortunately, there is also a little drawback which is those little transfer lines that can ruin a perfectly good sublimation shirt.

Fortunately, there are several steps that can be used to eliminate those transfer lines and typically some combination of the steps or using all of them combined will solve this issue. There is definitely a need to do some testing to see what method or methods will work best for you and your set up. There is no real magic button as there are several variables in this like the type of shirt, your heat press, the pressure and temperature used and other issues that could be causing the transfer lines.

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Sales Tip – Basing your sales call goals on getting told NO!

Sales Tip – Basing your sales call goals on getting told NO!

Sales

So you have read the title of this blog and you must be thinking I have lost my mind, but this is not a new sales tip. Throughout my career in sales and marketing, I have heard this strategy in several different variations. I am not sure who originally coined it and definitely not taking credit for its invention, but I think it is very beneficial technique to generate business. Personally, I compare this approach to a similar strategy for playing Blackjack. Side note, I’m a horrible Blackjack player and seem to be the guy who can have a 20 with the dealer showing a 6 and inevitably the dealer will pull a 5 card for 21! But…I am not crazy; this really is a good sales tip. I have heard it from other professionals and it makes sense.

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Heat Printing Types

Heat Printing Types

Direct to Garment

I get to attend dozens of trade show every year. At these shows I learn something new each time, but I also notice that for the 17 years I have been attending our industry trade events most people have some of the same questions, just worded a different way. Many of the people attending are new to our heat printing industry. One of the biggest questions that I get from those folks is what are the best heat printing types to use for printing garments? The answer to this questions can be a bit of a challenge as there is not one magic bullet set-up that is going to decorate all types and colors of garment. Each process has its pros and cons. I typically answer that question by asking them what their target market is and going from there. Since this is a blog and starts out as a one sided conversation I figured the best way to answer that question would be to give you a brief rundown of the 5 main heat printing types.

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