Canon’s mail-in rebates for its 12-color iPF printers range from $350 to $3,200 or a one-year CarePAK Extended Service Plan, based on printer make, model and size, and include the iPF5100, iPF6300, iPF6350, iPF8300 and the iPF9100. To submit a claim, go to www.usa.canon.com/rebates.

Canon also offers Trade In Rebates for all of its 6, 8 and 12-color imagePROGRAF printers, which include the iPF6300S, iPF8000S, iPF8300S and the iPF9000S. For Trade In Rebates, any printer larger than 17 inches wide is eligible to be traded. All Canon rebates are good until March 31.

Epson’s mail-in rebates last until Feb. 29, and include mail-in rebates of up to $700 on the Epson Stylus Pro 3880 K3, 3880 Signature Worthy (SW) Edition, 3880 Designer Edition (DE), 4900 HDR and 4900 DE; instant rebates of up to $4,000 on the Epson Stylus Pro 7890 K3, 7890 DE, 7900 HDR, 9890 K3, 9890 DE, 9900 HDR, 11880 K3 and the GS6000 low-solvent inkjet printer; and a mail-in rebate for a free sheet pack of Epson Signature Worthy Media when you buy three packs.

HP is offering trade-in rebates of up to $1,000 on the HP Designjet T1300, HP Designjet T7100 and the HP Designjet Z6200. Add an HP Care Pack, which is a three-year next business day onsite support contract on those printers, and you’ll receive an additional cash-back amount of up to $150. And, you can get a mail-in rebate of up to $6,000 when you upgrade to an HP L26500 or L28500 latex printer and show proof of ownership of an eligible aqueous printer (42″ or wider) or an eligible solvent printer (30″ or greater). For more information and to submit a claim, go to www.hp.com/go/upgradetolatex.

For more information about these rebates, contact a LexJet account specialist or go to www.lexjet.com/rebates.aspx.

The guide provides a background on the market, application ideas, stories from the field that show the effectiveness of floor graphics for advertising or promotional campaigns, and installation guidelines.

The interactive document also features links to product specifications and a how-to application video. The Installation Guidelines section includes detailed instructions on preparing, installing and removing both floor and carpet graphics.

To download the free guide, click here. If you have any questions, you’re looking for the best product for your project or you need help with anything, contact a LexJet customer specialist at 800-453-9538.

If you are experiencing ink smudges on your latex prints, you may need to adjust specific heat settings. The location of the smudging on the print will determine what settings need to be adjusted in the Onyx Media Profile.

In the videos embedded below, learn how to fix the following ink smudging issues by adjusting the Media Profile in Onyx X10:

One brief, yet impactful piece I’ve come across during my 32 years in sales and sales management is entitled Make Up Your Mind. I’ve never been able to identify the author of this little gem, but following the simple advice it provides transformed me in several important and valuable ways.

The benefits it has given to me pale in comparison to the resulting value it has delivered to my customers. You’ll find the piece below. Over the next five weeks I will highlight and expand on two bullet points contained in the article per week. I hope it will be as beneficial and inspirational to you as it has to me…

MAKE UP YOUR MIND
Your power to persuade others originates from your philosophies and beliefs. Your selling philosophies determine the attitudes you develop and the habits you form. The principles of selling and living that you adhere to will move you up to join the successful people who get to the top and stay there. MAKE UP YOUR MIND to live by these principles…

• That you are your most important customer. You must be sold on your job, your products and your ability to perform.
• That your product and service, properly sold, is of considerably more value to your buyer than any commissions you can possible earn.
• That time is money and that learning to manage your time productively will be one of your most profitable achievements.
• To believe in the law of averages and the wisdom of knowing the dollar value of each of your primary activities.
• That honest, intelligent effort is always rewarded.
• That it is to always be a “win-win” encounter.
• That the power of your sales presentation will always lie in its simplicity.
• That the purchase must be “helped along” and is more often made because you guide the prospect’s behavior in an effective, organized manner.
• That people buy today, not nearly so much because they understand your product thoroughly, but because they feel and believe that you understand them, their problems and the things they want to accomplish.
• That almost all development is, in fact, self-development and that personal growth is the product of practice, observation and self-correction.

Let’s take a closer look at the first two important points…

1. You are your most important customer. You must be sold on your job, your products and your ability to perform.

This is the alpha and the omega. The lesson I learned is my success begins and ends with me. I must believe. Customers can sense insincerity, dishonesty and a lack of confidence from a mile away. They can also pick up on enthusiasm, integrity and self-confidence in very positive ways.

Have you ever lost a sale when you seemingly had the “best” solution and proposal? You may never find out why and the customer may not consciously   know why either. When asked they may say, “I just didn’t have a good feeling about that company.”

Since you are the face of your company to the customer, that means they didn’t have a good feeling about you. Think of it this way: You can’t take credit for a big sale and then blame a big loss on something else. The key word in the point above is sold. It only stands to reason that before you can sell, you must be sold.

The best way for you to believe that you’re a sales professional who delivers measurable value to your customers is to invest in yourself. Invest time to know more about your customers’ needs than anyone else. Invest time building on your business education. Invest time in researching your competitors, their products and how your solutions outperform theirs.

Investing in you translates into confidence in yourself. These investments will pay huge returns in your career over the long-term. Hard work equals seamless confidence. Do it for you and your customers.

2. That your product and service, properly sold, is of considerably more value to your buyer than any commissions you can possible earn.

A famous line from Kenny Rogers’ The Gambler croons, “You never count your money when you’re sittin at the table, there’ll be time enough for countin’, when the dealin’s done.”

If you’re thinking about you, you’re not thinking about your customer. This is another one of those things customers feel without anything being said directly. Our personal income goals are not our customers’ business goals.

Your customer pays for you to solve their problems, not yours. This is really a state of mind issue for us sales professionals. Focusing on the customer and genuinely caring about their satisfaction will result not only in financial rewards for us, but also in job satisfaction. You can’t buy that!

You can’t pay yourself a dime, but your customers can reward you handsomely. Sure, they will reward you by buying from you. But by caring about them and solving their problems, they will recommend you to other potential customers. You can’t buy that either!

What is meant by “properly sold?” I’ve found that this means the customer gets a lot more than just the products they purchase from you. They get an expert who understands their business goals and can represent those goals within their organization. They get an advocate who communicates to manufacturers/suppliers on their behalf.

They get a problem-solver who knows where to go and what to do to get things done without passing the buck. They get a pro that learns to anticipate their needs and solve problems they don’t even have yet. Don’t just deliver for your customers… over-deliver.

Commit completely to what you do, accept nothing less than your absolute best when you do it and do it for your customers, not yourself. This will lay a firm foundation for being a respected sales professional instead of just another salesperson.

Until next time…

In addition to the exhibit hall, EXHIBITOR2012 features a conference offering more than 220 seminars, workshops, field trips and Peer2Peer Roundtables in seven different learning tracks. Sessions include information on creative strategies, organization and time management, maximizing sales leads, social media, pre-show planning, case studies, a Graphics Boot Camp and more, grouped into seven main categories: Measurement and Results, Planning and Execution, Marketing and Communications, Corporate Events, Personal and Career, Exhibits and Experiences and Global (the effects of globalization on the trade show industry).

Whether you provide graphics for, or exhibit at trade shows, EXHIBITOR2012 might be worth a look this year. The show is hosted by EXHIBITOR Magazine, which reports that this year’s show has grown from last year.

“This is the second year in a row that we have needed to expand the floor plan to make more room for large exhibits. Already, more than 65 island exhibits have been sold for EXHIBITOR2012,” said Carol Fojtik, managing director of EXHIBITOR2012. “We had 53 island exhibits in 2011. This year’s expansion allows us to accommodate the needs of both large and small exhibitors who are now on our waiting list for space.”

For more information about the conference sessions and to register to attend, go to www.EXHIBITOR2012.com. If you’re interested in exhibiting, contact Jeff Naccarato at exhibitor2012@heiexpo.com or call 877-394-2114.

Since that time, their company – Post Up Stand – has burgeoned into a shop that employs 41 and runs 14 different printers, ranging from two Canon iPF8000S printers from LexJet to a number of solvent printers and the two latest additions, a direct-to-fabric dye-sublimation printer and a two-step dye-sublimation system.

Co-owner Alon Weiner says the company’s growth can be attributed to three things: Aggressive online and national in-flight magazine marketing and advertising, constant investing in printer technology and an emphasis on customer service.

Of course, everyone says they practice top-notch customer service, but Post Up Stand has a department dedicated to it, led by someone they hired recently to manage that team, Tina Schulte, who has more than 15 years of experience managing customer service teams. The added emphasis on having a direct customer service team has helped develop that all important referral marketing component.

“Hiring a customer service manager made for a tremendous change in our view of the whole customer service process; it helps us further train our customer service staff and help customers immediately,” explains Weiner. “There’s always a person answering the phone; never a machine. And, we always survey customers after they receive a product from us to make sure they’re happy, and if they aren’t, we make sure to fix it right away.”

Moreover, Weiner explains that the foundation of the company’s customer service philosophy is built around the fact that a good many of their clients call when they need something right away. As everyone in the wide format inkjet business knows, graphics are often last-minute items, and even the word “rush” doesn’t quite hit the mark to describe the turnaround time on those projects.

“Because many of our customers don’t think about it until the last minute, they’re under a lot of pressure, so we’ve built our customer service department with that understanding in order to make the process as easy and quick as possible,” says Weiner. “Also, many of our customers are ordering our product for the first time, or only every few years. They don’t know exactly what they need for their project, so our customer service people are trained to help them find the right product.”

Weiner says that Post Up Stand’s customer service department is similar to what he finds at LexJet. He says that “reliable” and “consistent” are the two words that come to mind to describe LexJet’s products and customer service. “We learn a lot from LexJet because when we have questions we always get answers about the best products for our printers. We get very good direction and help from LexJet,” says Weiner.

In 2012 Weiner says the company will continue its growth curve by adding more equipment and finding more avenues for its expertise. Post Up Stand is well known for its indoor graphics expertise, from exhibit displays to retail graphics, but seeks to grow in the outdoor arena. With a battery of solvent printers, a bevy of outdoor solvent material choices from LexJet and its printing track record, this area of Post Up Stand should grow substantially.

Post Up Stand was recently featured at the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s website as a local example of a company with national reach (95 percent of Post Up Stand’s work is shipped all over the country) thriving during tough economic times.

Click here to read the article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and go to www.postupstand.com for more information about the company.

In the videos embedded below, learn how to load and unload the L26500′s take-up reel when using the heavy loop shaper. The process for using the light plastic loop shaper is the same as the L25500 and that video can be seen here.

LexJet’s YouTube channel currently hosts more than 130 videos divided into nine featured playlists: Canon iPF Printers and Workflow, Epson Stylus Pro Printers and Workflow, HP Printers and Workflow, Education, Product Demonstrations, Onyx RIP, Display Hardware, Infinium and Around LexJet.

“Most of LexJet’s videos are produced based on customer requests for help with troubleshooting various print processes, from developing and preparing a wide format job in the software to finishing the graphic once it’s printed,” explains Sean McGettigan, LexJet’s video production director. “Though our customer specialists are here to provide free and unlimited product and technical support, the videos are an excellent supplement to our services.”

The Printer and Workflow playlists for Canon, Epson and HP include printer setup videos, how-to videos for printing through various applications (like Photoshop, Illustrator and PDFs), troubleshooting and demonstrations of various printer functions, like properly loading media and ink.

The Education, Product Demonstration and Display Hardware playlists include how-to videos on a number of subjects, like how to coat canvas, how to use Sunset Stretcher Bars for canvas wraps and step-by-step banner stand assembly.

The Onyx RIP playlist shows users how to use the Onyx RIP to maximize efficiency and color output in the wide-format printing process. The Infinium playlist shows how the industry’s first transportable and conformable print material can be applied to a range of substrates, from leather to wood, and the Around LexJet playlist gives an inside view of LexJet’s unique culture at its offices in Sarasota.

According to McGettigan, viewership at LexJet’s YouTube channel increased by more than 1,000 percent in 2011 over the previous year, and plans are in progress to continue this growth curve by introducing five to ten new videos per month in 2012.

For more information and to stay updated on the latest technologies and products for wide format inkjet printing and how to use them, go to www.youtube.com/lexjet.

Touted as the industry’s first transportable, conformable graphic, Frederick wanted to make sure it performed as advertised before trying it on a project. Looking around the shop, he spied a skull sitting on a shelf someone in the shop had been given as a gag gift.

The skull had all the elements he was looking for – lots of nooks and crannies and irregular surfaces – and Frederick went to work on it with an appropriate graphic.

“They say it’s conformable, and the test was successful. We’re pleased with the way it turned out. I’ve got some more ideas but haven’t had a chance to test anything else. We have a customer we print templates for that uses them as guides to carve cedar logs. He’s bringing some rough cedar and we’ll experiment with that as well,” says Frederick. “I used a generic vinyl profile and it seemed to work fine; it prints especially well in the dark colors. We’re really excited about it for future projects.”

The Infinium was printed with the company’s Roland solvent printer and applied using a heat gun and foam-textured surface applicators from 3M; a hot laminator for flat substrates like leather or canvas will work as well. Frederick says it took about 30-45 minutes to wrap and some of the steps in the process are shown in the photos.

“The material worked really well and sank right down into some of the really deep spots. I also found that using a printhead cleaning swab for the smaller areas worked really well,” explains Frederick. “I kept my heat gun set on about 970 degrees. That is the temp we usually use for installing textured wall wraps. The force of the air worked nicely for helping the material sink into some of the concave areas.”

The initial results are in from LexJet customers who picked up the new LexJet Large Format Graphics Sales & Application Guides – one geared toward aqueous printers and the other toward solvent, low-solvent, UV-curable and latex printers (SUV) – and the Guides are performing as designed and beyond expectations.

“I’m really drooling over this Application Guide. As my rep, Jason Dragash, was describing it over the phone, it pales in comparison to actually seeing it in front of you,” says Les Blevins, owner of Palette Arts, a fine art and photographic reproduction company in Nipomo, Calif. “Just seeing what my options are for media opens up new doors for me, so I’m really excited about it, especially since I got a new Canon iPF8300 from LexJet. It blows my old printers away with the color spectrum. With the six-color printers I was using I would get up against the fence and pretty much stay there because their color gamut was limited. But when you add a true color wheel of red, green and blue, a couple of grays and another black to the mix, I’ve climbed over the fence with the Canon and I’m in pastures I’ve never been in before.”

Blevins says the Application Guide is more than a simple sample book, but a true sales and production tool. It’s simple, in-depth and provides a professional presentation so his clients are given real freedom of choice, he says. Moreover, the key component, at least for Blevins since the majority of his work is art and photo reproduction, is consistency.

“I’ve seen a lot of other sample books and they use different images for each paper. On the other hand, LexJet’s Application Guide uses one image and shows it across all the media offered, which shows me where the color may change and what it will look like across the different media, so that was a really smart move,” explains Blevins. “I can actually hold the Sunset Fibre Satin, for example, look at that image and go forward to the Sunset Velvet Rag and see the real differences between the two. I can see that the Sunset Velvet Rag is actually brighter and more contrasted than the Satin. It allows me to do a direct comparison because I now know as a printer that I’ll see the same differences using the same image on different media. Ultimately, it lets me and my clients gauge what kind of effect we want and choose the paper based on that, which is why I really like the guide.”

The Sales & Applications Guides are $89 and include sheets of banner materials, display films, vinyl media, fine art and photo papers, wall coverings, complete trade show and point of purchase solutions, and various laminates.

Each product includes a brief description, as well as features, applications and technical details. One half of the media is printed and the other is blank so customers can see how colors reproduce on each material and the texture, surface properties and base color of the material before it’s printed.

Supplies are limited, so to purchase a LexJet Sales & Application Guide (Aqueous and SUV), contact a LexJet account specialist at 800-453-9538 or you can order them on the Web at the links above. Like all LexJet products, the Large Format Graphics Sales & Application Guides come with a 30-Day Money Back Guarantee, $9.99 flat rate shipping anywhere in the U.S. and Canada and fast delivery from one of LexJet’s 15 nationwide distribution centers.