Small and Medium Business Printing Blog

Choosing Fearlessly

kate_sheofsky — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:56:00 GMT

Anneliese Olson
Director, HP LaserJet Category Management

Choosing Fearlessly? Is that something you do in your business every day? I have talked to a lot of customers who take risks in their businesses every day but do not want to touch their technology decisions with a ten-foot pole. When you’re in business, you usually want to be focused on running your business, not worried about the technology that runs it.

Take a look at this latest video dialogue HP is having with our customers (click the video on the right-hand side). Have a listen to testimonials with other small and medium business customers like you.

What do you think? Let us know by using the comment link below this post. The team is testing some new waters with this approach.

Technorati tags: hp, Hewlett Packard, printers, laser printers, laserjet, inkjet printers, small business, medium business

HP Blogs are migrating to a new platform

warren.sander@hp.com — Wed, 21 May 2008 20:16:00 GMT

Anneliese Olson
Director, HP LaserJet Category Management

I wanted to let you know that HP blogs will be migrating to a new platform over the next week. As of Friday, May 23, I won't be posting to my blog and won't be able to receive any comments submitted. Please hold your comments until June 1 when our new site will be live.

New HP eBook: “Nine Steps to Outstanding Market Success”. HP talks with author Oliver Fritsch

warren.sander@hp.com — Tue, 20 May 2008 20:58:00 GMT

Anneliese Olson
Director, HP LaserJet Category Management

Have you wondered what eBooks are? Do you ever wonder what next step you should take to catapult your business to the next level? I had a conversation recently that should help answer both questions for you.

I sat down with marketing expert Oliver Fritsch, the creative mind behind HP’s eBook “Nine Steps to Outstanding Market Success”. Oliver is the CEO of Cendesic, a full service search and digital marketing agency. “Nine Steps to Outstanding Market Success” is a new book for small business owners that’s geared at providing actionable marketing and sales advice. The advice is practical, a breeze to read, and each chapter is full of checklists, worksheets and tips.

You can download this book free from HP.com for the six months before its official publishing date (a $39.95 value). The first three chapters are available for download now, and a new chapter is available for download each month. This month’s topic is “Prospecting.” It really focuses you in on thinking about who your customers are and how you approach and manage them in the best way.

During our interview, Oliver talked about why he started a small business and the freedom he feels due to owning his own business. Oliver shared some great thoughts during our conversation about how to get started with your business. Have a listen to Oliver’s insights and advice now.

To listen to our entire SMB Community Podcast series, go here.

Technorati tags: hp, Hewlett Packard, printers, laser printers, laserjet, inkjet printers, small business, medium business

How a Chat with HP can save you time and headaches!

warren.sander@hp.com — Wed, 14 May 2008 21:43:00 GMT

Anneliese Olson
Director, HP LaserJet Category Management

Shopping for tech products can be a chore. Often that’s because it’s difficult to find a quick answer to a simple yet vital question.

Who hasn’t experienced the pain of shopping in a big box store and not being able to find someone – anyone -- with enough expertise to explain a product feature or comparison product? And while websites are packed with info to help you easily research a purchase decision, not every question gets asked and answered on the FAQs page.

Sometimes, you just need 30 seconds with an expert. We understand. And that’s why HP small and medium business shoppers can get assistance in real-time with our HP Chat team.

I talked with HP Chat manager Diann Davids last week. HP Chat provides pre-sales support for hp products online on hp.com for small business, enterprise and public sector customers. They are chartered to help customers with their purchase process by answering questions about product specifications, helping customers understand their needs, and creating solutions for customers to meet those needs – regardless of whether you buy products from HP or your favorite reseller. The HP team offers live chat Monday through Friday from 8am to 8pm EST (5am to 5pm PST) for many product lines.

(I’ve personally used HP Chat function on several occasions. I recently upgraded my home computer to Windows Vista and had to get new drivers working for my peripherals. The support I received from HP Chat was fantastic.)

I encourage you to take a listen to our conversation. Diane has a great ability to focus in on customer needs and wants to make sure HP meets those needs. Come see if the team can meet your business needs: visit hp.com and engage in a chat conversation today!

To listen to our entire SMB Community Podcast series, go here.

Technorati tags: hp, Hewlett Packard, printers, laser printers, laserjet, inkjet printers, small business, medium business

Branding Bootcamp: Build your company’s story

warren.sander@hp.com — Tue, 06 May 2008 17:41:00 GMT

Does your business have a brand? Can you rely on your brand to represent your company? More importantly, does your business have a story? Is it easy for people to understand your value proposition? If you answered no, or you are at least scratching your head, you need to take a look at HP’s Branding Bootcamp …

Branding Bootcamp is a new offering from HP that helps you and your business be more successful in communicating your brand’s value and telling your story. We are working with small business owners like you and walking them through the steps needed to build a better brand.

Our first case study features Sweetpea Bicycles, a small business in Portland, Oregon. Sweetpea wants to enhance and expand their marketing materials to cover customer acquisition, product manufacturing, and repeat orders from their existing customer base. But they’re not sure where to start.

HP – with the help from the members in our Small and Medium Business Community –will take Sweetpea Bicycles through the process of developing a complete marketing kit, including a logo refresh, brochures, letterhead, postcards, and more.

You can participate in the featured case studies by voting, contributing comments, asking questions and sharing your experience and expertise. Your opinions could possibly affect the design decisions that Sweetpea has to make, so make your voice heard.

In return, HP’s Branding Bootcamp will provide you with tools, templates and step-by-step guides for building your brand no matter what stage your business is in. HP will summarize each phase of Sweetpea’s Branding Bootcamp into free eBooks that you will be able to download and use for your business.

Have some fun with this!

Like all businesses, we at HP need to evolve and change too. To do that, we need to hear from you. What do you think about these tools? Do you have recommendations on how to improve them? Please share your thoughts by submitting a comment.

Technorati tags: hp, Hewlett Packard, printers, laser printers, laserjet, inkjet printers, small business, medium business. Branding bootcamp

Podcast Series: HP and Staples-- Serving SMB customers is our job

warren.sander@hp.com — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:42:00 GMT

Anneliese Olson
Director, HP LaserJet Category Management

Serving SMB customers is at the heart of what I do here at HP. I had a great conversation recently with someone else who cares a lot about those same customers. I’m excited to share with you the first channel partner interview we’ve done via podcast for this community.

This conversation was with Candy Murphy from Staples. She is Vice President of Staples’ Contract Technology Solutions business and is responsible for serving small business customers through all their “non-store” selling motions. Staples has a strong business-to-business selling motion and looks to help small businesses solve problems. Candy has a great and interesting background and has been an insightful business partner over the past few years.

Take a listen and let us know what you think. What kinds of things do you consider when you are choosing where you will purchase HP products and services? You can also check out the HP store within the Staples site here.

Technorati tags: hp, Hewlett Packard, printers, laser printers, laserjet, inkjet printers, small business, medium business, Staples

Free eBook for Small Businesses from HP: Nine Steps to Outstanding Market Success

warren.sander@hp.com — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:40:00 GMT

Anneliese Olson
Director, HP LaserJet Category Management

Nine Steps to Outstanding Market Success is a new eBook from HP offered to small businesses to help improve your marketing activities and increase your sales. You can check out the eBook website here.

How does it work? Every month we will publish a new chapter that you can download; All chapters are available for free before it is published and sold (retail price will be $39.95 at that time). There is also a nice feature on the site that allows you to sign up for e-mail reminders when a new chapter becomes available for download.

The book is organized well. The chapters are as follows:

Chapter 1: Focusing
Chapter 2: Innovating
Chapter 3: Prospecting
Chapter 4: Budgeting
Chapter 5: Branding
Chapter 6: Being Found
Chapter 7: Promoting
Chapter 8: Connecting
Chapter 9: Growing

It really goes through all the steps you would need to consider when starting a business, developing your company’s brand, staying true to your business purpose and philosophy and figuring out how and when to grow. The creators of the book are Oliver Fritsch and Ines Bitsch, who are part of Cendesic; both have sales and marketing expertise that, when brought together in this eBook, delivers a powerful tool for entrepreneurs and small business owners.

I downloaded and went through the first chapter myself to get a feel for it. Chapter 1 is all about “focus” and figuring out what business you are really in. It is about getting really clear about your passion, what your skills are and honing in on defining what you are trying to sell as a business owner. The part I liked the most was about understanding your strengths. Knowing what you are good at and how you plan to use those skills is critical to running a business. By knowing your strengths, you will be able to determine which areas will require the assistance of others.

Is your focus clear in your business? How did you determine what you could do on your own versus what you needed help with?

Feel free to share your ideas and experiences by using the comment link below.

Technorati tags: hp, Hewlett Packard, printers, laser printers, laserjet, inkjet printers, small business, medium business, small business marketing

Outshine your competition with HP In-House Marketing Solutions & save up to 50%

warren.sander@hp.com — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:03:00 GMT

Anneliese Olson
Director, HP LaserJet Category Management

Today, we are launching a number of new printers and printing solutions for you, our small business customer. It is exciting for me to finally be able to talk about them publicly! You can see the detailed press release here, but here are a few of my personal highlights:

1. First, take a look at this video about one of our customers, Far and Away Adventures (the video is called “Adventures Come Alive with HP: In-House Marketing Increases Bookings.”) It is neat to hear things straight from customers themselves.

The people who own Far and Away Adventures said that being able to deliver customized pieces like this to send to their customers “blows them away.” Customization is everything to them now; they are able to create a custom piece for someone they speak to on the phone about their services and put it in the mail right away. They can tailor the piece to the services that were discussed on the phone call to make it match with the desired experience or vacation that the customer is looking for. Think how great you feel when you get that level of personalization from someone.

And, the fact that they have saved money and grown their business at the same time is something all businesses could use.

2. Another cool thing is the new Marketing Impressions site we have launched; this site is focused on helping you grow your business while saving you money. There are a number of free resources, templates, and tools at your disposal. One new piece we have listed on this site that I will write more about this week is the Market Success eBook. Go have a look and download the first chapter for free.

3. The new Color LaserJet CP 1518ni is a cool LaserJet printer (Mike Forbes is the product manager on my team responsible for this product and he is very passionate about his printers and his customers. I’m inviting him to do a podcast soon.)

It is very compact and fits nicely on a desktop- and it is priced at $399. It has media slots so you can just walk up and print out whatever you need. The printer also ships with marketing resources in the box, one of which is the HP Print View software. The software allows you to view print jobs in advance and estimate the document costs to avoid the frustration of unanticipated costs and reprints, depending on how many copies you are looking to print.

4. We also released a new version of HP Easy Printer Care. This software makes your devices easier to maintain, easier to monitor and easier to keep up and running. You can generate usage reports and reorder supplies- all in a single tool!

Take a look around the sites and let me know what you think is interesting. Does the story of Far and Away Adventures resonate with you? What do you think about the Marketing Impression site?

Inquiring minds want to know …

Technorati tags: hp, Hewlett Packard, printers, laser printers, laserjet, inkjet printers, small business, medium business, Color LaserJet CP 1518ni, HP easy printer care, marketing impressions

Do you have a chief creativity officer in your business?

warren.sander@hp.com — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 22:27:00 GMT

Anneliese Olson
Director, HP LaserJet Category Management

Creativity is a skill that all businesses need to have. However, creativity isn’t always something that comes naturally. As a small business owner, you probably have many hats to wear. You are the owner, manager, accountant, product developer, supply chain manager and marketing director all in one.

At HP, we are big enough to have different people in all of those roles, and in some cases, we have entire departments covering a particular function. There are times when acting like a small business comes in handy. For example, small businesses are started out of passion and creativity; that is a great thing for a larger business to remember.

We have a person in our group that helps our “large” organization remember our passion, our creativity and our customers; her name is Tara Agen. Tara is our Small and Medium Business “Chief of Staff” in the HP Imaging and Printing Small Business group here in the US. She is responsible for keeping the group on strategy (and she makes sure our boss stays on track J) but she also moonlights as our “Chief Creativity Officer” (I made that title up for her).

She manages to both generate new ideas and help guide us down the path to get those ideas kicked off. She has great vision and has a knack for planting seeds of creativity everywhere in our organization. She sees trends in the technology industry and draws connections for various teams in our group for how we might apply them. She reminds people that they need to look up from their desks and their day-to-day job and pay attention to things around them. Most recently, she has been an internal champion for our Print 2.0 initiative and making sure we stay relevant to customers like you.

I had a chance to talk to Tara recently at our FY08 Small Business kick-off. You can listen in on our conversation here. She cares a lot about small business customers and their perspective. You can also catch her blogging in various locations on the web (on the Small and Medium Business Printing Community, you can see her as TaraPrintingPlus).

Do you have a chief creativity officer in your business? Is that you? What kind of things do you need creative help with to run your business?

Technorati tags: hp, Hewlett Packard, printers, laser printers, laserjet, inkjet printers, small business, medium business

What do you have to say? HP wants to hear from you

warren.sander@hp.com — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 22:10:00 GMT

Anneliese Olson
Director, HP LaserJet Category Management

Prizes, prizes, prizes! We have them, but we need to hear from you. If you haven’t heard, HP is running a contest for small businesses. Here is the deal- in your own words, describe your business and your marketing/branding challenges and why you would benefit from refreshing or recreating your business’ brand image. The winners can receive HP printers and supplies or, even better, the grand prize of a Logoworks by HP Start-Up Package along with a color laser printer and supplies; the package is valued at $3500.

If you haven’t had a chance to check out the services Logoworks by HP offers, take a look. Whether you are just starting with a concept or a logo idea, or you are already creating brochures and other marketing materials, they have some great ideas for you.

Click here to learn more…contest ends February, 28, 2008!

Technorati tags:hp, Hewlett Packard, printers, laser printers, laserjet, inkjet printers, small business, medium business, logoworks

Podcast: Manage your printing with one easy, monthly payment with HP Smart Printing Services

warren.sander@hp.com — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 22:10:00 GMT

Anneliese Olson
Director, HP LaserJet Category Management

I have talked to a number of small business customers over the years and one statement I hear time and time again is that you are willing to consider anything that would save you time and money. You are in business because you have passion and expertise in a particular product, service or experience you can deliver; you are not in business to make technology decisions.

I had a conversation recently with John Ball, our program lead for HP Smart Printing Services here in the US. John and I talked about HP’s Smart Printing Services offering and the value it can bring to small and medium businesses. You can also find more information at our Smart Printing Services website.

Take a listen to the podcast and let me know what you think. Are Smart Printing Services something that could help you save time or save money in your business?

Technorati tags: hp, Hewlett Packard, printers, laser printers, laserjet, inkjet printers, small business, medium business, community podcast series

Making New Year’s resolutions for your small business? HP can help!

warren.sander@hp.com — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 21:29:00 GMT

Anneliese Olson
Director, HP LaserJet Category Management

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a fun and safe holiday. Here we are…starting off 2008. We’ve all made resolutions- some personal, some professional. Setting goals is a good thing; however, we need to be SMART when setting them (many of you have probably heard of SMART goals; SMART is a goal-setting acronym, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant and Time-based goals). Another easy way we talk about setting goals inside of HP is the following formula:

Noun + Verb + Date = Results

I picked up my local paper after the new year and read Rhonda Abrams’ column titled “Resolutions for Small Businesses” (she is the president of The Planning Shop, a publisher of books for entrepreneurs- our paper features her once a week). She had a good list of twelve resolutions for small businesses but a handful of them stood out to me in particular:

*Evaluate what you did right

*Treat your employees right

*Increase your efforts with best customers

*Market, Market, Market

*Keep Learning

Evaluating what you did right and treating your employees right are two things you can do to really set a positive stage for the year. Employees are the backbone of a business’ success. You can have a great product or service but if employees don’t like what they do, if they are treated poorly or if good employees aren’t retained, you will have a challenge growing your business. Good employees are a key asset to success. Also, evaluating what you did right in your business and continuing to do those things well as you improve other areas is important.

Increasing your efforts with your best customers is an area not everyone thinks about very often. We’ve all heard the research that getting a new customer costs 8 times more than retaining an existing one. If you foster the relationship you have with existing customers, you build customer loyalty. The higher the loyalty, the harder it is for that customer to switch and go somewhere else. Also, loyal customers will often provide you a chance to sell them other products and services.

Based on what we’ve heard from you and research we’ve seen, Rhonda is right on by telling businesses to “market, market, market.” Being able to effectively market your business is critical to your success. There are so many opportunities to market your business that range in price and complexity. In this economy, you may have to get creative on how to market to your customers. Most importantly, every time a customer or potential customer sees or hears about your company, you need to convey your brand identity. There are multiple in-house marketing solutions from HP that can help you along this continuum- whether you are just starting out and need your logo and business cards created or you are ready to create new marketing brochures.

Finally, a focus to keep learning is a mantra I try to live by every day. We all have to keep up with market trends, industry trends, and other areas that impact both our professional and personal lives. Rhonda had a great quote in the article: “Your brain is your most important business asset. Add to it.”

As a small business, what are your resolutions for 2008? Does this list of resolutions apply to you? What other ones would you add?

Lastly, I have to apologize. I did not plan to take such a long break over the holidays from writing for this community! Well, I wasn’t on holiday this whole time…just got a little consumed with work since January 1^st. I promise to get back in the saddle to bring you relevant content. Please remember to share your thoughts with me about what else you’d like to discuss.

Technorati tags: hp, Hewlett Packard, printers, laser printers, laserjet, inkjet printers, small business, medium business

Happy Holidays from HP!

warren.sander@hp.com — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 20:00:00 GMT

Anneliese Olson
Director, HP LaserJet Category Management

I wanted to reach out one more time before the holidays. I want to wish you and your business happy holidays and a happy new year. I hope 2008 brings you good customers, fun work and profits!

Before we leave 2007, I wanted to share a little holiday cheer on behalf of HP. We, too, are experimenting with using Web 2.0 as a marketing tool and below is an example of that. Click and enjoy!

HP employees get a chance to give back

warren.sander@hp.com — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 19:34:00 GMT

Anneliese Olson
Director, HP LaserJet Category Management

Last month, about 120 HP employees (all focused on small and medium business customers like you) met in Colorado Springs to kick off our business goals for 2008. I have a few tidbits from the meetings that I’ll share in an upcoming post, but in the meantime, I wanted to share a thought or two about my favorite part of the meetings.

On the third day of our conference, the HP group organized into small teams to go out and serve the community. I got a chance to volunteer at the Boys and Girls Club in Colorado Springs. I helped a 6-year-old with her homework, created a few holiday art projects, and I got a chance to play basketball, too (my favorite sport!) It was a great way to spend an afternoon.

One HP group got to help with yard work and Christmas lights for a woman whose husband has been deployed in Iraq. The HP team there knocked out a few weeks worth of work in one afternoon, and a Colorado Springs news team dropped by to capture the afternoon with the family.

HP’s commitment to community service is one of the things I like most about my company. What about your business? What’s your take on community? Do you need some ideas on how your business can help your city? Let us know.

Technorati tags: hp, Hewlett Packard, printers, laser printers, laserjet, inkjet printers, small business, medium business

Buy from the Channel or Buy Direct? HP Lets the Customer Decide

warren.sander@hp.com — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 18:28:00 GMT

Anneliese Olson
Director, HP LaserJet Category Management

HP gives small business customers options of where and how to buy their products, solutions and services- and we've been doing it for a long time. We have a large network of channel partners who service you. We also have our own direct selling motions to buy direct from HP, whether it be from our website, our call center or our direct sales reps. We get questions from you, our customers and channel partners, about HP’s go-to-market strategy and whether we are trying to prioritize one selling motion over another. I figured it was time to tackle the conversation directly.

I recently pulled together several people inside of HP to discuss this exact topic and we recorded this podcas t. I invited the right people to the table:

Scott Anderson, Vice President of the US Commercial Channel organization for Imaging and Printing
Mark Patton, Director for HP Direct Sales in the US
Mike Monroe, Director for HP’s Direct Operations in the US

We all work together in driving SMB sales and are often meeting around the same table. We discussed the different Route-To-Market strategies that we deploy in the marketplace. If you’ve had questions about HP's stance on this, it is worth a listen.

One interesting topic we discussed was around HP’s representatives who make up the Small and Medium Business Chat group. These folks provide pre and post-sales support via the website. When you log on to the HP SMB store, you can initiate a conversation with these reps and they can answer your questions. They will also ping you if you get stuck on any particular page to see if you need more information. They receive all types of questions ranging from simple (I have an HP LaserJet 4 but am looking to upgrade to color- what should I buy?) to complex (I am thinking about replacing my copier since the contract is about to expire- what kind of multi-function solutions will meet my needs over a network?) They do all of this to provide customer service and to help people select the right products and services to meet your needs. They let you decide if and how you want to buy. If you have a favorite partner you purchase from, they route the sale to them. If you prefer to buy from HP directly, they can assist you with that. The level of service these chat reps provide is amazing!

Lastly, one thing these directors all have in common is their focus on the customer experience. The customer is at the forefront of what they do every day. They want to make sure every HP employee and every channel partner are in a position to deliver HP’s value propositions and can meet your needs as customers.

Have a listen and let us know what you think.

Technorati tags: hp, Hewlett Packard, printers, laser printers, laserjet, inkjet printers, small business, medium business