Images magazine Digital Edition April 2018

TIPS & TECHNIQUES www.images-magazine.com 34 images APRIL 2018 simple ‘internal client’ model in your shop, tweaking it to fit the way you work. Step 1: Sales Quoting and order entry The sales force must conduct a complete customer interview, gathering and recording the information needed to formulate a quote, secure a quote approval, and then collect any remaining information necessary for the formal order. The essential information to be collected includes: Contact information – including preferred contact method and time Garment specs – style, colour and quantity Decoration – all specifics related to method, means and execution Source images/art information – including any specific thread colours, font names and source files needed for art and digitising I t’s late; you’re setting up today’s last job and must finish by closing. You’ve promised pick-up for tomorrow morning’s event, but you can’t find the thread colour for the red garments you’ve just unpacked. This all-red logotype will be invisible on these new staff shirts and the only information reads ‘same as the last set’, but you know you’ve never run on red before. The salesperson handling the order won’t answer their phone. The order hangs on either finding missing information on-site or contacting the customer at the last minute, therefore revealing that you weren’t prepared to deliver, mere hours before their event. You swallow your pride and call to find out the decision maker is inaccessible during event set-up. This is a problem; one that could cost you this client’s lifetime business. Those who have experienced stories like this understand, as I wrote last month, the importance of information. When I described the ‘internal client’ model of information management in the previous article, in which each department in a shop is treated as the client of the department before them in the workflow, I only explained that each is given a complete ‘product’ consisting of everything necessary to undertake their portion of the job. What I shall explore and explain in this article is how to define specific expectations for each stage of production so they can serve as actionable guides for how information should flow. With this, you can readily implement a In the second instalment of his two-part series on workflow, Erich Campbell walks us through creating a killer workflow system for your embroidery business The ultimate guide to masteringworkflow Note: Though the best method for handling information includes a computerised central storage and access system, even entirely analogue [pen and paper] methods of information handling can benefit from the model as described. That said, all stages and tasks are easier to manage if you have a well- ordered, centralised and backed-up system for order management and information storage. [Above] Style guides like this one can provide you with background information, making design and colour decisions simple, even if the representative placing the order isn't fully aware of the 'rules' of reproduction. [Above] Even though we embroiderers are skilled at visually matching colours to thread, it’s well-known that perceived thread colour changes with stitch angle and that not all colours can be found in any given brand. That’s why it can be very helpful to have any in-house visiting customers verify your choices for thread colours. They might favour a darker colour rather than a lighter colour when there’s no perfect match, and there’s no way to really see thread colour and the play of light if you are not in person. You can collect further information to produce highly specialised, more valuable work: ask how the garments will be used, who will wear them, in what circumstances and how they will be seen. Supporting style information from the customer’s corporate