One of the great things about my job is that I get the chance to visit a lot of shops and talk to the owners. In July, I had the opportunity to visit Mike Stevens’ operation, Express Press, in Fargo, N.D. Mike will be one of the featured speakers at Print Ontario in November. The closest large city to Fargo is Winnipeg, so Mike has a certain affinity with Canada. He also has faced most of the same problems that many small- to mid-size printers face in Canada.
Fargo and its surrounding area have a population of about 120,000 with 4,500 businesses. This is Mike’s main market. Competition in this market is brutal with one printer for every 160 businesses. Too many competitors, too much equipment around and too low prices. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
Despite the competition and a market that isn’t expanding very rapidly, Mike has grown Express Press from sales of $10,000 a month to $250,000 a month. Most of his work is in the business card to 11" x 17" newsletter/brochure class and he only has one press that is larger than 14" x 20" (which only runs occasionally). He makes far and above industry profits and his company is still growing.

A colleague and I spent the better part of a day snooping around Mike Stevens’ shop, talking to his staff and watching what was going on.
Some of the reasons for Mike’s success became obvious right away. His marketing and advertising is some of the best I have seen in the industry—ten times better than most companies in the $100-million-plus range. Many of his ideas are not elaborate or expensive but practical and simple; they get customers’ and potential customers’ attention. He is a big believer in consistency and repetition when it comes to advertising. So far, Mike has built his sales without a sales rep.
Inside the four walls of Express Press the first thing you notice is the positive attitude. It shows everywhere. It’s the number one criterion for working at Express Press. In fact, the number one criterion used for evaluating pay raises is attitude. Do employees have a “whatever it takes” attitude? Are they fun to work with? How do they treat other workers? Are they enthusiastic?

Mike did up an interesting poster that hangs in an area where all staff can see it. The last couple of lines read: “If you’re having a good day, share it. If you’re having a bad day, fake it. The rest of us don’t want to hear about it.”
The staff attitude shows in the quality of work, and the cleanliness of the shop and equipment. Even old equipment looks like it’s almost new. In fact, Express Press is one of the cleanest shops I have ever seen, large or small.
Nothing is left to chance. Staff work from a system where everyone knows what needs to be done. The drivers’ delivery route is even planned out several days in advance on a city map to save him time. Most jobs are turned around in a couple of days. Yet, Express Press runs with hardly any inventory. Plates, ink and stock always seem to arrive just-in-time to go to press.
The interesting thing about visiting Mike Stevens’ operation was seeing the ideas that he uses. A lot of the ideas, I believe, could not only work in small printers but also in mid-size and larger shops. If you get a chance to hear Mike Stevens’ seminar at Print Ontario, I would highly recommend it. Mike has promised plenty of handout materials, including the “if you are having a bad day” poster