‘The answer is ‘yes’ what’s the question?’
Lance Hill is managing director of Nottingham-based digital print and direct mail specialist Eight Days a Week Print Solutions.
Joining the business in September 2019 Lance has a wealth of experience and expertise from over three decades in the print and direct mail industry. His insight as previous head of media specialists at Royal Mail™ has helped deliver an outstanding performance for the business in 2021 against the unprecedented challenges we’ve all faced.
No two days are the same. The best thing about my job is the diversity and how each day is very different with unique challenges and opportunities. I am lucky to have a great team of people who know their jobs, what our customer’s demands are and the journey we are on, together.
We’re investing for growth. Our short-term aim is to continue our organic growth, both from our existing customers and the new ones we are targeting through increased capacity and developing products and services.
We are investing in both hardware and software which support our plans for broadening our offering into other channels that complement our core of digital print. Our new services will be primarily focused on local businesses in the East Midlands initially.
Print is making a strong comeback. At a high level one of the biggest challenges facing our industry is declining volumes in printed media and the competition with other channels such as online, digital and mobile that has been having an impact for a number of years.
However, there is now a greater level of insight and research that supports our channel. Many brands are seeing the strength of print in amongst the mass of emails and other digital platforms due to the greater cut through and longevity a printed piece can have in the home.
Advancing technology in digital media has impacted how consumers interact with brands and how brands plan their media spend. In many respects it has been a wakeup call for print and advertising mail to invest in measurement tools and insight to better understand the interaction and engagement with print.
There is now evidence to prove that mail stays in the home longer, has more value and is passed on to others, proving the return-on-investment argument.
The impact has been the demise of several large print and marketing services providers, margins were too tight and when the demand dropped the end was inevitable for some.
“The answer is ‘yes’ what’s the question?” This reflects our can-do attitude that runs through the DNA of our business. We have a very strong customer focused team, and once we have a customer on board we ‘service the hell out of them’ to coin a phrase of our chairman.
Never assume and don’t be afraid to challenge. I’ve learnt over the years that there is no such thing as a stupid question.
The late Ron Welch was a big influence on my career. He was the founder of two very significant printing business I have worked for. I regularly speak with his son, Robin, who is also a great business leader, and sounding board.
I also gained a lot of knowledge about leadership and coaching from my time at Royal Mail from their former group sales director, Graham Davis.
I don’t have a single source for inspiration, there is not one person who stands out, rather I look at various leaders and their best bits. However, if I had to pinpoint one it would be Michael Finnigan, the founder of i2i who is on a different level!
Taking time out is vital. While I enjoy work life immensely, there’s always time for my family, cycling, football and cooking, along with craft beer and wine!
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