Shipping
something to Candid Color Systems via DHL?
To expedite delivery, use our exclusive
73000 DHL Zip Code.
February 2nd, 2007
Hong Kong
by Jack
Counts, Jr.
 |
 |
Working
hard to grow your business has its rewards. But
wouldn’t you really like to grow your business, and win
a once in a lifetime trip to Hong
Kong at the same time? It’s
possible!!
Hong Kong is one of the most exciting places on
the whole planet. It has everything – a rich culture – unbelievable
shopping – incredible restaurants – colorful festivals - gambling – and
an outstanding night life. Importantly, it offers a terrific view of life
in the fast paced Pacific rim – where so much is happening today. You
don’t want to miss this trip!
This online
video aired on the Today Show; Macau is just 40 miles from Hong Kong and
is home to the world’s biggest casino.
All CCS customers have a chance to win a fabulous trip to Hong
Kong following the CCS Winter Seminar
2008 – site to be determined shortly.
An increase in CCCS print finishing of $30,000 will get you
a trip to Hong Kong, or as little
as a 5% increase in finishing if you currently do $100,000 or more with CCS.
Check out the CCS newsletter each week for tips on growing your business in 2007
and discover Hong Kong for the
first time.
Here are the criteria for qualifying for a trip:
All print
finishing counts.
All print orders must invoice by December 31, 2007 to count towards this promotion.
There are several ways to win a trip:
1) Any CCS customer that has a $30,000 increase in CCS print finishing wins a
trip.
2) Any CCS customer that did over $100,000 in finishing in 2006 wins a trip with
a 5% increase in CCS finishing in 2007.
3) Any CCS customer that did over $200,000 in finishing in 2006 wins a trip with
a 3% increase in CCS finishing in 2007.
4) Any CCS customer that did over $300,000 in finishing in 2006 wins a trip with
a 2% increase in CCS finishing in 2007.
5) Any CCS customer that did over $500,000 in finishing in 2006 wins a trip with
a 1% increase in CCS finishing in 2007.
6) Any new CCS customer that does over $30,000 in CCS print finishing wins a
trip.
Additional trips can be won by exceeding the above requirements of each category
by $30,000.
For example, if you did $100,000 in lab business in 2006, in 2007 you would need
to do $105,000 to earn your first trip and $135,000 to earn your second trip.
Customers must be a majority owner of all eligible accounts, and print finishing
from multiple accounts will be combined.
Any business acquisitions from other CCS customers will be added into the base
for comparison of same period 2005 vs. 2006.
Maximum of four (4) trips per customer/owner.
First winning trip is NOT transferable; it must be used
by customer/owner.
Customer/owner must not have any outstanding liabilities to Candid Color Systems.
Increases in print finishing will be based on the same period (1/1/2007 thru
12/31/2007) in the previous year.
Each customer’s status will be updated on a quarterly basis using the end-of-month
report. During the last quarter the reports will be updated monthly.
Free
WPPI Show Tickets Available
by Brian Speers
If
you are planning to attend the Wedding and Portrait
Photographers International (WPPI)
Trade Show and Convention, taking place in Las
Vegas on March 26, 27, 28, and would be interested in acquiring some free and
reduced price tickets to the trade show and convention please contact Brian Speers
at x251 or at brians@candid.com.
With close to 7,000 attendees and close to 400 vendors expected, the WPPI
is one of the largest shows in the country and is more than just weddings and
portraits. It is a great place to hear speakers in a variety of photo markets,
test out the latest digital equipment and other assorted photo products, and
be immersed in an intense way in photography; in all its glorious digital shapes
and forms. It doesn’t hurt that this event is staged in Las Vegas,
either.
We have a limited amount of these tickets so please act quickly. If you
plan to attend be sure to stop by the Candid Color Systems’ booth #107.
See
you there!
DHL Shipping Rate Increase
by Kyp Hardaway
 |
Dear CCS Customer,
We have just received confirmation that our negotiated
rates with DHL were affected by their recently announced
general rate increase. Express (overnight) rates increased
approximately 6% and Ground rates increased approximately
5%. An updated rate table for both Express and Ground is
attached.
Please be aware the rate table does not include
any ancillary charges from DHL, such as the Residential
Delivery Fee, nor the Fuel Surcharge. Currently the Fuel
Surcharge for Express is 11.5% and Ground is 3.8%. The
Fuel Surcharge is adjusted monthly, more or less.Some ancillary
charges increased as well. The minimum charge for COD service
increased to $9.00. Both the Residential Delivery charge
and Delivery Area Service charge increased to $2.20 and
the Remote Area Service charge increased to a minimum of
$22.00. Saturday pick up and delivery increased to $15.00.
Please be aware these are not the only ancillary charges
that a shipment may be assessed, these are merely the most
common charges.Please also be aware large shipments that
are relatively light in weight may be subject to a Dimensional
Weight Surcharge. The dimensional weight surcharge formula
for domestic shipments is LxWxH (inches) divided by 250.
The resulting figure, if greater than the actual weight
of the box, is used as the weight for purposes of billing.
To illustrate, consider a typical box of 27” long
x 23” wide x 2” high. The total inches equals
1,242. Divide this by 250 for 4.97, which would be rounded
to 5. This shipment would be billed at 5 pounds unless
the actual weight was higher. There is also an additional
$5.00 charge for boxes with any one side being greater
than 60 inches or with two or more sides greater than 30
inches.
For complete information regarding DHL’s current
rates as well as the Fuel Surcharge, please refer to www.dhl.com.
Thank you for your continued patronage of Candid Color
Systems, Inc.
Sincerely,
Kyp Hardaway, CFO
Collecting
Emails-Why not?
by Evie Sibert
 |
Collecting
email addresses is a proactive marketing technique
that can only help your business. The idea
of being able to reach out and “touch” your
customers—even months after an event—is
a practice that can not only create new sales, but
also add profit dollars to events months after the
event itself.
Any time you ask your customer for their name, address,
etc. you should always request their email address. Make
this information a prerequisite on all information and
order forms and, in fact, make this the first line of the
form.
Not only is it important to collect a primary email address
but it can be beneficial to collect secondary email addresses
as well. Secondary email addresses would include
parents, relatives, grandparents and friends. Emails
can be gathered by passing out a clipboard at events, handing
out email collection cards, having the prerequisite
email address line on all order forms, or harvesting them
from online orders previously placed. To ensure that you
collect a legible address, create boxes for each character
in the email address.
Once your emails are collected the next step is to utilize
them to your advantage in the form of a marketing email.
The most important concept is to understand the goal of
the email and construct it from there. The subject
line is very important because if it is not phrased correctly
it may go unread by the recipient, or worse, rejected as
a spam.
Subject lines in an email should denote the content of
your email such as “Your Graduation Proofs Can
Now Be Viewed Online” or “Last Chance
to Purchase Dance School Photos”. The author
of the email must create interest and urgency when composing
the email. By putting the information in the recipient’s
inbox you are creating awareness of your product and hopefully
the urgency to buy at that moment.
Amassing email addresses is as critical to the success
of your business as your customer’s name or telephone
number. But to do so you have to make the commitment
to do whatever you need to make this an integral part of
your everyday business practices.
FTP Software: New Features and Benefits
by Demetri Barges
The new FTP software is filled with great features and
benefits! There is no searching for an event order number.
Just choose to find your event from QEMS, CORE or QP2.
If you choose to grab the event from QEMS, it will have
the photographer for the event populated. If you choose
to get the event from CORE, you can generate thumbnails
for ID’ing FTP is now more user friendly. It is easy
to learn, and there is little to no training needed! Simply
drag and drop images or choose from a folder. FTP adds
a new folder every time you select a group of images. The
new event manager will allow you to pause low priority
events and move up higher priority events. Also, the event
manager will show you a small thumbnail of the image currently
being FTP’d.
The new FTP helps with time management. You can rotate
the thumbnail of the image, then when you are ready to
FTP you can have the program rotate the images before the
transfer rather than waiting for it to complete. When you
set auto rotation on your camera, FTP will ask you if you
would like to auto rotate. These easy to learn features
will help save you time and effort; therefore, your productivity
will increase greatly!
This new FTP will be available 3/5/07, and is currently
available for those interested in beta testing.
Co-Branded prints are now
available in the QuipPics market.
by Danette
Reinbold
These prints are great for sporting events such as tailgating, golf tournaments,
corporate parties and charity events. They could be used for concerts,
air shows, Mardi Gras parties, St. Patrick’s Day parades, even local Easter
egg hunts, the prospects are endless.
Candid currently offers 5x7 and 8x10 (both vertical and horizontal are available)
co-branded templates for you to download from Candidnet. To create these
products, download the template from candidnet.candid.com. Working within the
guidelines provided, create your artwork, flatten the image and save as a jpeg
file. Then FTP the image to the event order number or if you are creating files
for multiple events, create an event just for your custom artwork.
When you setup your packages, select the modifier – Custom Background artwork. Assign
the order, roll, and frame number for that events artwork image.
There is also a variety of custom templates available for the Race and Sports
markets, so log onto Candidnet – you might just find something to give
you an edge over your competitor. If you have any questions, please give
me a call at 1-800-336-4550 ext 136, or email me at danette.reinbold@candid.com.
The countdown is on for the CCS Winter Seminar in sunny Miami Beach.
by
Dana Hill
The dates are February 26th and 27th, with optional training on Sunday,
February 25th. General session and break-out topics cover a wide range of topics
and markets and with close to 100 CCS customers registered to date, this event
promises to be a great opportunity for networking and idea sharing, too! You
won’t want to miss it. View the revised
agenda. The Groups and Race breakout
have been combined to allow for the addition of another break-out topic – Measurements
Reports.
Please remember to complete your CCS registration.
Also, if you missed the deadline to book your room at
the Eden Roc (the location of the seminar), below are
some other options that are nearby, with indicated starting
room rates.
Holiday Inn
2201 Collins
1-888-Holiday
$169
Oceanfront Grand Hotel
6261 Collins
1-888-FL6-Grand
$122
Comfort Inn & Suites
1238 Collins
1-877-523-5672
$301
Best Western
4333 Collins
305-673-3337
$203
Hi and Low Res Downloadable Images Now Available
in QPIC – QP+
In response to the ever-growing trend and demand for
downloadable images with the teen and college customer,
CCS is now making this product available in the QPIC
market of QP+ in both a hi-resolution and low-resolution
form. The lab cost is .99 and .29, respectively.
The lab description of the products are below:
High Resolution Online Image
Untouched*, unedited copy of the event image as FTPed,
in its original resolution.
Low Resolution Online Image
Untouched*, unedited copy of the event image as FTPed,
reduced to 300 pixels in width for horizontal images
(300 pixels in height for vertical images).
*i.e. has not been color corrected or resized.
(A medium resolution image will be available in about
8 weeks. The size will be 1024 x 300 suitable for online
viewing as well as use for wallpaper or screensaver and
will have a lab cost of $.49.)
We recommend that in your package details, you include
something akin to:
High Resolution Online Image details:
Your selected digital image, which will be untouched
and un-cropped, will be provided to you in a JPEG Format
and suitable for printing (up to an 8x10). It will
be available for you to download as soon as you complete
your order.
Low Resolution Online Image details -
Your selected digital image, which will be untouched
and un-cropped, will be provided to you in a JPEG Format
and suitable for on screen viewing and emailing, but
not suitable for printing purposes. The approximate dimensions
of the image are 300 x 225 pixels. It will be available
for you to download as soon as you complete your order.
Our feedback from Beta testers was to offer this product
packaged with a print purchase of the same image. This
helps ensure that you are not merely swapping or trading
the customer’s money but increasing your sale by
offering this product. If you do offer the downloadable
product without the requirement of the print purchase,
you should set the retail price high enough knowing that
the delivery of this product will most likely substitute
the need for the customer to order a print.
The ordering and delivery process of the product is
fast and easy.
Once the customer selects this product and agrees to
the purchase agreement and checks out, they will receive
their downloadable images by clicking on a link on their
confirmation page! (A separate link for each downloadable
image purchased will appear and in order to accommodate
text-only e-mail recipients, these links appear in their
full URL form.)
Clicking a download link will open a prompt to Open
or Save the file to a disk. The links will be active
until the event goes offline. So, the customer has plenty
of chances and as much time as needed to download the
image and save it somewhere.
If you are currently offering your customers the ability
to purchase an image as a non-CCS product and fulfilling
this in your office, by offering this product through
CCS it can be delivered quickly with no intervention
of your office staff. And we all know this “instant
gratification” is a big deal with this demographic
of customer. Downloadable images will soon be available
in other CCS markets, as well.
CCS Service Times for
the week of January 21
- 27
by Bo
Lewis
