The awards business is highly profitable because it produces recognition and identification products with very high, perceived values, which allow very high profit margins. Figuratively speaking, a regular retail merchant would faint with joy at the prospect of enjoying award world markups.

Essentially, awards companies offer wood, wood looking, marble and marble looking products. They increase the perceived value by adding customized gold and silver plates (even black brass engraves gold). You probably do sell other products, but the lion's share of your profits comes from the basic look of: wood, marble, gold and silver.

ColourMagic! laser sublimators are increasing their profits by increasing the perceived value of their basics. A full color transfer for an 8x10 plaque typically costs less than 20 cents. It adds dollars in perceived value. The same holds true for trophies and other items.

Here's some tips from dealers making more money with ColourMagic! and their HP 4500/4550.

Click the image for a closer look

25 Ways To Profit More With The HP 4550
Laser Printer and Full Color Laser Sublimation

1. Eliminate the back plate on plaques - Companies double face plaques to produce a border and make them look more desirable. Save at least 45 cents per 8x10 plaque by eliminating the back plate. Create double and triple line black and colored borders for single plates instead. Not one plaque we display on ColourMagic.info has a back plate. Single plate plaques can be assembled much faster and dealers report saving $25-$100 a month by using only one plate. Example
   
   
2. Desk name plates with designs - Offer name plates with a name, title and optional full color design/graphic. Offer a stock design for a few bucks more. These could include a rainbow, happy face, butterfly, flowers, etc. that is just standard clipart. Charge more for custom work. Many who buy desk nameplates would pay for more than just a name.
   Example
   
3. Make trophy plate lettering the same color as the column - It costs no more to letter a trophy plate in color, than it does in black. You could even add an appropriate sports symbol. This will make you look different from the competition. This will help justify your prices and can get you the order, if the competition can't do it. Customers do like the look.
   
   
4. Get more money for your "State" plaques - A certain percentage of customers want plaques shaped like your state, while others find an outline of the state on a regular rectangular plaque desirable. Many will pay more if full color state symbols (like the state flower, bird, animal, etc.) are added. The local department of tourism, Chamber of Commerce and clubs are good bets.
   
   
5. Plate risers and more profit - A plate riser (like the PDU 236-G riser that has been around forever) provides a great way to add value (and profits) to trophies. The plate that fits into the riser is more than big enough to accommodate a nice graphic and even lettering. You can get $2-$3 more with a stock or custom graphic (over engraving or just black sublimation). Example
   
   
6. Clock Plaques and Shadow Box Extra Profit - The right color combinations on high-end recognition awards increases perceived value even more. Dealers offering tasteful combinations of colors like maroon, dark reds, Kelly green, Navy blue, etc. (and often logo's) are getting as much as $5-$7 more per plaque, over engraving. You can also create inexpensive, but highly customized clock plaques of your own. Example
   
   
7. Brass Key Tags - Dealers are getting nice add-on sales, offering color sublimated .032 brass key tags, like ID Plates, Johnson's Plastics and other suppliers offer. Even dealers who have been laser sublimating them with just black find their customers willing to pay more for full color. Example
   
   
8. Billboard Plaques - These old standards for an awards company have been around so long, many dealers have stopped selling them. However, they are proving to be very profitable with ColourMagic! because many customers are looking for what they consider to be personalized and exciting "desk-top" recognition awards. Plastic-Plus, The Source and many other suppliers offer these "standing plaques".
   
   
9. Signs, badges and ID plates - As you know, even plaques don't have the sheer profit margins of lettering a metal plate. While 2x10 door and wall signs, name badges and ID plates are not usually a big item in sales dollars, they certainly are in profit. Most dealers report being able to get 10%-20% more (than engraved or single color sublimated) by adding optional full color graphics. Example
   
   
10. Medallion Holders, Risers & 2" disc holders for plaques - Trophies using parts like the PDU 235-G Riser and venerable 132-G holder are also providing extra profit. Each holds a 2" Mylar, but sublimating a custom color 2" aluminum disc costs no more. Customers, however, are paying extra to get the graphics they want.
    
    
11. Medals With 2" Inserts - Many companies carry medal blanks that accept 1.5" and 2" inserts. Instead of using the standard metal and Mylar inserts (and red, white and blue ribbons) that everyone else uses, ColourMagic! sublimators offer full color, "theme" graphics. This is particularly effective when schools and other organizations want specific ribbon colors and color logos.
    
    
12. Headline Titles - The title of a plaque is read first. A visually exciting title sets the entire tone and desirability of the plaque. With a good graphics program and ColourMagic! the job is not that difficult. By using two colors or shades, outlining, drop shadows or 3-D effects stunning titles can be created. This enhances perceived value, for more profits. Example
    
    
13. Monument Awards - You can make this award for less than a buck. Dealers are selling it for $12.95-$14.95. Some have sold hundreds. Put a piece of hi-tack tape on the side of a 3x3 piece of no-hole marble. Stick that onto the center of a piece of 2x4 marble. You now have a monument award. Display two, with gold and silver plates and some very appealing laser sublimation graphics and lettering.
    
    
14. Plate Holder Awards - The PDU 900-G plate holder, and others like it, has been around almost as long as plastic components have been offered. The extra large insert area, however, is big enough to sublimate outstanding color graphics. Attach the holder and a trim figure to a 2.5 x 5 marble base or a 3.75 x 5.5 plastic base. Turn the holder at a slight angle to accommodate a 3" figure or date. This basic design can also be used with one and three-hole bases. Many of our dealers get near plaque markup prices for these awards.
    
    
15. Perpetual "12-month" Plaques & Matching Monthly Plaques - Logos and graphics have been on title plates of perpetual plaques for years. Display one or two with small graphics on the individual plates also in your showroom. Very few dealers actually show the individual plates lettered and this will also make you look classier. Don't forget to make up several very attractive monthly plaques with the same graphics. This will greatly increase your chances of selling 12-month recognition programs, instead of just the perpetual plaque. Example
    
    
16. Gavel Bands - Most dealers sell some gavels during the year. Some sell a lot. We don't have any dealers getting less than $5 a logo on gavel bands.
    
    
17. Marble Paperweights - 3x3 and 2x4 standard marble paperweights take on a totally different look, when they are offered with full color laser sublimation. More than one dealer has told us that they get from $2-$5 more on full color sublimated paperweights than they do for engraved paperweights. Example
    
    
18. Theme graphics on trophy plates - Display some or all of your trophies with "theme graphics." Select a generic full color logo that coordinates with the figure on the trophy. You might even consider putting the graphic on both ends of the plate. Your cost to do this is literally less than a penny! A few dealers who do this followed our suggestion and raised the price of every trophy in their showroom 50 cents. Most of the time they get it. The nice thing is, if "penny-pinching Ms. Jones" complains about price, the dealer can knock off the 50 cents to close the deal.
    
    
19. Photo Plaques - We are not talking about reproducing the photograph on metal. We are talking about 8x10 (on 10.5x13 and 12x15 plaques) and 5x7 (on 8x10 and 9x12 plaques) team pictures, mounted under Plexiglas, on cherry and walnut finish boards. These pictures are brought in by team moms, coaches and band directors and produced by the thousands every year. A double line border, using the team colors, lettering using one of the team colors and a graphic or full color logo on the plate, will add a lot of perceived value and earn you extra money.
    
    
20. Certificates & Certificate Plaques - Many smart dealers generate nice revenue streams with custom certificates and certificate plaques. The printer prints absolutely dynamite looking full color certificates, for about a quarter, using the regular cartridges. Depending upon quantity, the certificates retail from $1.25 to $5.00, plus design charges. Mount it under Plexiglas, on a 10.5x13 plaque and you can have a very top-end looking (and priced) certificate plaque. Examples
    
    
21. Gift Plaques - Create an "impulse buying" gift line of plaques. Put inspirational, motivational and famous quotations on 4x6 or 5x7 plaques, with an easel back. Make them with double line colored borders and appropriate graphics. You can price them lower than your regular plaques, without affecting your prices, because they are not customized. You can design a dozen or more, insert just the plates in a small photograph album and be able to display it in your showroom, with a minimum of space.
    
    
22. Interior Signage - It has always struck us as "odd" that while award companies produce and sell attractive and professional looking signage for their customers, they very seldom use it themselves. Excitement and attention can be added to almost every area of your showroom with the addition of full color gold and silver signage. However, we don't mean just large wall signs. Attractive 2x4 signs on your shelves, extolling the benefits or desirability of those products is like having extra subliminal sales associates.
    
    
23. Advertising Specialties - Make very high value looking ad specialties and advertise your company, for next to nothing. Here's one idea. Jump into the ol' scrap box and cut your bigger scrap into 1x6 pieces. Layout the marks for a 6" ruler with your graphics program. Fill the rest of the ruler with colorful advertising copy and put a 1" piece of magnetic tape on the back. A large number of folks will put them on filing cabinets or their refrigerator.
    
    
24. MagicWear! - To keep customers happy, award companies occasionally need to imprint items other than awards. Produce inexpensive, full color heat transfers, for 100% cotton garments using your regular toner cartridges and MagicWear! heat transfer paper. Award companies are usually not in the "T-shirt" business, but this is another way to use your printer, to produce additional revenue. Example
    
    
25. Document Printing - Increasingly, staying competitive means not only being creative in what you sell, but how you market it! Color sells and color advertising sells you. For the money, the HP 4550 produces the best looking color documents this side of a printing press. With it you can produce professional looking brochures, flyers, pamphlets, stationery, business cards, signs and more. To help make designing fast and simple we recommend the very user friendly Print Shop Pro Publisher 15. Go to www.broderbund.com and click on "The Print Shop" (on the right). You may have to scroll several pages. Broderbund has a habit of putting the best, last.
    

ColourMagic! and the Competition

Courtesy of Robin Ingraham Jr.

1. Some dealers offer full color laser sublimation at the same price as their competitor's single color sublimation. They can do this because the transfer only costs about 15 cents more than single color. This gets them a lot of new customers. Few customers will select single color, over full color sublimation, especially at the same price.
   
   
2. Other dealers successfully offer color laser sublimation as a premium alternative to engraved brass and charge the same prices. They can do this because of desirability and perceived value. They may not sell as much as the first group, but make a lot of extra money because of production speed and using aluminum, rather than black brass.
   
   
3. Customers won't stop buying regular engraving, but two facts cannot be denied. The computerized and laser engraving market has about maxed out. What we mean by this is that almost everyone has one or both pieces of equipment. Ownership provides you no competitive advantage. The other fact is that the abilities of the equipment have also just about maxed out. No matter your skill, it still is gold lettering on black brass or silver lettering on aluminum. Both looks are good sellers, but so common that they seldom generate excitement for extra sales. Adding something new and different creates new excitement.
   
   
4. Because color graphics are limited only by your imagination it is very easy to make the ordinary extraordinary. Here is what we mean. Nationally, an engraved 9x12 cherry finish plaque sells for between an 800% to 1200% markup. Because the materials and finished look is basically the same, competition puts downward pressure on any extra profit opportunities. If you are a smart dealer, being able to offer a totally different look, that every Tom, Dick and Harry is not able to provide, gives you a strong competitive advantage for more profits.
   
   
5. Because of customer perceptions and demand, we actually think that full color laser sublimation will be fairly common in award shops within two years. We also think the earliest providers will dominate their area. We saw this happen with computer engravers and again with laser engraving. There are quite a few award companies that are still strong today because they built their successes on being the first in their area, with technological advantage. We think, long term, this will happen with color laser sublimation. We have already seen some instances.
   
   
6. To a certain extent, inkjet sublimation can be used for some recognition plaques. However, our surveys (among dealers who offer both inkjet and ColourMagic! laser sublimation recognition) indicate that the overwhelming majority of their customers prefer laser sublimation. One award dealer's customer summed it up by stating, "The full color picture (inkjet) on the plaque is pretty, but the color against the gold (laser) just makes it seem so much richer." That perception is making a lot of our customers extra money.
   
   

Our Final ColourMagic! Thoughts