The Big Picture - January/February 2013 - (Page 3)

insight www.bigpicture.net by Gregory Sharpless Gregory Sharpless Editor-in-Chief gregory.sharpless@stmediagroup.com Adrienne Palmer Assistant Editor adrienne.palmer@stmediagroup.com Laura Mohr Art Director laura.mohr@stmediagroup.com Marty McGhie, Craig Miller, Jared Smith Columnists Linda Volz Production Supervisor linda.volz@stmediagroup.com Lou Arneberg - East and Midwest US, Eastern Canada Ben Stauss - West and South US, Western Canada, Europe, Asia Business Development Managers Rick Bachelder, Kathy Boydstun, Terry Corman, Scott Crosby, Brandon Gabriel, Michael Garcia, Kirk Green, Robert Kissel, Tina McLaughlin, Craig Miller, Carmen Rad, Greg Root, Jared Smith, Mark Taylor Editorial Advisory Board Tedd Swormstedt President Steve Duccilli Senior VP of Content Christine Baloga Audience Development Director Kari Freudenberger Director, Online Media Subscription Services (847) 763-4938 tbp@halldata.com bigpicture.net/subscribe bigpicture.net/renew The Value of The Center Stripe While a freshman at Ohio University in the mid-1970s, I had to rely upon ﬁnding a ride home to Cincinnati whenever I felt the need to beg the parents in person for more pizza money. Freshmen were not allowed to have cars on campus, and had to resort instead to the student center’s ride board for travel. The going rate for the 150-mile trip was about $7 to $10 per person – so the driver usually made out quite nicely if he or she wrangled several passengers (the price of gas at that time: around 60 cents per gallon). Enter Dave, an engineering major who owned a 1968 VW Bug and made the Cincinnati trip every other week. He was laid back, always made sure his passengers were supplied with snacks, and he wouldn’t allow the playing of disco music. There was, however, one interesting problem with Dave: He didn’t believe in the road’s center stripe – whether it was a yellow double line, a dashed stripe, or some combination of the two. He apparently felt that the center line was simply an aesthetic to break up the bland blacktop, not really something to be heeded. As we’d round blind curves, half of the bulbous Bug’s chassis was typically on the left-hand side of the road. And on straightaways, I distinctly recall seeing a yellow stripe out of my right-side passenger window. Many an oncoming car would have its horn blaring as it approached us. And many of those cars’ drivers would also wave the wicked digit. Dave would just laugh and wonder why everyone was “so uptight.” But here’s what Dave didn’t get: The center stripe serves a purpose – to ensure two vehicles will pass each other without the drivers later having to share insurance information. In ignoring the center stripe, Dave put himself at risk, as well as his customers (me) and competitors (other cars on the highway). Yes, I appreciated the relatively low fare price, the customer service (snacks, no disco), and his low-key approach. But these factors all took a back seat to the fact that we might not survive the adventure. So, after just a couple of harrowing trips with Dave, I secured a new ride home. There were, after all, other options out there – and as a paying client, I could ﬁnd a service provider whose oﬀerings and priorities better matched my needs. As you think about your own customers, consider what you’re doing to keep them. Are there changes you can make to how you do business? What’s your center stripe, and are you ignoring it to the detriment of your customer retention? Single Copies/Back Issues Debbie Reed debbie.reed@stmediagroup.com 11262 Cornell Park Drive Cincinnati, OH 45242 tel (513) 421-2050 fax (513) 421-5144 THE BIG PICTURE (ISSN 1082-9660) is published 9 times annually (Jan/Feb, March, April, May, June/July, August, September, October, Nov/Dec) by ST Media Group International Inc., 11262 Cornell Park Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45242-1812. Telephone: (513) 421-2050, Fax: (513) 362-0317. No charge for subscriptions to qualiﬁed individuals. Annual rate for subscriptions to non-qualiﬁed individuals in the U.S.A.: $42 USD. Annual rate for subscriptions in Canada: $70 USD (includes GST & postage); all other countries: $92 (Int’l mail) payable in U.S. funds. Printed in the U.S.A. Copyright 2013, by ST Media Group International Inc. All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the consent of the publisher. The publisher is not responsible for product claims and representations. Periodicals Postage Paid at Cincinnati, OH and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Big Picture, P.O. Box 1060, Skokie, IL 60076. Change of address: Send old address label along with new address to The Big Picture, P.O. Box 1060, Skokie, IL 60076. www.bigpicture.net 3 http://www.bigpicture.net http://www.bigpicture.net/subscribe http://www.bigpicture.net/renew http://www.bigpicture.net

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Big Picture - January/February 2013

The Big Picture - January/February 2013
Contents
InSight
Wide Angle
UpFront
Vehicle Graphics – Making It Your Fault
Inside Output
Special Section: FOCUS
New Technology: SGIA and Graph Expo Highlights
Job Log

The Big Picture - January/February 2013