Jessica and Mike Hauck used to be clients of Minuteman Press in Sioux Falls. With corporate backgrounds in hotel sales and commercial real estate, it would make sense that they would rely on the locally owned printing franchise to fulfill their design, marketing, and promotional needs.
When the opportunity came to buy the business, Jessica and Mike decided that Minuteman Press International was a natural fit and the right franchise for them. They are now celebrating one year as business owners at their Sioux Falls center located at 125 S Main Ave.
What excites Jessica the most is the ability to help other businesses with the same care and customer service that was shown to her when she was a client. She says, “Both of us were clients of Minuteman Press and liked the downtown location and the service we received from the prior owner. We liked the B2B nature of the business and thought it would be a great way to reach our many friends, network in the local business community and help them promote their businesses and organizations with products every business needs in some form or another.
“We liked the track record of Minuteman Press; their national franchise rankings and their royalty cap were also appealing to us as we planned on scaling up the business and growing it in this market.”
On the wide variety of products and services that Minuteman Press provides to clients, Jessica further explains, “Minuteman Press Sioux Falls is a full-service design, printing, and promotional items business. We offer printing services for all types of businesses, large and small. We design and print a great variety of items like business cards, stationery, envelopes, letterhead and note cards to more unique items like magnets, stickers, banners and signs; if you can put your name on it, we can print it. We also offer our customers thousands of different branded promotional items including pens, coffee mugs, tee shirts, corporate apparel, key chains, kitchen gadgets, glassware, trophies and plaques and much, much more.
“As the slogan says, ‘We Design, Print & Promote…YOU!’”
Because the modern printing industry is such a versatile enterprise, it opens up the potential client base. Jessica shares, “We seem to have quite a variety of industries represented in our clientele including medical institutions, financial institutions, agricultural industry businesses, RV dealers, event planners, artists, and tattoo shops. We do a fair amount of work for realtors due to our contacts in that industry through Mike’s experience and our membership in the local Realtors Association. We also do work for many non-profits in the Sioux Empire area.”
Jessica adds, “One client that stands out is Sioux Nation Ag. Because of our relationship with their graphic designer who used to work for us, they ended up becoming one of our best customers that has provided a steady flow of work to our center.
“We have also done a lot of work for a prominent local event planning company, The Event Company, helping them promote their clients’ big events and fundraisers.”
Over the past year and counting, Jessica and Mike have felt rewarded by the work they do as a B2B services provider. Jessica says, “We love helping our clients promote their businesses! We also love helping businesses and organizations raise money for good causes through non-profit customers who do so many amazing things within the community that we love. It has taken lot of long hours and hard work in our first year of operations, but we can see the growth and potential in this business as we continue to build partnerships and relationships in our community, ramp up our sales, and increase awareness of how we can help other businesses in Sioux Falls grow.”
Because they are part of the Minuteman Press franchise family, Jessica and Mike have the freedom to own and operate their franchise but also get crucial ongoing local and corporate support when they need it. Jessica elaborates, “As owners who did not have prior experience in the printing industry, it has been great to have someone to call for guidance and support when trying to fulfill unique customer requests. The resources available through the franchise are very helpful tools to have in our toolbox. We have found ourselves calling on the expertise of owners who have been in the business for some time and their help and insight has been outstanding. The corporate SEO program continues to deliver results from our online presence. And the vendor relationships made through the franchise are also very helpful in gaining great prices for our customers.”
Getting involved and giving back to the community is another way that Minuteman Press in Sioux Falls strives to make a positive difference. Jessica says, “We view community involvement as critically important and quite frankly it’s a great joy for us! We like being active within our community, networking, and connecting with people. Both of us were quite involved in business and civic groups even before purchasing the business. We are involved in the local Chamber of Commerce (I am a Diplomat and Mike is an Ambassador and Board Member) as well as Sales and Marketing Executives, the Realtor Association of the Sioux Empire, Home Builders Association, Downtown Sioux Falls, and BNI leads groups.”
With one year in business under their belts, Minuteman Press in Sioux Falls is poised to build on the foundation they have built through their hard work. Jessica shares, “We have had good growth in our business for the first year. We actually rode the brakes for the first several months of operating the business just trying to make sure we learned the business and could deliver high quality products to our existing customers on a timely basis. We were concerned about controlled growth and not growing so fast that we let customers down; you only get one opportunity to make a first impression.
“As we have become more comfortable with the business and confident in what we can do, we have turned up our efforts to let people know about our business through social media, Local Best advertising, and partnerships with The White Wall Sessions and Downtown Sioux Falls Trade Association.”
She adds, “We also do business lunches on Fridays with people we already know to explain to them our business and capabilities and see if there are ways we can help their businesses or those of people they know. Most of our quotes are provided to people we know or are at least familiar with, so we have experienced a high conversion ratio for our quotes. As Jeffrey Gitomer says, ‘You don’t have to sell to a friend.’ We are truly friends with many of our customers and love working with them and helping them grow. We want (and need) to continue to grow sales in our current location and, hopefully, in a couple of years, we can begin looking at expanding and opening a store in one of the many growing areas around our city and, perhaps, even beyond our city limits.”
As for the advice that she would give to other aspiring business owners, Jessica says, “Be prepared for a lot of hard work. Owning your own small business is not easy. It is truly a commitment of time, energy, money and spirit, but if you treat people right, work hard and keep pushing through, you will see good progress.”
For more information, call (605) 271-7515 or visit www.mmpsiouxfalls.com.
