For the last five years I’ve worked for a commercial print and manufacturing shop called Pod4Print. I am an Account Executive which means I’m in charge of business development/sales as well as managing all aspects of my accounts. Once I meet a company that needs a new vendor, I become their point person and consult on all things print related.
COVID-19 has or hasn’t impacted my work by… The type of work is the same but there is much less of it. We are deemed an essential company because we print legal notices for banks and have many healthcare clients. We can stay open and we have hope we won’t have to downsize because there are enough print jobs coming in. The trouble is some clients are totally closed or broke and a large amount of our work is event-related.
My current job allows me to work from anywhere.
I have to be able to work from anywhere because I drive a lot for work. I’m also rarely able to hunker down at home or the office when we are busy. Luckily, that means I have a decent handle on my work life balance COVID-19 or not. The true COVID-19 work and home issue has been sharing an apartment office with my boyfriend who is also working 100% from home. We try to give each other space, but two conference calls via Zoom or phone at once is a lot in a one-bedroom apartment. It’s difficult to process work stress when there aren’t many places to escape to.
Two conference calls via Zoom or phone at once is a lot in a one-bedroom apartment.
Print design is more complicated than you might think. It’s a mechanical process. The variables are endless. Graphic designers tend to be much more comfortable with digital design so getting art on a screen to translate to print can be tricky. The next time you appreciate fancy packaging or a pretty card, know that hours and hours of consulting, testing, and failing went into making that piece. Also, paper swells and shrinks depending on temperature and moisture. The number one thing people forget to tell me is how many they want printed. I’ve spent hours and hours explaining how Pantone colors work. And “book weight” and “text weight” mean the same thing.
I love being in account services. Every job I’ve had since college has been in account management in some form. I enjoy building relationships with clients, learning about their businesses, and being someone they can trust to take the wheel. The best compliment I can receive is when a client tells me they know their project is in good hands once they hand it over to me. The cherry on top is that I get to operate in a creative space, working primarily with graphic designers and marketing teams. What do I wish was different? The reputation salespeople have. I’m just trying to help companies get a project done as efficiently and intelligently as possible. I’m not peddling snake oil.
I hope my job changes or grows after COVID-19 by… I hope I can grow my accounts. I hope my clients keep their jobs. I hope I can get back out and consult in person. Sales is a scary job when so many companies are slashing their budgets. I hope that print continues to be important to people. Consumers receive heaps of email every day. I think we are growing numb to it. There is a place for physical, tangible communication you can hold.
Work wise, it’s been hard to consult on print creative from my apartment. At my office I can go grab large parent sheets of specific stock, fold it, I can dig through all of our stock books, I can sit with my production or prepress team to brainstorm a project in person using blank dummies. At home, I am using Photoshop to try and make a visual that I send to my production manager so we can discuss options over the phone. I’ve struggled with the lack of efficiency. In my personal life, I have struggled with the sense that I’m losing momentum. Before COVID-19 got to the U.S., my boyfriend and I were house hunting, talking about wedding venue options, deciding when we would start having kids, etc. Now it feels like life is on hold. We are still hesitantly house hunting but are adjusting to a lower price point assuming a recession is coming. We still talk about what our wedding would be like but I get into selfish funks thinking nobody will be able to come and dance. It’s just a huge wrench in all gears.
I’ve been keeping busy by… I love to read. Working in print, I’m somewhat anti-Kindle but I gave in when the libraries closed. I’m glad I did because I’m able to veg out when reality feels overwhelming and read. I also enjoy embroidery. At this point, anything one can do in a third-floor apartment! If we can figure out the house situation, I’ll be happy to spend quarantine time in a garden.
My days are reliably unpredictable. I will have many days in a row where I don’t hear much from clients. Or I’ll have weeks and weeks of constant work coming in where I work until late at night.
My days are never the same. For a busy day, 7am is when my boss and account manager start calling or emailing me with questions about job tickets, so I usually spend the morning getting them caught up on anything that happened the night before. I start hearing from clients around 9/10am. Most of the day is spent project managing. A client will call/email/host a meeting where they explain what they need. I gather as many specs as I can and consult on ways to save money or achieve an effect they are going for. I give all of the collected info to my estimating team and to my production team. Once I get a quote and we have a strategy, I explain everything to the client. They send me art, I send it to my account manager who builds a job ticket and sends it to our prepress team. Then we proof. Sometimes that’s when we start over. Or with client approval we move the project into production. There are times I work on a kit distribution that’s so complicated I just build them myself in the back of the shop. There are times I’m on the phone with FedEx trying to get them to redirect packages. There are times I go to client baby showers or drive three hours one way to deliver an urgent job. That’s the fun of it.
Being a woman is hard, but it’s getting easier. I am so happy to see women speaking up and taking control of their own lives. In sales/account services, I have had quite a few cliché slimy experiences with men. I’ve been told to make sure I wear something sexy to a meeting or I’ve had male clients text me late at night telling me they miss me. I think all women struggle with how to stand up for themselves in those situations. If I make a fuss about it, I could lose a client and my compensation is 75% commission. If I say nothing or joke about it, I’m perpetuating the bullshit.
Women are shining a light into the creepy corners of our culture and it’s thrilling to see.
I know Heather. She is a very caring and thoughtful person. I can relate to what she’s going through in the sales & marketing areas. I have always disliked the reputation salespeople have received but it dates back a hundred years. Before I retired in 2016, I was in sales, specification and product management for 37 years. The one thing I always told myself was that I was a problem solver. If you have a product that can solve someone’s issue, and you don’t over promise and follow through, your client will be yours. Sometimes you won’t have what’s needed but you may be able to direct them in an avenue that helps them. Long term, they will use your knowledge and you will have clients that will say, “I know Heather will have an answer and if she doesn’t, she can point me in the right direction.” You will have those people forever. Congrats, Heather.