MEMBER CLASSIFICATION TALKS
We had two classification talks last night, and they were both extremely interesting. First was Mike Burns talking about Minuteman Press, and printing in general and how it has evolved, even in the past 10 years. Mike passed out a brouchure that he said ten years ago would have taken at least two weeks to produce. Mike and his staff produced it beginning just about an hour before the meeting!! This was not just an 8-1/2 x 11 black and white copy job, this was a full color folded piece that is just about as professional as you can get. Full color on-demand and short run printed pieces are the future, and Mike has kept up with the technology. At Minuteman Press they produce the highest quality full color peices that money can buy.
The secret to being able to design and produce such high end peices is the ability to control the digital original according to Mike. That's why they encourage you to allow them to take control of your print job from concept, through design and production.
Mike also talked a lot about direct mailings, which they specialize in at Minuteman Press. He said that if you want to reach your target markets in the fastest most economical fashion, you should sit down with him and discuss a direct mail strategy.
Our other classification talk was by Bill Gillick, and it was equally as interesting and enlightening. Bill actually has two companies. The first is Gillick Advisors, which is a consulting business for senior care. Bill is a former executive of Elderwood Senior Care, and he brought away from that a passion for excellence, and reverence for the individual. He channels those qualities into his consulting business. He is currently working with Orleans County in a transition of their skilled nursing facility.
Bill is a past president of the Alzheimer's Association of WNY. His other business is a franchise called Homewatch Caregivers. This is a company that provides in-home care for the elderly using a very well trained nursing staff to care for your aging relatives. During his time with Homewatch Caregivers as well as the Alzheimer's Assocication, Bill conceived of and perfected a method of caring for and helping Alzheimers sufferers to improve. In fact, his method, called Pathways to Memories can boast a 30% improvement ratio for Alzheimer's patients. This is no small feat seeing that the most highly prescribed drug used to treat Alzheimers sufferers, Aricept can only achieve a 1% impovement!! Quite an accomplishment. The Pathways to Memories method works so well that the parent company for Homewatch Caregivers purchased all of the rights to its concept from Bill. Great job!!
Bill also sells items to help in the care of seniors such a a special necklace worn by the elderly which will alert medical specialists if a patient should fall and not be able to alert anyone on their own. He also sells a medication delivery system which will automatically dispense a patient's required medications at the times when they are to be taken. It even has a feature that will alert a responsible person if the elderly patient has not taken their medications.