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                            BROKERING FOR PROFITS
                      A Blueprint For Increasing Profits
                 Outline for Cy Stapleton's Talks on Brokering

         Quick Printing Magazine's "Supplies and Services Survey" indicates
         that  the  average small printer spends almost $18,000 on brokered
         items.  Some 95% purchase business cards; 87%  purchase  social  &
         wedding  printing, etc.  Those figures should be 100%, and $18,000
         would be a reasonable figure only for a very small shop.

          I love brokering.  If it weren't for those "quick printing"  jobs
         that  my  customers require today or in the next couple of days, I
         might very well think seriously about closing  my  shop,  move  my
         office  back  to  my  home,  and  to my neighbors, look like I was
         retired.

          Some experts have the philosophy that you  should  do  everything
         possible  in-house.  There are undoubtedly cases where that may be
         valid, but from my personal experience, that is not the case  most
         of the time. Nor, is it the case of a lot of small printers I have
         spoken  with.  I can assure you that I certainly enjoy that $3,000
         to $8,000 bonus I take out of my order-out account each month.

         My Shop

         In most ways my shop is a pretty much average small  shop  in  the
         beautiful  pineywoods  of deep East Texas. Lufkin has a population
         of about 30,000 (but for 21 years  I  operated  the  same  way  in
         Houston  -  the  only difference was that the market was larger in
         Houston) The shop  is  operated  by  myself,  my  wife  and  three
         outstanding  employees  -  they  have  to  be to put up with me. I
         produce about what I am supposed to produce with  that  number  of
         employees,  but  I  only  try to keep enough work in house to keep
         them busy and cover my overhead. As long as I keep  them  busy,  I
         broker  everything  I can - even though I might be able to produce
         it in house.

         IMPORTANT NOTE...do not go overboard and try to broker  everything
         that  comes  through  your  doors.  Do  enough of the work you can
         produce most profitably, then broker the rest.  If you follow this
         philosophy you can substantially increase  your  profits  with  no
         additional equipment or employees.

         I  am not the run-of-the-mill consultant whose expertise is theory
         or passing on what someone else has done. I can't learn enough  to
         write  or  talk about it unless I have done it myself, and when it
         comes to brokering, I certainly feel comfortable  in  writing  and
         talking about it to other printers.

         Let's get on with getting on...

         But, let's look at brokering from a different perspective. Suppose
         I  didn't  have  these  great employees.  Suppose I had to make my
         living exclusively from brokering.  Suppose it were just my  wife,
         Libby,  and  myself.  Could  we  survive  and prosper? I think the
         answer to that is a definite maybe!

         What Do I Personally Broker

         The numbers I am quoting here are actual number of jobs taken from
         my job ticket log. I did not,  however,  actually  broker  all  of
         these  items.  I wish I had, because I certainly couldn't typeset,
         print, box, deliver and  invoice  those  business  card  orders  I
         produced at a the $15 or so I would have paid had I brokered them.
         Some  of  the mentioned jobs we actually printed in our shop.  The
         "average" month was determined by taking the total number of  jobs
         produced  during  the period and dividing by the number of months.
         My gross sales will range from  the  $16,000  range  to  the  high
         $40,000  range,  or a total of about $350,000. In early 1991 I had
         two back-to-back months of less than $15,000 each, then jumped  up
         to  almost  $45,000  the  third  month.  Ain't the life of a small
         printer hell?

         IMPORTANT NOTE - when I speak of "gross sales", I am  speaking  of
         in-house printed jobs.  As you will see a little later, I keep all
         brokered items separate.

         In  an  average  month  in 1990, we produced some 50 business card
         orders, at an average billing of about $30 per order.  My  average
         cost is about $15 per order, or a gross profit of about $750.

         I  then  had  about 10 orders for wedding invitations or the such,
         averaging about $125 per order. Figure  a  40%  gross  profit,  or
         about $500.

         Over  the  past two years, we have averaged about $4,000 per month
         in snap-outs and continuous forms at a profit of about 30%, for  a
         total  of  $1,200.  My milk cows each year are two theme parks for
         whom I may broker as much as $125,000  in  business  at  about  5%
         after  all  expenses,  or  a  profit  of $6,250 - broken down to a
         monthly profit of about $520.00.  Then  there  are  the  Christmas
         cards,  which,  depending upon how much effort my customer service
         person and I put forth, can amount to a gross of less than  $5,000
         to  $25,000 or more (when I had a girl on the street several years
         ago starting in September selling nothing but Christmas  cards  at
         50% of my profit - TATEX loved us that year) at a 25% profit, or a
         possible  $6,250.  Broken  down to a monthly profit, that is about
         $520 per month.  Each month we will  do  a  few  bucks  in  rubber
         stamps, nameplates, buttons, plaques, etc.

         Labels  and  decals  will  amount to a couple of hundred dollars a
         month at 50% profit or another  $100  profit.  High  speed  copier
         services  will  average  about  $225 per month at a 100% profit or
         another $112 per month (this kind of  a  markup  won't  fly  in  a
         metropolitan  area where there are many high speed copiers, but in
         a small  community  where  there  are  none,  people  like  Copies
         Tomorrow  in  Houston  can  both improve your bottom line and make
         your customers that are used to paying at best $.06 per copy  love
         you). Etc., etc., etc.

         If Brokering Is This Profitable, Why Have A Shop?

         Forgetting  about  everything else, we could probably survive if I
         were to just take the aforementioned brokered items.   Working  at
         home  there  would  be  virtually  no  overhead  other  than a few
         telephone calls, a little postage and  a  little  in  the  way  of
         business forms and stationery.

         But,  can  you  make  it  by  putting  yourself in the position of
         brokering all of your work? If you didn't have a shop  to  produce
         those  fast  turn-around  jobs  would you be able to get that much
         business? I have my doubts, but that's  not  the  reason  for  the
         above.   The  above drivel is simply to show that brokering can be
         very profitable to any small printer if you have suppliers you can
         depend upon. This piece was written as a blueprint to put  you  on
         the  road to additional profits. My purpose is to get you started.
         Once you get started you will  massage  the  idea,  set  your  own
         methods  of operation and customize it to best fit your needs, and
         hopefully get back in touch with me to let me  know  how  you  are
         doing.

         The Secret to Brokering for Profit

         The secret to making big profits brokering is:

         1).  Work hard to develop a rapport with reliable trade houses. In
         your  shopping  for  a  supplier, look for a combination of price,
         turnaround time knowledgeable CSRs and quality that you  can  live
         with.  Try several of them. When you find a supplier that can fill
         these bills, be loyal to him.

         2).  Be reasonable in your mark-ups.  If you do your job well  you
         will  lose  few  jobs.  Making  a  couple  of hundred dollars on a
         couple of thousand dollar job is a  heck  of  a  lot  better  than
         letting someone else have the job.

         3).   Look  for  those  printers who are not in direct competition
         with you, but who have capabilities you may not have.   These  you
         can  find  by  asking other friendly printers who they use for one
         thing or another. Except for very large jobs where  freight  is  a
         major  factor, don't worry about where the vendor is located.  I'm
         in Texas and one of my best snapout  vendors  is  located  in  the
         Northeast.  UPS  is wonderful. Shop vendors until you find one you
         like, then stick with him. Establish that rapport.  Once you  have
         established  that rapport, don't dump him for another because of a
         minor misunderstanding or a few cents difference in price. Let him
         know what the problem is and I bet he will bend over backwards  to
         correct  it - if it was his fault.  Have you ever messed up a job?
         If you can answer "no" to that question, you must have just opened
         your doors.

         4).  Take advantage of the expertise of your vendor.  Quite  often
         they  can show you how to produce a job more profitably, assist in
         design, even give you ideas as to how you can sell more  of  their
         product.

         5).    Always,  always,  always  ask  your  customer  about  other
         products.  Suggest such things as labels,  rubber  stamps,  raised
         printing,   business  announcements,  proposal  covers,  etc.   It
         doesn't cost a cent to ask, and many of these prompts will  result
         in orders.

         IMPORTANT  NOTE - Policies of vendors change over a period of time
         just like your own change. Check their prices periodically to make
         certain you are still getting the best deal possible.

         While this blueprint was not put together as a commercial  for  my
         software  program,  BFP,  it  can  be  the key to making those big
         profits. If you decide to go for these profits, that will  be  the
         best  $99 investment you ever made.  However, don't feel bad about
         trying this blueprint before jumping in and ordering.

         Most important is to use BFP or develop a similar program on  your
         own!!!   If you do, I absolutely guarantee that you will add many,
         many dollars to your bottom line. If you  get  an  inquiry  for  a
         fairly  large  number  of  "widgets", then contact every vendor of
         widgets in your database for pricing. You will be  amazed  to  see
         those extra bottom line profits build fast.  One of our very first
         users  of  BFP  tells  us  that the first two times he used BFP he
         picked up an EXTRA $700 profit on two jobs he already had in house
         - a pretty good return on a $99 investment.  He  simply  FAXed  an
         inquiry  to  the  various  vendors  and  ended  up finding two new
         vendors who quoted him a total of $700 less than  the  vendors  he
         had intended to use.

         Other sources for potential vendors will be discussed later on.

         I  always prefer using the smaller vendors wherever possible.  The
         reason for this is that I am generally dealing with the  owner  or
         decision  maker  - the one who can make an exception occasionally.
         The most menial employee can tell me "no". I  want  to  deal  with
         that  person  who  has the authority to say "yes". In my book, one
         of the all-time best trade printers is the giant,  Ennis  Business
         Forms  -  with  one  exception. While they have very knowledgeable
         customer service persons, are consistent in their pricing, quality
         and delivery, in the decades I have been dealing with them I  have
         never  been able to get that little extra price concession to help
         me get a job, nor have I been able to squeeze an  extra  few  days
         off their normal scheduled delivery time on a rush job. The upside
         to  that  is that you know every one else quoting on that same job
         is getting the same price and delivery quote that you  are  -  and
         they are masters at making their promised delivery dates.

         Many  printers  feel that they must double (or more) their cost to
         come out on a brokered job.  Hogwash!!!   That  will  cost  you  a
         number  of  very  profitable  jobs. The philosophy of doubling the
         cost of brokered items is about as  valid  as  the  philosophy  of
         pricing in-house printing at 3-times your paper cost.  On business
         cards  and  other  low  ticket items, you certainly want to double
         your cost (or more) to cover the inevitable  error  that  is  your
         fault. But, you have as good a chance of getting that 100M 4-color
         brochure as does the local large printer who does it in-house on a
         4-color  Komori  - providing you aren't too greedy. Just remember,
         you naturally aren't going to  be  as  careful  on  a  $30  dollar
         business  card  order  as  you are on a job that costs you $8,000.
         However, if you handle your brokered jobs properly,  there  should
         never   be   a   case   where  there  are  errors  that  are  your
         responsibility. Bid the jobs carefully, and  watch  those  profits
         grow.   (We keep a separate "order-out" checking account where all
         of this income goes into and all order-out payments are paid from.
         How fast that account grows will surprise you.) You will also find
         that there are small jobs where you  can  more  than  double  your
         cost.  I  seldom  pay  a great deal of attention to the "suggested
         retail".  If a label manufacturer offers me a 35% discount off his
         published  prices  and  my  customer  wants  only  1,000   labels,
         depending  upon  the  competitive situation, that label order that
         retails for $50 and has a cost of $32.50 might go for $75 or more.
         Remember, many  of  your  customers  are  not  just  buying  1,000
         labels.  They are also buying you.  Don't get greedy. Settle for a
         fair margin of profit. Sometimes that margin is high, sometimes it
         is low.

         As an example, we  recently  did  an  $11,000  job  for  a  school
         district.   We only did the typesetting in-house - a total of 11.8
         hours and a little black-on-white part of the job.   Most  of  the
         rest  of  the  job was brokered. The brokered part of the job took
         two phone calls and about a half hour of my time, and cost $9,100.
         I took a markup of about 14% and made about $1,300 on the brokered
         part.  A long way from a keystone markup, but I beat  out  all  of
         the  larger  printers  who  had  the capability of doing it all in
         house, and still made a handsome profit for the  time  and  effort
         involved.   And  to top it all, I have a plaque on my wall awarded
         by the State Education Board for the finest packet of its type  in
         the state.

         On  another  $8,000  job,  I  took  a  5%  markup, got the job and
         pocketed $400 for about 15 minutes work. On yet another, I took  a
         300%  markup  on  a  wedding  invitation order that no other local
         printer could turn around in two days - even though we all bid  on
         the  same  invitation  from  the same vendor. I delivered on time,
         made about $250 profit and the customer thought I was wonderful. I
         just FAXed the copy and had the out-of-state vendor ship the order
         via next day air.

         Use "perceived value" in pricing - not a percentage of mark-up.

         If you are one who insists on working  on  a  certain  "margin  of
         profit",  consider  that  a  20%  markup will generate a margin of
         16.7%; a 25% will generate a 20% margin; a  30%  will  generate  a
         23.1%; a 35% will generate 25.9%; a 40% will generate 28.6%; a 50%
         will  generate  a  33.3%;  a 100% will generate a 50%; a 200% will
         generate 66.7%, etc. Or, take your SALES  PRICE  minus  your  COST
         divided  by  your SALES PRICE to get your margin of profit. To me,
         that's too much trouble. All I want to know is that I am going  to
         end  up  with more in my order-out account at the end of the month
         than I started with. I couldn't begin to tell you what  percentage
         of  profit  I  made  last  month,  but  I can tell you that I took
         several thousand dollars out of that account for me last month and
         there was still enough left in  the  account  to  operate  another
         month.

         Payment Terms

         One  very  important thing to consider on brokered (as well as in-
         house printed items) is your payment terms.  It is our policy that
         if a brokered job is going to cost us $100 or more,  we  negotiate
         payment terms - even with old customers.  As an example on the job
         for  the  school district I showed the school district how I could
         save them a substantial amount of money if I could work  on  their
         money rather than on mine.  I got payment in advance, sent payment
         with  my  order to my vendors, got an extra 5% for cash in advance
         (on top of the 9% I had originally figured on), and  everyone  was
         happy.   I do the same thing with the two theme parks I work with.
         These are large volume print buyers. There are few  printing  jobs
         they  require that I can't save them a substantial amount of money
         on.  Every printer in the area attempts  to  get  their  business.
         But,  for  5%  of the best price I can come up with, the parks can
         buy me, and in over a decade I  have  never  let  them  down.   If
         someone  comes  in  with a lowball price, they let me know, I shop
         the price, and if I can beat it, I get 50% of what I save them. If
         I can't beat the price, I lose that one, but the person  who  came
         in  with a lowball to get his foot in the door is going to have to
         do the same thing on every other  job.   My  vendors  don't  worry
         about  when  they  will  get  paid, because I send a check with my
         order. With many smaller vendors that can  get  me  all  kinds  of
         perks.  With  others,  that is their normal way of doing business.
         BFP is an incredibly powerful tool in shopping for that best price
         when you need it.

         Other tactics I use are one price for jobs paid in advance  and  a
         substantially  higher  price  for  jobs  that  must be billed. Our
         policy is strictly cash with order on  business  cards,  Christmas
         cards,  socials,  and  stock  forms  unless the customer is a well
         established one with an excellent payment history. On  other  type
         jobs,  we require 50% with order and the balance upon final proof.
         If there are overs on the  finished  job,  that  amount  plus  any
         shipping  charges  are  paid  on delivery.  The customer okays the
         proof and we send either camera ready art or  a  negative  to  our
         vendor.   In  over  three decades in this business, I can remember
         being stung only three times when I stuck to this policy.  Two  of
         those  times  it  was  the  buyer's  fault and I lost in trying to
         protect their position (which neither appreciated) and  the  third
         was a dumb thing on my part for giving a large job to a new vendor
         who  shut his doors (after receiving payment in advance) before my
         job was completed.

         That is not to say that I have not lost on  other  brokered  jobs,
         but  where  I  have  lost  is  when I deviated from my established
         policies.

         Keep the Bookkeeping Simple

         I keep a separate  checking  account  for  my  brokered  jobs.   I
         started  off  with $1,000 seed money in that account. All brokered
         income goes into that account and all  vendor  payments  are  made
         out  of  that  account.  It will astound you how that account will
         grow. Once a month my wife writes us a bonus check with the excess
         money in that account, and more often than not, that bonus is more
         than our salary.  If brokering is not now a  major  profit  center
         for  you, why not consider starting brokering and dedicating those
         profits for something you really want but think you cannot afford?
         It will not be long before the money is there for that "something"
         and you will be sold on Brokering for Profits.

         I am somewhat unconventional in the way I look at brokering.  I do
         not assign any overhead to the order-out portion of  my  business.
         All  overhead  is  charged  to the work we produce in- house. That
         means that with the exception of any sales tax (which is  uncommon
         for   us  in  that  most  of  our  customers  are  non-profits  or
         institutions who are tax exempt, or larger companies who pay their
         own sales tax), what is in the order-out account  is  bottom  line
         before  tax  profit.  From an accounting standpoint, come tax time
         we simply give the order-out account statements to  our  CPA  firm
         and  let  them  do  whatever  it is they have to do to satisfy the
         bureaucracy.   The  highly  respected  industry  consultant,  John
         Stewart,  feels  that this a very foolish and unorthodox method of
         accounting.  That may be the case for a larger  operation,  but  I
         ain't no GM or EXXON (both of whom are in deeper financial trouble
         than  I  have  ever been). My philosophy is that it has worked for
         me for over three decades and if something ain't broke, don't  fix
         it.   I  also  know  that  I  have  gotten  many, many other small
         printers working in this manner and they like what they see (or at
         least that is what they tell me).

         When the Customer Worries About an Order-Out

         Quite often customers want to be assured that  you  are  going  to
         produce  their  job in your shop. I never attempt to indicate that
         I am going to produce a job in house that I intend to  broker.  My
         response  to  this type of question is that I am associated with a
         printer who has specialized equipment that enables him to  produce
         this  job  more  economically than I can in my shop.  This printer
         prints  only  these  types  of  jobs  for  other  printers  he  is
         associated  with  and  not  for  the  general  public.   Where the
         commercial printer may receive a half dozen or so of this type job
         each month, this specialty printer may produce  hundreds  of  this
         type  job  for  printers  all  over  the country each month - thus
         saving the customer a substantial amount of money. The  example  I
         use  is  a  typical  2-  color  business card produced in-house or
         through a specialty printer who will produce hundreds  of  similar
         jobs  each  day.  I  emphasize that these specialty printers print
         only for other printers, that we have dealt with  them  for  quite
         some  time,  that  they  are  totally  reliable,  and  that  their
         turnaround time is as fast or faster than I could  produce  it  in
         house.  I also let them know that I only send out that part of the
         job that the trade shop can do more economically.  I  may  do  the
         typesetting,  layout  and camerawork in house, then send that plus
         the paper stock for a trade shop to throw the ink on it for me. Or
         I may print the job in house and send it to a  trade  bindery  for
         finishing.

         Building Your Own Database

         I have made a concerted effort over the years to develop a list of
         reliable   vendors  and  during  the  fifteen  years  I  published
         Printer's News I was considered a  major  source  for  information
         about  hard-to-find  sources.   I  still  get  regular  calls from
         printers all over the country wanting to know where to  find  this
         or  that.  For  the  first  time I will expose how I compiled this
         source directory so that you can start building your own.

         I started building a list of vendors on  3x5  cards  in  the  late
         1960's.  In the late 1970's I started putting them into a computer
         database.   Building  the  list was easy. I subscribe to virtually
         every English language graphic arts publication. When  a  magazine
         comes  in,  the first thing I do is turn to the classified section
         and start entering new  advertisers  of  trade  services  into  my
         database.  I also look for the mention of unique printing services
         in  other  than  graphic  arts  publications,  and  contact  those
         companies for information  about  their  company,  talk  to  other
         printers  about their sources, and carefully search out potentials
         at trade shows.  Even so, invariably I will periodically receive a
         request for an item that I don't have in my database.  I will take
         a few minutes to go through my collection of  telephone  directory
         Yellow  Pages;  look in the Thomas Register; contact the reference
         librarian at my local or the  state  library;  contact  our  trade
         association;  or call one of a number of other printers I know who
         are willing to share their sources.  On  occasion  I  will  see  a
         prospect  for my database in a retail store and I will contact the
         manufacturer to see who his vendor is (as an example, hologram  or
         3-D postcards or beer coasters).

         It  is seldom that I get stumped. When I get a name and number, it
         goes into my  database.   Occasionally  something  comes  up  that
         makes  all  of  this  effort  worthwhile.  As an example, recently
         Helene of Coast Publishing's "Helene's Hotline" called me  to  see
         if  I knew of anyone who printed business cards on wood. Helene is
         another great source for hard to find items. The question was most
         timely in that Cards of Wood was one of the very  latest  addition
         to  my  database.   I  had  read an article about unusual business
         cards in some nondescript magazine I found in my doctor's  office,
         contacted  the  publisher of the magazine for the addresses of the
         companies mentioned - one of which was Cards of Wood - added  them
         to my database. Helene was impressed when I had her information in
         her  hands  within minutes. That might not sound like much to you,
         but to me, it was like having the Encyclopedia Britannica call  me
         to  request  the  answer to a question that they couldn't find the
         answer to.  Another caller needed to find a 2400  baud  modem  and
         serial  card  for  an  old  Commodore computer. It took four phone
         calls before I found a  California  supplier  who  specializes  in
         impossible-to-find computer parts and accessories.

         In  BFP  you  will  find  a  classification  under  products named
         "Publications".  These are the various graphic  arts  publications
         I  am  aware  of.  You should subscribe to each of these and check
         out their articles and ads for unusual or interesting products and
         sources.  When you find one, add it to BFP.  You never  know  when
         it might come in handy.

         Who  are  my  favorite vendors?  I have a lot of them.  As I noted
         above, my favorites are generally the smaller  companies  where  I
         have  a  rapport  with the owner. In the database that accompanies
         BFP you will find the details on some of my all-time favorites.  I
         am not attempting in any way to promote one over another, nor do I
         attempt  to  claim  that these are the only reliable sources. Some
         are strictly trade shops and some are simply  commercial  printers
         who  have  capacities  I  don't  have.  Some  I  have  worked with
         personally and others I know  by  reputation.  Others  are  simply
         names  I have come across at one time or another that I felt might
         come in handy some day. Some will protect your accounts  and  some
         won't.   The  best  bet is for you to develop your own, and a good
         starting place is BFP.

         Bindery Services

         To go into the subject of services such as trade  binderies  would
         not be appropriate in this program because of the fact that BFP is
         marketed  internationally.   Each  area  has its own complement of
         trade binderies, and I am only familiar with the few I  deal  with
         in  this  area.  Except  for  very specific applications, you will
         want to deal with a local bindery. However, there are some  things
         to  look  for. There are the newcomers who do a marvelous job with
         state-of-the-art equipment, but who have little if any of the  old
         work-horse  equipment  found  in  companies  that  are over a half
         century old. Where would you go if you had 25,000 paint can labels
         and need two bail holes put  in  each  of  them?   Anyone  with  a
         letterpress  department  could diecut those two 1" bail holes, but
         you need to go to an old timer like A.V. Emmott & Sons in  Houston
         or  Ellis  Bindery  in  Dallas to find someone who can "punch" the
         holes 1,000 at a time with their bale hole punch. Know  what  type
         of  equipment  your  area  binderies  have  -  not  just the major
         pieces, but those oldies that  sit  around  gathering  dust  until
         just  the  right  job comes along. Let your competition wonder how
         you got those 50,000 bail holes "diecut" so cheap.

         There are many other local services such as embossing, diecutting,
         proposal covers, rubber stamps, tubes, cones, etc.  that  you  may
         not  have the capability of producing. Don't turn down those jobs.
         Look for vendors in your area. If you run into a dead end, contact
         me in and I almost guarantee that I can point you in  a  direction
         that will offer additional bottom line profits. All you need to do
         is  change your way of thinking.  Your philosophy should be "if it
         involves ink or paper, I am the source." Why not  be  the  largest
         small printer in your market area?

         Zing the Competition

         If  you  really  want  to zing the competition, on that next extra
         special business card, post card or advertising bookmark,  contact
         Cards  of Wood, 1267 House Rd., Belmont, MI 49306, (616) 887-8257.
         They print on 120 varieties of wood veneer. And, while they do not
         have a dealer price structure, for something as  unique  as  this,
         you can make a nice margin by marking up their normal prices, plus
         have  your  customer telling everyone he gives one to where he got
         them.

         If you have some real zingers in your list of suppliers,  I  would
         appreciate  it  if  you would share them with me so I can add them
         to my growing list. Just drop me a note at 3200 S.   John  Redditt
         Dr.,  Lufkin,  TX  75901,  call me at (409) 637-7468, or FAX me at
         (409) 637-1480.

         If All Else Fails

         If you are at wits end and simply cannot find a product  that  you
         need, FAX me all of the details at (409) 637-1480 .  I will make a
         concerted  effort  to  get  the information to you in the shortest
         time  possible.   On  the   truly   difficult   requests   I   can
         generallycome  up with an almost immediate answer.  The impossible
         requests may take a little longer. In either case, you don't  need
         to  follow up if you haven't gotten an answer in an hour or even a
         day.  Wait a couple of days to follow up.   Your  request  may  be
         taking  a  little longer to find. Secondly, please don't ask for a
         list of suppliers of XYZ.  In an attempt to  get  the  information
         back  to  you  ASAP,  I  provide  you  with  the  first one or two
         suppliers I am able to locate, or in the case of a product where I
         have numerous vendors, I will give you one or two  in  your  area.
         There  is  no cost for this service. However, if you do not have a
         FAX, I will mail you the information unless  you  need  it  faster
         than  you  might expect from USPS.  In that case, I will telephone
         you the results of the investigation providing  you  give  me  the
         authorization  to call you collect.  I can't promise how long that
         might take.

         When you request a source for  a  product,  give  me  all  of  the
         information  you would give a vendor who was going to quote on the
         job. That includes quantity, stock, color of  ink,  is  it  camera
         ready,   finished  size,  bindery  work  required,  delivery  time
         required, etc.

                         The Commercial

         How We Verify Vendors In BFP

         Most of the entries in BFP have been verified. We do this  in  one
         of  two ways.  First of all, we FAX a questionnaire to the vendor,
         briefly explaining what BFP is and the reason for our inquiry.  If
         we  have  only a voice number for the vendor, we call that number,
         ask for their FAX number and the  name  of  their  Sales/Marketing
         Manager.  If  they  have  a  FAX,  we  FAX  the  inquiry  to  that
         individual. If they do not, we attempt to  complete  the  form  by
         voice phone.

         When  we  send  out  the FAX, we enter a product, company name and
         phone numbers in a master copy of BFP. When we get a response,  we
         pull  up  that  company  and  complete the filling out of the data
         fields with the information provided by the vendor.

         Periodically, we do a print-out of the ones who have not responded
         and follow up in an attempt to get the information from them.  If,
         after  a third contact we have not heard from the vendor we remove
         them from the master database.

         A copy of the form we use is included with BFP as  an  ASCII  text
         file  named  FAXREQ.TXT  and  also  as  a  .PCX file which is in a
         self-extracting archive to save space. That file is FAXREQ.EXE.

         While I cannot guarantee the accuracy of  any  of  the  individual
         entries,  I  have made every effort to see that each is correct as
         of the date it was entered into the  database.   The  earliest  of
         these   entries   is  June  1,  1991.   Some  6,000  requests  are
         outstanding.

         No fee is  charged,  requested  from,  or  accepted  from  vendors
         included in BFP.

         Being A Registered BFP User

         Being  a  registered  user  has  its benefits.  You have technical
         support for 12 months from the date you purchased your  copy.   In
         addition,  you will receive notice of any database updates (mailed
         around January and June).  These updates  are  on  disk  and  will
         contain a minimum of 500 new verified vendor/product records. As a
         registered user, you can purchase these updates at $25 each. Minor
         upgrades  may  be downloaded from our bulletin board at no charge.
         Your copy is registered to you by us the day we ship it to you.


         For Technical Support

         If you require any technical support, please describe your problem
         and FAX it to us at (409) 637-1480.  Include your FAX number,  the
         version  of  BFP you have, your serial number, and the problem you
         are  having.  During  normal  working  hours  (9am  to  5pm   CST,
         Monday-Friday)  you should have a response within the hour. If you
         do not have a FAX,  call  (409)  637-7468  and  leave  your  name,
         telephone  number,  the  version  of  BFP  you are using, your BFP
         serial number, authorization to return the  call  collect,  and  a
         brief  description  of  your  problem with the operator. Your call
         will be returned promptly.  FAX requests take  priority  over  all
         other requests.

         Our Bulletin Board:

         Give our bulletin board a call when you have a chance.  The number
         is  (409) 637-4973. You will find some great programs that you can
         download, as well as any updates to BFP. This is a different  type
         of  bulletin  board  in  that  we  do  not attempt to have as many
         programs and  nodes  as  possible.  It  is  a  support  board  for
         printers  and  a  forum for printers who wish to share ideas.  The
         downloadable programs range from  outstanding  utilities  to  type
         fonts  and  Windows  applications.   We  are  not looking for huge
         numbers of callers, but  rather  to  provide  an  easy  access  to
         support for our BFP users.

         Registration

         The  registration  fee for BFP is for a single computer.  The dis-
         tribution copy normally shipped is  not  network  compatible.   If
         you  wish  a  network  or  multiple site license, contact DataWare
         Productions  at  (409)  637-7468  for  further  details.  Multiple
         registrations are priced as follows:


                1 $99
                2-9 Less 25%
                9-24 Less 40%
                25 up Less 50%

          Note,  the  pricing  for  the  IBM  compatible  or the ASCII text
         quote/comma delimited format program is the  same.  PC  users  can
         export  to  either  straight  ASCII  text or a "," delimited ASCII
         text file from within BFP.  Mac users must request a  special  Mac
         formatted  ","  delimited  ASCII  disk.   The  full  PC version is
         included with the Mac formatted file in anticipation that most Mac
         users will purchase a PC as their next computer system.

         If you are interested in becoming a dealer for  BFP,  contact  our
         office for details.

         MasterCard, VISA, or check is accepted.

                Cy Stapleton
                DataWare Productions
                3198 S. John Redditt Dr.
                Lufkin, Texas 75904
                (409) 637-7468
                FAX (409) 637-1480
                BBS (409) 637-4973


         IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE...

         I  love  hearing  from users as to how they use BFP. I am going to
         start collecting those ideas and passing them on to other users.

         One Louisiana user came up with a  great  idea.  He  exported  the
         data  to  an  ASCII  file,  then  brought  that  data into another
         database program that enabled him to create a user-defined report.
         He then generated a report of all of the various products that are
         in BFP. Once that  report  was  generated,  he  imported  it  into
         PageMaker  and  created  a  mailing  piece  that listed all of the
         products and services his company offered. He mailed that piece to
         all of his customers and prospects, and from  what  he  tells  me,
         that  mailing  not  only  generated  new business from some of his
         existing customers, but also generated some new customers.

         IF YOU FIND ANY INCORRECT PHONE NUMBERS OR ADDRESSES IN BFP...

         We make a concerted effort to make  certain  all  entries  are  as
         accurate  as  is possible. But there is also the unfortunate typo,
         and businesses do move, change their  phone  numbers,  go  out  of
         business,  etc.   If you attempt to contact a vendor listed in BFP
         and find  he  has  moved,  changed  phone  numbers,  gone  out  of
         business,  or  no  longer  produces the product we have him listed
         for, please fax that information to us at (409)  637-1480  and  we
         will immediately update that information in our master file.

         IF YOU HAVE SOME FAVORITE VENDORS WHO ARE NOT LISTED IN BFP...

         If  you  find  that  one  or more of your favorite vendors are not
         listed in BFP, please fax them a copy of  our  FAX  REQUEST  form,
         which  is included on this disk. Hopefully they will complete that
         form and return it to us so that we can  enter  them  in  BFP.  An
         alternative  to  that is to fax us their names and fax numbers and
         we will fax the form to them.

         IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS AS TO ENHANCEMENTS WE CAN MAKE TO BFP...

         Virtually every enhancement in Version 2 of BFP is the  result  of
         "wish  lists"  sent  to  us  by readers. If there is something you
         would like to see in the program, let us know.  If  you  have  any
         ideas  as to how we might improve the program, please let us know.
         Some of the requests we are working on for Version 3  include  the
         ability  to  generate  a  request  for  prices  and  fax it to the
         vendor(s) from within the program; mouse support; Windows support;
         user defined reports; printer drivers  for  specific  rather  than
         generic printers; etc.
