Minuteman Press Franchise in Brooklyn Celebrates 15 Years & Grows Sales with High Volume Printing and Mailings for Non-Profits

For 15 years, Wayne Herman has owned his Minuteman Press franchise located at 305 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. Wayne is a member of the Minuteman Press International President’s Club for top performers and he continues to hit new sales milestones for his business. Even more impressive is that Wayne has been able to achieve this high level of success with just two employees.

Minuteman Press, Brooklyn, NY – L-R: Sean, Graphic Designer; Wayne Herman, Owner; and Damien, Customer Service/Logistics.

From Banking & Finance to Printing in Brooklyn

Before owning his own business in Brooklyn, Wayne worked in the finance industry. “I worked for Citibank until 2007, just before the big financial crisis of 2008,” he says. As luck would have it, Wayne was passed over for a key promotion on several occasions, and so he explored other options before the Great Recession took hold and forced him out of corporate America anyway.

One of those options turned out to be Minuteman Press. Franchising made sense for Wayne because he knew he wanted to start his own business but didn’t want to do it alone. Wayne flirted with the food industry at first, but he came to find that he “did not have the money or experience required to get involved there” and that “the food services industry just wasn’t a good fit for me.”

As for why he chose Minuteman Press out of all of the other franchise opportunities that were available to him, Wayne states, “When I saw the reasonable startup costs for Minuteman Press and the help and ongoing support that the franchise offered to new owners, I thought this was a good idea.  Also, the fact that there were no centers in Brooklyn at that time made me really want to start one in that area.”

Customer Acquisition & Converting Prospects into Clients

Minuteman Press International offers their Internet Marketing Program to its franchisees. Wayne is a strong proponent of the program because he sees the value in acquiring customer leads online and converting them into clients. “I do a large percentage of by business in Manhattan, so the program helps me advertise in those areas where door to door marketing isn’t practical for numerous reasons.”

He adds, “I would say the Minuteman Press Internet Marketing Program has helped me double my business since its introduction.”

As for customer retention, Wayne offers the following advice to any entrepreneur or business owner: “The best way to retain a customer is go deliver jobs on time and with the best possible quality. If there is an issue, do your best to resolve the problem right away. I find that this keeps clients coming back, and I’ve also found that getting jobs done quickly is important as well.”

Wayne continues, “I work with a lot of non-profit organizations that have tight deadlines and they might not be able to get the final approved materials and orders into me until the last minute. With them and all of my clients, I find that if you put in that extra effort to get the job done as quickly as possible, it goes a long way in keeping them happy and generating repeat business.”

Finding a Niche with Non-Profits

Wayne elaborates on how he found his niche with non-profits. He shares, “There is a company in  New York City that I connected with and they specialize in organizing events and mailing for non-for-profits. When their clients needed printing, they would refer them to me. Even when their contracts with the company expired, I would be able to keep  many of those clients as customers and continue to do their printing and mailing.”

He continues, “For example, last November was our busiest time of the year. We were doing solicitation mailers for different organizations and had orders for acquisition piece mailings of 53K, 60K, and 28K all in that month.”

To handle such high-volume direct mail orders, Wayne out-sources his mailings to either another Minuteman Press shop or bigger mail houses. This allows him to continue to run his shop and handle the high volume printing orders he has been receiving from charter schools.

Printing for Charter Schools

Wayne says, “In 2016, there was one charter school that asked me to do a copy job for them. Six months later, I received a second job, and then other schools in the network came calling. The account has continued to grow and I am now printing for  15 locations charter schools plus I do work with other charter schools.”

He continues, “During the pandemic, we printed packets that were mailed out to students that didn’t have access to online learning. Last summer, I received a 72K sign job for signage inside the schools. Today, there are packets needed for all 15 schools individually, across different grades and different subjects, and each school needs different quantities. Their in-house printers at the schools could not keep up with such high demand, which is where we step in handle the printing for them. I am also now printing recruitment materials that are being printed, shipped to New Jersey, and then mailed out by the organization.”

The service and flexible delivery times are huge selling points for Wayne’s clients. He shares, “I deliver these jobs to the schools whenever they need me to, even if it’s at 6:30 in the morning. I deliver to multiple locations and go above and beyond to meet compressed timelines. They love the fact that I will go out of my way to get to them early in the morning and make deliveries before the students start arriving. It also helps me beat the rush of traffic.”

To produce these high volume jobs for the charter schools, Wayne has successfully sped up production by investing in digital printing equipment that allows for orders to be printed in a fast and efficient manner. “I have recently purchased a new machine that will allow me to get these jobs done even faster and save me a few hours each day on production time.”

Wayne shares the following piece of advice for other business owners:

“This is a lesson I learned from my time in the banking industry that carries over to Minuteman Press. If you are a new business owner, work on your core products, learn them inside and out, and build relationships with your customers.  Then work your way in to expanding the products you offer when you can talk to your clients and sound confident and knowledgeable about them.”

For more information on Wayne Herman’s Minuteman Press franchise in Brooklyn located at 305 Atlantic Avenue, visit https://minuteman.com/us/locations/ny/brooklyn/

Learn more about #1 rated Minuteman Press franchise opportunities and read Minuteman Press franchise reviews at https://minutemanpressfranchise.com.