“An office is a place where dreams come true.” — Michael Scott
If that quote doesn’t describe Bill Houghton, then I don’t know what does. Bill is the owner of Horizon Print Solutions, in Las Vegas. We recently visited his office and warehouse to learn a thing or two about paper and printing. When I tell you we walked through the set of Dunder Mifflin (the fictional paper sales company featured in the television series, The Office), I am not joking!
Norton National is known to not only roll with the punches but punch back! After coming out of quarantine alive (barely) Head Honcho, McCall Peck, decided the time to start a new series of Norton National; education was now. The educational courses have officially blossomed into Norton National University and Team Pink is taking the time to learn, grow, and educate ourselves on topics in the event, production, marketing, and hospitality industries.
First up, Norton National sat down with Bill to gain more knowledge about the printing industry. Forms of grassroots marketing that we offer our clients include flyer drops, postering, parketing, and street teams. Each method listed requires some form of collateral to distribute. When a client comes to us requesting a 75 location flyer drop, to hit their target market, Team Pink can bust that out in our sleep. When a client comes to us wanting us to print flyers for them because we can turn that order on the drop of a time, Team Pink used to say “let me have McCall call you”. Truth was, and McCall noticed, no one else in the office spoke the language of paper. What good does one person having all the knowledge do for a team? No good. So, off to Bill’s we went. Now thanks to Bill, anyone from our team can fluently collaborate with our clients on their print and material needs. Feel free to spam call us and test this out, but we’re happy to educate you, too on paperweight, printing styles with turnarounds, required bleeds, what a gutter is, and more.
Client Relations
Bill has wonderfully similar core values as Norton National when relating to our clients. Besides keepin’ it sparkly, keeping our client’s best interest at heart will always be a top priority. Obviously, cultivating relationships with new or potential partners takes the front line, but keeping those clients who have been loyal for years cannot be trumped. Bill has mastered the partner service (we speak from experience), which leaves no wonder why Bill retains clients for decades. “We like having clients that we will have for a long time.” To any business, who doesn’t love that, but to any customer, they love removing little inconveniences of working with multiple groups. Get the job right, build the relationship soundly, and both groups can flourish. 30-year veteran clients of Horizon’s, Anderson Dairy is no exception to this.
Operations
The possibilities are endless with what Bill and his team at Horizon Print Solutions can create. If they can’t physically create the product themselves, contracting the opportunity out to one of their 250 facilities across the U.S. is their next step. Contracting allows Team Horizon to produce their “out of house services” to their customers, but still allows them to work with their partner printing facilities. That team literally will not stop, for anything, until their customers have everything they need. Pro tip: contracting also allows Bill and his team to secure the best pricing for his clients (and yours too, if you send them his way) for the most economical solution.
Another fun feature of this group, Horizon Print has a Mail Anywhere permit from the USPS, which means that their warehouse location acts as a post office. They are able to mail anything from their location without having to pay extra for handling (or spending the time running to the post office. Who does that anymore, anyhow?) This is fantastic for companies that do a majority of their business through the mail.
Merchandise
The amount of products that Horizon can create is incredible. From the obvious handouts like business cards and pamphlets to the more technical premiums like post-it notes and wristbands. According to Bill, “There’s a lot of fun in wristbands.” We had no idea the depth of inventory that Horizon can produce, nor that this all fell under “printing”.
Remember those “…clients we can keep around for a long time” people? If you’re from Vegas, the casinos are at the top of the coveted list. Horizon, rightfully, has nailed that group on the head, too. Team Pink is not surprised by this, at all. For Horizon, many of the markers and fill slips that the casinos’ use are made right in house. They create the carbon copy paper slips that casinos use. Poker chips are also in their product line. Fun fact: the mayor of Las Vegas, Carolyn Goodman, uses a poker chip as her business card! How Vegas of her:)
Innovation
Bill talked about how in the 33 years of being in the paper and printing industry, he has had to completely change his business strategy a few times. From technological advancements to worldwide pandemics; he’s no stranger to change in the business world. When news broke about restaurants being able to open back up, he left thousands of cards at local restaurants saying “Call us to print all of your single-use menus!” and was able to drum up a slew of new business. His entrepreneurial hustle shows in everything he does.
Thanks to Bill we are fluent in Paper-ese, can better collaborate with our clients for their goals AND we’re building a partnership that will benefit both #teamNortonNatinoal and the Horizon team. Yes, The Office theme song played like elevator music in my head the entire time I was there, but we absolutely enjoyed our experience touring Horizon Print Solutions facility and we appreciate Bill so much. (Oh, and he filled our bellies, too!)
A prime example of always going above for clients, Bill surprised us with our own sign (which is now displayed in our office). He really has mastered the art of the “WOW-Factor”. McCall admits she cannot wait to study under him!
Make sure to like them on Facebook and to contact us with any guerilla and grassroots marketing needs!
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