Getting Personal With Suzanne Zaccone
- Published: May 31, 2006, By PFFC staff
Experience Speaks
How did you get into the converting business?
I began working for my parent’s printing company as a receptionist and decided to stay once I was moved into customer service. By then, the smell of printing ink became part of me. My parents sold their company in 1984. My brother Bob and I stayed on for a time and then left to begin our own business in 1985.
What is the key to retaining good employees?
Provide them adequate room, a lot of support, and the best resources affordable to do what you hired them to do—without a great deal of oversight.
How would you describe your management style?
Collaborative and fast paced.
Who is your personal hero?
Anyone who chooses to chase his or her dream while being open to really experiencing the journey, staying true to yourself and your ideas, focusing on the essentials, and then passing that on to others as often as possible. I like the idea of paying it forward.
What is the key to growing a business in a bad economy?
Having a broad portfolio that covers many markets helps to level out the difficult times that occur in every industry segment at one time or another.
| At a Glance |
|---|
| Graphic Solutions Intl. 311 Shore Dr. Burr Ridge, IL 60527 |
| graphicsolutionsinc.com |
| Founded 1985 |
| 2 Plants |
| 115 employees |
| Specialties include p-s labels, electroluminescent lamps, RFID antennas, printed circuitry, thin flexible batteries, and security label operations. |
What do you know now that you wish you had known when you started out in business?
The art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.
What is the best advice you ever got?
When you believe in something you must also believe in the struggle and the sacrifice to get there.
What is the biggest threat to the converting industry right now?
Ourselves. Too many of us allow the customer to place our products into a commodity slot. It is our job to show them why that is just not true.
What keeps you up at night with regard to your business?
What we are doing to build our company around customer requirements, compelling and constantly changing events, and upcoming opportunities; how do we move to the next thing or obsolete ourselves before our customer, the industry, or the market does it for us. Then I ask myself, “Do these things require us to modify our existing strategies and processes?” If that last question really keeps me up…I drink a glass or two of wine and call Bob.
What are you most proud of in your business?
Other than building what we set out to build as far as a strong, forward-thinking company, I am most proud of the fact that we continue to have fun with the business and that after 21 years of working with my brother Bob, the business has strengthened our relationship.
