And as you might expect managing director Julian Hocking is incredibly proud of the third generation print business he heads up. Not just because it’s award winning, or because it’s on the cusp of being 100% solar powered, but primarily because he knows he can be proud of every single job that goes out of the 16-staff business’s doors.

He’s learned a lot in the 17 years he’s headed up the business, but one thing still regularly confuses him: why doesn’t everyone in the UK use Nationwide? 

Darryl Danielli What’s the history of Nationwide Print, because the business has been around for a long time, hasn’t it?

Julian Hocking Since the mid 1930s. My grandfather bought it from a chap called Mr Luke when it was just a room in a house off St Austell town that mainly survived on printing shipping labels for English China Clay, which became Imerys. In fact I have a case of the wooden type that they used to use at home. My father took it over, probably in the 1960s.

How did you get involved?

When I was at school my predicted A Level grades weren’t the best, so the only place that I applied was the London College of Printing (LCP) as was, because I didn’t expect to get in anywhere else.

So at 18 you had already decided on a career in print then?

No, I hadn’t. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I had worked at Nationwide in my school holidays, making plates. I’d always had an interest, it was the family business after all, but I wanted to go university to play sport really. But they didn’t really do sport at LCP.

I suppose Elephant & Castle isn’t much of a sporting mecca?

It wasn’t the most glamorous of locations either, but I had a great time.

And came back to the business afterwards?

No, I went to Oxford Polytechnic for a couple of years afterwards and then to Australia with Tim Royle, of Royle Print, who I met at LCP. Tim and I took a year out; I found a job working in the finishing department of printing company in Redfern in Sydney. Anyway I had some ideas that I thought might benefit the business and told the management there, who didn’t really appreciate my suggestions and asked me to leave.

How radical where these suggestions exactly?

There were just some ideas for the staff to help procedures, but bearing in mind they had done me a favour by giving me a holiday job... Anyway the ideas got some of the staff talking...

It sounds like you were a bit of a social agitator in your youth.

Well, you can write that if you like as it makes it sound more interesting, but I was only interested in benefiting the business. So anyway, I came back and needed a job and applied to lots of different printers.

Why didn’t you just come back here?

I didn’t want to; I wanted to do something on my own really. One of the jobs I applied for was at a company called Litho-Tech, I had one interview, then a second and then they told me that I hadn’t got the job. So I wrote to them and said that I didn’t really understand why I hadn’t got the job. So I had a third interview and got a job as a sales trainee and it was brilliant.

In what way?

It was exciting; it was busy and very demanding because if you weren’t selling you were out the door. We had three six-colour B1s and were printing lots of annual reports. It was great; we produced the best quality and charged a premium for that, and we worked with all the leading agencies.

So a great training ground then?

Fantastic, really hard work and incredibly competitive.

How do you mean?

They were supportive provided you pulled your finger out. Sort of. If you were doing well they were very nurturing, but it was more survival of the fittest. But I enjoyed the challenge and it was a great team, full of incredibly bright guys and they weren’t typical sales guys. You had to have a pretty thick skin, but it was fun, competitive and fast-paced. 

How long were you there?

Six years. There were three graduates that started on the sales team and we were all pretty ambitious. The plan was that we would learn about the business and support the four main sales guys by calling people, setting up appointments, that sort of thing. But that all ended fairly quickly because as I said we were ambitious and we wanted to get out there and win work, so they let us. 

What made you leave then?

The opportunity arose to come back here to the family business. 

And how was it?

It was a shock to tell you the truth; I hadn’t really been involved with the business for a long time.

How do you mean a shock?

It hadn’t really changed for a long time. We had two old single-colour Ryobis and the culture was obviously very different from what I was used to at Litho-Tech. We had two salesman here. I went out with one of the reps to see what they did, and after we had our sandwich in the car he told me that he always had a power nap after lunch, so I had to get out and stand outside the car while he had a sleep. It was ridiculous. Coming from where I had been to that was really odd. But the were other problems too, the quality of the print wasn’t great. We were a business forms printer back then.

When was it you came back then?

It would have been the late 1990s, probably 1998. I would have been coming up to 30.

Had your dad effectively got you back to run it at that stage?

He started it all really and had built it into a profitable, thriving business, but then in the last 10 years he was running it it was losing money, was under invested and he’d just run out of steam I guess. I have to take some responsibility too, I should have been better aware of what position the business was in.

So how did you turn it around?

Well the biggest challenge was that I couldn’t just call up my old clients, because the quality here at the time just wasn’t good enough. It took three or four years to get the money together to invest in new equipment and modernise the kit. I had to learn a lot too – I was a salesman, I hadn’t run a business before, but Dad just let me get on with it, there was no interference at all.

Was that part of the appeal?

I probably wouldn’t have come otherwise, and in a funny way, if I’m really honest, if it had been massively successful at the time I’m not sure that coming back would have had much appeal. But it was an opportunity to make my mark. We’re not Pureprint, the target was never to be huge; it was to run a smallish, profitable, efficient, professional business that paid incredible attention to detail and the highest standards of customer service. That was the plan.

To build a sustainable business basically?

Sustainable, but also one that constantly tries to be better and add value by doing all the little tiny things just a little bit better than most people. So if someone wants a hard proof then rather than just send a proof out with a proof slip, we’ll send a proof out with a slip, in an envelope with a printed label even if we’re just popping the proof round by hand.

I guess a lot of the larger firms are also trying to add that sort of personal service too.

The difference in the print industry now from say 20 or even 10 years ago is that because of the technology available everyone, from the largest to smallest, can produce a similar product, they’re all pretty good, they’re all similar machines – digital has also come on leaps and bounds.

That’s the challenge for a lot of people I guess. In theory, today someone with a small digital press in the garage can be a competitor.

And with the digital technology that is available now, a lot of customers wouldn’t be able to tell if something had been produced digital or litho. And you don’t necessarily need to be an expert to run a digital press – anyone can have one.

But taking pride in what you’re doing makes a big difference, because even the best press in the world can still print a crap job if the person running it doesn’t care.

Yes, that’s true. But the problem with everyone being able to produce very similar jobs is that you’re in danger of price being the differentiator.

How do you combat that?

By paying attention to the detail and by adding value.

Adding value how? Everyone wants to add value...

I know, it’s such a throwaway phrase. For us it’s the quality of the work, the customer service and, of course, the price. A lot of the bigger companies add value by adding data, becoming the complete marketing solutions provider. That’s what everyone talks about and clearly some people are very successful at it.

But they might look at your profit margins and think ‘hmm’.

We could triple our turnover very easily, but I’m only really interested in making money on a job – otherwise what’s the point? I might as well pack up and go home. If there’s not a profit on a job then I just won’t do it. It’s very simple, someone else can have it.

No loss leaders then?

Don’t do them – not interested. There’s no such thing, someone has probably sent a job to five people for a price, so someone will always come in cheaper and where do you go from that? And if you do win the job at a loss, what are the chances that you’re going to win other work at a higher price?

So what are your USPs?

One thing we do is promote ourselves as Cornwall’s solar printer and hopefully at some point soon we will announce ourselves as the UK’s only printer that is 100% powered by solar energy – it’s a realistic target.

What is at the moment, 80%?

It’s higher than that, it probably is 100%, but it’s still theoretical. If we were really 100% solar we could take ourselves off the grid and there are a few more things we need to do. But that’s one USP.

Is there a business benefit to you too?

I only do it for my love of all things green… Of course there’s a benefit.

Getting back to when you took the business on, if it hadn’t been making money for a decade, how did you turn it around? I’m guessing it wasn’t a case of just throwing £1m at it to get you out of trouble?

No, funnily enough that wasn’t an option. The first thing we did was sort out the branding... Actually that’s not true, the very first thing we had to was make sure that we printed things that were of a good quality – so we had to change the press. I bought a new two-colour Heidelberg because until then we only had old single-colour machines and were only producing single- or two-sided business forms. That was the most important thing: the end-product had to be good. I then had to change the sales culture.

No more afternoon naps?

Exactly, the lunchtime tiredness had to be sorted out.

Did they stay with the business?

No, they went to go and sleep on someone else’s payroll. We changed the branding from Nationwide Business Forms to Nationwide Print. It was basically just sorting out all the basics, getting the product right, getting the culture right. There was nothing wrong with the people, the people were great.

With the exception of the sales team?

To be fair they were probably just working at the accepted pace of the time. But it was certainly eye opening. The idea that we would have sales people pottering around the country to say hello to people who placed £20 orders was a very expensive way to do business.

Have you got sales people now?

Funnily enough we’ve just taken on one, our first dedicated sales person for six years.

Is he outside having a nap in the car park?

He’s having a snooze, yes! I would have called him in to introduce you, but I hate waking him up [laughs]. No, we’ve got quite a few exciting plans afoot, so it seemed like a good time to take on a sales person here.

I think you hinted before that you were looking to expand your digital offering?

Exactly, but it will be more all-encompassing than just installing another machine. As a small business we have to keep moving forward so the digital side and data is all part of that. The touch points of a jobbing printer now are so different – the jobs are smaller, they have to be turned around quicker so we have to reduce the touch points wherever we can. It’s not necessarily going to be a quick evolution though; we want to do it right.

I guess you’re not doing it out of necessity; clearly you’re a profitable business, as you wouldn’t have been crowned our SME of the Year otherwise, so I guess this is a strategic decision?

We have to do something because if anyone was setting up a new printing business then it wouldn’t be a traditional printing house any more, it just wouldn’t happen. All the Moos out there or web-to-print companies, it’s a different world now. The one thing that is the same is that it’s still a capex-heavy industry, but in many other ways it’s a lot easier to set up a printing company today.

Because effectively someone could lease a light production digital press and set it up in a garage.

And they could knock out some okay work. A lot of councils now are buying digital kit and they were previously big purchasers of print up and down the country.

And some are now even competing with local businesses by taking on commercial work.

That’s exactly what’s going on. And digital isn’t just going to eclipse B3, it will eclipse B2 over time. It might not be this year or next year, but it will happen.

Do you think you’ll ever buy another litho press then?

I doubt it. Never say never, but I doubt it very much. We’ve got some great litho kit and it doesn’t need replacing anytime soon, and if digital keeps going at the pace it is and we create the infrastructure needed behind it, then I don’t see why we would.

Unless you were planning to step up formats, perhaps?

When you say that though, the biggest ‘printers’ in the country don’t have any presses [print managers]. I know that I can buy a B1 job cheaper than having my own press and that is a big factor, because there are still so many printers chasing the big jobs.

But if you outsource you can’t necessarily guarantee your USPs.

That’s true, but the industry and technology is changing so fast that you have to keep moving and thinking ahead. You may not be the first person to do whatever it is, but if you’re a close second then that’s probably the best place to be – just right behind the people who have ironed out the teething problems.

You mentioned earlier that you’re happy as you are and wouldn’t want to be a massive business…

I wouldn’t say that we’re not looking at growth, far from it, but first and foremost we have to maintain profitability. When it comes to size I don’t really care what anyone else thinks, I’m happy turning over £1m, I’m interested in having an extremely strong balance sheet, decent credit rating, healthy cashflow and ultimately respectable profitability.

All the reasons you were crowned our SME of the Year at the PrintWeek Awards in 2014. But size is irrelevant isn’t it, it’s about getting those business basics right?

I know it’s a generalisation, but I think a lot of companies just look at turnover, turnover, turnover because their ultimate strategy is to sell the business in a few years time. It’s a bit different here because a lot of my team have been here a long time, so my interest is in them and the business as a whole. I don’t have an exit strategy, there isn’t one, because I’ve known a lot of the people here since I was a boy. We’re talking about people’s lives; I’m interested in running a profitable business, but anything I do with the business has them in mind. We will add more services, but our core business is print and we will add things on when we’re ready.

Absolutely…

The people here have to work really hard, it’s much harder than it used to be; we’re leaner, the time pressures on turnarounds are greater. I’m not saying we’re any different from anyone else, but we work as a team and all pull in the same direction and I’m incredibly proud of that. We’re also lucky enough to work with some incredible brands such as Fifteen, Eden Project, Armani and Brora.

Clearly you’re not embarrassed about being an SME or embarrassed about being called a printer?

I don’t really understand that, it seems like its fashionable to call yourself a marketing services provider or whatever. Don’t get me wrong that’s great to offer all those extra services, but it’s print that pays most of our bills and I think as an industry we sometimes forget that.

What are your biggest challenges as an SME?

Same as everyone else: running a business is challenging by nature. The difference between being incredibly busy and too quiet is a very fine line. You can’t take anything for granted either, the whole industry makes it harder for itself because our service levels are so good and we keep raising the bar, and with the resources of a small business that can be challenge. Price is always an issue, and finding the right people to join the business can be difficult sometimes. There is a shortage of skilled people, certainly in our area.

Because of your location?

Finding anyone any good in any industry can be a difficult process, but print has become more and more specialist and a lot of people have left in recent years. It has certainly happened down here and it’s narrowed the market to find people to work in print. That’s why it’s become critically important for us to try to employ young people and train them up to be the next generation of skilled print workers.

What are your personal challenges as a business leader, because there must be a danger of spreading yourself too thin in the business?

There’s always that risk, but to an extent it’s the same for the leader of any business of any size. If we have a lot of estimates that need doing I’ll help with that, if we need some help on the digital press I’ll do that – that’s not just me though we all do that here. Everyone has a very defined role, but we will do whatever it takes to meet our customers’ needs. It gets back to the team mentality. Of course, the idea is for me to stay out of it as much as possible, because if I’m running the business perfectly then I shouldn’t have to get involved with anything else. 

But do you have a strategic plan for the business?

Yes, we go in three-year cycles, but if you’re asking me if I have a 25pp document detailing our three-year strategy then the answer is no. But we’re just about to start on our next three-year plan. We tend to do one thing, get it right and then move onto the next thing and typically each time that takes three years to undertake a strategic-level change.

Do you follow any business methodologies?

Yes: common sense. It’s not complicated; you need to get more money coming in than you pay out. There’s a little more to it than that, but basically that’s it. 

Is there anything you would have done differently?

Perhaps getting into digital sooner – we got our first machine in 2011.

What’s been the steepest learning curve?

Initially that you can’t fix problems in a business over night.

How long did it take you to get back into profit after you took over in 1998?

Properly? Two years. But in some respects it was almost straight away, by looking closely at our cost base. There were some difficult decisions at the time, we had to lose some people, which was hard, but necessary.

Was there one specific thing that had the biggest impact?

We had another business called Blackfords that we had previously bought. It effectively produced the same sort of work as Nationwide – it had the same sort of kit, the same sort of customers – so when I took over I just moved that into the Nationwide factory and rented the Blackfords factory out.

That must have been hard though, laying people off, because I guess you were in your late 20s and some of the people involved had worked at the business longer than you had been alive.

I certainly didn’t enjoy it, but you are less sentimental when you’re younger – it had to be done. I had to take a long-term view and get on with it. To be fair to the staff, I think they knew something had to be done.

Was there a secret to making the business a success?

There’s no secret I’m afraid. It’s all down to people working their nuts off, that’s the bottom line. There are no easy options in print – if there are I wish someone could let me know. Anyone can be successful if they work hard and have the right team supporting them. I’m sure there are things I could and should have done better, but provided you learn from your mistakes and move on, then it’s all good.

What have been your proudest achievements?

Winning the SME of the Year award, obviously.

Did you win any business as a result of it?

Yes we did. We also push it as part of our marketing. It’s on the website, we even did some local radio advertising about it too.

That’s great, what made you enter in the first place?

Because we’re brilliant at what we do and we work unbelievably hard. I really struggle to understand why everyone in the country doesn’t use us, I don’t understand why we don’t turn over £50m…

Not that you would want to…

True. But that’s why I entered, because I wondered if people like us, a small printer in Cornwall, really get recognised. Turns out they do.

That seems like the perfect place to end.