Buying a wall map that shows street-level detail can be one of the trickiest tasks a small business faces, especially if the buyer is geographically challenged.
For some businesses, a good local wall map may make the difference between a flat bottom line and one that bulges upward a little.
Few buyers know it, but the task of buying a wall maps for the wall is loaded with possibilities of making a mistake that the purchaser later will regret. The job is not as simple as reaching for a can of beans on a shelf at your local supermarket.
Here are 10 tips to help the buyer avoid a disaster:
1. Know what job you want the map to do.
· Does it cover the territory you need covered?
· What features do you want the map to show?
· Do you want a pretty map or a useful map? Color? Black/white?
· What size do you seek? Will it fit your wall?
· Is the method of hanging important? (rails? rollers? eyelets? nothing?)
· Is lamination necessary, or would you accept paper if available? (Most maps for the wall are not available in paper, because the publisher can't make enough money to support its business by selling paper maps.)
2. Be willing to compromise.
There is no such thing as a perfect map. Be aware that the business of publishing a map - any map - is extremely complex. Partly because of this, as an example, every map sold to businesses is out of date on the day it comes off the press. And the longer it sits unsold on a shelf, the less current its information is.
The key questions the buyer needs to ask: Does this map do the job for me? Or are there better alternatives?
3. Know your publisher.
Publishers come in all kinds of stripes. No two are alike. Each publisher has its own methods, its own goals, its own priorities. And different publishers focus on different markets, serving different clientele. Make sure the publisher you choose focuses on your needs as a customer.
Don't buy a map just because the publisher is a household name. That publisher may not serve the market you're in, and the map offered by that publisher likely won't serve your needs. Example: If you're not part of the market that includes tourists, you don't want to choose a street-level-detail product for your wall produced by a publisher whose primary market is tourists.
While you may want to avoid a publisher that is a household name, it's not wise to choose a publisher you've never heard of. Ask another small business that has bought a map for the wall. Would it buy another one from the publisher you're considering?
Where does the information on the map come from? A map publisher's standard answer is that it comes from local government sources. What that publisher doesn't want you to know is that it may be buying that information from a third party which may have gotten it from a local government source, maybe via the Internet.
Which is okay, if it's accurate information. But how can the buyer know for sure? Is the publisher telling the truth? Yes, and no. Unfortunately, the economics of map publishing are forcing the largest publishers to buy the information from third parties.
4. Buy directly from the publisher if possible, not from a distributor.
This may be more easily said than done, but here's why it's important: The publisher controls the quality of the product. The distributor makes sure it gets to a place where you can buy it, and most often the distributor is the end seller. The distributor has no control over quality. A distributor sells the products that are available. (Most maps available on the web are sold by distributors, not publishers.)
Like many industries, the map business is going through a period of consolidation and change. What was true as little as five years ago may not be true today. Regional publishers are vanishing like the 10-cent movie theater, so it may be hard to find one in your area.
But a regional publisher is much more likely to serve your street-level-detail needs than a national publisher, who is more likely, for example, to serve a different market. It makes sense that a publisher in Chicago who serves the national tourist market can't keep up with the street changes in your area - especially the streets that a local business needs.
Example: If a street is missing on a tourist's map, few tourists are likely to notice it. But the omission will stick out like a palm tree in Alaska to a local business -- and tell volumes to a potential buyer. Be aware that this difference affects cost, and thus price.
5. Don't buy sight unseen.
You don't buy shoes sight unseen. Why would you buy a wall maps sight unseen? Like shoes, one size doesn't fit allBuying sight unseen is the biggest mistake a map buyer can make.
One change in the map industry has been that many regional map stores have closed, robbing the customer of the chance to see various map products on the wall. That's too bad, because the chances of making the wrong decision are greatly increased for the buyer.
