Truths from the Trenches –Dana
Imagine for a minute that you're in a room filled with print customers. It's a good-sized group of about 75 professionals from a range of industries like financial services, retail, gaming/entertainment, non-profits, colleges and universities, health care and manufacturing. They're a print-savvy audience, with the majority having more than 10 years of experience working with printers. There are creatives (graphic designers) in the group and some marcom professionals, as well.
What if you could ask them what they expect from commercial printers today? What qualities are they looking for? What would make them choose Printer A over Printer B?
I was lucky enough to be in this situation at our Print & Media Conference in September. On each day I moderated a Brainstorming Session, designed to engage the audience by encouraging them to discuss anything related to their roles. Getting this large of an audience to speak publicly about their printing preferences, career challenges and print buying behaviors can be challenging—but it's also a most enlightening opportunity when it works.
As our day two Brainstorming Session began, and after the attendees had been together as a group for nearly two days, I needed to find a way to get them talking. If you've ever moderated such a group, you'll know you either get dead silence when posing questions, or one person who does all the talking. I wanted to avoid both scenarios, so I decided to hand out blank note cards and ask everyone to complete the following sentence:
"All things being equal, I would prefer to work with print providers who…"
There were some print providers in the audience that day. Our sponsors were there, and a few of the attendees were printers and print brokers. We collected the cards, but before I read the answers out loud for further discussion, I asked the print providers to guess what the cards might say.
"Keep out of our business," said one printer. "Bring knowledge and value," said another. "They want someone they can trust," offered a third.
Here's what the note cards actually said, in no particular order:
"All things being equal, I would prefer to work with print providers who…"
Are ready and willing to meet my project needs—I don't like "yes" responses without actually delivering targeted results (deadlines, meeting my specs, price).
Give me cost savings in spec options specific to their company, as well as others.
Educate me and my staff on new technologies they offer.
Educate me when I am unsure of my options, have my back when I don't think through all of my options, are fun to work with, take care of press checks, handle issues promptly and fairly.
Anticipate problems for me; i.e., on proofs.
Represent me more than their own company.
Offer great quality, services and pricing, and make me and my company look good.
Understand my company and want to be part of the project initiative.
Are local.
Are confident enough to offer suggestions on how to improve my specs on my jobs.
Above all, aim to make my customers happy and also work with and provide improvements to art that my customers provide, even when that art is not in the best format.
Are strong at customer services.
Are consistent in quality, service and price.
Treat me as an important customer and deliver quality.
Have the best price or within five percent of the lowest price.
Understand my distribution process and quality needs.
Are people who know me and share information with me.
Give good customer service.
Keep me up to date on the latest technology.
Bring me ease and peace of mind.
Have expert pressmen.
Specialize in distribution.
Other reasons given for why print buyers might choose Printer A over Printer B? Some answers might surprise you:
Delivery drivers should be clean and courteous; if they come in covered head to toe in dirt, we don't want them touching our boxes or coming into our offices; they should wear a uniform (polo shirt and shorts).
Have a clean and organized facility.
We have 10-15 jobs going on at once; we just try to spread the work around.
If you have been doing this for a while, you have a gut feeling about who can do it.
Experience—we want to work with a company that does printing for our type of business (retail).
Interaction with pressmen—are they treating me courteously on press checks or not?
Another key question I posed to this group is one I always ask: Do you choose your printer based on technologies and equipment? The responses at this particular event were fairly consistent to what we've heard in the past:
Yes, we've migrated to digital printing, so we need to know what kind of digital equipment a printer has so he can print, ship and distribute our jobs.
We always ask for a printer's equipment list and what is actually in-house vs. outsourced.
We have prospective printers do a print test. Our corporate colors are black and yellow—but you'd be shocked at the samples that don't meet our standards.
We print large volumes of jobs, so we ask prospects about locations.
We're concerned about less freight and more "green" printing.
The key takeaways for me that day are these: print customers want more education and information on new technologies. No matter how much their roles evolve or how much work is shifting from offset to digital and/or print to e-media, customers need this education regularly. They are finding ways to keep up with print technologies and applications, but it's an inconsistent education. They go to their own printers first. They reach out to their peers. They're using LinkedIn (much more than Twitter). They applaud the paper companies for the quality and breadth of their customer education.
Keep in mind that these are the experienced print customers. They're asking for more information, more education, and more resources to help them carry out their responsibilities and maximize the use of print for their companies. Now imagine what the rookies must need from you. I know the answer: education on steroids. I don't think it exists yet. PI
—Margie Dana
About the Author
Margie Dana is the founder of Print Buyers International (www.printbuyersinternational.com), which offers educational and networking opportunities to those who work with the printing industry. She produces an annual print buyers conference (www.printbuyersconference.com) and has written her popular e-column, "Margie's Print Tips," since 1999. Dana speaks regularly at trade events and offers consulting services as a print buyer specialist. She can be reached at mdana@printbuyersinternational.com.
