NAPL Announces RAVE Customer Satisfaction Award Winners

PARAMUS, NJ—April 1, 2009—NAPL, the association for business management excellence, announced this year’s winners of the third annual RAVE Customer Satisfaction Awards.

Top honors went to Platinum Award Winners:

• Action Printing, Fond du Lac, WI
• Classic Graphics, Charlotte, NC
• CL Graphics, Crystal Lake, IL
• Electronic Imaging Materials, Keene, NH
• Neyenesch Printers, San Diego, CA

Each of these companies received the highest service level scores, earning them the NAPL RAVE Award for Excellence in Customer Satisfaction during the past year. The awards were established in 2007 to recognize superior customer service in the printing industry and renamed in 2008 to reflect that RAVEs are earned based on the highest form of recognition — rave reviews received directly from each company’s own customers. Awards were presented at the 2009 NAPL Top Management Conference, March 15-18, in Tucson, AZ.

“Each company recognized as a RAVE Award winner truly understands the significance of long-term customer satisfaction and appreciates that it is achieved with insight and focus on what customers themselves most value,” said Joseph P. Truncale, NAPL President and Chief Executive Officer, in announcing the awards. “The award shows a level of commitment and achievement that distinguishes winners from their competitors.” High scores have a proven and direct correlation to profit margins. Truncale went on to say, “Value is defined as the perceived difference between you and your competition as measured directly by your customers. That value is where your profits lie.”

Interested printing companies qualify for the award by first enrolling in the NAPL eKG™ service, which helps companies understand what customers most value both from them as a company and in comparison to their competition. An NAPL specialist customizes each survey and handles all confidential customer communications to provide an easy, seamless process that consistently garners high customer response rates. Partner level NAPL members can receive the service as part of their membership benefits.

Results are benchmarked against industry standards and can provide data by type of account as well as by type of print buyer. An overall evaluation report is issued and scored against a database of responses from more than 20,000 previously surveyed printing customers. The resulting report is then viewed as an instant road map for what needs to be done to increase customer value and subsequently profits. Only companies with the highest scores in the industry earn a RAVE Award.

Other NAPL RAVE Award winners this year are:

Gold awards:
• Canfield & Tack, Rochester, NY
• Grand River Printing & Imaging, Van Buren Township, MI
• Harperprints, Henderson, NC
• Jet, Downers Grove, IL
• Pacific Printing, Fresno, CA
• Williamson Printing Corporation, Dallas, TX.

Silver awards:
• Branch-Smith Printing, Fort Worth, TX
• Pazazz, Montreal, Quebec

About eKG:
The Competitiveness eKG™ diagnostic tool has been used since 1993 to survey printing company customers. The survey findings have resulted in a comprehensive database that NAPL draws on to benchmark customer service against established standards based on 20,000 printing customers interviewed over the years. Participating in the program helps graphic communications companies put a program in place for getting concrete, actionable information on how to strengthen customer relationships and what is needed to increase profit margins by creating superior value for customers. For more information on the NAPL Competitiveness eKG™ and the RAVE Awards for Excellence in Customer Satisfaction, contact NAPL President & CEO Joseph Truncale, (800) 642-6275, ext. 6310; HYPERLINK "mailto:jtruncale@napl.org" jtruncale@napl.org.

About NAPL:
NAPL is a not-for-profit business management association representing companies in the $120+ billion commercial printing and graphic communications industry in North America. NAPL’s comprehensive slate of business-building solutions provides company leaders with the management tools they need to make informed business decisions in an ever-changing market environment. The association also handles administration of NAQP, the National Association of Quick Printers, which specializes in the unique concerns of small printers nationwide, and the industry’s Research and Engineering Council, which is dedicated to manufacturing technology and productivity improvement issues. For more information on NAPL or its affiliated associations visit www.napl.org or call (800) 642-6275.