Keep Those Cards and Letters Coming
Dean Martin in his television show used to close with, “Keep those cards and letters coming.” We don’t do cards and letters much anymore, so I say, keep those comments and emails coming. You see, a blog works best when it is interactive. I love it when someone takes the time to tell me they are appreciating my work, or even they disagree with something I’ve written. I publish every comment, good, bad, or indifferent, except those I deem to be spam. For any readers that may have made comments that seemed to be spam, I’m sorry if I deleted it. Send me another and try to make it less spammy.
So why am I going on about reader comments, because a reader reminded me recently of something I haven’t thought about in a long time, that printers always say the same three things:
- Quality: I don’t know of a printer out there that doesn’t tell their customers that they are a top quality printer. Just check your local telephone book yellow pages and notice how many printer advertisements use the word “quality.” It doesn’t matter if they are printing on paper plates, with a 30 year-old press, and a part-time high school drop-out press operator, they still promise quality. Are they lying? Not necessarily, quality could be defined as producing a product that meets the customer’s needs. What is quality to one customer may not meet the standards of another. The two customers would define quality differently but that doesn’t make either one right or wrong. Its all in how it is measured. What is the standard? In printing quality is often determined by customer satisfaction. If the customer is happy, we’re happy. If the customer is unhappy, nobody is happy.
- Price: Again look at those ads. How many promise a good price or even the lowest price? Most people think that printing costs too much, so if you can make a case for bargain basement pricing you will get customers. In my 35-ish years in the business I’ve learned to be wary of customers who are only focused on price. They frequently turn out to be very high maintenance people who will nickle and dime a printer to death. A competitive price for a good job is more important to me than saving a buck or two.
- Service: Every printer prides themselves on good service. What does that mean? Just like quality, service is one of those words that mean different things to different people. It depends on what you are looking for. Some customers need reassurance. Others need to know that their questions will be correctly answered. There are customers that get annoyed if contacted too often, and others that want to see you almost daily. Some want your billings and paperwork to be immaculate. Some judge service on how quickly the phone is answered, or how long they have to wait on line. I’ve had an upset customer complain about the clothing the delivery guy was wearing. Good service to them would have been satisfied if the delivery person was wearing a clean uniform.
Years ago I worked for a printer in Denver, Colorado. The sales manager was fond of saying, “A good relationship with a customer doesn’t just happen, you have to build it like a marriage. You must discover what their preferences are. If you squeeze toothpaste from the middle of the tube, and they roll it up from the bottom, you can guarantee future problems.”
The next time a sales rep from a printer comes by to ask for your business, notice how long it takes them to say, “We have the best quality, our prices are excellent, and we will provide you with great service.” I’m betting, not very long. If you work for a company that does a lot of printing you could hear the same thing coming out of different lips many times a day. You may tire of it, but they couldn’t very well come in and say, “We have poor quality, our pricing is terrible, and our service really sucks” could they? It might be refreshing to you, but it wouldn’t be very reassuring.
Now this is where I would like to see you keep those cards and letters coming. If you have any thoughts, all of you marketing geniuses out there, that you think would be a better approach please send it in. Whatever we do in this business it shouldn’t be mundane, or repetitive. Creativity is the name of the game. If you would like to hear something fresh from printers let’s give them some ideas. Are you with me on this?
Tags: Advertisements, Comments, Cost, Dean Martin, Email, Price, print broker, printing, Quality, Service, Spam, Yellow Pages
You make the same point several times, but with no solution. What should a buyer be asking or looking for instead of the big three that all printers claim to have?
I had a rep ask the obnoxious “so out of the three–price, service, and quality–which is most important” question to a huge prospect when I was sitting next to him. I tried to kick him but he was out of reach. Can you believe he did it again four minutes later! I wanted to put a noose on him the way he had on our call. Ugh. Even worse–when I asked him in the parking lot about it, he didn’t even remember asking it the first time. Did I mention he had a short career with us?
Ok, so what SHOULD you ask? Ask:
Who are trying to communicate with?
What is most important to them in their life?
What else are you doing for multi-mode communication of the same message?
What are you hoping they do as a response to receiving your communication?
How is this working so far?
Learn to be a marketing consultant, and not just a print salesperson. Help your customer think out loud and solve problems that they normally don’t think enough about…and you’ll have the relationship that you both need.
I agree these are all typical responses from print sales reps and with each job being custom manufactured and different from the next it’s hard not to rely on these go to’s. It’s not like we’re selling a one time widget here. They are all valid points but not measurable when just used in a sentence. I would say the proof is in the pudding. If I say we have great quality then I should be able to back that up with a specific story of how our quality wow’d a buyer and won out the competition. If a customer tells me they have quality issues I always ask them to tell me about it specifically. Instead of going into the typical we are quality spiel. Then I can determine what their expectations of quality are. Once I understand that. I’ll come with a specific time I’ve helped a client in a similar situation resolve their quality issue. I’m a big believer in “you get what you pay for” and all three of these “go to” responses should be looked at together and independently when sourcing a project. I wouldn’t want to hear we have great service. I want an example of great service that is relevant to me!
You are absolutely correct. When was the last time anyone said something different. I sold segments within printing for many years and it wasn’t until I shut up and begin to ask questions and ‘listen’ to my customer did I realize that is the only way to get to the heart of the customers problem and pain…..otherwise you all sound alike.
I recruit now in some areas of the print industry and it’s still surprising how sales people still say the same thing over and over again. MB
Thank you Jeff for your comment on my Talking Through My Hat blog. Your points were right on the money. It astounds me that some of these in-the-box sales people manage to hang on year after year, all the while giving a bad name to the rest of us who really do try to offer professional service.