A Mistake Was Made–Kill the Printer!
The question of giving a supplier the boot comes up from time-to-time. Before doing something rash, like firing a previously reliable printer, you should ask yourself some important questions:
- How important are they to the success of your business? Would your business really be better off without them?
- What is the history of the vendor? Have they always had problems or is the current difficulty an anomaly?
- Could changing vendors negatively impact any immediate or ongoing projects?
- Can it, whatever is causing your upset, be worked out? Maybe instead of drawing out the axe would you benefit from a non-threatening heart-to-heart? Have you asked the printer to honestly share their side of the story? Are you willing to listen to it?
- Are you being fair? Think about it, does your company supply your customers with a product or service? How would you like it if your customers treated you in the same way you are about to treat the printer?
- Is there more to be learned by watching the pot more closely than tipping it over?
- Have you considered that the fault may belong more to you, or your employees, than to the printer? Remember, your employees have everything to gain by shifting blame to the printer.
- Is the problem one of substance or style? In other words, does the job get done right, and on-time even if done in a different manner than you would do it?
- Were there unfortunate circumstances beyond the printer’s control, such as paper delivery issues, or equipment failures?
Every customer has the right to say, “Enough is enough!” In business relationships things can, and will, go wrong. I’ve noticed in my job as a print broker that customers sometimes too easily state/demand that we cross a certain printer off the list. Something went wrong and that’s it. No trial. No hearing. If I try to point out that the fault was not entirely the printer’s, the customer turns on me. They get angry and want someone to pay with their heads. The problem of this “off with their heads” approach is that developing a trusted working relationships often takes years. And, even though there is an impression that printers are the cliched dime-a-dozen, it may not be true. Sure there are printers everywhere, but are they set-up to do your kind of work? Replacing one may not be as easy as you think.
I’m not saying that printers don’t have their problems too. They, like everyone else, are fallible. In my years of experience going in and out of print shops I can honestly say that there isn’t one that is mistake proof. Printing, on the surface, may look easy, but it is not. For every one thing that is going wrong, it could be caused by ten different things.
I’ve had customers love, love, love a certain printer, and other customers think that same printer is the scum of the earth. How could both perspectives be true? Obviously, they can’t. The truth is that printing is a complicated business. There are so many things that can go wrong, that it is amazing that most things don’t. As a keen observer of printing and the printing business, I have learned to sort the aberrations from the fatal flaws. Also, after awhile you learn to see what a printer’s strength is and play to that and not to the weakness. Place printing orders with companies that are best equipped physically and psychologically for your job. If you do that consistantly, you will have less frustration and enjoy smoother sailing.
Tags: Business Success, Non-Threatening, print broker, Printer Blame, printing, Vendor History
How does one go about becoming a print broker and how does billing work?
“I’ve had customers love, love, love a certain printer, and other customers think that same printer is the scum of the earth. How could both perspectives be true? Obviously, they can’t.”
Actually, they are both right and you gave the reason–the client was part of the interaction and relationship. Just like the old story of the farmer and traveler asking about the type of people in the town, customers who are fair tend to like printers and customers who have the “off with head”, win-lose, or ‘all printers are alike’ attitude, are the ones who tend to “hate” certain printers. Think about the truly professional buyers. They’ll say, “we just don’t use them, we prefer X” which is due to the relationship that has been built by X. I’ve mediated a lot of disputes as a former owner and now as a general sales training consultants, my clients ask me about their printing problems and seeing both sides, in the majority of the time the client interaction or communication was part of the problem.
[...] article on how designers and creators can better deal with their print-providers called, “A Mistake Was Made–Kill the Printer!” Firstly, I learned of this via Linkedin.com from a post to the PrintPlant [...]
As a former production manager and now a print sales rep, the truth is that, as you have said, there are many reasons why publishers or companies are quick to blame the printer, “hate” a printer, or choose not to work with a certain type of printer. Way too long to go into here with my own “experiences” (jaded as they were) but if something does go wrong nowadays the person responsible for the project has much more pressure to “get it right or else” hanging over their heads and it is much easier to blame someone else than look at the bigger picture (and realize maybe the blame is shared or leaning toward the company).
What I find disheartening is the thought that printers are a dime a dozen. While true to a degree, relationships between companies is what ultimately makes these types of issues easier to address. If you have a strong relationship with a publisher/printer, and errors are rare, if a major slip-up occurs hopefully each side will go in with a level head and work together to resolve the issue. When I started in publishing 22 years ago, that’s how business was done. Nowadays, if you do encounter a company with a long-term vendor relationship it’s a rarity.
Personalities definitely make or break a relationship. If you know who you are dealing with, you make darn sure to respect their way of doing business and not throw your spin on things. That is by far the biggest turn-off for a buyer. How do you learn their personality? Study their company, know the “culture” and mission, and go in very neutral. From there, you will know very quickly who and what you are dealing with. If the clash potential will be too large to deal with, it’s okay to walk away. I have given up certain accounts simply because the potential for conflict and blaming was way too large and it was apparent either within the first meeting or two, or after doing one or two jobs and “they just weren’t satisfied enough” with the job though it came out fantastic.
Bottom line, as you said, is that there are abberations in print, and there are always ways to work things out. Knowing your buyer upfront will help tremendously in deciding whether to walk into a minefield or a meadow, and knowing their personalities will help with conflict resolution tremendously.
Well said Annmarie Scottson, I could agree more. Any good relationship begins with clear communication from both parties.
Bill, great piece and very topical.
As a customer publisher, I am often stuck in the middle, outsourcing the print of a magazine to a printer, on behalf of a client for whom I have managed the creative.
I recently blogged on this myself – the need for clients to understand how to handle suppliers. Suppliers need to be looked after as you would a valuable client. Yes, there are plenty of printers around, but the most profitable and rewarding relationships are built up over time.
If clients bully their suppliers from day one, it is only they who will lose out in the long-run.
In my experience as a Quality Director for a folding carton company customers left for two reasons, one good, one bad. The good ones are the ones who leave for price reasons. They find a cheaper printer, and do so with every job they run. They fail to understand that using a printer involves finding the sweet spot, the buyer understanding what the printer can do and the printer understanding the buyer’s requirements. The one and done customer never finds the sweet spot.
The second reason customers leave is continued failure on the part of the printer to meet requirements. This is more problematic for the printer since he has probably lost a long time, valuable customer. Such customers leave because they are tired of excuses and a failure to take effective corrective action. No amount of credits and redo’s can take away the sting of a missed product launch. Printers need to deliver on their long term commitments or be up front in terms of what they can and cannot do.
Remember, it is called Graphic Arts, not Graphic Science! I own a printing company and our loyal customers will go to the mat for us. The ones that view print as a commodity, well I don’t need them as a customer anyway.
Have you ever considered adding more videos to your blog posts to keep the readers more entertained? I mean I just read through the entire article of yours and it was quite good but since I’m more of a visual learner,I found that to be more helpful well let me know how it turns out. This is good…thanks for sharing