Print Brokers and search engines

I keep a close watch on the words and phrases that readers use in search engines to find this blog.  Questions about print brokers lead the pack. I guess I should have figured this out on my own because when I’m asked what I do for a living, and I say I’m a print broker, most respond by asking, “What is a print broker?” They wouldn’t do that if I said I was, for example, a stock broker, or even, as I saw on a television commercial recently, a shrimp broker. There’s something about the conjunction of print and broker that creates confusion, and often curiosity.

Why are print brokers attracted to the business?

I don’t know why others become print brokers, but I did because I wanted to provide better service for my customers. I reasoned that as chained print sales rep I was strictly locked into the capabilities, pricing, and business philosophies of the printer employing me. My customers, however, often needed either print production we couldn’t provide, or a redesign of their job to make it fit our capabilities. Either way I found myself in an awkward situation. What should I do, send them away or frankensteinize their project?

(Don’t bother looking up the word frankensteinize, it isn’t dictionaryized because I just created it, and neither is dictionaryized for the same reason.)

What services do print brokers provide?

In my experience a print broker typically performs these duties:

• Consults with customers regarding parameters of the print order. Reviews and discusses any job particulars that will affect the outcome.

• Suggests ways to decrease cost and/or improve quality depending on the requirements of the project.

• Provides samples like paper dummies, paper swatch books, foil stamps, or any other visuals the customer requires to make informed decisions about the print order.

• Aids the customer in determining and clarifying the specifications so that printers will bid apples-to-apples and identify production problems before they ruin the project.

• Pre-qualifies printers or other providers to determine which is the best match for the job.

• Submits bid specifications to qualified printers.

• Consults with printers as needed to answer questions or address production concerns. This is particularly critical when the job is complex.

• Gathers competitive bids.

• Scrutinizes the submitted written bids to make certain the directions were followed, and nothing added or neglected.

• Submits bid with specifications to customer. This gives the customer an opportunity to double-check the specifications at the same time as they receive pricing. The objective is to make sure all parties are in full agreement about the scope of the job.

• Facilitates the transfer of files, or other art to the printer.

• Works with both printer and customer regarding terms of payment and makes sure all conditions are met.

• Arranges and facilitates all necessary proofing steps.

• Attends press checks. Helps the customer understand the printing process and translates printerese into business normal.

• Arranges for delivery of the product to the required destination.

• Oversees and coordinates all parts of the job, this is especially critical if the project consists of multiple pieces.

• Invoices the customer for the work.

• Pays the printer. The customer writes one check and the broker takes care of the rest.

• Most important–deals with problems that may surface during or after the job is delivered. The broker acts is a shield between the customer and the printer in the event of a disagreement.

What is the most valuable service print brokers provide?

The bottom line is that both customers and printers need brokers. Brokers provide the most valuable service of all, we facilitate smooth communication between customer and printer, and that in itself, prevents a whole raft of problems that could occur. Printing, as I always say, is not an exact science. The process, from creative idea to finished product involves so many steps and demands that every one of them be done right. It is a miracle anything turns out as planned, but despite the odds 95% come out great. It’s the 5% that keep us in the graphic arts industry awake at night.

If I owned a print shop — which I don’t — but if I did, and I wanted to attract brokers to sell for me, I would do these things:

1. Make sure the brokers are fully informed of your capabilities and preferences. By preferences I mean that two printers have identical equipment, but one prefers short runs and the other prefers longer runs. Normally pricing will reveal this to a good broker, but wouldn’t it be quicker if the printer identified their sweet spot right up front?
2. Provide brokers with sales materials, especially if you have a special new piece of equipment or an exciting announcement. Think about this: it is difficult for a broker to take the business elsewhere if they are using your promotional materials to secure a project.
3. Try to avoid competing with the broker unless they are after one of your established accounts. If one of your sales reps has a desire to go to battle over a broker’s customer, hold them back. Open discussion may solve the conflict. Be courteous and discuss it with all involved parties.
4. Be sure to honor the broker’s trade secrets. There are some brokers who like to keep their sources hidden–I’m not one of them. I opt for efficiency. If my customer has an urgent question, or needs to STOP the press I want them to be able to do that. Yes, over the last twenty odd years I’ve had to scrap relationships with printers who didn’t honor the gentleman’s or written agreements we made, and yes, I’ve had customers seek a better price by going behind my back, but the truth is that it has happened very rarely. And in the end, customers and printers who engage in this unethical behavior can’t  be relied upon anyway. It’s good riddance to bad rubbish.
5. Attempt to cultivate them as part of your sales team. Why not? They bring business just like your commissioned reps do. The more involved they are in your company and on good terms with your staff, especially your sales staff the smoother things will go. If they are treated like Darth Vader instead of Luke Skywalker when they come through the door, you lose. They’ll take their business elsewhere.

• Invite them to attend sales meetings from time-to-time, especially ones where there is a special guest or new information to be presented.
• If you have a sales contest, find a way to include brokers too.
• Reward profitable brokers with surprise tickets to favorite sporting events, dinners at local restaurants, or weekend trips to nearby resorts. By the way, it is very easy for printers to trade for these spiffs and the out-of-pocket expenses are greatly reduced.
• If you send your sales reps to a seminar or rally consider sending brokers too.
• Make sure brokers are invited to other company functions.
• If a broker is having trouble landing an account that would fit your particular niche, work together just like you would with your own sales rep to secure the business. This way you both benefit.

The bottom line is that print brokers are really and truly a part of any smart printer’s sales force. The good news is that they don’t receive salary, or commission. You don’t have to match their Social Security, or 401 K. You can keep money that you would have spent on a sales rep’s health insurance, expense reimbursement, company car, and overhead. If you have enough money to provide these benefits to your employees just consider what providing brokers with a nice benefit that is a faction of the cost of employee could do? They are possibly the best investment you can make for sales growth.

If you treat print brokers right, make them feel like they are a part of your team, let them know that they are appreciated you’ll discover an increase in trust. Many of the reasons cited by printers for their unhappy experiences with brokers were created by the printer’s disrespect. Respect the respectable brokers (yes, some brokers should be flushed — but not most — especially those who have been around awhile) treat them as part of your team and you’ll find that many of the problems printers have with brokers will disappear. Think about it. How can a broker be your enemy when bringing you business? You are only enemies when you aren’t fair with one another. Be fair.

In the last two blogs Top 5 Reasons Print Brokers P.O. Printers, and Printers, does Print Broker “Prejudice” Harm You? I’ve given reasons why Printers should consider or re-consider adding print brokers to their sales mix. The biggest reason, of course, is that print brokers have customers that are already printing somewhere and by attracting one print broker you could increase your sales by maybe millions. As for me, and I’m not the heaviest hitter out there, I swing around a million dollar a year bat — sometimes more, sometimes less, but always in the ballpark. A printer who convinces me that my business belongs with them has increased business by not just one, but by a couple of dozen new customers, worth maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars in new business.

And  you can do this without creating enemies in your local fraternity of printers. What happens when you send your sales reps out to grab business wherever they can? I’ll tell you; sooner or later you’ll take a prized customer away from a kindly competitor who doesn’t deserve this type of treatment. Maybe they helped you out in the past, or gave you good advice, or belong to the same clubs as you. When you create bad feelings among your peers it takes awhile to patch them up.

It's nothing personal -- just business.

Oh sure, you can say, “It’s nothing personal. It’s just business.” But isn’t that the same lame excuse the Mafia makes in the movies when they kill someone? Damaging a livelihood is personal. You can’t duck it no matter how you try. It’s nothing personal — BANG! — I shot you in the back, but it’s not personal. No, of course it isn’t, wink, wink.

If you decide that attracting brokers could be a good thing, here are some bits of advice:

• Make sure all of your agreements are in writing. Don’t assume that because you have done things in a certain way in the past that the broker will know or understand what your expectations are.

• A print broker is not your unpaid employee. They are independent business people who’s primary concern is their customer. If the broker is smart they will help their customer understand the printer’s point of view in the event of a disagreement, but when the chips are down the print broker stands with the customer, they have to, it’s their job.

• A broker is also not your customer. They function more like an Independent Insurance Agent. The real deal, when all is said and done, is between the printer and the customer. You can squawk about that, but in every sense of what is morally and ethically right it is the person who possesses the product who is ultimately responsible for paying the bill. A broker is no more responsible for a customer debt than your commissioned sales reps are.

• Get agreements with the print broker and their customer giving you the right to collect the debt in the event of default. You may want to insist that the customer provide a credit application and other information for your files. You should conduct a credit investigation on every customer just like you do with your own. Make sure the broker’s customer is credit worthy before offering credit — duh. Then set your terms.

• If giving any credit sticks in your craw make every broker job COD. That is the easiest way to handle the issue, but it also means you will attract less broker business. Their customers have the same needs as your regular group. If they need terms and you aren’t willing to give them what can they do?

• Print Brokers, the good ones that is, probably have a wealth of experience behind them. They aren’t naive. They usually have years of printing experience under their belts before becoming a broker. They are just as committed as you,  to getting the customer what they need, when they need it, and at a competitive price. When you disrespect the value added a broker brings and treat them in a condescending matter you ruin what could have been a good partnership. Get them on your side and they generally will move heaven and earth to help you when things go wrong.  At the very least they bring expertise that it will take your wet-behind-the-ears newbie years to learn. Weigh it out — newbie, pro. Who would you rather work with?

• Don’t begrudge print broker’s earnings. Yes, some brokers earn a lot of money. Most of us do okay, but none of us are in the Fortune 500. It can be a good business, just like printing is a good business. More printers retire well-to-do than brokers ever do. Not every printer does well, and not every broker succeeds. No one becomes a printing broker to get rich.

• Don’t moan that brokers beat down the price so you don’t make any money. NONSENSE. A broker can’t make you accept a job that is a money looser. What did they do, hold a gun to your head? Ultimately if you let anyone dictate your sell prices you are a damn fool, and in my experience anyone with enough business acumen to run a printing company is no fool.

Are paper prices going up, or going down? You might expect that the recession would force them down, but it isn’t that easy. Why even worry about it? The simple answer is because paper is such a large part of printing. Dick Stahle of Spectrum Press, a web printer, says that they are doing jobs where paper eats up 75% of the bid. Even on sheetfed jobs 50% to 60% paper expenses are not unusual. So, if as you might expect with the recession and all, if paper is going down, shouldn’t you expect to see much more favorable pricing?

Paper prices are a true commodity item and are generally ruled by the law of supply and demand. Currently we have a situation where several paper mills have closed. Mill floor inventories were sold at bargain prices. The printers who took advantage of those deep discounts could lower their prices, at least temporarily. Unfortunately we aren’t seeing much of that inventory in the market currently.

One of my local printers found themselves in a difficult situation because they took advantage of a great paper buy and passed the savings along to their customer. The sales rep admitted later that he didn’t discuss the reason for the low price with the customer. Big mistake. Shortly thereafter the customer came back and wanted to reorder. The mill closeout stock was no longer available and to say that the new price upset them would be an understatement. No amount of talking could persuade them that they should have been grateful for a previous bargain. Tempers flared and the customer took his printing business elsewhere because he, “could no longer trust them!” Wow, you’d think that once the situation was explained the customer would have been happy. No way. They get a big discount because of a windfall paper buy, then they expect it all the time, even if the printer loses money–how is that fair?

The truth is that mill closings decrease supply, which should in turn, increase the price. Prices however, haven’t changed much lately. They aren’t trending up or down. Why? Because demand is also down. It is also true that  the printing industry has been taking it on the chin during this recession/depression. Some say that nationally printing sales are down by as much as 40%. The decrease in supply plus the decrease in demand, equals status quo.

Supply and demand doesn’t tell the whole story. Print customers have also been suffering during this economic downturn. When there’s less capital coming in there is less ability to pay out, so they cut back on marketing. We don’t need that brochure right now, or the direct mail package can be simplified, or let’s squeeze  the printers for better prices. 

Printers all over the country have responded to this demand by lowering prices, often to dangerous levels. Some take no-profit jobs just to keep the presses busy. Once one printer cuts costs, competitors follow suit, or else risk losing business. In this scenario no one wins. The printing customer loses, because even though they might get a temporary advantage, in the long run they are unwittingly contributing to driving their suppliers out of business. When the recession ends, they will find that their choices of vendors have shrunk and prices will go higher than ever. The printer loses because lowering the prices to the bone removes any margin for error.  Printing as I’ve discussed in previous blogs such as Quality, Price, and Service–Pick Two (link), is a low profit, equipment intensive business. To leave a press idle is an enormous drain. Thus it is better to run it at break even, at least for awhile, than it is to go dry. No printer can survive long working at break even because break even doesn’t really exist. Sooner or later someone is going to make a mistake that will require a reprint. Since there isn’t any buffer, the bottom line quickly shifts from break even to loss.

For those print buyers out there, let me say that we know that things in this market are tight. There is a real temptation to make up for your slim profits by riding your suppliers or changing to new ones. Please be cautious and reasonable. Just because a desperate printer offers a great price doesn’t mean you should take it. The reason for that price could be that they are on the brink of bankruptcy, or some other problem that you don’t know about. The danger in this reckless pricing is that it establishes low water marks that can’t be sustained. You will want to keep the lower prices and maybe insist on it.  That’s just the nature of business, but resist the temptation. Try and work with printers and other vendors who run lean but still profitable businesses. Trust me, pardner, you won’t like your options if at the end of this downturn all the guys in white hats are gone, and the ones in black are all that’re standing.

When I became a broker, I dreamed I could serve customers best by hand-carrying their jobs to printers who were the best fit, instead of attempting to bend their jobs to fit the printer where I was employed.

On becoming a print broker: I dreamed I could serve customers best by leading their jobs to a printer who was the best fit, instead of attempting to force them to fit the printer where I was employed.

If you had a golden goose, in this case an employee that charged you nothing for their services, and you didn’t have to pay any health care costs, matching social security, expense reimbursement, or overhead either, wouldn’t you be dancing up and down with joy? You’d think so, but in the case of print brokers it isn’t true.

The golden goose is subject to be spat upon, derided, and treated, if not illegally, at least unjustly. Oh sure, when everything is going smoothly, that statement isn’t true, but in the real world, sooner or later some transaction is going to go south. That’s when printer’s bring out the steely knives and prepare to skin the goose.

For example, I have been doing business with a certain printer for approximately 20 years. Twenty years is the equivalent of an entire military career, to put it into perspective. For the whole 20 years they have been aware that I am a print broker. No surprises there.

The company was recently sold to a firm in California. It doesn’t bother me that the folks out-of-state don’t know me from Adam and are concerned about my business practices, they should be. What bothers me is that people I’ve worked with for twenty years aren’t defending me as hard as they can. In twenty years, the printer has never had to write off an iota of bad debt from any of my customers. Could any of their sales people boast the same record? I’d be willing to bet, not.

So what’s the problem? The problem is that the new owners want to make me as the broker, totally responsible for the customer’s debt.  Completely ignoring the fact that I neither receive the end product, nor gain any profit from it.  A generally accepted definition of broker is “A broker’s function is to arrange contracts for property in which he or she has no personal interest, possession, or concern. The broker is an intermediary or negotiator in the contracting of any type of bargain, acting as an agent for parties who wish to buy or sell stocks, bonds, real or personal property, commodities, or services. Rules applicable to agency are generally relevant to most transactions involving brokers. The client is considered the principal and the broker acts as the client’s agent. An agent’s powers generally extend beyond those of a broker. A distinguishing feature between an agent and a broker is that a broker acts as a middle person. When a broker arranges a sale, he or she is an agent of both parties.”

If I was a real estate broker and the homeowner defaulted on their loan would the bank attempt to collect from me? Of course not. That would be ludicrous in the extreme.

Why would a printer insist on making the broker personally responsible for someone else’s debts?

I’m baffled. I’m  particularly baffled at the reaction of friends who have worked with me for a whole career.

If someone could explain the logic behind this attitude by printers, I am all ears. As I see it, I bring printer’s work on a silver platter and it costs them literally nothing for my services. I do want a small discount. A discount equal to what they pay their sales representatives in commission. That’s only fair isn’t it? I ask for a level playing field, and for that I give up any benefits their in-house reps get. I know I’ve written about this before, but it’s a point so often ignored, that it needs to be hammered in. What is the real cost of matching social security, health benefits, retirements (401K’s), expense reimbursement, and overhead? If it doesn’t come to double or triple their commissions, I’d be surprised. My discount is the biggest bargain there is.

It is grossly unfair to demand that brokers pay for a customer’s obligations if their in-house sales reps aren’t personally liable too. But if they tried that one, the state Labor Commission’s would probably climb down their throats. Payrolled employees have safeguards. Independent contractors, like print brokers, are legally abandoned. There is no real protection for an independant contractor.

So why do they do it? Why do they try to kill the golden goose?  Because they can. I’ve had suppliers tell me that they work with other brokers and they don’t have a problem with the terms. I’m sad if that is true. If true it means that brokers are so used to poor treatment, that like the whipped dog, they keep coming back for more. It just doesn’t make sense. But then again, if business decisions had to make sense, the banks wouldn’t have been willy-nilly giving out non-disclosure loans for homeowners. Our whole economy has suffered because of that one.

In return, you might ask, what do I do to protect the printers? I have contracts with my customers stating that they accept the legal obligation the vendor. I have a contract, that if the printer doesn’t subbornly refuse to sign it, gives them third party rights in all transactions. And I provide any and all credit or other information, if terms are required. Do you still require my neck? Come on printers, stop trying to kill the golden goose. We are on the same team. Let’s work together.

 Question: If I order a reprint will the price be the same?

This came up recently when a customer realized that the address on her business stationery was out of date. You’d think a question like this would require a simple yes or no. You might think that, but you could be wrong. There are several variables that would affect the reprint bid, here’s some things to consider:

• The price might actually be less!

If the job was completed recently enough that the factors going into the bid hadn’t changed, your price could be less. Printing bids consist of two parts, fixed costs and variable costs. The fixed costs include prep work, press make-ready, overhead, and such. Every printing  job needs some amount of pre-press preparation to get the files ready to plate. If your job is an exact reprint, with emphasis on the word “exact,” a reprint could cut out some, if not all of the pre-press work, thus saving the printer and you money.

• What if I want some minor type change?

A minor change probably won’t cost as much as a major change, but unless your printer is willing to throw it in for free there should be a charge.

• How long ago was the job printed?

If it was last printed two or three years ago, they may no longer have the files and will have to start over. I work with a graphic designer who had purged her files on a five year old project. Without warning, her customer came back after five years and expected a reprint. I was called, and happily, I keep my records for seven years. To be perfectly clear we are talking about my job files, not customer art files. But because I was able to provide the specifications from the previous printing we were able to accommodate their request by recreating the original art. We did have to choose a new vendor because the previous one was no longer making that particular product. A lot changes in five years, you know.

• What about paper cost increases?

Paper and other supplies are not static. When paper, ink, plates, or other materials increase those increases must be passed along at some point. What makes commodities go up? Supply and demand is the easiest answer but not the most complete. There are a whole host of reasons that affect pricing and that’s why god made economists. Let’s just say that if paper takes a 6% bump (which is not unusual), you will see it in your bid.

• What else could increase cost?

Every business faces increases in operating expense. Good employees need to be rewarded with pay raises. Equipment breaks down and must be repaired or replaced. Insurance, taxes, and licence fees go up.

• The printer bid it wrong last time.

Printing is custom manufacturing. Every job the printer does is a custom job. When estimating a project the printer has to take into consideration the costs of materials, time, labor, overhead, and profit. With all these variables in play it is easy to make a mistake. When there is an error in the bid, the printer is often made to hold to the original bid price. Most printers, if the difference isn’t too onerous, are willing for the sake of goodwill.  If you don’t know this by now you should know that printers as a group are very helpful and understanding. I’ve seen them go much further than they should to please a customer. If you feel you are being treated unfairly by a printer, step back and ask yourself if that is really true. Maybe the fault is somewhere in the middle. And perhaps, perish the thought, the blame is more yours than theirs. The bottom line is that if the job was mis-bid last time, for whatever reason, you can’t really expect the same price on a reprint–can you?

• Did the printer have an advantage?

Maybe the printer bought some paper on a closeout discount, or ordered enough “house” stock to get a price advantage. Maybe an ink company made an offer that couldn’t be refused. There could be a thousand different reasons for the printer to have a better price one time and one not as good at another. Printing is a VERY competitive business. If you don’t take every opportunity to best the competition with wise buying you’ll lose. So if you see a reprint bid that is 30% higher than the previous one, it could be that they don’t have that advantage any more.

I’m sure I’ve missed some reasons in this list, and if anyone would like to add to it just let us all know by adding your comment.

What is the first rule of economics? Supply and demand. The economic slowdown (I hate to say crash, I’ll leave that to the historians to decide) has affected printers, big time. Printers all over the country are shinning their spotlights, searching for hope, any hope, that this will soon be over. There are rumors of printers giving up, quitting, closing their doors, and walking away. There is gossip spreading about presses being repossessed.

Prices are being reduced to entice people to print, and often those bids are so low  there isn’t any profit. It is reasoned that it is better to keep, or get, the press running than to make payments on a piece of iron that is generating Nada, zilch, bupkis. We have an overabundance of supply and a sharply reduced demand. It’s good for the buyer, but is a killer for the printer.

hoarding assets

It makes sense. When companies are in the midst of trying to figure out how to weather the storm, they  hoard their assets. What’s more important after all, printing a new brochure, or keeping your core employees, so that when the situation improves you still have a company left? Tough decisions.

steer into the slide

Everyone in advertising and marketing is shouting as loudly as they can that it pays to advertise during a recession. Companies, they say, who keep their names in front of the public come out of recessions even stronger. That does make sense, logically that is. It is exactly what you are taught  in driver’s education, if you find that the car (the economy) is sliding, steer your car into the slide. Our natural  instinct tells us otherwise, but steering into the slide is the only way to stop it, other than wrecking it.

The problem with recessions is that they are fear based. Emotions trump logic in this case. You’ve all heard the stories of people using worthless stock certificates to paper their walls and discovered decades later that the worthless stock was now a goldmine.  How many potential millionaires tossed away their stock fortunes because of emotions?

feeding emotion

The downward slide we are in, is fed by emotion. Who would buy a new car when they don’t know if they will keep their jobs? Or if they keep their job will they have to agree to pay cuts? Who will buy a new home, go out to a nice restaurant, or invest in a struggling company?

high hopes and low expectations

I have high hopes and low expectations of the new American president. May his infectious smile reassure us that we can pull out of this nose dive. May we learn to sneer at the doomsayers, and laugh in the face of negative press. I’m doing what I can. I’m spreading the word to a larger audience about Bill Ruesch Print Broker, and hoping to infuse my company with new customers. In the meantime, we’ve cut our expenses to the bone, hedged our retirment money, and are doing our best to remember to steer into the slide.

I’m not just talking through my hat, I’ve been battling a he-said, she-said problem with a couple of vendors. The problem was that a set-in-stone deadline was missed and I stubbornly insisted on finding out exactly where the ball was dropped. The evidence produced was an undated delivery receipt. When was the product delivered from vendor A to vendor B? Who knows? Both parties can point to the “evidence” to support their point and the truth is that it doesn’t support either.

What should a responsible business person do? The bottom line is that someone is going to be pushed into a corner.  If you don’t discover exactly where the job went off track you can’t find ways to prevent it, but isn’t it important to allow people to save face?

I want to keep good working relationships with both, but I also don’t want to face a repeat. Does anyone think that by laying the issue on the table and stressing the importance of the deadline is enough hammering on the point, or is it necessary to pull out the nail and leave a permanent hole?

The blame game, is it a good idea or bad?