Your Printer, Your Partner

16 Tips On How to Find the Right Match

By Stephen R. Lett

The relationship you have with your printer can be crucial to your success. After all, your printer may be your largest unsecured vendor.

Today's printers do more than just put ink on paper. They ink-jet addresses and efficiently distribute catalogs through the mail stream across the country, often for the lowest possible costs.

When choosing a printer, price certainly is important. No cataloger should pay a large premium for the privilege of dealing with a particular printing company. Other factors, such as service, lead times and technology, should be considered.

Following are suggestions to think about the next time you get printing bids:

1. Be sure the printing company from which you solicit a bid is a catalog printer, one that prints, binds, ink-jets addresses and mails catalogs directly from its printing plant.

2. Always get at least three bids. If one is high, you'll most likely discard it. If another is low and the other two bids are considerably higher (and about the same) it could be that the printer who stands out is providing a low-ball quote just to get the work, or the printer may not understand the job specifications.

3. Match your company's culture to that of your printer's. You must be comfortable with the people and company with which you're dealing. The size of the company also should be taken into consideration. Large printers have tremendous capabilities and resources, but are they structured to provide the level of service your company needs? Sometimes bigger is not always better.

4. Can you work almost daily with a particular printer? Are you comfortable having that printer as a large creditor? Is this a company you can count on, say, five years from now? If the answers are "yes," perhaps it's time to develop an even closer working relationship with that printer.

5. How do the printing company's representatives and agents think about your company as a customer? Your printer needs to know that your catalog company is one with which it can grow. Show the printer that you care and that you're committed to the company in the long-term.

6. Carefully consider customer turnover. Ask how long the printer's top 10 customers have been printing with them. Try to discern what percentage of customer turnover the printer experiences annually.

It's even more important to find out why customers take their business to another printer. Keep in mind it's easy for a printer to offer a cataloger a low price, but price alone can't be the glue that binds the relationship.

7. Don't solicit bids unless you're willing to change printers. If printers feel you're simply shopping the market to obtain a better price from your current printer, they won't quote their best prices to you. This can become a credibility issue.

A printer needs to know you're serious about switching companies for all the right reasons. Most printers will understand if you stay with your current printer for a price difference of up to 5 percent.

But if the differential is more, be willing to take your business elsewhere. (It's generally best not to change printing companies unless there have been problems other than price. If you like your current printer, most likely it will be price-competitive.)

8. Printing is a competitive business. So unless you're a very large catalog company, contract for one year at a time.

9. Be sure you're quoting the same amount of square inches of selling space. Catalog trim sizes will vary from one printer to another. Convert your catalog's physical dimensions and number of pages into square inches to more easily compare prices.

Also keep in mind that going to a slightly smaller trim size can save money without affecting results. For example, a trim size of 8˝ x 10 1/8˝ will pull as well as a catalog measuring 8 3/8˝ x 10˝, yet costs less to mail.

10. Always have the printer separate the paper price from the cost of catalog manufacturing. Ask for the hundred-weight price of the paper, which the printer uses to quote your job. This will help you identify differences between printers.

Some catalogers like to buy their own paper, which is another reason to separate the manufacturing cost from the paper price. Catalogers can benefit from buying their own paper, but there are drawbacks. This is often a cash-flow problem, since the paper must be paid for before the catalog goes to press.

What's more, changing printers can result in butt rolls of leftover paper. Paper also can arrive damaged. If you've purchased the paper directly, often you're left to deal with the merchant or the paper mill, which can affect your press date.

Also, if the printer has a press problem as a result of the paper, it's your responsibility. This can result in press downtime at a rate of up to $1,000 per hour.

11. Be sure the quotations are based on the same basis weight and paper grade.

12. Ensure that your comparison includes cover changes, make-ready costs and ink-jet addressing. Include any cost the printer charges to receive electronic files and locked or unlocked files.

13. Consider mailing and catalog distribution, including the postal drop-shipping charges. This is difficult to compare; generally, the difference between catalog printers is slight.

Once You've Chosen

The following points will help strengthen the relationship you have with your current printer:

14. Don't think of yourselves as separate entities but rather as one working together toward a common goal (i.e., to serve your catalog customers and prospects).

15. Communicate clearly and frequently with your printer. Let your printer know in advance what you're thinking and why. Printers can't always react on time (due to lead times), but they can help you solve problems if you let them know what's on your mind.

16. Don't jump from printer to printer every year. You won't get a printer's best price once you've got this reputation. In fact, you will most likely pay a premium, because the printer knows there's no loyalty factor. The longer you remain with a particular printer, the more likely he or she will get to know your specific needs.

Be fair, and be honest. But buy smart!

Stephen R. Lett is president of Lett Direct, a catalog consulting firm specializing in marketing, circulation planning, forecasting and analysis. He can be reached at (317) 844-8228 or by e-mail at slett@lettdirect.com