My interpretive friend Norm was talking about customer reactions the other day. "It's the indrawn breath I find interesting - noisily, over the teeth", he said. He gave a brief demonstration sounding like a car mechanic. investigating a rattle in a 1962 BMW.
"Of course it's all psychology really", he continued. "It depends on what construction you want to place on it.
Print buyers seem to be trained from birth to do it automatically. I reckon they'd still do it if you tried quoting them a tenner for 3,000 letterheads, so it's obviously a reflex action. Despite that, most printers seem to take it as a cue for them to reduce their price and give money away from their back pocket.
"That's why I eventually evolved my own strategy for dealing with it. No matter how much mark-up you've built into it, I always respond to that indrawn breath by saying `Yes, that's pretty good, to-plate technology, see, isn't it?' It's wonderful - it completely wrongfoots them and, before they realise what's happening, they've agreed with you and you've got the order."
"Of course, now I've got Printpak, I know exactly how close to the bone to pare my prices without losing money, so it sort of gives me the whip hand these days. Now I can play these `so you're in printing for the benefit of your health' johnnies at their own game. Mind you, I've got a pretty good line in humbug-sucking impressions to use on my own suppliers."
It's a funny old game, printing, isn't it?
(If you want to make sure that you're not `anybody's mug', why not give try downloading Printpak? Don't believe anything you hear unless you've tried it for yourself.)
Thursday 2 December 2010
Wednesday 7 April 2010
The perils of giving up
Last week I was surprised to find my usually unperturbable friend Norm looking rather pale and agitated. To my concerned enquiry he confessed that he had given in to the combined pleading of his wife, children and doctor, and had agreed to give up cigarettes for Lent.
"I just can't seem to get on with a pipe at all", he confessed. "They even gave me one of those big Meerschaum ones for Christmas."
"Of course, quitting smoking has often been the making or breaking of print companies", he added, with something approaching his usual twinkle starting to reappear.
"How on earth can you make a connection between giving up smoking and running a print company?" I demanded.
"Well, you see, if a printer is a bit disorganised and also a smoker, he will tend to do his calculations for estimates on the backs of fag packets", he replied. "We all know it's not a good idea, but as long as he doesn't lose the fag packet he is usually OK. And a fag packet is much easier to find in a waste bin than a crumpled sheet of A4 paper. But when he gives up smoking he is faced with a new problem - what shall I do the calculations on now?"
"But don't people use specially designed fill-in-the-box job sheets?" I asked, trying hard to show off my little knowledge. "Yes. And they some-times fill them in accurately." Norm answered guardedly. "But the job sheets, useful or not, are lost as frequently as the fag packet was thrown away. So it's back to square one !"
"What about computers?", I proffered. "Yes, you don't tend to throw them away", he laughed. "But if you're after a system to calculate and record everything properly for you - you have to try it out thoroughly first. It's a minefield out there. You wouldn't catch me buying a car without driving it first! It's the same with MIS."
It's a funny old game, printing, isn't it?
Test drive Printpak yourself, whether you've given up or not. Download a copy from http://www.printpak.com/.
"I just can't seem to get on with a pipe at all", he confessed. "They even gave me one of those big Meerschaum ones for Christmas."
"Of course, quitting smoking has often been the making or breaking of print companies", he added, with something approaching his usual twinkle starting to reappear.
"How on earth can you make a connection between giving up smoking and running a print company?" I demanded.
"Well, you see, if a printer is a bit disorganised and also a smoker, he will tend to do his calculations for estimates on the backs of fag packets", he replied. "We all know it's not a good idea, but as long as he doesn't lose the fag packet he is usually OK. And a fag packet is much easier to find in a waste bin than a crumpled sheet of A4 paper. But when he gives up smoking he is faced with a new problem - what shall I do the calculations on now?"
"But don't people use specially designed fill-in-the-box job sheets?" I asked, trying hard to show off my little knowledge. "Yes. And they some-times fill them in accurately." Norm answered guardedly. "But the job sheets, useful or not, are lost as frequently as the fag packet was thrown away. So it's back to square one !"
"What about computers?", I proffered. "Yes, you don't tend to throw them away", he laughed. "But if you're after a system to calculate and record everything properly for you - you have to try it out thoroughly first. It's a minefield out there. You wouldn't catch me buying a car without driving it first! It's the same with MIS."
It's a funny old game, printing, isn't it?
Test drive Printpak yourself, whether you've given up or not. Download a copy from http://www.printpak.com/.
Thursday 14 January 2010
I bumped into my hippophilic friend Norm last week outside the refreshment tent at Kempton Park racetrack. He was rather mournfully examining the print quality of a Tote ticket before tearing it up.
"Why the Tote, and not the bookmakers?" I asked.
"It's to do with minimising risk" he replied. "Not that it made much difference in this case" he added bitterly, nodding towards a horse that was limping slowly back to the unsaddling enclosure.
"Printers are usually pretty bad at assessing risk, too", he continued. "They think that any added value left after paying the external costs must be all bunce. What they never remember is that any job can go wrong, and any customer can go bankrupt. So if you have to lay out 40 per cent of a job to buy the stock and outwork, you are risking that 40 per cent on the chance of gaining the remaining 60 per cent. In horseracing terms the odds are 3 to 2 on."
"But when you include your internal costs, if 10 per cent of the total is net profit, that gives you 10 per cent return for 90 per cent layout, which is precious little. If just one job like that goes belly up, you've got to do another 9 to pay for it. Yet some printers will even discount jobs just to keep the presses rolling'."
"It's a very a sobering thought", I said. "How about a beer to compensate?". He agreed.
Its a funny old game, printing, isn't it?
(To keep an eye on the added value, net profit and risk of your print jobs, why not download a free copy from http://www.printpak.com/.)
"Why the Tote, and not the bookmakers?" I asked.
"It's to do with minimising risk" he replied. "Not that it made much difference in this case" he added bitterly, nodding towards a horse that was limping slowly back to the unsaddling enclosure.
"Printers are usually pretty bad at assessing risk, too", he continued. "They think that any added value left after paying the external costs must be all bunce. What they never remember is that any job can go wrong, and any customer can go bankrupt. So if you have to lay out 40 per cent of a job to buy the stock and outwork, you are risking that 40 per cent on the chance of gaining the remaining 60 per cent. In horseracing terms the odds are 3 to 2 on."
"But when you include your internal costs, if 10 per cent of the total is net profit, that gives you 10 per cent return for 90 per cent layout, which is precious little. If just one job like that goes belly up, you've got to do another 9 to pay for it. Yet some printers will even discount jobs just to keep the presses rolling'."
"It's a very a sobering thought", I said. "How about a beer to compensate?". He agreed.
Its a funny old game, printing, isn't it?
(To keep an eye on the added value, net profit and risk of your print jobs, why not download a free copy from http://www.printpak.com/.)
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