Ask Your Customers!

Credit: Tiffany Fox

A note to printing company owners: I graduated from The University of Georgia in 1975. I earned a degree in Journalism with a focus on photography. I was confident I would be a world class photographer.

It didn't happen. My work was technically perfect ... but I didn't see the picture before it happened. I lack the eye and the creative vision necessary to capture the best images. My focus, exposure and darkroom work were/are A+. My vision, not so much.

I see this same struggle with business strategy. It influences service design and even equipment purchases. Technically perfect decisions can miss golden opportunities. Machines are evaluated on speeds and cost per page, not doors they might open. This ignores the best reasons to buy and, in my opinion, what to buy.

I bought my first digital press in 1993. If you know anything about digital printing you will concede that was very early. My company brought the technology to the eastern United States and arguably the country at large.

We were looking for a way to manage smaller orders. We wanted to reduce cost. We wanted an answer that allowed us to get to market sooner. These were "technical things" we had the wherewithal to understand.

Our largest clients had different ideas. They saw custom table tent programs. They saw marketing guides for bottlers that were versioned for their market. They challenged us to invent services and to design programs.

At first we resisted. Plant managers knew better...except they didn't. The market knew better. The market could "see the picture" even if they weren't technically perfect.

This post might seem rambling. Perhaps the argument seems obvious to many. But, based on conversations I have it's foreign to many more. Too many of us don't see the opportunity.

Talk to your clients. Not about specs, talk about direction. Ask what frustrates them about your industry and your company specifically. Ask them to show you the picture they see. Then, shape your selling and service portfolio to solve their problems. When you do, prices will relax, and your machines will fill up.

Trust me. They see the possibilities. They are excited by the problems today's tools can solve. Don't get in their way. Help them.

I'm traveling this week. I’ve shut down the Utah condo and headed home to Georgia. I’m working on a new salesperson series for Printing Impressions. I hope you’ll follow along.