As a printer you will surely know that times are tough and aggressive.
So you may have asked yourself "What can I do to improve the performance of my business?" You may have considered some drastic measures, even retrenching your valuable staff, but what about increasing your bottom line potential from both existing and brand-new clients? Just like you, your clients are searching for opportunities to differentiate themselves from their rivals.
You could assist them by giving them a way of doing this, while at the same time bettering your bottom line! You, as a printer, may also be noticing a reduction in business as many clients are now utilising online print services.
By value adding to your service it can help to alleviate these circumstances.
So..
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How do you do this? Ask for a meeting with your client, preferably face to face, but over the phone will also work.
Show a genuine interest in their business and helping them to improve their marketing & promotional materials, while admitting that by helping their business to increase, you are helping yours! It's a "win - win" scenario.
Propose ideas and suggestions about how you could assist them to make their printing materials more valuable, and more successful.
Now, you're probably asking what sort of value added materials you could present.
What about: * Anything that might include Hand Finishing Services! * Presentation Folders - some of these can be very fancy in their design and shape.
* Calendars * Labels - you could attaching them to their presentation documents etc.
* CD Presentations - you could suggest that they do a simple cd and post it out.
* Sales Letters - suggest they add something simple that's eyecatching or applicable to their product or service (I've seen crazy things such as bags of dirt, & fake $ notes).
This can really make a big impact on the receiver.
* Other ideas - simple binding & laminating You could also come up with some more ideas that your client may not have tried yet? In addition to this look at the sort of work that you have been doing for them, and think of original ways to value add to this work.
Keep in mind that anything you suggest must work for the client for it to work for you.
What you want is a contented, regular client.
So what if you get this extra work? How will you cope with this type of fiddly, hand finishing work? This may be possible if your current printing jobs aren't keeping you busy enough, but are your staff accomplished in looking after this more delicate type of work? They may well be, but if not, you may choose to outsource this work.
There are specialist providers of print finishing services, that specialize on hand finishing work, but what should you look for when looking to outsource hand finishing? The key element is trust worthiness and reliability.
You want someone who has experience in the printing industry, and understand and works within time constraints.
Cost is also key, so look for a provider with low overheads, such as someone who has a home based print finishing business.
Request referrals, as well as doing cost comparisons.
Their pricing must be low enough to allow for your margin to be added whilst still providing your client with a competitive price.
So investigate every opportunity that you can to value add to your client base, in addition to brand new clients.
Go here to check out an example of a Print Finishing services provider involved in print finishing Brisbane.