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Margie's Print Tips, written to build bridges between the printing industry and
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Join Boston Print Buyers!
If you are a
professional who purchases or influences the purchase of printing in your firm,
you can join Boston Print Buyers (BPB).
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Join us to
network with peers.
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Join us to
learn what's new in the printing industry.
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Join us for
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Although we love printers, paper reps,
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We welcome your inquiries about sponsorship.
Visit
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Check out our
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Gallery.
Upcoming Boston Print Buyers Event - June 14th
The Revolution in Printing & Proofing
Registration is open for our
June 14th dinner program, sponsored by
Eastman Kodak and
Integrated Color Solutions,
Inc.
Read more and Register online
| When: |
Wednesday, June 14th, 6 - 8:30 pm |
| Where: |
Millennium Bostonian Hotel, Boston, MA |
| What: |
Cocktails, networking, dinner, program and a
trivia contest. |
| Cost: |
$20 for Members; $50 for Nonmembers |
Boston Print Buyers presents a very special June
event. A panel of experts will enlighten us about new methodologies that
help ensure color fidelity in your printed products.
Why Should
Buyers Care About GRACoL?
Listen to prepress consultant Ron Ellis:
"GRACoL 7 is a popular standard that will help you
deliver high-quality jobs that can be printed by a number of print vendors.
GRACoL 7 helps you see what you'll get during the creative process and helps
you deliver the final result through use of GRACoL-certified printers. Remove
the unknown, improve your quality, and find printers who can deliver for you
with GRACoL 7."
Bottom line?
Improve your quality and
expand your choice of vendors with GRACoL 7.
Our panel
includes:
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Nick
Patrissi - Moderator, Senior Manager Marketing Customer Development,
Graphic Communications Group, Eastman Kodak.
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John
Dunn, Corporate Accounts Group Production Director,XPEDX.
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Gerald
Gerlach, Integrity Graphics; co-chair of GRACol.
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Dianne
Kennedy, Vice President, Publishing Technologies,
IDEAlliance.
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Michele
Laird-Williams, Director of Print Media,
Kodak's Graphic
Communications Group.
-
John P.
Sweeney, Vice President, Sales and Marketing,
Integrated Color Solutions,
Inc.
For program details, the bios of our impressive panel
and to register, visit
our event page.
Special Guests from China: a delegation of
senior print executives from China will be in attendance.
June
15th Breakfast Meeting in Boston for Printers
GRACoL 7 - Intro and Tutorial
Experts Gerry Gerlach (Co-Chair of GRACoL) and Dianne
Kennedy (IDEAlliance) will present a two-hour session on GRACoL 7 for printers
and other manufacturers on Thursday, June 15th, in Boston, MA. Visit
our event page for more information and to register.
Details:
9 - 11 am at the Millennium Bostonian Hotel in Boston
(parking is available, plus it's accessible by public transportation). The fee
is $50 for the program and a continental breakfast.
Preregister
now.
BPB Sponsor Directory
Take a look! The BPB Directory offers firms a unique online
presence for their prospective customers. Interested? Visit our
sponsor information page for details.
How Do You Communicate with Customers?
Let Me Count the (14)
Ways.
by Margie Dana, Boston
Print Buyers
Keeping in touch with your print customers generally
means fielding phone calls when a job needs printing or troubleshooting when
something goes amiss. Aside from these everyday situations, how are you keeping
in touch? Let me rephrase that: ARE you keeping in touch?
I'm not talking about bugging your customers with a
"Hi ya, need any printing today?" phone call. I'm talking about quality
communications that deliver value.
Here are 14 ideas for doing just that.
- Email newsletters.
Inexpensive. Not a sales tool, but a
customer resource. Monthly is better than quarterly.
- Printed newsletters.
Don't sell, enlighten!
- Informational web sites.
Complement your equipment list and
product showcase. Provide content that helps customers do their job.
- "Lunch and learn" sessions.
Cheaper alternative? Donuts and
java.
- Send articles or a book.
Or a wrap-up of some trade show or
conference that you attended. You are your customers' #1 resource for all
things printing.
- Tip sheets.
Printed or emailed, on a specific
topic about working with you better.
- "Meet the Press" annual open house.
Invite everyone. Who doesn't love a
party?
- News releases.
Send your news in the mail or via
email to customers. It's easier than you think.
- Customer Advisory Board (CAB) of
select customers.
Meet quarterly or twice yearly.
Seek their input. Act on it.
- Survey customers annually.
Find out what they like, dislike,
and need from you.
- Demonstrate new equipment.
Invite everyone. Again with the
party theme. (If you're in New England, I'm available.)
- Invite a guest speaker to cover a
hot topic.
Your company president? Prepress
guru? Moi?
- Just call to check in.
Share something they ought to know.
Don't sell.
- Take top customer(s) to a trade
show.
Make it an honor, because their
business is so valuable.
What else? What are you doing or have you done that
helps hold your customers close and enlightens them at the same time? The best
salespeople don't sell print. They solve customers' problems and share insights
that will benefit them. To be effective at this, you need to keep in touch.
Comments? Talk to me at
.
New position listed last week for Creative
Services Supervisor for the John Hancock Funds in Boston.
That's not all. I deliver energetic and memorable
presentations about the print buyer/printer relationship. Call
617-730-5951 for more information or look at the
speaking
page on our website.
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