The Pleasure Is All Theirs

I had a run-of-the-mill Tip all ready to publish today, when I realized that it is nearly Thanksgiving - a time to step back and reflect on the gifts we have been given.

With a healthy family, a home of our own, and a career that I love, I am absolutely aware that I live a bountiful life.

But today's column is not about me; it's about an often-overlooked quality among professionals who buy print for a living.

Many journalists and researchers (myself included) have written that today's buyers are most interested in the following:

• Getting great value for their money spent on print

• Working with a smaller number of preferred vendors

• Ensuring that the prices they receive are competitive

• Learning about new technologies from their print reps

• Working with printers who take responsibility

• Finding printers who can meet their deadlines

• Partnering with printers who are creative and can offer solutions, not just a manufactured product

• Working with print reps who communicate well and who are easy to reach

• Working with print reps who are honest, above all else

All of these statements are factual. I've been close to (and was once part of) the buyer community for 25 years, and those bulleted items ring true for the majority of experienced professionals.

What's missing from this list is a most special quality that unites most professional buyers.

Print buyers get great joy out of working with the print industry.

For years I have witnessed this. For many assignments and client projects, I've had to interview buyers from all industries. They may have fallen into their first production job by accident, but they chose to remain in the field for the long term, because it is that satisfying.

Recently I went to an event hosted by Bookbuilders of Boston (www.bbboston.org) to hear Frank Romano give a talk entitled, "The Book." (It was fascinating and chock full of great data, by the way.)

A local buyer emailed me a few days earlier, asking me to look for him there. "I'll be the tall guy with a 'Born to Buy Print' tattoo," he wrote. How great a concept is that?

Just last week, I had an opportunity to speak at length with a buyer in the insurance company. A full 100% of her time is spent working on printed materials for her company. She started out 20 years ago working for an ad agency in media. Then she moved over to the client side in marketing and loved the print aspect. So she made the decision to stick with print production "and never looked back."

But then she blurted out something that will forever stick with me:

"I can't get through the day without a printer."

It is not only indicative of her love of working with printers; it is a perfect expression that captures what I've witnessed - and experienced - for decades. Print buyers who have been in the business for a good while are united by this sentiment.

If you haven't been a commercial print buyer, whose days are filled with hundreds of details, mini crises, tough challenges and, yes, headaches, working with an industry that offers new technologies left and right, you don't know what you're missing.

Pity the poor soul who works in a field that is static and predictable. B-O-R-I-N-G.

Print customers who source and manage a lot of print take pride and joy in their work. They are perhaps the biggest fans of this shrinking industry. I'm guessing that in their organizations, they are vocal champions of print. This makes them print lobbyists, doesn't it? It is a comforting notion. On the job, day by day, they fight to make a lasting impression with print, as newer media vie for attention. We should stand behind them, or beside them, and cheer.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Comments? Talk to me at mdana@bostonprintbuyers.com.

©2008 Margie Dana. All rights reserved. You're free to forward this email to friends and colleagues: please do! However, no part of this column may be reprinted without permission from the author.

Print Buyer Brainstorming Session

Wednesday, December 10th
6 - 8:30 pm
Doubletree Suites, Waltham, MA

Here's how it works: over dinner and drinks, I'll facilitate a relaxed discussion about topics that most professional print buyers can relate to - and have opinions about, such as:

• Your careers and where they're headed

• The effects of this economy on printing and buying

• What technologies most interest you - and how to keep up

• Your best buyer resources (chance to help one another)

• Latest print industry news

• Promoting your value to your employer

• Educating the folks in your company about the printing process

Where else can you sit, dine, and share ideas with your peers in print buying? Come join us on December 10th and learn a thing or two. Or three. Only $35 for Members of Boston Print Buyers; $55 for others. Add $10 for walk-ins.

Bonus Freebie! Every attendee will get a Wrap-Up Brainstorming Document within a week.

To register, visit our current event page.

November Nugget from Our Corporate Sponsor Adobe

Making your PDF Files Standards Compliant

Generating your PDF files by applying industry-wide standards helps provide consistency and ensures that certain criteria are met. One of the new features of Acrobat 9 Pro is the option to save your file as a .pdf and then choose the Options button to select the appropriate standard. You can Save to PDF/X, PDF/A, or PDF/E. PDF/X is the standard for print workflows. Once you choose that option, you will be able to select the appropriate "flavor" of PDF/X for your workflow.

PDF/A is the standard for archival documents, and PDF/E is the standard for engineering documents. You will also find these Options located under one of the tabs in the Output Preview pane. In this way, Acrobat 9 Pro helps ensure that the elements contained inside your PDF file will match the type of job you are doing.

For more information on how Acrobat 9 Pro supports industry standards, please visit: www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/acrobatpro/features/?view=print

Job Bank Posting

John Hancock Funds in Boston, MA, is looking for a Document Center Operator.

For more details, visit our job bank page.

Print Buyer Poll for November

Buyers, if a print rep goes over your head to get your boss to use his firm, which result is likely?

• My boss might be influenced - but let me decide.

• My boss might be influenced and tell me to use them.

• It would be futile: I have the final say for print sourcing.

• I am the boss!

Cast your vote on our home page at www.bostonprintbuyers.com.

Margie's Upcoming Speaking Gigs

• Seminar for Nonprofits - How to Design for Print and Buy Print
  (with Frank Romano) American Printing, RI 11/24/08

• Print Buyer Brainstorming Session
  BPB Dinner Program, Waltham, MA 12/10/08

• Boot Camp for Print Reps (with Frank Romano)
  Boston, MA 1/28/09

• Boot Camp (with Frank Romano) Graphics of the Americas, Miami, Fl 2/26/09

• Print Buyer Panel Discussion
  Graphics of the Americas, Miami, FL 2/27/09

• Margie Dana's Secrets to Working Successfully with the Modern Print Buyer SGIA Webinar, 2-3 pm EST 3/18/09

• Print Buyer Boot Camp (with Frank Romano and Steve Suffoletto)
  ON DEMAND Conference, Philadelphia, PA 4/2/09

• Keynote Session and Buyer Brainstorming Session
  PIASC Buyer Conference, Los Angeles, CA 4/14/09

Print Tips Archives!

Our Print Tips archives are public. Access them from the home page of our site
under Print Tips at www.bostonprintbuyers.com.