This article was authored by Posterboy Printing account manager Daniel Edwards
I visited a shopping centre with my young daughter a few years ago. Not long after we arrived, she pulled on my hand and solemnly informed me that she ‘had to go’. Her simple announcement was utterly innocent of the emergency it represented.
She was at a precarious age, having transitioned from nappies to undies mere days before. A potential dripping disaster was imminent. I knew from experience that the clock was ticking once she said, ‘I have to go’.
I had maybe two minutes to get her to the toilet, or our day trip would be over. I looked desperately for a wayfinder, hoping for directions to the nearest toilet. As luck would have it, there was one in view hanging from the ceiling.
Wasting no time, I tucked my daughter under my arm and straight-armed my way through the crowd. Shortly, I spotted the toilet door across the food court. Happily, we made it; dignity intact, and I deposited her in a stall then tried to look casual as I stood waiting for her to be done. We celebrated over chocolate milkshakes and hot doughnuts and enjoyed the rest of our trip. Thank you, wayfinder.
In marketing, there is a theory known as ‘jobs to be done’. To understand what our customers want, we must understand the job we do for them. The classic example is that people don’t buy ¼-inch drill bits; they buy ¼-inch holes. Job is shorthand for what an individual really seeks to accomplish in each circumstance.
When we sell print and signage to our customers, what are we actually selling? What job are we doing for them? If we know the answer to those questions, we will provide better solutions to our customers. Better solutions equal greater value, and greater value equals larger invoices and happier clients.
A lesson to learn from
Harvard Business Review published a case study about Detroit-based property developer Bob Moesta, who sold condos to people looking to downsize, like empty nesters. Moesta’s company had a well-staffed sales team and a generous marketing budget. But despite all the foot traffic it got through its display home, it could not improve sales.
Research focus groups suggested bay windows, granite countertops and steel appliances. Moesta redesigned the condos to include these, but still, sales did not improve. So, Moesta took another approach.
He contacted past customers to see what he could learn about the journey these customers had followed to purchase. Moesta found these people matched none of the customer avatars he had worked with, nor was there a definitive set of features in the homes that closed the sales.
However, the conversations with the buyers revealed one clue – the kitchen table. Prospective buyers and focus groups repeatedly asked for larger lounge rooms and large second bedrooms for guests. But they never asked for a formal dining room.
Yet, in Moesta’s conversations with actual buyers, the dining table in their existing home kept coming up.
“People kept saying, ‘As soon as I figured out what to do with my dining room table, then I was free to move’,” Moesta said.
The insight Moesta gained was that he wasn’t competing with other builders. Instead, he was competing with customers not moving at all.
“I went in thinking we were in the business of new-home construction. But I realized we were in the business of moving lives,” Moesta said.
With this understanding, Moesta redesigned the condos to include a slightly smaller second bedroom to make space for a small dining room. Then he approached the problem of moving to a new home.
Adding a moving service, two years of storage and a sorting room within the development for new owners to tackle the job of deciding what to keep and what to discard, he increased their prices to cover these new services profitably.
While the industry faced a 49 per cent drop in sales, Moesta enjoyed a 25 per cent increase.
Moesta increased his prices and sales volume against the prevailing industry trends by understanding the job his customers were paying him to do.
Starting somewhere
In a recent customer survey, I asked my customers, “what job does print do for you?”. Admittedly, this probably isn’t the best way to try to approach this, but I had to start somewhere. One answer summed up the responses nicely. “Print advertises to market”. But what does that mean? What is advertising to market?
It is communication. The print communicates a message to the market. We don’t sell ink on a substrate. We sell communication.
My story about my daughter and the wayfinder would have played out almost the same had I swapped “wayfinder” with “information desk”. I would have asked the staff member the same question, which way to the facilities and received the same answer.
The wayfinder communicates all day, tirelessly answering the same questions all day – which way to the toilet. It is the same with any other print or signage. This way to the place, this product costs this much, this place is here. It is communication between the author and the audience.
Hard-nosed printers are rolling their eyes at the idea of selling communication, asking, ‘How does that help me win business with higher prices? I am sure paying for ink, paper, and people to put the two together. With players like Vista Print and Officeworks in the market charging rock bottom prices, how can I just put prices up?’
The answer is that if we understand what we are selling, then we can add value, and customers will be happy to pay more. The value you add is your expert advice.
How to be an expert
It is a mistake to consider your expertise limited to operating the machinery. The opinions “I can only make good print if I get good artwork” or “I’m a printer, not a marketer or a designer or a copy writer” are a liability. They undervalue the massive amount of practical experience and awareness you have of the printed medium.
Before joining the industry in 2002, I never noticed a single print. Afterwards, I was suddenly surrounded by print. I had seen behind the curtain, and I saw every piece of print. I stumbled across one of Cactus Imaging’s award-winning building wraps in Sydney CBD and I geeked out. I stood still on a busy footpath taking photos, then I half climbed up some scaffolding to touch it.
People are wired like that. Once we become aware of something, we see it everywhere. In addition to seeing print at work all day, we see it everywhere in our lives. Printers are experts in print and keen observers of it. So yes, your opinion is informed, current, and relevant.
The real trick with being an expert is this – you don’t need to know more than anyone else. You just need to know more than the customer.
Print sellers should view every job that comes across their desk as a piece of communication first, not a physical piece to be crafted. You can think about how to make it later. This doesn’t mean editing, copywriting or critiquing the graphic design. It means asking questions to understand the message the customer is trying to communicate to their audience. Then use your expertise in print to suggest changes that will communicate that message more clearly.
If a high-end architect hands his customer a 400gsm card, it will not communicate bespoke craftsmanship. It will communicate average, forgettable, unremarkable. In contrast, an 800gsm gold embossed cricket bat of a card will communicate quality and beauty with unspoken authenticity.
Communication through print also happens through the design – review their artwork. Does it include addresses, contact details, and QR codes? Check out their website; if it is a good one, and they aren’t using print to get people there, it is a missed opportunity. Tell them about it.
The first time feels like a risk as you are putting yourself out there. But there is nothing to lose and much to gain. Suggestions are usually accepted with gratitude, even if they ignore them. The attitude of a customer helped by an expert will flip from uncertain to enthusiastic. Time pressure will disappear, and budgets will increase because they are developing something cool. The conversation changes from ‘how fast and how cheap’ to ‘take as long as you need, it’s worth the price’.
It’s not just good news for the customer; it’s good for you as well. Spending a few minutes considering a new piece and looking for ways to improve it is much more fun than pricing up another batch of A4 whatevers. We need to offer more than just pricing to thrive in the new digital automated world.
So, stop competing on price and start competing on value. Remember, we sell communication, not print. We need to offer more than just pricing to thrive in the new digital automated world. Help your customers craft a better communication tool to convey their message. You are an expert, so offer your advice confidently. Don’t just take the specs and punch out a price. Add value to your offering by pushing back and making suggestions.
Comment below to have your say on this story.
If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@sprinter.com.au.
Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter