This article was first published in the July 2022 issue of AP, authored by Deborah Corn

Making print sales isn’t easy these days. Supply chain issues are disrupting the process, as is the ability to promise everything will be okay with 100 per cent certainty. This situation can make even the most seasoned print customers nervous especially if they work as a print producer at advertising agencies, brands, or corporations that plan their print marketing and media placement strategy well in advance. These plans often require that campaign materials are coordinated to hit the market on target dates. Not so easy these days, as I’ve said.

I recently reached out to a friend who is the VP and director of production of a specialised, full-service production agency with a roster of clients that includes other ad agencies in this space. When he didn’t answer, I followed up and this was his reply:

“Sorry Deborah. My department is haemorrhaging. Three rounds of layoffs and now three more people resigned. I went from 17 people down to three, and I’m working 65 hours a week. I’m literally just trying to survive.”

He is one of three overworked and overwhelmed print producers responsible for every job from every client at this full-service production agency. Think about that. Professional print producers can be pains in the ass, but we – you, me, agencies, brands, marketers, and printers – cannot let them go extinct. Our world without them is only about price. Craft will eventually transform to commodity and then game over in so many ways.

Here is what you can do right now. Stop bothering these customers unless you have something very specific to discuss. If they need your help, they will find you. You can send a ‘checking in’ email, text, or social media messages now and them to remain top of mind from a human vs sales perspective, and without any expectation of a reply.

Review all their past work. If they always do a mailing in June, don’t wait on them to contact you. Figure out how to get the paper and when it can arrive, share that information and a quote with the customer – now.

Repeat that process or everything you can think of to pre-empt a quote request and be super attentive to being super proactive every way you can. Especially with paper and postage. Price increases are coming.

Inform your customers now and help them create a plan to print everything they can before it happens. Provide a list of projects they have printed in the past; suggest how they can be improved. Provide estimates for all scenarios with very clear caveats around securing supplies and the pricing and payment terms. The fine print is critical when hard costs are fluctuating.

Consider a next-level move

Unless we figure out a workable solution to help professional print customers, the infiltration of print management services is imminent.

The situation for printers when print management services (PMS) take over is more complicated. Some printers benefit and can get more work from the network if they can print at the price required. In many cases, they can’t afford to print at the required pricing for PMS companies to profit and they lose work they may have had for years. Work that they counted on to keep the lights on – next month.

My counterproposal is this: Create your own PMS. Find a freelance print producer to work for you remotely. The cost of professional PMS (plus your mark-up) can be built into the job as a line-item option on the estimate. If they need help, you have it. The opportunity to discuss what this service is, and entails opens with every quote you send out.

Your print producer functions as they would in the agency – presenting project options to creatives and account management, developing specs, and getting an estimate. But instead of just sending back a quote, your print producer is also part of the customer team. They manage the projects for the customer and liaise with a CSR and/or salesperson in the print shop.

Your print producer has worked with project management and purchasing systems during their career. And, they can learn new ones quickly to navigate internal job scheduling and secure agency approvals. 

You can also consider offering this service on an ongoing basis. It’s less expensive for agencies to pay for help job-by-job than to find and keep employees, and your customers don’t need to spend time that they already don’t have to look for freelancers if you can help them manage the job from start to printing to finishing.

The agencies will bill their clients for this service. Don’t focus on that. Charge accordingly. Be flexible and be accommodating. If possible, arrange a test run on a small project with a great customer and a potential candidate for your print producer. Work out the process kinks on your end before you launch the service.

Please take some time and consider how you can help your professional print customers do their jobs, literally. It just might save yours.

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