When I started in printing, one of my first jobs was picking up the artwork from our typesetter.
Typesetters knew they had you. This was in the early ’90s when the ability to set even the most basic business card was a skill commanding $25 a pop, and $5 for each imposed laser printout. That was big money back then, but if you were a small shop without an in-house pre-press, you had to pay it.
What made the process of picking up the artwork worse was that the typesetter usually wouldn’t even start until I walked in the door. This emphasised just how little time went into actually setting the card, as well as causing a lot of sitting in reception waiting for the whir of the laser printer.
It could have been a monumental waste of time, but in this particular office there hung a sign that I had to stare at for at least half an hour a day, five days a week. It said: “You never win a fight with a customer.”
It went over my callow young head the first few months, but eventually the implications of those words sunk in and it became one of the most valuable lessons I learned in business.
I have run my own shop now for 13 years and whenever we make a mistake or, more vexingly, have had to deal with a client’s mistake, I recite the mantra. Rather than get into an argument, I do what needs to be done to get the client up and running. It doesn’t always work – some clients demand perfection. I shake my head when I see other printers claim it, and when clients ask for it I freely admit it isn’t part of our skill set.
In recent years, I on occasion went up against Geon. Sounds odd given the size of my business compared with that behemoth, but it happened. While it’s not polite to speak ill of the corporate dead, it was never a puzzle to me as to why they ended up how they did.
Twice we each printed a half of a job in tandem for a client. On one occasion, they substituted a lighter stock in the quote without telling the client. On another they neglected to put in a perforation that had necessitated an expensive makeready on my press, folder and quote.
On both occasions, they chose to argue with the client about the specifications supplied. And although they could show that their finished job had been accurate to their quote, they didn’t seem to care that their quote hadn’t reflected the client’s brief. It was the customer’s fault if they hadn’t picked up on the differences. They won the fight on semantics. But they didn’t get another job from the client.
What did that sign say again?
[Related: More Industry Insider columns]
Baden Kirgan is the MD of Jeffries Printing Services and Black House Comics
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
