In 2015, trade printer Heroprint sent a survey to every one of its clients to ask them what the company was doing well, what they weren’t doing so well and what they needed to work on. Fast forward five years and the company has sent out the same survey with the same questions to see just how far they had come.

While the results of the 2015 survey were good, Heroprint felt there was still room for improvement. The average scores for the 2015 survey was 8.79 out of 10. The questions ranged from quality of product, packaging, turnaround and customer service. The survey was sent to every one of Heroprint’s contacts via Survey Monkey with the data then analysed using the same service.

In mid-September this year, Heroprint conducted the same survey again using the same questions.

A week later the results came back and they were outstanding.

Heroprint had managed to increase its rating in every single category that had been asked about in the survey. The new average scores ranged from 9.05 to 9.42 out of 10, with a total average of 9.21.

“The results of the survey were truly humbling,” Heroprint general manager Alex Coulson said.

“We take a lot of pride in what we do here, while always looking to improve where we can.

“It’s really gratifying to have these efforts validated by our clients and know that we are on the right track.”

Coulson said sending out a survey like this is a nerve-wracking experience.

“While you’re always giving it your best as a company, sometimes you don’t know if your best is hitting the mark, so we’re really proud of these results,” Coulson said.

The company’s message of continued improvement is evident when visiting their sprawling Sydney factory in the inner west suburb of Alexandria.

Client is king

While Heroprint keeps its eye on upgrading technology to offer new products to customers, it has never forgotten the golden rule that client is always king. And so, the client remains at the heart of everything Heroprint does.

From day one, Heroprint has made it their mission to provide top quality customer service.

This commitment is largely built around a promise that whenever a new customer signs up with Heroprint they will always be able to speak to the same account manager – no matter what the reason for the call.

It seems simple but in days of high staff turnover and business consolidation, this promise becomes harder to achieve.

“I think this is the data point from the survey of which I am most proud” said Coulson referring to the score of 9.42 out of 10 for how the Hero account managers are rated by their clients.

“As a company, we are all pulling in the same direction and while there was really not a lot of room to improve on their scores from 2015, everyone has managed to squeeze those last few drops from the lemon and get their scores higher again”.

While you may think that comparing today’s account managers with the account managers from 2015 might be a bit odd, Hero have only had one account manager change from that original survey.

“Our account managers have been at Heroprint on average over 10 years, so they know the ins and outs of the business and are experienced with everything print related,” Coulson said.

Coulson says having this stability within the company and between account managers and respective trade partners has paved the way for Heroprint to build real and enduring relationships with clients and within the industry.

“We believe that consistency is key at Hero,” Coulson said.

“One statement that really resonated with me from the last few weeks came from a conversation I had with one of our reps on the road – he told me that a consistent theme coming back from our clients during an incredibly turbulent year, is that we are the one thing that remained constant – that meant a lot to hear.”

The level of face-to-face customer support is high. It includes important efficiency components such as providing colour match samples, similar reference samples and proofs direct to the client’s door.

This level of personal client service shows the customer that, at Heroprint, clients are not just an account number, but a valued trade business partner.

The art of embellishment

The company can now add UV digital embellishment to that list with the successful installation of a Japanese-built B2-sized MGI JetVarnish 3D Evo UV.

Having the MGI up and running has added new dimensions to the existing print work the company handles as it can easily embellish and personalise a range of products from business cards to brochures and wedding invitations.

It has also opened up new avenues of possibilities in print. With the coronavirus crisis hitting just about every industry in one way or another, digital foiling and UV has seen a lot of clients thinking outside the box… or on the box anyway. Digitally printed packaging with high end finishing has been a product that Hero has seen grow substantially over the last few months. With many awards nights and events going online to digitally transmitted formats, Hero have been creating boxes for congratulatory bottles of champagne, plaques, trophies and gifts. Many retailers moving to delivery only has also seen this market boom.

After experimenting with a variety of foil types, Coulson said the MGI is now running beautifully and every day adds a tactile, touchy-feely quality to a range of products from wedding invitations to business cards to high-class brochures and booklets.

Coulson says getting the message across to printers and designers about the wonders of the MGI has, at times, been one of the hardest parts of bringing in the machine.

“These days it is especially important to stand out from the crowd and once our clients understand what is possible with the MGI, they love it,” Coulson said.

“It can be a hard product for our clients to sell – you just need to have a fair bit of imagination to be able to see what is possible.

“It really can produce anything and your imagination is really the limit with what it can do.”

Cost benefits

The price advantage of embellishing with the MGI, compared to traditional embellishing processing, are also hard to argue with.

“Perhaps the greatest advantage is there are no blocks, screens, or dies required, meaning small run digital work can also make use of these finishes without blowing the budget,” Coulson said, adding foil colours include gold, silver, copper, rose gold, red, green and blue.

“We have done a lot of experimentation in finding the best foils to use on the MGI and the ones that adhere the best and are most scratch resistant.” Coulson said.

“It has taken quite a bit of trial and error, but we are really pleased with it now and the machine is running extremely well and getting lots of work.”

Adding value

Not only does Heroprint offer digital embellishments, it can also match 90 per cent of standard Pantone colours thanks to the Indichrome colour matching function of the HP Indigo 7800 Digital Press it purchased four years ago.

Coulson says opting for the Indigo provides customers with a low code cost alternative to standard PMS printing and is a perfect fit for customers with fussy requirements when it comes to colour.

The Indigo can print on coated and uncoated stocks and produces a broad range of bright colours that are just not achievable with standard CMYK printing.

“Our Indigo uses seven colours to be able to match a majority of the standard Pantone range,” Coulson said.

Processes made simple

Heroprint employs a range of processes designed to make life easier for customers.

While it does not offer a specific artwork service, it can when needed make small artwork changes when a job is on deadline.

The company also has an easy-to-use website and online ordering system which is constantly being updated so customers can access as many products as possible online.

“In a few easy steps an online price can be sent through to us as an order in no time,” Coulson said.

“Over 80 per cent of our clients are from referrals, which we really get a kick out of.

“We really appreciate any and all business that comes our way through this avenue, and I think really shows we are on the right track with the way we deal with clients.”

Coulson believes it is this commitment to account management which sets Heroprint apart from other trade print providers in Australia.

Client reporting

Every day Heroprint works closely with internal job progress reports which also form the basis of a daily progress report that is set to clients to update them on where their job is up to.

This type of close reporting allows all staff at Heroprint to know the progress of each and every job, not just the urgent ones.

“These reports give us in depth information about how long each job is at different processes within the company, how long we have had the job, and make sure all departments are working together to get the jobs through as quick as possible,” Coulson said.

“We also send through daily progress reports to our clients.”

Each client receives an update on where their jobs are, as this helps ensure they are on top of any proof approvals that are outstanding and the details of their current job.

“These email progress reports link to live time tracking in our job tracker system on our website so clients can always stay up to date,” Coulson said.

“We have had great feedback on this system, a daily report with all jobs so they do not have to manually chase up each job.”

Where is the courier?

Another key measure the company has instituted to better serve customers is to align itself in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth with a dedicated and independent courier service. Hero has worked with the courier company to develop software and practices that are catered to the needs of Hero clients.

As Coulson puts it, every printer’s nightmare is chasing couriers and the introduction of a trackable courier system that provides up to the minute despatch and delivery estimation is designed to remove all this hassle.

“The headaches that go with chasing couriers in this industry are just horrendous,” Coulson said.

“Like it or not the printer is responsible for couriers. If your job is going to be late, you can’t just pass it off as the courier’s fault.

“That is really the first way you can lose a client.”

To put a lid on this problem, Heroprint decided to take control and work with a dedicated service.

In Sydney alone, the same four drivers do deliveries for Heroprint and since the system has been changed, the courier problems which were once quite an issue have just gone away.

“We have taken so much responsibility for this now into our own hands,” Coulson said.

“We know where the drivers are all day-everyday. We can predict roughly 10 minutes either side of when a delivery will be made. If you call a traditional courier company and say ‘when is this going to be delivered’, they would say by 5pm and they give you nothing more than that.

“The only way that you know it is not going to be there by 5pm is because it didn’t get there but by then it is too late and you can’t do anything about it. You then have to tell your disappointed client that it won’t get there until tomorrow.”

Coulson says working with the courier service has removed delays, confusion and frustration around deliveries.

“This allows us total control over deliveries which has reduced any issues you would get using traditional courier companies,” he said.

“The specific drivers drive only for us, so they are experienced at handling print. Standard courier companies may mishandle print work, not knowing how to look after, and not deliver it correctly.

“The courier system has real time tracking information which we have integrated with, so the client can see a predicted delivery time any time of the day, which is constantly updated, getting more and more accurate as more deliveries are made.”

Coulson said this up to the minute tracking has been even more useful during the pandemic, with many clients needing to plan their day and needing to be back in the office or at home to accept the delivery.

“In response to the Covid pandemic, we introduced contactless delivery, which includes a photo automatically sent to the client where the job was left / handed to,” he said.

Packaged right

The team at Heroprint also take great pride in the way their work print work is packaged and protected in transit.

“We have spent years fine tuning how jobs are bundled, shrink wrapped, and presented to clients,” Coulson said.

“Every job that leaves our factory is shrink wrapped, whether individual cartons are wrapped or multiple cartons wrapped onto a skid or pallet, to ensure our clients can pass the print job directly onto their clients without the need for re packaging.

“We make sure our boxes can withstand the travel interstate, especially on business cards, which can be subject to damage when travelling interstate if not provided in suitable boxes. Our boxes present so well we consistently have clients asking if they can buy them for their own use.

Visit Heroprint for more information.

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