Monthly Archives: September 2011

How managing expectations will improve your print buying relationships

I was excited!  I had pressed the order button at the online store.  My new mountain jacket would be on its way to me shortly!

But there was a problem.  Shortly after I had placed the order I received an e-mail.  The store wanted to warn me that they were snowed in.  They would be unable to despatch my jacket in the next few days.  I could take a refund or wait.

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Print buyers: do you have a plan B?

It was just another routine dive – until his air supply failed

I have a friend who is a keen scuba diver.  His latest dive was nothing out of the ordinary:   it was the sort of dive that he had done many, many times before.

But one moment on this dive moment he was breathing air.  The next moment there was no oxygen coming from his diving tank.

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How versioning will reduce print problems by 60% or more

The phone is ringing constantly.
People are getting bad tempered with each other.
Artwork is late.
Paper has not have been ordered by the printer.
Deliveries are made before warehouses are ready.

If people are not informed about changes to jobs, problems rapidly happen!  And those problems can translate into reprints, claims for compensation and losses for all concerned.

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Why print buyers should not buy print

Have you ever asked a supermarket shopper what they are buying?

Chances are they’ll give you a list of ingredients or ready meals.  But that’s not what they’re really buying.

Here are some of the things that a supermarket shopper is really buying:

  • Nourishment
  • Health
  • A treat
  • The sense of having found a bargain

None of these things are directly related to what is in their basket.  There is a less obvious reason as to why they have chosen the contents of their basket.

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Why tenders should be an essential part of the print buyer’s toolset

The word tender conjures up visions of procurement teams in large organisations dealing with multi-million spends.  They create huge tender documents and spend months in negotiations.  There are teams which deal with nothing but tenders.  Tenders aren’t for the average company

Nothing could be further from the truth.

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