Four ways automated print pricing can make a buyer’s life easier (and how to choose the right system)
Do you struggle to find enough hours in the day?
Whether you’re a full-time purchaser or managing a more general administration role, the pressure on your time has never been greater. Companies expect more and more from their staff. There is a real focus on efficient processes.
The trouble is, it can be difficult to work efficiently if you are sourcing print. There is a huge range of different products and processes. This means that you can’t just rely on one printer, or even a small group of suppliers. Each company has a slightly different range of equipment and specialisations. Every product needs approaching in a different way.
Sometimes it’s a hard task to make sure that you are approaching the right companies for a particular print specification. This requires specialist knowledge that many buyers do not have unless they have been buying print for many years. Even if you know what you are doing it can be difficult to make sure you are finding the right supplier and the right price. It’s also a time-consuming process.
However, these days there is another solution.
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Why beating printing companies down on price is not the best way to reduce costs
For me, few things are better than standing on the summit of a mountain
The route up a mountain is hard. There’s a lot of work in getting to the top. A summit has to be earned.
That is one of the things that gives me immense satisfaction when I reach my goal. I could go for a nice walk below the mountains. But taking the easy route would not give me the same satisfaction.
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Three reasons why print buyers should challenge supplier choice
My daughter was about to burst into tears
I had asked her what flavor of ice cream she would like. She gave me the same answer that she always did. “I want chocolate please, Daddy” she had said. But the shop had sold out of chocolate. In her eyes this was a major crisis.
Using my best powers of persuasion, I managed to get her to accept a strawberry ice cream instead.
The response was amazing! The tears vanished. A massive smile crossed her face. She was in love with strawberry ice cream. Now chocolate is forgotten, and she always chooses strawberry instead.
My daughter’s reluctance to try new flavours before this meant that she had missed many opportunities to enjoy strawberry ice cream. It can be the same with print buyers. Sometimes we stay in our comfort zones. That means we miss out on the opportunity to try new and better solutions.
That’s why print buyers should always challenge their supplier base
Why print buyers who stick to cost-cutting are failing to do their job
Wouldn’t a garden look bare without anything in the flowerbeds?
My wife is a keen gardener. One of her most regular jobs is the weeding. It’s an important part of keeping the garden looking good.
But what would happen if my wife did nothing but weeding? What would happen if she never spent any time growing flowers? We wouldn’t have much of a garden.
Print buyers spend all their time cost cutting can end up with the same results as gardeners who spend all their time weeding. They may fail to create any growth.
Print buyers should focus on growing return on investment
Print buyers should help companies grow profits, not just reduce costs
Three specification questions that can reduce the cost of printed items by over 30%
The print industry is dying
There are huge amounts of overcapacity. Printing companies are tendering suicidal prices.
So all a print buyer has to do is to keep pushing, pushing, pushing on price. They will have no problem in keeping to even the smallest budget.
Actually, that is very far from the truth.
Costs are rising. The number of printing companies that have failed recently means that capacity is not as plentiful as it was. If a buyer thinks that buying price is easy they need to think again.
A much easier way to reduce costs is to challenge specification
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