The three questions all print customers should ask at a supplier review meeting
Do you ever play charades?
In case any of you do not know the game, one person has to act out a book or a film or a character. Everyone else has to guess who they are. The actor can only signal yes or no.
If you want to win this game, you need to choose your questions carefully. The right questions can get you swift results. The wrong questions can leave you wondering was on earth was being acted.
Questioning is a vital skill for print buyers too.
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Three things that you must not forget when you ask for a print price
I purchased a book online the other day. I was really looking forward to receiving it and getting stuck into it. Each day I was eagerly awaiting my postman. But the days rolled on. And on. And on.
Fortunately online order tracking meant that my book was eventually found and delivered. But can you imagine what would have happened if I hadn’t supplied the right information?
My book would have been lost in the postal systems forever…
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Why a seven-stage appraisal meeting ensures you choose the right print supplier (and get the meeting done quickly)
Have you ever suffered long and boring presentations from print sales people? And at the end of the day, did you find that they never really told you what you wanted to know? When I used to meet new suppliers for the first time I often used to struggle with this. I often used to find that the sales people didn’t really know what I wanted.
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How to stop nasty surprises from your print suppliers: why you need realistic supplier references
My daughter loves watching Dumbo at the moment. She loves it when the cartoon elephant flaps his ears and takes off into the sky.
But, let’s face it, elephants don’t fly. Dumbo is the invention of a storyteller. He isn’t a realistic elephant. But he is like some of the references I have seen for print companies.
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How a four line e-mail can save a print buyer £12,000
“I’m sorry Sir, we have no record of offering you those prices.”
I bought a new hi-fi system recently. I had been into my local shop a few days before to discuss the different options open to me. And I had taken the opportunity to negotiate some good deals. A few days later I went to the shop to buy the system. But it appeared that those prices had been forgotten.
Fortunately I had been prepared on my previous visit. And I had asked the sales person to write down the prices that they were prepared to offer me. So now I was able to show this written agreement to the shop. As a result, I was able to buy my hi-fi at the price I had hoped. But I was very glad I had had a written agreement.
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