Where can i find some good info to educate myself on this industry?
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What kind of information are you looking for?
A small sample to get you started:
PIA/GATF - professional association for printing industry. Good bookstore. Look for "Pocket Pal", by International Paper, for a good overview of the technical processes. www.gain.net
American Printer Magazine. Read articles from the current and past issues online. http://americanprinter.com
Digital Publishing Solutions. Magazine online.
www.dpsmagazine.com
Finally, if a trip to Chicago is feasible for you, go to Graph Expo and walk the exhibit floor.
www.gasc.org
Don't expect to understand this industry overnight, especially if you don't have a background in journalism or printing. Best advice: make friends with a printer and get comfortable picking his/her brain - regularly.
PIA/GATF - professional association for printing industry. Good bookstore. Look for "Pocket Pal", by International Paper, for a good overview of the technical processes. www.gain.net
American Printer Magazine. Read articles from the current and past issues online. http://americanprinter.com
Digital Publishing Solutions. Magazine online.
www.dpsmagazine.com
Finally, if a trip to Chicago is feasible for you, go to Graph Expo and walk the exhibit floor.
www.gasc.org
Don't expect to understand this industry overnight, especially if you don't have a background in journalism or printing. Best advice: make friends with a printer and get comfortable picking his/her brain - regularly.
Thank you Shaja. I will certainly check out the info.
Art, at my dealership we have a senior rep that handles only these customers. I want to educate myself on how this specific industry thinks, buys etc. so that one day I can handle some of those accounts.
Art, at my dealership we have a senior rep that handles only these customers. I want to educate myself on how this specific industry thinks, buys etc. so that one day I can handle some of those accounts.
Being a Ricoh/Kyocera daeler we also sell offsets. The one thing you need to understand about commerical printers is the equipment they buy has to make them $$$$$. There will run the equipment into the ground before there will replace it.
Hi Rodney:
Ah, printers, some will say it is one of the hardest accounts to break into and others will say they are the easist to breakdown the walls.
1. You've got to know your product upside down and inside out! They have no time for someone who lacks product knowledge. You must also know thier language.
2. Also be ready to ROI sell them, if it is a new product, be ready to show them how to make more money with your product or how to increase thier productivity.
3. Go out and invest in a artist portfolio, one that will hold 12x18 documents and build a library of samples and stocks to show them. Keep this with you at all times and also make sure you get samples of jobs from other printers that were done with your equipment!
4. Memorize your cpc's and the competitors cpc's, already be ready to have an answer for single click billing on 11x17.
5. Cold calling has always worked best for me, the first call is treated as a look see and introduction and thats it. Keep visting them every few months and you will gain their trust.
6. Treat them like as #1 TOP Priority, some printers have incredible volumes and they need to be treated as #1 when there service call comes in.
7. They are in business to make money and if you can show them a way to make more they will listen. If selling them a new product such as wide format, offer to conduct a marketing blitz for them. Meaning, you take two days a month for the next three months to cold call for them thier literature. Make sure you bring them back all of the business cards and you keep copies for your self. Never know what you may stumble across.
I will try to add more in a few days!
Ah, printers, some will say it is one of the hardest accounts to break into and others will say they are the easist to breakdown the walls.
1. You've got to know your product upside down and inside out! They have no time for someone who lacks product knowledge. You must also know thier language.
2. Also be ready to ROI sell them, if it is a new product, be ready to show them how to make more money with your product or how to increase thier productivity.
3. Go out and invest in a artist portfolio, one that will hold 12x18 documents and build a library of samples and stocks to show them. Keep this with you at all times and also make sure you get samples of jobs from other printers that were done with your equipment!
4. Memorize your cpc's and the competitors cpc's, already be ready to have an answer for single click billing on 11x17.
5. Cold calling has always worked best for me, the first call is treated as a look see and introduction and thats it. Keep visting them every few months and you will gain their trust.
6. Treat them like as #1 TOP Priority, some printers have incredible volumes and they need to be treated as #1 when there service call comes in.
7. They are in business to make money and if you can show them a way to make more they will listen. If selling them a new product such as wide format, offer to conduct a marketing blitz for them. Meaning, you take two days a month for the next three months to cold call for them thier literature. Make sure you bring them back all of the business cards and you keep copies for your self. Never know what you may stumble across.
I will try to add more in a few days!
Amen to everything said above!
Be aware that not all printers have embraced digital printing and you will be competing against press manufacturers. (By my digital printing definition, I am including good high-volume copier/printer systems such as Konica's bizhub 1050 with digital presses such as Kodak's NexPress.) Actually, you are competing against digital presses (ie., NexPress, iGen, Indigo, Xeikon) AND traditional presses designed for short runs (ie., Printmaster). So, in addition to being informed about other copier vendors' products, get informed about the big iron products, too.
Some printers are still VERY skeptical of digital's quality - be able to demonstrate how good digital actually looks and holds up (Art's portfolio suggestion above). And if you can get your hands on some digital press samples to compare against, even better. I have a color sample from a Heidelberg that my Konica bizhub color stacks up very well against.
Some printers are interested in digital's cost benefits but haven't been able to wrap their minds around the technology transition (for example, read up on UV coating).
And, some of them have this unconscious mindset that if the technology can't be traced back to Gutenberg, then it's not really printing! So, don't go in with an attitude that you can change their world, because that's not what they want! Respect their past and their industry's traditions.
Be aware that not all printers have embraced digital printing and you will be competing against press manufacturers. (By my digital printing definition, I am including good high-volume copier/printer systems such as Konica's bizhub 1050 with digital presses such as Kodak's NexPress.) Actually, you are competing against digital presses (ie., NexPress, iGen, Indigo, Xeikon) AND traditional presses designed for short runs (ie., Printmaster). So, in addition to being informed about other copier vendors' products, get informed about the big iron products, too.
Some printers are still VERY skeptical of digital's quality - be able to demonstrate how good digital actually looks and holds up (Art's portfolio suggestion above). And if you can get your hands on some digital press samples to compare against, even better. I have a color sample from a Heidelberg that my Konica bizhub color stacks up very well against.
Some printers are interested in digital's cost benefits but haven't been able to wrap their minds around the technology transition (for example, read up on UV coating).
And, some of them have this unconscious mindset that if the technology can't be traced back to Gutenberg, then it's not really printing! So, don't go in with an attitude that you can change their world, because that's not what they want! Respect their past and their industry's traditions.
Rodney, by far the best place to go is to a shop and ask the owner if you can learn a little aboout his business (let him know why) by working (gratis) for him on a Saturday or help him out when he's pushing a deadline and needs help in the evenings. You'll learn a lot - if you ask the right questions. I did years ago and what I've learned has helped me tremendously