RIDE THE WILD WHIRLWIND OF CHANGE

By Kevin Keane

Three anecdotal bits of evidence remind us once again that the times, they be a-changin'.

Check that cheque: A printer friend in North Carolina relates a worrisome story. It seems he received a call from a checks by mail outfit wishing to verify his recent business check printing order. He had placed no such order; yet the thief's order had the correct information, because the account number was the printer's business checking account and the bank was his. When he inquired of the discount check printing firm how long they had the policy of obtaining verification of the order from the account holder he was told 'just since the first of the year'. And to add insult to injury, the impostor had requested lightning fast, one day turn-around service on the order and had noted that deposit slips weren't needed.

To be or not to be retail: We had been assuming that the trend of shopping by mail, at home, via cable or via the internet, might have a negative impact on the small retail print shop concept that has become omnipresent across North America and a good chunk of the rest of the planet. When Deluxe Corporation sold the experimental retail store it had called Printovation to Meyers Printing in Minneapolis it seemed more proof of the postulate. But Meyers, which is a large commercial printer; hasn't given up on the concept at all. In fact, they changed the name to GraphicsXpress, have begun running employment ads seeking retail printshop experience for a multiple location approach, and have retained the fellow who developed the Printovation retail foray for Deluxe.

And you thought you were in the printing business: One of the central themes in our marketing seminars is the belief that printers need to stop thinking like manufacturers of a commodity and start thinking like purveyors of a service which is increasingly digitally oriented. That is a much wider gulf in attitude than you might suspect. Some years ago the Calgary Craftsmen Club printed some survey results in their club bulletin indicating that printing sales people believed the most important factor in a buyer's decision was price; yet when print buyers were surveyed they said they would be willing to pay extra for a job produced on time, an done correctly. Both of which can be viewed today as being more service perceptions, than manufacturing criteria.

Therefore, a recent study in a RIT publication caught our eye for it suggests that the gulf in printer's attitudes is still very wide indeed. Mr. John Compton surveyed printing company managers on their perception of quality problems and then asked printing customers for their opinion. In order of importance, the managers focused on paper waste, plate remakes, press downtime, cycle time reduction, printing defects (can you say, "thinking like a manufacturer?"); while the customers cited long quote times, missed delivery dates, lack of sales rep knowledge and responsiveness, customer service deficiencies, inflexibility, and lack of partnering.

The times are changing. Our customers are changing. Are we changing?

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This article was re-printed with permission from Vol.2, No.5 of "Know More Notes" a publication of the IAPHC.

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