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Solutions May 2006
Mailbag
Editor’s
note: The following letter
was part of a discussion among
distributors and manufacturers
that took place on DMIA’s
members-only broadcast email system.
The discussion centered on the
challenges distributors face when
selling business cards.
A
Good Business Card Vendor is Hard
to Find
Am
I alone? Do other distributors
have the same problems I have
printing business cards? Do all
business card printers miss deliveries
and have poor quality? We process
hundreds of orders per month for
these basic items and it is problem
after problem. Problems that should
not happen like cards not trimmed
straight, colors that vary from
card to card, and wrong shipping
locations.
They
seem like such simple orders,
but as everyone knows they are
so important to our customers.
The last thing I want to do is
lose a $100,000 a year account
over a lousy $50 business card
order.
Sorry,
just venting. Any suggestions
to the problem would be greatly
appreciated.
Alan
Gorberg
President
GGA
Associates Inc.
Prospect
Park, Pa.
Consider
Selling Business Cards Online
I
hear you on that one, Alan. I
just gave up on an account that
was making me crazy over their
business cards. Let’s see.
They wanted an unusually heavy
stock, so of course it was special-order
(which I informed them of) and,
of course, they needed them sooner
than possible. They kept changing
their layout so each time we had
to provide proofs which added
time to the production process.
After approvals, they told me
they needed them in a week!
I’m
not interested in sucking up and
wasting more time with an account
that becomes unreasonable even
when you put things in writing
to them. Let them drive someone
else crazy. Potentially, they
could’ve been a big customer,
but I could see the writing on
the wall with how they do business.
I prefer dealing with reasonable
people— and there are plenty
of them out there.
The
best advice I can offer is to
set them up online if they’re
big users. Take time with them
to explain the advantages, etc.,
and put it all in writing so you’re
out of the ordering process. If
the quality continues to be poor,
you need to look for someone who
specializes in quality and is
consistently reliable.
I’ve
frequently considered changing
the name of our company to “We
Don’t Do Business Cards”
Printing.
Carrie
Fireoved
Owner
Print
Solutions Plus Inc.
Vineland,
N.J.
Offer
an E-commerce Solution to Save
Headaches
Selling
business cards does not need to
be so difficult. As has been mentioned,
going online with an electronic
ordering solution and adding other
commodity-type items like letterhead,
envelopes, memo pads, etc., will
enhance your revenue when done
electronically.
Here
at Business Stationery, we have
developed a WEBinar series on
selling electronic solutions to
end users, and we have available
to distributors a PowerPoint presentation
that you can personalize and deliver
to customers and prospects about
what electronic ordering is about
and the huge advantages in doing
so.
For
mid- to upper-level sized accounts,
there is no reason for you to
ever touch these orders again.
Mark
Cupach
Director,
National Sales
Business
Stationery LLC
Cleveland
Editor’s
note: The following letter
was part of a discussion among
distributors and manufacturers
that took place on DMIA’s
members-only broadcast email system.
The discussion centered on the
pros and cons of using email to
advertise one’s business.
No
Interest in Becoming a Spammer
I
have always been concerned that
by using email as a bulk advertising
vehicle, I run the risk of diluting
my own personal messages to customers
and prospects. I definitely don’t
want to be sent to junk email
land.
I
am currently using postcards with
various topics ranging from forms
and checks, digital color, and
presentation materials to custom
embroidered caps. It costs more,
but I am getting good results
from my small database of customers
and targets.
I
get so much junk email that I
don’t even want to save
the legitimate offers any more.
Robb
Tipton
Owner
Star
Business Products
Kemah,
Texas
Give
Customers the Option
In
regard to email campaigns, you
might consider using an “opt-in”
email distribution list. This
would be a list where your recipients
have agreed to receive your promotional
communications by email. Such
a distribution list would avoid
being characterized as spam and
have a high likelihood of ending
up in your customer’s inbox.
Scott
Silverstine
President
Doxpress
Inc.
Camp
Hill, Pa.
