Inspect proofs carefully. "Check, double-check and triple-check proofs," suggests Jeff Thiel, a sales representative with Custom Business Forms Inc., a distributorship in Greensboro, N.C., that sells presentation folders. "[Projects] often come down to the little things." This is particularly true with folders and binders that may incorporate complex printing processes such as foil stamping, embossing, scoring and die cutting.
Think inside out. Folders and binders lend themselves to add-on sales. Don't leave your client's office without finding out what materials are placed inside these products. You're perfectly positioned to provide sell sheets, marketing brochures and other printed materials. In addition, you might branch into some of the more innovative products contained in folders and binders, including informational CDs for training kits, promotional magnets for marketing packets and name tags with badge holders for trade-show materials.
One small space on the inside pocket of a presentation folder, and the law firm demanded a reprint. Jeff Thiel had spent four months working on the project, coordinating production of the 6 x 9-inch folder with the law firm's office manager and two manufacturers. When the law firm took delivery of 2,500 folders in April, Thiel received a call from the office manager.
"She said, 'It looks really good,'" recalls Thiel, a sales representative with Custom Business Forms Inc., a distributorship in Greensboro, N.C. He was about to breathe a sigh of relief, when the office manager continued: "Except there's an apostrophe missing." A line on the bottom of the left inside pocket read, "The firm s offices are located in Greensboro." There was a blank space where the apostrophe in "firm's" should appear, so the law firm requested a reprint.
"A very, very tiny apostrophe was left out," Thiel says. That was absolutely unacceptable to the law firm, which practices corporate law. "Law firms are pretty fussy," he says. "The folder had to be high-quality. That was the main issue." Thiel and the office manager worked throughout last winter to create a memorable presentation folder. "Their goal was to get a quality product they could hand out to potential clients as an information piece," Thiel says.
The law firm ordered 2,500 2-pocket folders. The front cover of the dark green folders, constructed of 80# Carnival Vertical cover stock, featured the law firm's name foil stamped in silver. The inside included standard 3-inch pockets on the left and right sides: The law firm's name was foil stamped in silver on the left pocket, and the right pocket incorporated die cut slits for business cards.
The folders also included a 12-page insert, saddle-stitched to the score. The 2-color insert profiled the law firm's employees, presenting biographies and photographs of the attorneys and other key staff members. A local Greensboro printer produced the insert and handled collating and saddle-stitching. Custom Business Forms also supplied supplementary information about the law firm's trust and real estate division for insertion in the pockets.
Because quality was the client's No. 1 concern, Thiel and the law firm closely examined two sets of proofs. Although they moved around text and made other minor changes, the apostrophe appeared OK in both sets of proofs. But in one of those unknown glitches of printing, the small punctuation mark dropped out.
When Thiel received the call from the law firm's office manager, he quickly checked his shipment of sample presentation folders, hoping the mishap only affected a handful of the folders. His, too, lacked the apostrophe. Thiel negotiated with the law firm to share the reprint costs. But because the mistake wasn't theirs, the client refused. Thiel, who has sold letterhead, envelopes, business cards and more to the law firm for two years, was empathetic to his customer: Image is critical to corporate law firms.
Three weeks later, the law firm received new folders. The client is pleased, thanks to the problem-solving of Custom Business Forms.
--Susan Keen Flynn
One small glitch-a missing apostrophe-caused problems for Jeff Thiel, the distributor who provided 2,500 of these 6 x 9-inch presentation folders to a law firm. Thiel, a sales representative with Greensboro, N.C.-based distributorship Custom Business Forms Inc., supported his customer and reprinted the order to meet the law firm's need for a high-quality informational and promotional piece.
