Setting Up a Commercial Printing Business

Many people have started a commercial printing business in the hopes of getting a share of the market because let’s face it; there are just so many print collaterals nowadays. Every day, something is being printed, be it a flyer, brochure, poster, or mailers. The commercial printer handles the printing of all these advertising materials. But why is it that too many have failed in this business when the market is rife?

Bad Sales Relationsr
The sales people are the ones that face clients. But there are some sales personnel that clients find offensive. Even if you are good publishing house that can produce fast and high quality materials, clients would want a printer with a sales person that can relate to them. For them it is not just enough that a deal was closed, the sales person will still have to handle after-sales inquiries, meaning that the sales executive will have to follow through with the account until delivery. If a client has a problem, it would still be the sales executive handling the account that they will bug and not the production. This means to say that the work of the sales executive does not end with having the client’s signing of the contract.

Bad Servicer
Clients want to be pampered by their suppliers. They will consider it bad service if they are not entertained well on the phone or when they visit the printer’s office. They would appreciate having to be offered coffee or snacks during their visit, especially if they are editing or proofreading their job. Additionally, they would want the printer to rush their jobs. Even if their deadline is unreasonable, they will ask the printer to rush it as they need their materials for an event. This is especially true if they have ordered for programs and they submitted their raw materials just days before they need the finished copies.

Poor Qualityr
Needless to say, if your prints are not of good quality, then people will stop going to you. For example, if your cutting is not precise, if there are ink stains on your printed material, if the final output sticks together, or if your prints have double image, then you will certainly hear it from your client, no matter how cheap they paid for their order. And it would be considered bad service if you do not give them a free reprint. That is actually the least that you can do. But of course, if you do a reprint, then you will surely lose money. Many printers lose money this way, when they have to make amends and do a reprint.

Pricingr
When clients need a printing service, they will go to different commercial printers and get a quote so that they can compare prices and quality. If several printing houses offer the same quality and have the same capacity to deliver, they will then compete in the pricing. Of course, most of the time, the supplier with the lowest price wins the bid. So if you are in the business, you have to know your competitors and how much their running rate is so that you can adjust your prices in order to compete with them.

Commercial printing is a really good business if you know how to manage your operations. A good commercial printer does not only deliver good quality prints but it can also offer excellent customer service and pricing.