Recovering Lost Accounts —Morgan
December 2007
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“WE LOVE you; please come back!”
Even the best print solution providers lose coveted clients from time to time. Sometimes, the customer walks away because of a misunderstanding. Sometimes, there’s a personality conflict between the print buyer and the sales representative. Sometimes, the client just wants to try someone new.
Sometimes, a customer walks away because the printer really screwed up, and the print buyer has lost faith in the company. There’s no doubt about it. Companies purchasing print—and the print buyers that represent them—do not tolerate mistakes as they did in the past. Gone is the gentleman’s agreement of “three strikes and you’re out.”
Today, one mistake might be all it takes. And while from the printer’s perspective that may seem harsh, it’s also understandable from the buyer’s perspective. Some print communications have greater return on investment (ROI) and risk than others. There is greater pressure to get to market faster. And mistakes, particularly with personal data, can potentially cause great financial harm to the buying organization.
Printing Errors Decline
The good news is that errors in the manufacturing of printed materials have decreased. While production errors and omissions do still happen, they happen less often due to advances in technology and more streamlined workflows. Likewise, print buyers are universally expecting better print quality. The reason why is because they are getting it. Quality has improved significantly over the past several years—and keeps getting better. Today’s print providers must maintain a certain level of quality to even be in the game.
Perhaps the reason why most buyers leave a long-term supplier today is the lack of perceived value. Ultimately, account loss is due to a provider’s failure to deliver unique benefits. If a buyer believes that it can get the same quality, price and turnaround from another supplier (if there is minimum risk in leaving) then it may just be a matter of time before the customer leaves.
Interestingly, suppliers believe that they are far more differentiated from their competitors than what their customers perceive. The differentiation is a judgment on value. This means that a supplier can truly be different from other suppliers, but if the customer doesn’t find those specific features or benefits meaningful to their business, then it doesn’t play into supplier selection.
Print buyers don’t always announce when they are leaving. Sometimes they just quietly walk away. In a Print Buyers Online.com poll of 84 top print buyers, 50 percent of respondents indicated that they end relationships with suppliers indirectly.
Even the best print solution providers lose coveted clients from time to time. Sometimes, the customer walks away because of a misunderstanding. Sometimes, there’s a personality conflict between the print buyer and the sales representative. Sometimes, the client just wants to try someone new.
Sometimes, a customer walks away because the printer really screwed up, and the print buyer has lost faith in the company. There’s no doubt about it. Companies purchasing print—and the print buyers that represent them—do not tolerate mistakes as they did in the past. Gone is the gentleman’s agreement of “three strikes and you’re out.”
Today, one mistake might be all it takes. And while from the printer’s perspective that may seem harsh, it’s also understandable from the buyer’s perspective. Some print communications have greater return on investment (ROI) and risk than others. There is greater pressure to get to market faster. And mistakes, particularly with personal data, can potentially cause great financial harm to the buying organization.
Printing Errors Decline
The good news is that errors in the manufacturing of printed materials have decreased. While production errors and omissions do still happen, they happen less often due to advances in technology and more streamlined workflows. Likewise, print buyers are universally expecting better print quality. The reason why is because they are getting it. Quality has improved significantly over the past several years—and keeps getting better. Today’s print providers must maintain a certain level of quality to even be in the game.
Perhaps the reason why most buyers leave a long-term supplier today is the lack of perceived value. Ultimately, account loss is due to a provider’s failure to deliver unique benefits. If a buyer believes that it can get the same quality, price and turnaround from another supplier (if there is minimum risk in leaving) then it may just be a matter of time before the customer leaves.
Interestingly, suppliers believe that they are far more differentiated from their competitors than what their customers perceive. The differentiation is a judgment on value. This means that a supplier can truly be different from other suppliers, but if the customer doesn’t find those specific features or benefits meaningful to their business, then it doesn’t play into supplier selection.
Print buyers don’t always announce when they are leaving. Sometimes they just quietly walk away. In a Print Buyers Online.com poll of 84 top print buyers, 50 percent of respondents indicated that they end relationships with suppliers indirectly.
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