Artwork and Digitizing Client Spotlight: Heritage Print Solutions
For Bob Patterson, High Volumes Caused New Problems
Robert Patterson of Heritage Print Solutions has only been in the industry for about a year and a half. When he started with the company, he took a new approach and led sales with promotional products and apparel versus printing; providing value-added services in response to customer demand. Because of this approach, the volume of layouts and imprints increased significantly.
With only one person on the internal team who could work on these files, the company began to experience a backlog that slowed down revenue. Capacity was exceeded and it became labor-intensive to create vector files and/or request them from clients, who often had only jpgs.
On top of that, customers sometimes balked at the cost of having the files created. Heritage Print Solutions accounts expected their provider to do the art and absorb the extra cost.Once the volume got to about 10-20 files per week, even sales was impacted because team members had to spend time problem-solving to keep orders moving through their system.
Business Card Magnet Design Created by Affinity Express
A Chance Encounter Led to the Perfect Solution
Bob attended the ASI Show! in New York and met Vice President of Graphic Production and Support Services Joanna Grant. He didn't engage Affinity Express initially because he thought the company wouldn't outsource this function, but problems increased to the degree that he finally decided to give us a try.
Today, it is a different world at Heritage Print Solutions. The company has the ability to increase sales because internal team members are not tied up with concerns about file formats.
The only communication Bob needs with Affinity Express is to provide clarification. Turnaround times are spot on. He uses IDEA to submit and upload orders and says, "The system is great—I couldn't make any recommendations on how to make it better." He advises his team members to "use the comments section, write as if someone was sitting across the desk and ask for exactly what you need." In other words, he suggests being as specific as possible. The only time he has gotten questions back from Affinity Express (maybe four or five times in total) was when he provided confusing instructions.
