How I Got A Printer Fired: A Cautionary Tale

I just read a post from fellow PI blogger Bill Farquharson on NAPL titled, "How I Got A Buyer Fired." I was going to leave a comment, but my comment turned into comments, and those have grown into this post I am sharing here.

Bill has told a story from his point of view, and since I wasn’t involved I can’t comment on the actions of the buyer he "got fired," but I do want to address a few general points from a buyer’s perspective that may be helpful to you when a new person takes over a well-established and long-standing account you service.

First and foremost a new buyer wants to make a good impression on their new employers. That can easily be accomplished by bringing in new resources with new capabilities opening up new marketing opportunities, and/or bringing in new resources to provide services at lower costs. Keep in mind that even though you may have been on the account for 10 years, the buyer is new, and most likely has their own vendors they are loyal to. We don’t "owe" you the business just because you currently have it.

Now not "owing" you doesn’t mean your relationship with the company shouldn’t be respected, but for a service provider to simply expect it’s business as usual is a big mistake. My suggestion would be to contact the new buyer as soon as humanly possible, introduce yourself as a printer currently working with their company, and request a meeting to discuss THEIR goals, and how you can help achieve them. In the meeting, bring samples of the best work you have done with the company, pieces that worked but you have relevant and cost-effective ways to improve upon them, and pieces that didn’t so together you can come up with a better strategy for whatever the issues might have been—i.e. poor design, poor personalization, low-res imagery and so on. No matter what comes up, never throw the old buyer under the bus! If questioned why the projects were produced, respond that the issues were flagged, and ultimately they were signed off as is for printing, and leave it at that.

It is imperative that you let the buyer know that you have the advantage of experience working with the company, and you can help them navigate when it comes to introducing new ideas, but you understand it is their account, they are in charge, you know you need to "win" their business, and you are looking forward to establishing a new partnership with them.

Things to avoid:

Saying "how we do things"—"how we always do things"—"this is how we need to do things"—and anything that refers back to the last person in that position, or the length of time you have been on the account.

EVER mentioning, even in a post that, "Twice a year that order generated enough profit to buy a German sports car (used, but at least it had leather seats)." If you don’t want to make conversations only about price, you should stay clear of making them about profit. The money you make from my account should never be discussed in any form, on any platform, even if it is alluded to. It is not my responsibility or am I indebted to keeping you in the lifestyle you have chosen to be accustomed to.

Accusing buyers of ONLY buying on price. This isn’t just specific to Bill’s post—and again since I wasn’t there that could have really been the case—but in general price is the FINAL consideration—with all else equal. If it were really ONLY about price then I wouldn’t be quoting with you for business cards and folders when there are plenty of online options that printers can’t compete with. Yes, you get what you pay for, which is why professional print buyers don’t ONLY buy on price. We need to keep our jobs too and saving the client a few dollars won't save our position when they leave because their work looks like crap.

So, how did I get a Printer fired?

Several years back I took a position that required me to review the long-standing and established vendors the agency was using. Needless to say, I had a LOT of resistance from the vendors. They didn’t want to discuss their estimates, invoice overages, or turn-around time—all of which based upon my experience were ridiculous. They felt entitled to ALL of the agency work, tried to go around me by having their agency "friends" tell me to back off, or contacting them directly to see if work was coming up, and things of that nature. They weren’t aware of two very important things...the first, resistance is futile! The more they protested the more I knew they knew things were about to change, and they were trying to delay that as long as possible. The second, and this is very relevant...their agency "friends"—the ones they knew for all those years— were the ones who hired me to come in and deal with outlandish printing costs and shabby service. Not respecting me and helping me do my job by working together resulted in me getting rid of two, cutting the work of one to "as needed," and bringing in my vendor partners who, by the way, are still working with the agency although I am not.

If you are really interested in a happy ending, don’t treat a new buyer with anything but respect, and never get complacent with your clients. There is always something to show, some way to help them grow, and adding that value to the mix is what makes you truly irreplaceable.