I’m Ready to Smack Some Salespeople...

OK folks, as we have said before, “It is high-speed Inkjet, not Offset.” Inkjet inks are like Kool-Aid and absorb into the paper, whereas Offset inks are tacky and sit on the surface. Inkjet inks don’t use the same pigment colors to make their process CMYK like for Offset. It’s similar to the difference of painting in water colors vs. acrylic paints.

While we’re at it, let’s also point out that “high-speed inkjet is not wide-format.” The speed, colorant and ink chemistry, as well as compatible papers, are all different. We all understand this, right? Apparently not.

I mention this all because a customer called me last week and told me that a high-speed inkjet supplier salesperson stated, “high-speed inkjet will match your offset press’ and wide-format printer’s print quality, no matter what the paper.” Unfortunately, this is not the first time I have heard such crazy talk.

Now, anyone who knows me is quite aware that I am an inkjet evangelist. I firmly believe that how we, as an industry, communicate through print will increasingly become more dependent on inkjet technologies. Not just for billing, direct mail and commercial printing output, but also for packaging and industrial printing such as poly and plastics. It is changing the way we print, period.

So, when I hear of industry supplier sales reps—who are supposed to be educated about their products—stating things that are not true, I just want to smack them. When an industry supplier salesperson points a customer in the wrong direction, it impacts our entire industry, not just the product area in which they are selling.

I understand that the digital printing industry is evolving very quickly and that existing salespeople from the toner side of the business are migrating over to inkjet sales—some willingly, some being forced.