Print service providers (PSPs) need to be less transactional, and more focused on building relationships. They need to be partners with their customers, not just order-takers.
Sound familiar?
It’s sound advice, but it’s also easy to forget that building relationships is easier said than done. It takes work to cultivate connections and even more work to keep them long term. Because of that, some commercial printers let that aspect of the business fall by the wayside.
Margo Yohner, senior vice president of growth and marketing for Commercial and Digital Print, of Chicago, Illinois-based R.R. Donnelley (RRD) notes, “On average, across the industry, I witness the relationship between printers and marketers as still largely transactional in nature. For example, printers get a request and execute on those needs with a fair price, great quality, and speed. Additionally, sellers will anticipate challenges, prepare an alternative plan, and are extremely transparent and communicative with their brand partners. The challenge here is that there is very little differentiation between printers and their sellers with this type of engagement. This type of relationship further commoditizes the printing industry and diminishes the value of the print channel in meeting the desired outcomes of those brand marketers.”
Shannon Uchida, marketing communications specialist of Portland, Oregon’s Premier Press, a PRINTING United Alliance member company, notes that it’s not that PSPs don’t want to build deep relationships with their customers, it just takes time and effort.
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