{"id":2592,"date":"2018-03-15T10:14:10","date_gmt":"2018-03-15T14:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=2592"},"modified":"2025-05-28T12:23:56","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T16:23:56","slug":"why-great-customer-service-doesnt-win-new-print-clients-but-how-its-the-key-to-building-more-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sinalite.com\/printersuccess\/why-great-customer-service-doesnt-win-new-print-clients-but-how-its-the-key-to-building-more-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Why great customer service doesn\u2019t win new print clients&#8230;but how it\u2019s the key to building more business"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As a print buyer, I was very popular with print sales people<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I used to buy a LOT of print. As a result there were many printing companies that were extremely keen to become one of my suppliers. In fact, over my buying career, I have calculated that over 1,400 printing companies tried to sell their services to me.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many of these companies used very similar sales messages. The majority of them led on the fact that they would give me two things: excellent quality print and an extremely high standard of customer service.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This sort of sales approach leads to two problems:<\/span><br \/>\n<strong>Problem 1<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Firstly, buyers aren\u2019t impressed because they expect good quality and a high level of customer service as standard from any printing company.<\/p>\n<p><b>Problem 2<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Worse than that, this approach actually leads buyers to choose on price. If all printing companies sound the same, buyers simply choose the cheapest.<\/p>\n<p><b><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cekmekoymarangoz.com\/everything-you-need-to-know-about-male-enhancement-products\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Solution<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p>If you want to attract buyers, you need something that will make you stand out from other printers, you need to develop a worthwhile point of difference. We\u2019ll cover how to do this in <a href=\"\/printersuccess\/shift-from-the-service-triad-to-target-marketing\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">another blog article<\/a>. Right now, let\u2019s go back to customer service.<\/p>\n<h2>Why should customer service matter so much to printers if it doesn\u2019t win new clients?<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here are some statistics that we should make sure we remember:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbrief.co.za\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">BusinessBrief.com<\/a> the average company will lose 14% of its customers every year<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to Google, the main reason for losing customers is that they think you don\u2019t care about them enough. That\u2019s the reason that 68% of customers give for leaving a supplier<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The UK customer satisfaction index surveyed clients who scored their suppliers a whopping 8-8.9 out of 10. Even among these high scoring customers only 66% classed themselves as loyal clients<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Clearly, if you want to keep your clients, the highest standards of customer service are essential. But how do we achieve this?<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Customer Service Failures for Print Providers<\/h2>\n<p>Here are three big customer service fails for print providers:<\/p>\n<p><b>Failure #1: <\/b>The first of these is prompt quoting. Buyers expect to receive their print prices quickly as a matter of course. And, unless you have an instant pricing system (like <a href=\"https:\/\/sinalite.com\/en_ca\/tools\/index\/redirect?page=home?utm_source%3Dblog%26utm_medium%3Dps%26utm_campaign%3Dprinters%26utm_article%3D025%26utm_content%3DSinaLite\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">SinaLite<\/a> does), your top speed is rarely quick enough to satisfy an impatient buyer.<\/p>\n<p><b>Failure #2: <\/b>The next fail is on-time delivery. Buyers do not appreciate the complexities of the printing process. They don\u2019t care about all the processes that you have to go through to create your product. They expect their delivery to be on time, every time. Many buyers won\u2019t appreciate an early delivery either: that often messes up their logistics chain.<\/p>\n<p><b>Failure #3: <\/b>The final fail is pointing out errors. Again, this is something that buyers expect. It doesn\u2019t matter if they are creating the PDF and that errors are their responsibility. They still expect you to spot their mistakes.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Naturally, it is important that you do provide swift quotes, deliver on time and spot errors. Otherwise you are likely to lose rather more than the average of 14% of your customers! But these don\u2019t create the outstanding customer service experience that it is so important to deliver.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So how do you create outstanding customer service? How do you make sure that your customers want to give you more and more business because they like dealing with you so much?<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Making Your Customer Service Stand Out<\/h2>\n<p>Here are three ways to make your customer service really stand out:<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Ask Why<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Firstly, when a customer requests a quote, ask \u201cWhy?\u201d. Take a little time to make sure that the client really is asking for what they need. If they ask for a brochure, what will they use it for? If it is to be mailed, could they benefit from a lighter paper weight? And if it is for a prestigious product, should they be specifying a varnish or other finish to make the cover stand out? Many printing companies simply expect the customer to know what they want. They just provide a price for a supplied specification. Having the \u201cWhy\u201d dialogue really does make a difference and will make you stand out.<\/p>\n<p><b>2. Say Thanks<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Next, send your customer a handwritten note to say thank you for the business. In this age of automation, the personal touch will be appreciated. It\u2019s a very powerful way to say you care. Create your own, personal thank you card. It\u2019s a great way to promote other print finishes to customers. You may also find that they want to copy your idea and order thank you cards from you. You don\u2019t have to send a card for every job. But, when you do, make sure it is handwritten. You could also consider sending a small gift such as a promotional item or some candy.<\/p>\n<p><b>3. Keep in Touch<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Finally, make sure you keep in touch with your customers regularly. A powerful way to do this is not to call them to sell to them but to call them for feedback. Ask your customers what you could do better. They will appreciate you doing this. In addition, you may expose hidden issues. Many customers do not raise minor problems. They simply put up with them. But these issues can be the tipping point that makes them change supplier. You might want to consider asking outside your organisation to make these calls: some customers are more open with callers that they do not know.<\/p>\n<h2>Taking Action<\/h2>\n<p>It\u2019s time to take action.<\/p>\n<p><b>Step 1: <\/b>Take five minutes to write down what you can do to make your customer service better. (Make sure you do actually write this down: research shows that people are much more likely to carry out written targets.)<\/p>\n<p><b>Step 2: <\/b>Set down a quick action plan on how you will implement this.<\/p>\n<p><b>Step 3: <\/b>Create a deadline for when you will first carry this activity out.<\/p>\n<p>Remember, shouting about your customer service is unlikely to win you new customers. However, it is the key to retaining and growing your existing customers.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>P.S. <\/i><\/b><i>On Printer Success, we are committed to sharing best practice for print providers. Please add any tips you have for creating great customer service in the comments section below.<\/i><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you want to keep your clients, the highest standards of customer service are essential.<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[170,11],"tags":[27],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Good Customer Service in the Print Industry Builds More Business<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Shouting about your customer service is unlikely to win you new customers. 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