Know your customers

When a customer places their print order, the company has an opportunity to find out much more about customer preferences than it could ever learn through traditional market research. Even when a project is lost to a competing printer, there is an opportunity to learn a great deal about the competition. Hunches and feelings are no substitute for hard data, so gather in a database as much information about customers as possible. Building relationships is the key to success and those relationships depend on intimate knowledge. You could potentially profile your customers, workflows, and presswork so that in the future you will be better able to tailor production and service for each customer and each project. Referring to this information can also lead to better-tuned estimates, guide new equipment purchases, and suggest new service opportunities.