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How to get a print quote with ‘secret sauce’

So there’s a print job in your pipeline. You do the usual ring around of the usual printers, to bring in two or three quotes. But then you decide, on a whim, to request a quote from a printer you’ve heard about but haven’t used before. The results are surprising.

Instead of seeing your brief repeated back at you, along with the expected numbers, your outside-the-square printer has come back with ‘secret sauce’ - several alternative and innovative ways to approach the job. Each of these alternatives is up to 20% cheaper than the mainstream printers’ quotes, but all of them will still produce a quality outcome.

This story isn’t fiction. It’s based on a recount from marketing specialist Trevor Moodie, when he was CEO at Robbins Brandt Richter.

“We were never purely price driven when choosing a printer, however we were always concerned about getting value for our clients – that meant right price,  great quality and good service. We’d quoted this particular job with our regular core printers, and the cost was looking a bit up there. So our print manager dug into the market a little deeper and requested a quote from a second tier printer. They came back to us with a bunch of different ways to approach the job, saving money but without compromising quality. They got the job, and they also inspired a changing of the guard for our core printers.”

Trevor’s experience backs up what we know at Soar. Printing is not a commodity; it’s both a science and an art form, which means one printer’s approach can be radically different to another.

Here are our tips for getting a print quote with secret sauce:

  1. Don’t let your printer know how much you want to spend.  A smarter way to work is to suggest a quality level for the outcome – economy, regular or premium. This will usually be tied to the importance of the piece and its intended audience.
  2. Provide basic information, but be flexible. Jobs can often be produced faster and more economically using a method or materials that differ from what you have in mind. As your printer for ideas about stock, printing process, finishing and cost-efficient volumes.
  3. Let your printer know whether the job is time sensitive or not. If you don’t have a specific deadline, you may get a better price if the printer can ‘gang’ your job with other similar jobs.
  4. Request printed samples of jobs similar to yours. If you were choosing a kitchen designer, you’d look at other kitchens they’d designed. It’s the same for printers. Ask to see some of their stuff.

Want a print quote that thinks deeper? Call Brian Landry on (09) 302 9500 or email brianl@soarprint.co.nz

Read how Soar’s ‘out of the box’ thinking cut print costs by 25% for an Auckland charity. See the case study.

Request a print quote from Soar right now.

This entry was posted in blog on August 26, 2016.

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