Adding Value: Customer Service

Many printing company executives have a heightened sense of offering good customer service this year, realizing that clients are struggling with a tough economy.

Many say they are offering the traditional means of customer service by having CSRs in constant touch with customers, and by offering new technologies that help clients get jobs done easier and cheaper.

"We are making the customer's part of the job simpler so it's easy to deal with us," noted John Rebecchi, senior vice president, Disc Graphics, Hauppauge, N.Y. "We are paying attention to the needs and expectations of our customers. Our customer service manager is called a solutions delivery manager, and we have a staff of 12 people in our customer service department."

DISC had a positive year in 2008, he added, and the firm expects to dig in and grow for 2009. "The New York area is a vibrant print market with strong competitors, but it's not the only area we look at. We look nationwide for clients," he said.

Named one of the Best of the Best Workplaces in America by Printing Industries of America last year, the company is moving forward with eco-friendly solutions for 2009 and expects to stay on top.

A total of 51 graphic arts companies, both PIA members and non-members, were selected by a committee of distinguished Human Resource experts from within the industry. The program is designed to recognize graphic arts companies for outstanding human relations efforts that contribute to a successful workplace.

"Since 2000, the Best Workplace program has recognized industry leaders from small, medium, and large firms in the graphic arts industry for their outstanding human relations practices. While every company that entered this year's competition has HR programs they should be proud of, the Best Workplace program recognizes outstanding accomplishment," said Jim Kyger, HR Director for Printing Industries of America.

Entries are judged on the following criteria: management practices, work environment, training and development opportunities, recognition and rewards, workplace health and safety, health and wellness, financial security, and work-life balance. A total of 16 companies received the coveted designation Best of the Best, while 35 earned Best Workplace honors.

Cohber Press Inc., Rochester, N.Y., was awarded a Best Workplace award late last year for its programs. The company has 135 employees, most of whom are in the Rochester plant, and sales offices throughout New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania.

For 2009 Cohber Press will focus on the technology end of its business and how that can increase customer support and interaction. According to Paul Galligan, vice president and managing director, "We don't want our customers to get an automated response on the phone. They want a human being answering the phone in a timely manner."

While the salesperson is the front line in customer service for the upselling and cross selling of products and services for a company, the support person in the company also needs to be involved and responsible for the job, he added.

According to Galligan, business at Cohber Press continues to run steady despite the economy because "clients always need to get the message out. We offer email blasts, personalized URLs, and Web blasts. We do more than print and we make sure our clients know that. They have to continue marketing despite the downturn. Clients are scaling back on printing sell sheets and things of that nature but online collateral materials and use of Web portals are growing."

Cohber Press clients create their own variable data projects and then submit them online for printing. "Clients have 24/7 availability to their own material," he stressed.

Looking forward, Galligan said he is confident the company will continue to prosper, focus on technology, and put in place more online initiatives for its clients.

PIA's Best of the Best Category

Small Companies
(up to 100 employees)
Crescent Printing, Onalaska, WI
Label World Kamylon LLC, Rochester, NY
Omaha Print, Omaha, NE
Resco Print Graphics, Inc., Hudson, WI
Western Graphics, Inc., St. Paul, MN

Medium-size Companies
(101-250 employees)
DISC Graphics Inc., Hauppauge, NY
McNaughton & Gunn Inc., Saline, MI
Midland Information Resource, Davenport, IA
MOSAIC, Cheverly, MD
Worth Higgins & Associates Inc., Richmond, VA

Best Workplace Category
Small Companies
(up to 100 employees)
Elk Grove Graphics, Elk Grove Village, IL
Good Printers Inc., Bridgewater, VA
GPA, Specialty Substrate Solutions, Chicago
Grant Dahlstrom, Inc./The Castle Press, Pasadena, CA
Jacob North Companies, Lincoln, NE
Kohler Print Group, St. Louis, MO
Lauterbach Group Waukesha, WI
Morrison Communications Inc., Morristown, TN
Newman Printing Co. Inc., Bryan, TX
Tailored Label Products,
Menomonee Falls, WI
Vox Printing, Inc., Oklahoma City

Medium-size Companies
(101-250 employees)
Boutwell, Owens & Co. Inc., Fitchburg, MA
Cascades Boxboard U.S. Inc., Hebron, KY
Cohber Press Inc., Rochester, NY
Commercial Letter Inc.,
St. Louis, MO
Communicorp Inc., Columbus, GA
Franklin Communications LLC, Miami
Great Lakes Integrated, Cleveland
Hopkins Printing, Columbus, OH
Royle Printing, Sun Prairie, WI
United Litho, Ashburn, VA