It Can Pay To Build Alliances

As the travails of the overall economy continue to consume the attention of purchasing managers and print buyers, it becomes especially important to use innovative ways to build one's business. Printers may not recognize that the ever-evolving world of communication regularly presents new demands to steadily enhance one's value in the eyes of clients.

For starters, in addition to being able to provide solutions to such traditional challenges as meeting deadlines and budgets, today's printer needs to apply strategies for integrated marketing, design and copy consultation and cutting-edge graphic techniques. Adapting to this continuously expanding environment may require printers to build alliances with a wide range of professionals who can help them meet this seemingly constantly growing list of client objectives. The good news is reaching out to other professionals generally helps create a stable and thriving business that can benefit each party.

"Working hand-in-hand with a stable of good printers is a big part of our business relationships and alliances," said Henry Bramwell, president of Visionary Graphics and Marketing in Hauppauge, N.Y. "We try to be good with referrals and some printers do the same for us but it's about a lot more than that."

Bramwell advises that it's not always price that drives a job. "A client frequently wants the lowest price but I've got to point out things like reliability. Getting the best value is not always about getting the lowest price. When I refer a printer to a client I've got to know he'll move mountains for that client, otherwise it's my phone that will ring."

If you are going to recommend someone to a client there must be a level of conviction on your part. Creating professional alliances should be done for two basic reasons—to satisfy client relationships and to grow future business relationships. Printers can build their professional referral networks by thinking about how other professionals could add value to their clients. It should not be about how you can get the most referrals from other professionals. A common pitfall is business people think networking is a reciprocal relationship where clients/prospects are exchanged like numbers at a speed-dating event. While one can easily be frustrated by the time it takes to build a quality network of professionals, the reality is just like any other relationship: it takes years to build mutually trusting business relationships.

"By understanding and developing personal, functional, and strategic relationships you can hone critical skills to not only develop a nose for identifying great opportunities but which relationships to tap for execution, performance and results," said David Nour, author of Relationship Economics. "The obstacle for many is the inability to link personal relationships to overcoming corporate leadership challenges." The ability to build relationships with other professionals is a critical factor for business success added Nour.

The Playing Field Now

Like many industries, today's printing business has become more relationship-driven. A key reason behind this wave is the proliferation of information. The Internet has made information one of the most common commodities and this has leveled the price-playing field for nearly every product and service. Not only do clients today frequently check the various ways in which they can save money with their printing, many now expect this type of treatment from their sales reps. In this price-driven climate service and the relationships they foster are the keys to long-lasting success. While clients and prospects may present you with rock-bottom prices, challenging you to match them, providing quality printing is not the same as buying a used car. By probing deeper into a client relationship printers can unearth substantive issues and help the client better prepare for them, often pointing the way to a trusted professional in the process—but even this approach has its caveats.