A print buyer has a really tough job. No, really. Balancing the requirements of their business needs with a cost effective and timely solution is not always as easy as it sounds.
In addition to this there’s seeking out innovative print ideas to keep you one step ahead of the competition, being super-slick at negotiations and making sure every order is delivered exactly as expected and to deadline, without fail.
Few! You can see the importance of creating strong relationships with reliable commercial printers. With this in mind here’s some of our top tips for print buyers based here in the UK:
1. How to price bust successfully
Negotiation is tough for all print buyers, but there is one sure-fire way to bring your pricing down and make those savings…
Group as many of your orders together as possible to order at the same time. By buying lots of items together you are buying in bulk and will benefit from a greater overall saving saving vs ordering each item individually and trying to negotiate savings on each one. For this to work successfully, you will need to have the artwork for all items you’re printing ready to go so we can print them all at the same time.
2. Meeting tight deadlines
This one is mostly about building a strong relationship – as a valued print buyer we will always do everything to help you meet a deadline that has occurred unexpectedly, but it will really help you to know how quickly core items of your print can really be turned around.
For example some items need drying time, some have specialist finishing processes, the courier arrives at a certain time to collect deliveries – all of these elements will help you to to know if that deadline is capable of being met BEFORE you’ve even spoken to us. If not it may be a case of slightly tweaking your requirements to help you meet your deadline ie A3 posters instead of A2, part delivery on your deadline date and part delivery the following day if circumstances allow etc.
Have a chat with us today and tap into our free specialist knowledge – we’ll happily talk to you all day about the process each item of print goes through!
3. Know your delivery options / requirements
Every print job has a different set of requirements and this comes right down to how/when you need your job delivering. This is a really key area to consider as delivery costs are usually fixed as they are set by the courier/Royal Mail. However, with a bit of savvy planning and knowledge of delivery options, you can still save in this are.
How to save on print delivery:
- If we’re based near your business is it more economical for you to collect your print? BONUS: no waiting for delivery drivers and you can collect the moment it’s ready.
- Does your delivery need to be delivered by courier or would Royal Mail delivery work out cheaper? This is often a good solution for smaller packages that don’t need to be tracked.
- Will your print be delivered onwards form you to your customers? Did you know we can do that for you? We can store, kit-pack and deliver direct to your customers, taking the hassle and workload off of your shoulders. And because it becomes part of the overall print job, it works out far cheaper for us to do this for you (and saves you the hassle!).
4. Decide what you need from your printer for the job – price vs service
This is always an interesting one. Of course our pricing will always be competitive regardless of the situation, but sometimes from the print buyer point of view our service, product quality and the safe knowledge that our machines provide accurate colour reproduction are the primary consideration when placing the order with us.
Additionally, considerations such as being able to provide specialist finishes, being able to deliver to deadline and being able to make quick artwork amends all add up.
It’s worth understanding your objectives for your order before discussing it with us, if a tight deadline is the driver then making us aware of this from the start will help us to focus on achieving this for you and putting a smile on your client’s faces.
5. Understand who sits where within your unique set of print requirements
We’re quite unique here at AC Print Ltd as all our machinery and designers sit under 1 roof. Our digital, large format, lithographic and direct mail jobs allow us to service 99% of orders in house (aside from certain specialised finishing processes). But for those items we don’t print, such as clothing, it’s useful to have a few reliable suppliers on file for when those orders pop up.
As a print buyer, understanding where each of your printer’s capabilities start, end and overlap, will help you save time by knowing that you are going direct to the right source for the job, without having to waste time calling around for a range of quotes.
Contact our #PrintGeeks Today
0800 093 2960