Adding value for your customers – it’s more than jargon

Often a useful concept can get lost in the buzzword jungle of management speak. ‘Value-adding’ is a valuable strategy to help drive any business, but often the phrase is flung around so loosely that it loses any significant meaning. Dave Bell of the Quote & Print development team identifies the relationship between technology and making life easier for customers to do business with you – true value adding.

Printers of all sizes are looking at methods to retain their existing customers and attract new ones. They have to add new levels of services without increasing the cost above the expected gain. Value add is the jargon.

One of the most obvious ways to enhance your customer relationship is to implement technology that delivers such extra services as web-based ordering, job tracking and stock maintenance. Too many small to medium-sized printing companies regard these services as the province of high end users. They don’t realize that such technology can go a long way towards leveling the playing field and often small companies prove to be much better at this type of value adding than large organization.

A good rule of thumb is – find out what your best clients do for their customers, then
do it for your customers – they probably expect it!
If you don’t, you run the risk of losing them when some new broom comes on board your competition and pitches for the work, adding value at every stage

A good starting point is to try to get inside your customers' head and imagine what they may want.

Web Based for those clients who demand online communication and business practices.

• Online ordering of stock
  
• Client ability to request quotes
  
• Client ability to view quotes
  
• Ability to order from a quote
  
• Ability to view jobs and their status
  
• On demand print ordering for contracted work.
  
• Online report generation

A reminder here that in Q&P clients can be restricted to the areas they access, they only view their own Stock, Quotes and Jobs and these requests drop straight to your company database – there is no rekeying!

Forms Management, Print and Hold, Print Logistics – call it what you will.

When talking with your customers always stress the advantages of a good corporate look and feel as an added value when the same print supplier prints all jobs.
You are in the position to help reduce your customer’s costs and stress at the same time as evening out your production workflow. By having the ability to advise on average stock usage for the month and maintain levels of critical stock, you can get another good result, even if the term - win-win situation – is also in danger of disappearing under a mountain of jargon. Reviewing the suitability and usage of forms and suggesting elimination where a shell and overprinting may cover multiple situations will provide your customer with real added value.


General customer servicing

Making appropriate use of technology is not always rocket science. Sometimes incorporating relatively common devices and practices can put you in the position of serving customers a whole lot better.

• Using wireless technology and laptops for sales team to quote and answer queries while onsite can reduce quote times by 25 per cent
• Email your quotes – this is industry standard for printers of all sizes now.
• Keep your database up to date and become proactive with advice of when a job reprint may be required.
• Email advice of expected delivery dates and dispatch details.
• Offer details for EFT payments.
• Offer payment by BPAY or credit card.

The above list is but a few suggestions on ‘value-adding’ to your business. Some require technology, others are more to do with developing a mindset that places your customer’s requirement at the front of the queue. One strand that runs through them all is the importance of knowing what your business software can do, of being aware of its full capabilities and using them to the advantage for your clients.