Who are your best/most spending customers?

[AP90]

I had a bit of down time today and was thinking about this question. As someone who was (and still is) new to the printing industry, this was something that I would have liked to have information about when first starting out and trying to find new customers. I have found some of the best buyers of printing in my relatively small town (12,000 population) to be non-profit organizations. The ones I have dealt with don't tend to be too picky on what they want, and are always advertising events, sending thank you's, ect. There are also some design companies in my area that outsource printing so they have been a good stream revenue also. So lets see if we can put together a decent list of information of business/organizations types that tend to be the best customers.

 

[Keith]

Like you, I have found the best ones to be nonprofits and print brokers. When they are properly funded and your timing is good, new businesses can be great - logo design, apparel, promo products and direct is sometimes ordered in one shot. And then you have them for awhile. In general, someone who understands the value of print and has it properly budgeted can make a great customer no matter what industry they are in.

 

[David Milisock]

My best print clients I.E. most profitable are those who buy mid run, today that's 500 to 5,000, generally corporate buyers who have their own creation department.

 

[dabob]

We found that our best/largest spending customers are ones that distribute their product nationally and need point of sale and packaging needs, i.e. Delicato Winery, Gallo, and places like that runs of 250,000 wine hangers are somewhat common with those clients. We have several and treat them like favored pets . . .

 

[davarino]

31
"Best customers" are always the ones who pay.

I have worked in many shops and I have seen really good customers in one shop that would be a worst possible fit in another.

It really depends on what you are set up to do... if you're set up as a small copy shop and don't care to expand or don't have the acumen and capital, you don't need or want Gallo; if you run a 40" perfector, you don't need or want the chapel down the street.

This, incidentally, is the bugaboo of many printing salespeople.

There are salespeople who work at cross purposes from their shop: they bring in work that the shop is just not going to make money on, but everyone from management on down thinks that the salesperson should still be paid and praised for it. (Kind of like the cat that brings a dead lizard into the house.)

They do this because their contacts are not compatible with the goals of the shop. A salesperson will rarely want to jettison "perfectly good" contacts to develop unknown opportunities. If all his contacts are small construction firms, he won't pitch them even if his company is most profitable (and highly competitive) at annual reports for Fortune 500 companies.

Selection of salespeople is an oft neglected art in hiring. You don't have to hire a salesperson with great numbers if his clients aren't going to be profitable for your operation. Even if they ARE profitable for other shops.

And of course this leads to my public service announcement that trade printers can rescue retail printers in situations like this. Usually, retail printers will buy things that are "above" their capabilities... it's also a good idea to consider having a trade source who can produce work "beneath" your capabilities, too.