Dale J. Cooper

It happens every week (and sometimes daily)… we get a call from someone who needs a flyer or business cards by tomorrow. What’s up with that? While it is true on a rare occasion an opportunity presents itself that you didn’t see coming and are not prepared for, most of the time you know you have an event coming up. You probably even booked it weeks or months ago and planned to have everything ready 2 weeks before the event just in case (you know I’m talking to you).

OK, so what gives? Really? It doesn’t take much to plan things out so you’re not running around completely stressed out trying to get all the things you need for tomorrow done today. We call it a calendar or planner. The event is on the 28th and today is the 2nd of the month. That doesn’t give you license to wait until the 27th to decide you need business cards. There is no excuse for waiting when you know you will need them. You don’t have 25 days to wait (remember, it’s the 2nd, so in 25 days it will be the 27th, the day before the event). I’ll give you 5 days. That is more than enough time to decide you need business cards (I’m using them as an example, just plug in whatever you need printed). That now gives you 20 days to get them designed and printed. NOW WAIT… that doesn’t really give you 20 days because you will procrastinate. I’ll still give you the 5 days, but now I’m going to tell you that gives you 4-5 days for design time and 5 more days for printing. So, that’s 10 days.

But wait, weekends don’t count in this. Let’s take a close look at this. As an example, in this year of 2012 May 2nd is a Wednesday and th 28th is a Monday. There are 8 total weekend days between those dates, which means your 25 days to wait is now just 17 (I’m not working weekends and I hope you aren’t either). If  you actually get yourself in gear and get work on what you will need, by the example above, you will take 15 of the 17 days just described to get it all done and that will leave just 2 days if something goes wrong.

Now you can see why there is no excuse for last minute printing. You’ve got to have a plan and follow it. Get your calendar out and put the dates in place to get it all done. Stick to it and let your team (that includes employees, coworkers, graphic designers and printers) know your time table. Be sure this is clearly communicated so everyone can get their part done and you’re not running to your printer the day before the event with a last minute print job.

Yesterday I met with a new client who was so pleased with the first print job we did for him that he is handing all his work to us. Up to now, he has purchased all his printing through online print companies. Why? It’s cheap. Or so he thought. Over the past 15 months he has purchased flyers, business cards, brochures and more flyers. He liked the price and felt the quality was fine. After reviewing his expenses for 2011, he discovered that while the cost of the printing was inexpensive, the cost for shipping actually made most of the jobs much more expensive than he thought!

Even more important was his realization that they would print whatever he sent without any review of the file. When we showed him a couple proofs of these jobs and compared it to what he received from the online companies, the difference in color quality was shocking (to him, not me). Why? The files he submitted were in the RGB color space, fine for viewing on a computer screen, but not for full color printing, which is CMYK. The colors shifted considerably as RGB cannot be fully represented in the CMYK color space. If he had been working with us (now I can only speak on my company’s behalf, not other shops), we would have first checked the file for color issues such as being in the RGB color space and would offer to correct these issues for him (which we did on the color proofs mentioned above). When you use online printers, think of them as WYSIWYG – what you see is what you get – they are responsible for printing, not for proofing (and most tell you that in the fine print).

Now, I’m all for saving a buck here and there, but not at the cost of quality. Also, I like to support my local companies whenever possible. How can we survive these turbulent economic times? By providing over-the-top service and VALUE!!! Looking out for issues, helping clients understand how to prevent problems with files and providing solutions for them, even if that means they go somewhere else for the work they need done. If I can help someone to be successful, even I don’t get their business, I am being successful and that will come back to me in bigger and better ways. How can you help someone today?