Corporate print buyers: how an office manager or marketing head picks a printer

Picture an office manager at a mid-sized company in Pune, down to the last box of letterheads. A director also wants visiting cards for two new hires by the end of the week. The office manager does not search for the best printer. The call goes to the number on the last box, and if nobody picks up, to a name from a colleague's phone. A printer wins this buyer by being the person who answers, quoting the same price for the same item, and delivering where it is needed.

Who are the two buyers inside a company?

The same company has two print buyers, and they pick differently.

Mix the two and you get familiar mistakes: a brochure of your machines for the office manager, a price list for diaries for the marketing head.

What the office manager is checking

The office manager is checking whether you will be a problem. A short list of things tested, mostly without saying so:

• Do you pick up, or call back, the same day?
• Is the price for this item the same as last time, and is it written down?
• Will you deliver to the office, and to the second office across town?
• Is your invoice right the first time, with GST shown properly?
• If the same job is sent in three months, will it match?

Many printer websites show machines and a gallery, and none of this. Put it on one page. Give a named contact with a mobile number, the items you print for offices and a fixed price list for the standard ones. Add the area you deliver to and what a repeat order needs from the buyer.

A buyer who has already gone through proofs, colour questions and a first delivery with one printer faces all of that again with a new one. That is why an office can stay with a dearer printer who answers and holds a price.

What the marketing head is checking

The marketing head is checking whether you will make the brand look good. Expect a request for a sample of work like theirs and a proof before the run, for someone who can say whether the file will print as expected, and for a timeline an event can be planned around. Questions follow about the paper and the finish. The quote will be compared with two others, which is where the habits in how a printing buyer compares quotations apply.

Bring a sample kit, not a catalogue: a brochure you printed, a card on the stock they would use, a coated sample. Ask which past piece they were least happy with and why. The answer tells you the proof habit they need.

A fixed price list and an account card

For the office manager, make two simple documents.

A price list for standard items. Letterhead, envelope, card, file, ID card: size, paper, quantity steps, price, and the date it holds until. Set out for repeat jobs in how to price a repeat print job.

An account card per company. One page you keep. It holds the contact names, the items they buy, the delivery addresses and the person who approves proofs. Add the GST details as they gave them and the date of the last order. The next order starts from the card, not from a blank conversation.

A company's accounts team may ask a new printer to fill a vendor form before the first payment. Keep a folder ready with your GST registration copy, PAN, bank details on letterhead and a cancelled cheque. Companies differ, so treat the list as a starting point. Sending these quickly shows what working together is like.

Imagine a printer serving IT offices in Pune

Imagine, as an invented case, a Pune press that does well with walk-in work but loses office accounts. A company's admin head phones twice in a week for a reprint of an ID card batch, once reaching a voicemail and once a person who has to "ask the boss". The admin head tries another printer, who gives a price, a date and a delivery slot in the same call.

The press owner changes three things. One staff member is named for corporate calls and carries a mobile number printed on every delivery challan. The press writes a price list for the ten items offices reorder. Each new company gets an account card with its delivery points. The press does not win every company. It does win back that admin head, after a second job that needed a reprint of its own. A mistake it had made earlier was to quote a delivery date without checking the courier cut-off, so a job missed its day. It now confirms the date with the dispatcher before quoting.

When this is not for you

If your press is built for long runs of packaging or books, office stationery for small accounts may not suit your machines or your margins. Say no politely or send them to a colleague. If an account has offices in several cities and you deliver in one, say so at the start.

Keep one printed copy of every job

For the marketing head the next run must match the last. File one finished piece of each job with its signed proof, the paper used and the date, and note any colour adjustment made at the press. When the buyer comes back in a year and says "like last time", you can put the piece on the table. Without the copy, "last time" is an argument about memory.

Name five companies and start with one

Write down five companies near you that must buy stationery or brochures. Find the name of the admin head or marketing manager at each, and prepare a one-page price list and one account card for the first. Corporate buyers are one of several groups described on our paper and printing sales and marketing page, and lead response and follow-up is the related service. If you would like help with the pages, tell us what you need.