Newsletter
Issue No. 97 August 15, 2003


Bindery
 Folding
 - Micro Folding
- Map Folding
 - Gate Folding
- Glue Folding
Stitching
Trimming
Rotary Perf & Score
Gathering & Collating
Perfect Binding
Wire-O™
Plastic Spiral
Kleensticking
Drilling
Round Cornering
Shrink Wrapping

Tabbing
Custom Index Tabs
Copier Tabs
Tab Reinforcing
 Spine Reinforcing
Patch edge Reinforcing
5 Hole Drilling

Finishing
 Autoplaten Diecutting
 Diecutting to 41"
 Scoring & Perfing
Embossing
Foiling
Numbering
 



Todd Russell 
Stitcher Operator


1. E-Clutter With Junk Mail. I just returned from a week-long vacation to find my email absolutely swamped from junk messages. “Viagra,” “debt consolidation,” “physical enlargement,” “meet friendly women...” It’s just amazing how overwhelming, and how inappropriate, many of these emails are. Pornographic spam messages should not be sent at random to mass email lists. I don’t appreciate receiving them, and I find it extremely troubling that children may receive them as well. With all the fuss about a Federal “Do Not Call” registry to block telemarketers, can’t we find a way to block these inappropriate and unsolicited emails? A conference was held in April to draft legislation. I hope we see a breakthrough soon.
http://news.com.com/2100-1028-999020.html

2. Don’t Fire Small Customers. I found a good column on why firing small customers just because they are “too small” is a bad idea. The author was “fired” by a big bank because his account was “too small.” It ended up being the bank’s loss because he subsequently took with him a second, and larger, account. The danger in firing “small customers” is that they may have a spouse/neighbor/good friend/relative who is the print buyer for a large customer. Or that “too small” print buyer may move to a new job and become a large print buyer. Customers are just too valuable to be squandered in that manner.
http://www.bizjournals.com/extraedge/consultants/sales_moves/2003/07/28/column358.html

3. Along The Same Lines. The Wharton School’s latest newsletter features an article on the above topic, with a slightly more analytical approach that assesses “Customer Lifetime Value.” According to Wharton marketing professor George Day, “The only number a manager can have much confidence in is a customer’s current profitability.” However, Day suggests that once a firm determines customer profitability, it can “use this information to create different programs for different value segments.” The more profitable a client, the more value-added services they should receive.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/articles.cfm?catid=4&articleid=820

4. The Readers Respond. Last issue, we discussed how 74% of polled print buyers believe they know more about printing than the average print sales rep. One of our readers wrote to say: “Can you think of a good way to encourage production issue training for sales reps? In the past we have included sales reps, paper sales, and ink sales folks in our old evening classes and they benefited more than most...It would be great to get these folks back into some form of training so that customers perceive their knowledge to be more practical.” Thanks for the feedback.

5. Buyers Teaching Buyers. Suzanne Morgan, founder of PrintBuyersOnline.com, offers these tips, which I’ve paraphrased, to buyers about working with print suppliers: 1. Spend time qualifying printers before selecting. 2. Don’t bid every print project and don’t choose a supplier based on the lowest price, but rather on the best price. 3. Consider your management time in your selection. An efficient supplier costs less in the long run. 4. Create long-term agreements for greatest efficiency. 5. Clarify expectations at the outset and be fair when problems arise.
http://m1e.net/c?3364957-UpLDdYr8iiS.6%40264066-x8PwD8Fyn68C6

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