Matthew Parker and I haven’t always seen eye to eye when it comes to Print Buying. He comes from the UK “procurement” world, and I come from the USA “agency” world. I see his buying experience to be about numbers, and mine to be about a creative process. He has bought print in volumes I have never come near, and I have worked on custom one-offs for presentations that have cost many thousands of dollars. We used to actually argue about process, but over the years it has turned into a mutual respect. However, that doesn’t mean we now agree, or see things the same way! As a matter of fact, most of the time we don’t. So we decided to turn that into Print Buying: #UKvUSA and share information about our experiences from both sides of the pond!
At the end of my post, is a link to Matthew’s post on the same subject. We didn’t read each other’s response before writing our own so what you see here, and will see moving forward, is authentic. We will be dueling each month! Maybe we will agree, maybe we wont, maybe we don’t even see the question in the same way – who knows… that’s the fun part! We have also agreed to a 500 or less word count to keep things fair and moving along.
Please do leave comments and if you happen to support one side over the other let us know on either blog! I am proudly representing TEAM USA, and we are using #UKvUSA on Twitter.
Whose Responsibility Is It To Educate Print Buyers?
This question comes up a lot, and with traditional buyers rolls changing and merging it is certainly warranted. My answer might be a bit surprising, but I feel it is the responsibility of buyers to educate themselves!
Let me elaborate…
We don’t all work in places where we have access to mentors, formal education and events, but we do have access to the Internet. Starting with the simplest approach, find your people! LinkedIn is probably the best place to begin the hunt, and I just happen to have a Print Buyers only group filled with experts who are willing to share their knowledge! And learning from people who have the same responsibilities, goals, issues, and personalities to deal with is always a bonus.
Next stop on the education express should be our partners… printers, service providers, marketing technologists and so on. Never be afraid to ask a question! It doesn’t matter if you think it’s remedial, or if you are concerned that you will expose yourself for not knowing everything there is to know about print production and print media. At the end of the day remember these two things… you are a customer, and learning more about the products and services your vendors provide will make you a better customer… and more than likely a loyal one. Your partners will want to help you, and if they don’t, find new ones!
Last, and this is a bit trickier, but buyers should go directly to the source for education… aka the press manufactures. I say it’s trickier because most of this is going to be independent study and research until you have a basic grasp of the presses out there, and what they can do. YouTube is an amazing resource for this, but I would suggest you look for and focus on content based upon design and execution. Many of the videos the manufacturers put out there are very technical; because quite frankly they are there to sell machines to printers, not help buyers understand what can be done with them. However, once you know the presses that work best for the type of jobs you need to produce, you can find printers who have them, and buyers who have worked with them, and create a unique education resource for yourself.
Since this post is about sharing information, I’d like to pass this nugget along… never stop learning! The print and marketing industry is evolving and morphing into one big integrated communications channel, and print buyers have an opportunity to remain relevant by being relevant. The more you know, the more you can bring to the table, the more valuable you will become to your company, and most important the more you will be able to share what you have learned with those who ask for help!
10 Responses
An interesting question. I had started to develop a book on the need for print buyers and creatives to be offered ongoing education in all aspects of print. I stop developing the book, why, just about half the people felt that the more the print buyer and creative knew the more that knowledge would negatively impact the project and just under half said the opposite. The responses became very odd depending on the segment within the vertical I questioned. Internal print production departments had the most odd of answers to my questions. In the end I sensed that the answers related to job security, too bad it would have been one heck of a book!.
Deborah, I agree, but I also emphasize that a good print buyer, no matter how long they’ve been in that position, needs to have an essential curiosity and willingness and, yes, eagerness to learn. I see a lot of print buyers who don’t have that essential drive to learn and master, especially in areas of new technology.
Why should a supplier or manufacturer waste their time with someone who doesn’t want to learn?
We should also adopt a problem-solving mindset. Our value isn’t always placing work at Vendor A over Vendor B–it is solving a problem for a customer. We will become ineffective problem solvers if we aren’t open to new technology and how it can be applied to our customers’ needs.
I encourage print buyers to push themselves, to challenge themselves, to grow and learn. When we do that, we will become valued and valuable problem solvers and business partners to our clients and internal customers.
#UKvUSA: Print is an Education
Deborah and Matthew, I feel both of you have a very great
understanding of where print buyers are, and maybe were, however, the world has
changed. Today as a millennial fighting
to find my voice amongst the baby boomers, I look at things differently. I grew up in a print shop, I learned the art
of selling from printing.
Today, the world of selling is completely different with the
introduction of virtual storefronts that provide customer service in a
completely different way. The process of
production, as a craft and commodity has changed, flash back a few #printchats
ago. As a brick and mortar trade printer
I must respect and study the virtual guys, shout out to the animals and percentages,
to see where the growth is coming from and going.
As the production center for many print buyers I work with I
should have an easy day when talking about print. That is not always the case, I often compare apples
to oranges with people. The reason that I
feel this happens is because of fear.
They fear that they should have known this, or that, or what CMYK
conversions to RGB are. Though, it does
not have to be terrifying event to learn something about print.
When it all boils down to it, the person dealing with print
must be willing to go to the resources you both spoke about to get the answers they
need. Using suppliers, vendors, peers,
or the internet to learn about their trade/industry is vital for survival and
growth. Would it hurt your vendors to
host offset lunch and learns like digital guys are doing these days, not at
all! But if someone does not make time
to learn then they are only letting themselves down.
If accounting is wondering why print is so expensive explain
to them the value over price. If HR
wants to know where their business cards come from invite them to go pick them
up with you one day. All the lessons of
the world cannot be learned by sitting at a desk reading about them.
Over the last 4-6 years printers, print buyers, and
marketers have worked diligently to get the price as low as they can get
it. Often at the sacrifice of
craftsmanship, or individuality. We
should not be scared to go and learn about how print change the prospective of
a digital campaign or vice versa. We
must take the ink cans off the shelves ourselves and put words on paper about
how important ink on paper is.
JayneSnyderBennett That’s a great point about looking at Buying as problem solving vs picking a vendor! I am in total agreement and moving forward that will be a strong addition to my message. Positioning it that way opens up many doors for new discussions…. THANK YOU!!!!!!!
yourbct If you are a trade printer… aren’t your clients other Printers? Or do you do work for the public as well? BTW – That is an interesting situation… Printers as print BUYERS! I like your story too. We should talk… maybe an interview is in order 🙂
Thaddeus13K When was that – the 80’s? 90’s? This “people felt that the more the print buyer and creative knew the more that knowledge would negatively impact the project” in MY experience comes from people who: don’t WANT people to know what they are doing – because either THEY don’t really know what they are doing, or they suck at what they are doing and don’t want people to find out, or they are ripping people off in some way. Anyone along the way who has told me “I don’t need to be concerned about that, or that isn’t important, or why am I asking” I have parted ways from at the earliest opportunity.
dcorn66 Yes, we are 100% trade only. Selling to print re-sellers in a variety of capacities. Printers and print brokers have evolved over the past decade into a new version of themselves. This results in many different people from outside of the printing world selling print, and ordering print. These are people in the office supply world, print management firms, brokers, graphic designers freelancing, and the list continues to grow daily. These print buyers inside of these types of companies are the new “print buyers” I see daily. Often many are willing to learn and figure out new and better ways to improve their process, while some are “stuck” because of company policy and limitations.
I would love to participate in an interview about how roles inside companies are changing, and that includes print buyers.
Very interesting perspectives–for the most part, I believe I must agree with Matthew on this one.
Sorry Team USA.
However, there is an exception—C.P.M. Certified Purchasing Manager – it’s the designation within the US business world that is similar to C.P.A. – Certified Public Accountant. It is a 4 part test that you must pass to obtain this professional designation–I believe it is encouraged in the larger companies that have continuing education as an ongoing service for it’s employees – Caterpillar, State Farm Insurance, Mitsubishi, etc.
If you have gone to the lengths of obtaining your CPM, I believe it is your responsibility to educate yourself as a buyer. Now that may consist of lunch or coffee with various print providers to ask, what is your particular niche, so you as the buyer can figure out who has what strength. It may be asking the great google god 4 hours of questions. Nonetheless, the buyers responsibility.
The other side of the coin– Marsha has just graduated with her graphic design degree from Your State University, she has gotten a job @ XYZ Association and is now responsible for buying all of the print. As a print provider, I believe you would be unwise to not educate Marsha to the best of your ability. When Marsha is asked to have the annual report for the CEO in Florida for the July conference, who do you think she is going to call?
The CPM in the first example has had 6 meetings about the annual report and 12 people know what the deadlines are to get the annual report to the CEO in Florida for the July conference. The CPM awarded the project 4 weeks ago and built 2 days into the schedule for unforeseen production snafus.
Is anyone buying this perspective?
Peace & Print,
Sally in Chicago
Hi Deborah & Matthew
Great debate – thanks to you both!
Surely the biggest role to influence is the CMO? When they’re planning how to drive leads, grow the brand, etc they’re looking for the most effective bang for buck. Most marketers will recognise the importance of a balanced use of online and offline communications will generate the best ROI. Whether we like it or not, most medium-large businesses will require marketing to justify their expenditure – so helping marketers build the business case for print as part of a wider communication plan must be critical part of education.
Many Buyers, IMHO, are being asked to buy more categories than just print. More and more inexperienced buyers are having to buy print alongside other products and services – after all to many businesses ‘its just another category of expenditure’. Give novice / inexperienced buyers better tools to buy more efficiently and better education by all means, but surely they can only buy what their customers want them to purchase?
Matthew – I’m not sure how educating print equipment manufacturers will have any bearing on how a brand spends its money and why print and not online or events or what-ever.
All the best…
James
I sincerely enjoyed reading both sides of this issue. And I respectfully submit that both Deborah’s and Matthew’s positions are, in my experience, correct. I really don’t think printing is “dead”, but it’s certainly being redefined.