How To Pick Your Commercial Printer

By Author: Charen Smith
Total Articles: 25
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The commercial printer that you choose to do business with will have a tremendous impact on the future of your company. A great deal of the literature that your customers and potential customers see will go through your commercial printer. It is vital that your commercial printer is reliable and consistently produces quality work. Here are some tips for choosing your commercial printer.

Price is important

While you should look for cost efficiency, do not make the mistake of skimping on your printing costs. Quality commercial printers are not cheap, but the work they produce is well worth the cost. Commercial color printing, especially, will be far from free, but the results you see from a good printer will be amazing.

Your goal here is to balance cost vs. quality. Look around and find the most reputable company you can find for the best price. If it comes down to a choice between quality and price, go with quality, even though it costs a bit more.

Turnaround time

Depending on the type of printing you will be doing, the speed with which you need the work done may vary. Some commercial ...
... printers are better than others when it comes to quick turnaround times. For this, you will want to talk to other companies as much as possible. Find out what printers they use, and how they feel about them. This is a good way to find out which printers have the fastest turnaround times.

Of course, if speed is not all that important to you, this can be only a secondary concern.

Custom work

The standard for commercial color printing is a four-color layout. However, you may have ideas that simply will not work with this restriction. Some printers, though, are not fond of doing custom work, and will charge a huge premium for doing it. Again, search around and talk to peers to find out which companies stand out in this area.

Customer service

You may find a printer that has both the price and quality you are looking for, along with quick turnarounds, only to be terribly disappointing in the customer service department. You may feel like you are treated as a pest when you deliver your designs. Perhaps you feel that the printer just isn't interested in your needs.

Customer service is just as important as any other factor. You will be working quite closely with your commercial printer throughout the life of your company, so it is important to have a good relationship with them. Do not overlook the customer service department when you are doing your commercial printer search.

Longevity

The final aspect of commercial printers is their ability to survive for a long time. In other words, how likely is it that your printer will still be in business five years from now? If it is not likely, you probably do not want to do business with them, unless some aspect of their service is simply overwhelming.

To determine a printer's longevity, look at several things: how long have they been in business; what type of market share do they have; what are their yearly revenues. You may have to do some digging to find the answers to these questions, but it is not too hard to dig them up.

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