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Do you sell printing to your offline clients?

by bostoncitymass
10 replies
Just want to make this clear. his is not a plug or an advertisement. Just want to get others opinions, to see if there is a market.

I'm interested to see if any offiners would find a resource to get printing done for their clients something of interest to them.

I own a commercial printing company in the U.S. and was thinking about putting together different advertising templates (post cards, flyers, etc.) geared towards local industries (dentists, lawyers, day spas, etc.) and offering to layout and print them at a discount where offliners could sell these to their clients and mark them up for a profit?

Is this something people would be interested in?

If there is a big enough demand we would set something up in the classified section where you could order them.

So for instance we would layout and print 1,000 flyers for your dental client which would cost you say $200 (just using this as a number) and you could sell them to them for say $300.

Thanks
#clients #offline #printing #sell
  • Profile picture of the author vndnbrgj
    I wouldn't be interested the way you put it.
    You need to find a way to differentiate yourself.
    I can already get what you are talking about.

    Why should I do business with you over one of your competitors?
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    • Profile picture of the author bostoncitymass
      Originally Posted by vndnbrgj View Post

      I wouldn't be interested the way you put it.
      You need to find a way to differentiate yourself.
      I can already get what you are talking about.

      Why should I do business with you over one of your competitors?
      Hi,
      Not 100% sure what you mean.
      Right now I was just doing some research so this is not a sales letter to sell, so as far as differentiating myself really isn't my objective at this point.

      Basically I'm trying to find out if offline marketers would be interested in finding a reliable resource where they could offer their clients additional services to increase their sales.
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      • Profile picture of the author vndnbrgj
        Originally Posted by bostoncitymass View Post

        Hi,
        Not 100% sure what you mean.
        Right now I was just doing some research so this is not a sales letter to sell, so as far as differentiating myself really isn't my objective at this point.

        Basically I'm trying to find out if offline marketers would be interested in finding a reliable resource where they could offer their clients additional services to increase their sales.
        Not 100% sure... I don't know how much more simple I could have made it.
        You are trying to see if people would be interested.
        What was my first line.... I would not be interested.

        This isn't the field of dreams, where if you build it they will come.
        You have to give a reason.
        I can get what you provide somewhere else.

        I am trying to help you differentiate yourself and come up with the differentation before you open for business. This is the same for every business.
        Say you were considering making tires. There are already companies that make tires.
        So, why should I buy your tires?

        I think its foolish to compete, just to compete.
        If you differentiate yourself, you will never compete because there is no one to compete against. You are different. Apples to oranges, not apples to apples. Sure you are both fruits, but you are different fruits.

        I hope this makes sense.
        You may get better feedback if you come up with what makes you different.

        For example:
        "I know a lot of you that deal with printing companies are sick of dealing with x, x, and x.
        What if you didn't have to worry about that, got this, and the price was still competitive?
        Is that something you would be interested in?"
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        Life Begins At The End Of Your Comfort Zone
        - Neale Donald Wilson -
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        • Profile picture of the author bostoncitymass
          Originally Posted by vndnbrgj View Post

          Not 100% sure... I don't know how much more simple I could have made it.
          You are trying to see if people would be interested.
          What was my first line.... I would not be interested.

          This isn't the field of dreams, where if you build it they will come.
          You have to give a reason.
          I can get what you provide somewhere else.

          I am trying to help you differentiate yourself and come up with the differentiation before you open for business. This is the same for every business.
          Say you were considering making tires. There are already companies that make tires.
          So, why should I buy your tires?

          I think its foolish to compete, just to compete.
          If you differentiate yourself, you will never compete because there is no one to compete against. You are different. Apples to oranges, not apples to apples. Sure you are both fruits, but you are different fruits.

          I hope this makes sense.
          You may get better feedback if you come up with what makes you different.

          For example:
          "I know a lot of you that deal with printing companies are sick of dealing with x, x, and x.
          What if you didn't have to worry about that, got this, and the price was still competitive?
          Is that something you would be interested in?"
          Yeah well kinda like I said, I'm just doing some market research, not selling, or pitching at this points, not sure how much more simple I could have made that point.

          Not quite sure why you don't get that...but that's OK.

          You seem to be thinking I am trying to sell the service at this point but I am not, so there is no need to differentiate myself at this point, because like I said I am just seeing if there is a market for this at this point, not sure how much simpler I could have made that point but I'm trying to help you out so you understand it in the simplest way possible.

          As far as the if you build it they will come, obviously that is why I'm asking if there would be a need for this, I'm trying to make that point as simple as possible but must have to make it simpler so you get it. No sense in building it if they will not come.

          And I'm not opening a business, I actually have owned a commercial printing company for the last decade, so I have obviously have been differentiating myself for sometime now or I would not still be in business, I tried to put that in the simplest terms possible but apparently you didn't understand.

          But that's ok, thanks for the help, Your advice will help me. I just hope that Iput this in the simplest terms possible so you understand it.
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          • Profile picture of the author jimbo13
            To be clearer to vndnbrgj why don't you remove all vowels from your post?

            Dan
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            • Profile picture of the author bostoncitymass
              Originally Posted by jimbo13 View Post

              To be clearer to vndnbrgj why don't you remove all vowels from your post?

              Dan

              Nice Dan
              lol
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  • Profile picture of the author bob ross
    I have a lot of members who do this currently. They can get printing done for even cheaper than gotprint.com or they use a trade printer like 4over.
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    • Profile picture of the author bostoncitymass
      Originally Posted by bob ross View Post

      I have a lot of members who do this currently. They can get printing done for even cheaper than gotprint.com or they use a trade printer like 4over.
      Hi Bob,

      We would offer "trade pricing" as well so they could resell it to their clients similar to 4 over.

      We would also have pre made templates which alot of trade printers don't offer. Some people don't have the design skills or understand what to submit for print ready files, it would also eliminate the need to pay a graphic designer where we could simply tweak the templates to fit their needs.

      They could pick the template they need based on the client's industry and we would personalize the template with the clients contact info, logo, etc.
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      • Profile picture of the author Tangycontent
        Originally Posted by bostoncitymass View Post

        Hi Bob,

        We would offer "trade pricing" as well so they could resell it to their clients similar to 4 over.

        We would also have pre made templates which alot of trade printers don't offer. Some people don't have the design skills or understand what to submit for print ready files, it would also eliminate the need to pay a graphic designer where we could simply tweak the templates to fit their needs.

        They could pick the template they need based on the client's industry and we would personalize the template with the clients contact info, logo, etc.
        Sounds like you have this all figured out; why not just get things going and run a trial to see how things work out?
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        • Profile picture of the author bostoncitymass
          Originally Posted by Tangycontent View Post

          Sounds like you have this all figured out; why not just get things going and run a trial to see how things work out?
          Hi Tangy,
          You're right, sometimes you gotta just pull the trigger and see what happens.

          There are a good amount of upfront costs (creating the templates, setting pricing, etc.) so just want to check the demand on here, making it a simple ordering and delivery system but you bring up a valid point, sometimes you just gotta go for it.
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