Printers have a habit of working in a production timespan measured in days, if not hours! 

Why? 

Because print buyers demand a faster turnaround, and efficient technology makes it possible. The print production scheduling guidelines of “one day per task” from back in the day when I started my career in print just don’t apply anymore.

With those ever-shrinking production timelines, how does a phrase like “Print Production Started Last Year” even make sense?

Here’s how:

You started building the customer relationship long before that first production step was scheduled.

You may have scheduled the physical tasks for each step of print production, and those tasks may cover the span of a few days or hours, but you started building a relationship with the print buyer long before that first production step was scheduled.

When Does Print Production Start?

Print production begins before the print buyer orders printing; before they know you are a print and communications expert. It even starts before you take the time to sit down and show your prospect how print is a powerful vehicle for communicating their important ideas.

Print production begins the first time you proactively contact your prospect, and that first touch may have occurred last year, before your prospect was even thinking about ordering printing from you.

Your Turn

Here are my questions for you: What are you doing now to contact your next print-buying prospect? What are you doing now to start production on the printing your customer will be ordering next year?