Why are printers so obsessed with plant lists?
Whatever country you visit it’s always the same. All printing company websites have a page dedicated to a roll call of the company’s equipment armoury, neatly broken down into pre-press, press and post-press.
But why? Back in the day when buyer’s had a greater awareness of technical issues and were fully conversant in all matters print you could argue the case for a plant list, but in the modern business environment where many buyers don’t know their flatbed from their roll to roll, telling people what you own is a pretty pointless exercise.
However, showing potential customers what you can do with what you own is a different matter altogether. Take the example of one modest-sized wide-format outfit that was brought to the attention of this blog. It doesn’t have a plant list on its site – indeed nowhere does it mention its impressive stash of equipment.
Instead the company focuses on its strengths and provides seemingly endless examples of fantastic looking wide-format work that it’s produced for blue-chip clients throughout Europe. While the company’s approach to its website is a breath of fresh air for the sector so too is its approach to doing business.
The company’s maxim is: if it can be designed it can be printed. This is music to the ears of buyers who far too often run into a brick wall when they ask their print partner to do something that might be considered a little unconventional.
Rather than pitching for bog-standard work to keep its presses ticking over and for which it can command a slim margin, the company takes on all manner of time-consuming, challenging projects, from retail and office interiors through to complex jobs for high-end European art galleries, and charges a price that amply rewards it for its efforts and that its customers are more than happy to pay.
This willingness to innovate and bend over backwards to meet its client’s needs has seen the company’s finances go from strength-to-strength. And all this has been achieved without a plant list in sight.
Although I agree with you on some points, the reality is that many of our clients hire people from our industry to manage their graphics rollouts and they ask about equipment, output rates and capabilities. But yes…a company should highlight their work above their firepower. I think we do a good job of that. http://www.pointimaging.com
The Augustus Martin website (disclosure – I helped build it, but not write the content!) seems to have a fair an representative balance of company strengths, ethos and equipment descriptions (I suspect people still look for this in a printer’s website and that will take some time to change).
http://www.augustusmartin.com
Many believe that if they build their castle -people will come. Not in this time of austerity. Clients really do not care whether you have the biggest nicest house on the block. It’s about providing solutions, via your sales force and marketing message. Hire the sales talent that can listen first, then clearly communicate a solution message and then build trust. Invest in your people.