I am sitting and working on a quote remembering an incident I had with a customer several years ago. She sent me the art electronically and I had it printed out for size and color. I priced the job and sent it to my customer. She called as soon as she received it to tell me the size I quoted was wrong. I still had the output sample on my desk and re- measured it and it was still 11 x 17. She was adamant that the size is incorrect as she measured it and it was 17×11. I said that was the same thing but she kept repeating over and over that the sizes are not the same. I tried to explain but she would have none of it. Finally I gave up and said that when I turn the sheet sideways it now measured 17×11 and not 11×17. That made her happy and wanted me to re-do the quote, I re-did the quote and wrote 17x 11 and raised the price $50.00. She called me back, thanked me, told me it was refreshing that I admitted I was wrong and gave me the job.

I remember training a customer rep many years ago that was never wrong and never made mistakes. Sometimes it takes me time to realize things about people and try to give the benefit of the doubt. My trainee would write up job folders and tickets and I would review before allowing the job to make it’s way to production. Nearly five weeks into the training I was looking at some jobs that were in the pressroom that I did not recognize. I pulled them from production and went through them. They made no sense so I went to my trainee and asked him how these jobs got into the pressroom. He told me I had said put them into work. After we went around and around about what was wrong and why, he finally looked at me and said he can’t remember specifics but it was my fault and he was not to blame. I agreed and fired him. Mistakes will happen but will never be resolved without understanding and blaming others is not a sign of understanding.

We were printing a post card for the opening of a play. A sample was sitting at our front counter when our UPS driver said that the date was not correct as to the day of the week. We checked and he was right. I called the customer who was the designer of the piece. She said her customer proofed the piece and she won’t change it. I repeated that it was incorrect as it was and she remained adamant that she wouldn’t make a change without customer approval. I called her customer and was authorized to make the date change. The customer thanked me and called the designer to fire her for not looking out for her best interests. Stubborn is not always a good trait especially when you’re wrong.

I had a salesperson that spent most of his time on the road visiting customers. He would only come in at the end of the day to bring in orders. One day he decided to spend the day in the office. He was trying to reach my extension but didn’t have any idea how to use the intercom so he would call the office from his cell phone anytime he needed someone. After nearly ten calls another sales person took away his cell phone and pointed to my office and told him to get instructions on how to use the phone system. He took back his phone and left the office swearing he’ll never work inside again.

I had just started selling printing as a print broker and was cold calling in North Miami Beach in a commercial section. Anyone that has cold called door to door knows how rejection feels. I stopped in one office and gave the receptionist my card, her eyes lit up as she looked at a bunch of boxes by her desk. They had just gotten a delivery from their printer and the job was “terrible”. She told me to wait a minute while she went to get the boss. I was pumped with excitement waiting for her to come back. A few minutes later she walks back into the office and hands me my card back. Dejected I asked her what happened. The job was terrible and her boss was extremely upset and was giving the job back to the printer and would love to use someone else, but the printer was his brother.

I was at a customer’s office finishing a sales call when I decided to knock on a door next to the elevator. What a mistake. I walked in and handed my card to the receptionist, a man walking behind her grabbed it from her hand threw it at me and screamed at me to get out and never set foot in the building again. On my way out I heard him yelling at the receptionist to have solicitors arrested if they come into the office again. Every time I went to that building I was tempted to go back to that office but never did.

I had woman that made cold calls for me to set up appointments and she got me one for a company in Ft Lauderdale. I drove up to the freestanding building and parked my car. I entered the building and asked for Mike, the receptionist told me to go around to the back of the building and Mike would be there. It seemed strange to me but I went around back and asked the man dumping the garbage for Mike in purchasing. Getting down from the forklift the man said he was Mike and there was no purchasing department everything came from corporate out of state, all he bought was garbage bags. I left.

I was sitting at my desk yesterday when a customer called and asked me where I was. He was calling me in my office so he knew where I was so I asked him what he wanted. He said we are all here waiting for you did you forget our appointment? I looked at my appointment book and saw nothing scheduled for that time period. When I told him that he said that I told him I was always
free at 10:00 on Thursdays. I said yes I am because I have a standing meeting at noon and try to keep Thursdays free. He then said but we all rearranged our schedules to meet at this time. I told him I was on my way but in the future he should let me know that I have a meeting so I can show up.

The printing industry has changed drastically over the years and most of the way we did things 30+ years ago is now computerized. Fortunately most of our customers know how technology works. Unfortunately some do not. Recently we started working with a new client on his brochure, his card had an email address so we emailed him the proofs. Once we sent the proofs I called him to let him know we sent the proofs by email. His response made me realize that computers have not totally taken over. When I told him about the email he told me that he’d call me after the mailman delivers his mail around 3:00.