15 replies to this topic

[Chris Miller]

Do you offer 4 color printing to your customers?

We currently work with MWM Dexter (Tailormade Line) when our clients need 4 color printing. We have also considered Quickprint Line, but just havent got around to ordering with them yet.

If you currently sell 4 color printing, share your experience!

[Joe Denhoff]

MWM Dexter is terrific. Been using then for 20 years. When we began our company is 1982 we would get orders for schedule cards for some local colleges. The front was a photo of a cheerleader or mascot. This was new stuff then. It took 8-12 weeks to have made. Now MWM Dexter is 7 days or less and very nice people.

[chameleon]

There is a preponderance of trade printers that will enable you to offer 4/c printing.

The issue is whether you understand 4/c so that you don't take a bath. I come from an 4/c process background and am constantly amazed at how little people know about printing 4/c. If you don't know it inside and out, tread lightly. I watched a distributor new to 4/c offset take 4 mos. to get an order right and then he lost the customer anyway. Go with what you know and move into 4/c gently!

www.yourchameleon.com

[royster13]

Hi Folks....

For the most part I have stayed away from colour printing....There is a demand, however, I have always had a problem staying on top of prepress work....I can not do it myself as it is some what more complicated than spot colour work and my contractors are inconsistent....They do good work but turn around time can vary from a few hours to a few weeks...Not exactly a setup I can build on....I wonder if if the suppliers helped out, could we collectively sell more of this product....Or are they any good places to get this kind of work done at a price that allows us to be close to competitive to those places that do production in house....

[micrguy]

Call Joe Grape at Colorvision Printing 800-543-6299, they are an ASI supplier of memo boards and magnets, but they also do a great deal of 4 color work. They understand the world of printing and promo. They do have a direct sales force of about 5-6 people, but only in Wisconson.

[benbaker]

Like everything else in this world I offer the following piece of advice "the devil is in the details." We were a four colour print management company long before (18 odd years) we got into the promo industry 9-10 years ago. I could probably right a novel a year about the things that come up and bit me on the behind.:-)

IBM vs. Mac issues, font issues, colour calibration issues, the "it didn't look like that when I printed it on my $69 inkjet printer" issue and the ever present, "I am just the graphic designer, it is your problem to set the chokes and bleeds" issues.

There are a wide range of printers in most people's back yards that deal with trade only. I have a CDN book that lists about 300 of them if there are any Canadian's needing advice. But in terms of starting out, it is like everything else, learn as much as you can and check with your vendors before commiting to anything you are not sure of.

Corel Draw is the enemy as in MS Powerpoint and MS Publisher. They do evil things with colour. Understand what the difference is between RGB and CMYK and on a basic level be able to explain the difference to your clients. Know what a RIP (Rastor Image Processed) Ready file is (can go directly to film or CTP (computer to plate) without having to be manipulated by the output operator (which costs big bucks. . . trust me on this one).

Start small, post cards, letterhead, etc. and do small runs. Lot cheaper to make your mistakes on 5000 postcards than 50000 annual reports.

I am not trying to scare people off, heck I give the same advice to people starting off in the promo biz. . . " the devil is in the details" and trust me, people are very picky about colour at times and it is far better to know this at the start of the process and build in $$$$$ for couriers, proofs and press checks that to have a client say "yeah that pdf proof you sent me looked good on the screen, go ahead an print" and then when they get it back, the colour they thought was black was actually dark blue and unacceptable.

Have fun selling colour, if you learn the tricks of the trade there is money to be made.

Happy selling.

Ben

Chris Miller said:

Do you offer 4 color printing to your customers?

We currently work with MWM Dexter (Tailormade Line) when our clients need 4 color printing. We have also considered Quickprint Line, but just havent got around to ordering with them yet.

If you currently sell 4 color printing, share your experience!

[nycam]

We produce full color (four color process printing) on fabrics, like table covers, banners and drapes. Our products are machine washable, flame-retardant and wrinkle-resistant 100% Polyester. We also carry fabrics for screen printers. Thanks for the post!
Joseph in Quotations

[TRIP]

Chris,

I have worked with Quickprintline on several orders and they have always done them properly and quickly. There is some talk they sell direct via another name, Twigs?

I think they have 2 divisions however, and one is for the trade.

John

[WonderM]

I left my job as a Marketing Manager in the Electronics Industry about 5 years ago. After about 8 months of looking around I decided to start my own company as a Print Broker (a person that buys and sells printing). I had to build my own clientele and adding promotional products to my services has really helped.

As I was getting started I took a couple of classes on Printing from a local Community College. One was 'Intro to Printing' and the other was a pretty extensive standardized course for 'Prepress Technicians' which was developed by the GATF Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF), which is affiliated with the Printing Industry Association. See www.gain.org or write to me for more information.

The Prepress course was probably the luckiest thing I've done in quite some time. You don't need to know how to operate a press in order to sell printing, but you really should know Prepress. The community college classes were very inexpensive and they saved me the cost of lot's of 'lessons' out in the field. I can't say enough about them. The information in the course would help someone in preparing their Promotional Product artwork as well.

Still a lot to learn though,

- Mark

[joeosip]

Greetings y'all............

I offer unlimited color sublimation printing of lots of items..........see www.icanprintit.com for what icanprint............Joe

[joeosip]

I offer unlimited full color sublimation printing for lots of items.........see www.icanprintit.com for more info........Joe

[rickprints]

benbaker said:

IBM vs. Mac issues, font issues, colour calibration issues, the "it didn't look like that when I printed it on my $69 inkjet printer" issue and the ever present, "I am just the graphic designer, it is your problem to set the chokes and bleeds" issues.

Wow we have simular backgrounds. I left Xerox and opened my own printshop, then I eventually discovered that I stink at printing and that it wasnt fun. So I converted to a broker. Much more fun.

I can back you up on both of your statements. There is alot of things which can kill you in process if you do not understand it. But it is getting much easier for novices to work with print suppliers.

benbaker said:

Corel Draw is the enemy
Start small, post cards, letterhead, etc. and do small runs. Lot cheaper to make your mistakes on 5000 postcards than 50000 annual reports.

I totally agree with this one too. It is much easier to swallow a loss of $30 business cards which you had a 100% mark up on than a 16 page full color catalog @ $1000 which you only had a 50% markup on.

Now for those who are interested (and already know what they are doing) the best place I found to get full color printing is gotprint.com. The only problem is that they take 2 weeks and for me another week for shipping. If my customer needs it quicker I get my local trade shop knock it out for me.

good luck

[Tom Aufman]

Joe Denhoff said:

MWM Dexter is terrific. Been using then for 20 years. When we began our company is 1982 we would get orders for schedule cards for some local colleges. The front was a photo of a cheerleader or mascot. This was new stuff then. It took 8-12 weeks to have made. Now MWM Dexter is 7 days or less and very nice people.

Joe,
I agree. MWM Dexter won't skin a Newbie.I too have been dealing with them for some 20 years. I Never had a problem....tea

[Tom Aufman]

royster13 said:

Hi Folks....

For the most part I have stayed away from colour printing....There is a demand, however, I have always had a problem staying on top of prepress work....I can not do it myself as it is some what more complicated than spot colour work and my contractors are inconsistent....They do good work but turn around time can vary from a few hours to a few weeks...Not exactly a setup I can build on....I wonder if if the suppliers helped out, could we collectively sell more of this product....Or are they any good places to get this kind of work done at a price that allows us to be close to competitive to those places that do production in house....

Royce.
If you can get yourself known as supplying a great quality, Competitors pushing cheap and ugly disapear....Pretty Sells...tea

[dburnham]

MWM was one of the first to bring 4/c process printing to this industry, with products other than calendars that distributors could sell and of course they have printed tons of supplier catalogs over the years. They printed my catalog as long ago as 1976. Never had a probem with them.

Today, the word 4-color is being replaced by full-color with quantities and lead times making new things possible on digital presses that use toner instead of ink. Many of the perplexing issues that made 4-color difficult are disappearing with full-color. Today you can buy 1,000 business cards on the Internet for about $80, with a full color image on one side. Something like that was impossible in the 20th century.

[ProPrinters]

I do a lot of 4cp printing. I am working on a soccer brochure 75,000 pieces full color front 2 spot color booklet, printed and mailed.