The Most Dangerous Phrase in the Print Industry

There is a phrase I hear from print shop owners that sets my teeth on edge every single time. We will be sitting, usually surrounded by samples of incredible work, discussing their sales pipeline.

I ask them how they plan to get new business in the door next month.

They lean back and say they rely on word of mouth.

That is the most dangerous sentence in our industry.

The field of dreams fallacy

It assumes that if you build it, they will come. It assumes that because you bought the expensive press, hired the skilled finisher, and bought the best paper, the market will naturally gravitate towards you.

But the hard truth is that being the best printer in town is useless if nobody knows you exist.

I see so many businesses that are technically brilliant but commercially invisible. They sit by the phone, waiting for it to ring. They check their emails, hoping an enquiry has magically landed in the inbox.

They are playing a passive game in an aggressive market.

Your customers are not mind readers

The problem is that you think your customers understand what you do. You assume they know you can do large format, or vehicle wraps, or foiling.

But they don't.

Most of your customers are busy running their own businesses. They don't spend their evenings thinking about paper weights or lamination options. To them, you are the person who prints the invoices. They don't know you could also brand their van because you have never told them.

You have to stop assuming they know. You have to start showing them.

Visibility is not optional

In the old days, you could perhaps get away with having a shop front on the high street and waiting for footfall. But those days are gone.

If you are not telling your story, you are invisible. And in a world where everyone is glued to their phones, being invisible is a death sentence.

You need to be proactive. You need to be putting your work on social media to show clients what is possible. You need to be sending emails that educate your database about the problems you can solve.

You need to be networking, not just handing out business cards, but actually explaining how you help businesses grow.

Move from order taker to problem solver

When you sit and wait for the phone to ring, you are an order taker. You are a commodity. You are waiting to be asked for a price, which means you will always be beaten by someone cheaper.

When you go out and tell your story, you become a partner. You are showing them value before they have even asked for a quote.

You have to get out of the mindset that marketing is something you do when you are quiet. Marketing is the engine of the business. It needs to run every single day.

Stop waiting for permission to sell. Stop waiting for the customer to realise they need you.

Go out there and tell them.

Book your discovery call today, and let's get started: https://calendly.com/theonlineprintcoach/30-min-discovery-call