| 5/5/2008 | What percentage of your customers use reverse auctions? |
| 4/20/2008 | Do you believe a recession in 2008 would have any impact upon your business? |
| 4/13/2008 | In the last year, do you believe that more customers are requiring that their printers must first pre-qualify and be on an approved supplier list before they can use them? |
| 4/7/2008 | Does your company offer wide-format printing services? |
| 3/31/2008 | How often do your customers request FSC or SFI certified papers for their projects? |
| 3/23/2008 | How often, if ever, do you offer to lower your price when you find the initial price you quoted to a customer is too high? |
| 3/16/2008 | How long do your customers typically spend on a press check? |
| 3/9/2008 | In the past six months, how much have your customers' print quantities changed? |
| 3/2/2008 | How important do you think your customers view the brand of printing press/equipment used for the production of jobs? |
| 2/25/2008 | How relevant are printers’ “Terms and Conditions for Sale” document? |
| 2/23/2008 | |
| 2/18/2008 | Have rising energy costs caused your company to increase its prices in the past year? |
| 2/3/2008 | Is your company currently offering any Web-to-print solutions to your customers? |
| 1/27/2008 | How much business, if any, have you lost to printers/print suppliers located outside the country? |
| 1/20/2008 | Does your company place color bars on its contract quality proofs? |
| 1/20/2008 | |
| 1/13/2008 | How important is it for print buyers to have solid knowledge of different types of printing equipment? |
| 1/6/2008 | Does your company have a formal rating system to rate which customers are the best fit? |
| 12/30/2007 | How important do you think a print buyer views a printer's collateral material in identifying them as a prospective supplier? |
| 12/16/2007 | How much net profit do you believe the average printing company makes? |
| 12/9/2007 | Does your company base job pricing on your knowledge (or assumption) of the conditions of the customer’s files? (i.e. Do the skills of the graphic designer and the print readiness of the files enter into the pricing equation?) |
| 12/2/2007 | Given that the holidays are upon us, what gifts – if any – does your company or you give to your customers? |
| 11/25/2007 | In general, how much of a price increase should print buyers be prepared for in 2008 compared to prices they are receiving in 2007? (due to paper, energy, transportation, and other costs) |
| 11/18/2007 | Do you use a MAC or PC computer at work? |
| 11/11/2007 | How satisfied are you with the industry's printing associations and how they meet your needs? |
| 11/4/2007 | Does your company participate in competitive online bidding or print auction services? |
| 10/28/2007 | On average, how long does it take before the work you do for a new customer is profitable? |
| 10/21/2007 | In the next twelve months, do you expect that your customers will require you to meet faster turnaround times for their print projects? |
| 10/14/2007 | In your opinion, do you think print buyers and their companies should do fewer press checks? |
| 10/7/2007 | What percentage of your prospective customers conduct a plant tour of your facilities before working with you? |
| 9/30/2007 | If your company decides to “fire” a customer, how do you end the working relationship? |
| 9/23/2007 | Has the use of soft proofs grown in the past year? |
| 9/16/2007 | How interested are you in the new Pantone Goe color specification system? |
| 9/9/2007 | Does your company offer its clients the option of buying printing online? (with shopping cart features, etc. for the more routine types of print projects) |
| 9/2/2007 | How do you prefer customers to send you bid specifications for quoting a print job? |
| 8/26/2007 | What is your greatest challenge when working with current customers? |
| 8/19/2007 | How much do you believe that print buyers rely on a printer’s equipment list when evaluating a prospective supplier? |
| 8/12/2007 | Are your customers more frequently specifying that your company purchase certain kinds of equipment, software, services, etc? |
| 8/5/2007 | What percentage of your customers are located within 40 miles from your plant? |
| 7/29/2007 | In the past year, have sustainability and environmental issues become more important in your company? |
| 7/22/2007 | Is it more difficult to give a customer the best price when the price quote is requested in 24 hours? |
| 7/15/2007 | Do you ask prospective customers (that have not yet given you work) to lunch? |
| 7/8/2007 | Is Adobe’s “send to FedEx Kinko’s” order button in Acrobat inappropriate? |
| 7/1/2007 | Does the emergence of more print management companies threaten the jobs of print buyers? |
| 6/24/2007 | Are your customers doing more or less press checks (approvals on press) compared to a few years ago? |
| 6/17/2007 | How often do you charge customers for overs? |
| 6/10/2007 | Is it okay to "drop by" to visit current customers without an appointment? |
| 6/3/2007 | Does your company offer its clients the option of buying printing online? (with shopping cart features, etc. for the more routine types of print projects) |
| 5/27/2007 | How interested are your clients in selecting paper that is FSC certified? (FSC, a certification by the Forest Stewardship Council, verifies the paper has been produced with responsible management of the world’s forests.) |
| 5/20/2007 | In the past few months, have you been experiencing more problems with the availability of specific paper stocks? |
| 5/13/2007 | How much will the recently imposed tariffs on paper (i.e. U.S. tariffs on paper imported from China, Indonesia, South Korea or the European Union’s tariffs on U.S. exports) impact the overall costs of the jobs your company produces? |
| 5/6/2007 | What percentage of the print projects that your company produces (do clients) use soft proofing as the final proof? |
| 4/29/2007 | Does your company offer its clients the option of paying by credit card? |
| 4/22/2007 | Does your company produce wide-format printing? |
| 4/15/2007 | Does your company carry Errors and Omissions insurance? (Liability protection from your mistakes) |
| 4/8/2007 | Does your company distribute advertising specialties? |
| 4/1/2007 | Does your company offer its customers rebates for committing to buy a large amount of work over the year? |
| 3/25/2007 | In the past two years, do you believe that more customers are requiring that their printers must first pre-qualify and be on an approved supplier list before they can use them? |
| 3/18/2007 | How often does your company offer lower priced paper alternatives in order to win a job you are quoting? |
| 3/11/2007 | In general, how open are your customers to suggestions that may help them improve the results of a project, but may increase the cost of the job? |
| 3/4/2007 | What percentage of your customers’ print projects requires critical color? (i.e. exact color match/reproduction) |
| 2/25/2007 | Do you feel that your clients are more focused on price compared to a few years ago? |
| 2/4/2007 | When is it okay for your customers to buy the paper for their jobs direct and then supply it to you? |
| 1/28/2007 | How often, if ever, do your clients share other printers' pricing with you before they award the job? |
| 1/21/2007 | How often, if ever, does your company provide color bars on contract quality proofs? |
| 1/14/2007 | How long does your average customer spend on a press check? (Not including travel time) |
| 1/7/2007 | How messy is your desk? |
| 1/1/2007 | Do you feel that print management companies (companies that handle buying the printing for an organization) are harmful or helpful to printers? |
| 12/17/2006 | What’s a reasonable request from a customer regarding having your company itemize your price estimates? |
| 12/10/2006 | Does your company place color bars on its contract quality proofs? |
| 12/3/2006 | Does your company base job pricing on your knowledge (or assumption) of the conditions of the customer’s files? |
| 11/26/2006 | What percentage of your customers use a print management software tool? (i.e. P3Expeditor, Newline Noosh, Cirqit, Xerox e-Printsourcing, a custom developed system, etc.) |
| 11/19/2006 | Given that the holidays are upon us, what gifts – if any – does your company or you give to your customers? |
| 11/13/2006 | How satisfied are you with your company’s website in the ability to effectively “sell” your company to prospective customers? |
| 11/4/2006 | How well does your company respond to comprehensive RFI and RFP requests from current and prospective customers? |
| 10/29/2006 | What percentage of your customers ask for grid pricing or a rate card for all or a portion of their print projects? |
| 10/22/2006 | Is your company currently offering any Web-to-print solutions to your customers? |
| 10/15/2006 | What percentage of your customers use reverse auctions to gather pricing from you and other suppliers to award their jobs? |
| 10/8/2006 | How often do you participate in review meetings with your major customers? |
| 10/1/2006 | How interested are your customers in buying "green"? |
| 9/24/2006 | How long does it take before the work you do for a new customer is profitable? |
| 9/17/2006 | How often does your company charge "rush charges" for print jobs with very quick turnarounds? |
| 9/10/2006 | Have your customers become more conservative about accepting gifts? |
| 9/3/2006 | Regarding your customers' AA, where do your customers incur the highest charges? |
| 8/27/2006 | Compared to the past few years, how much have your customers' print quantities (for individual print jobs) changed? |
| 8/20/2006 | How relevant are printers’ “Terms and Conditions for Sale” document? |
| 8/13/2006 | Does your company have a formal rating system to rate which customers are the best fit? |
| 8/6/2006 | On average, what is a realistic time for print buyers to receive a proof from your company? |
| 7/30/2006 | Have rising energy costs caused your company to increase its prices? |
| 7/23/2006 | Are your customers doing more or less press checks (approvals on press) compared to a few years ago? |
| 7/16/2006 | How "print-ready" are the files that you receive from your customers for printing their projects? |
| 7/9/2006 | How much does your business slow down during the summer months? |
| 7/2/2006 | How important do you think your customers view the brand of printing press/equipment used for the production of their jobs? |
| 6/26/2006 | In what file format do you prefer to receive jobs from your customers? |
| 6/18/2006 | Does your company offer variable data printing services to its customers? |
| 6/11/2006 | Do you feel that customers save more money by buying paper direct and supplying it to you? |
| 6/4/2006 | Is it okay for a printer to markup the price of a print job to the end customer with a "kick-back" or hidden commission that will be paid to the designer/agency who created the work? |
| 5/28/2006 | If your company decides to “fire” a customer, how do you end the working relationship? |
| 5/21/2006 | Does your company participate in competitive online bidding or print auction services? |
| 5/14/2006 | How often do you outsource customers' jobs (all or part) without their knowledge? |
| 5/7/2006 | Is it okay to "drop by" to visit current customers without an appointment? |
| 4/30/2006 | Does your company provide Digital Asset Management services to its clients? |
| 4/23/2006 | Are your clients becoming more interested in papers that have an environmental certification status (SFI, FSC, etc.) for their print projects? |
| 4/16/2006 | Does your company provide the job status for customers' projects online (in real-time)? |
| 4/9/2006 | How often do you outsource customers' jobs (all or part) without their knowledge? |
| 3/26/2006 | How often, if ever, do you offer to lower your price when you find the initial price you quoted to a customer is too high? |
| 3/19/2006 | How often do you charge customers for overs? |
| 3/12/2006 | In terms of response rate, in general what percentage response should your customers expect from a personalized print campaign versus one that's not personalized? |
| 3/5/2006 | How important do you think a print buyer views a printer's collateral material in identifying them as a prospective supplier? |
| 2/26/2006 | What department do you prefer that your main customer contacts work in? |
| 2/19/2006 | Do you feel that your clients are more focused on price compared to a few years ago? |
| 2/12/2006 | Is your company working with a print management company? |
| 2/5/2006 | How often, if ever, do your clients share other printers' pricing with you to let you know where you stand compared to the competition? |
| 1/29/2006 | How much do you think a buyer's decision to work with a print supplier is based on the sales rep that handles their account? |
| 1/22/2006 | When should a sales rep/printer attempt to "go over the print buyer's head" and work with or sell to upper management? |
| 1/15/2006 | Printers: On a rough estimate, what is the average turnaround for printing an 8.5 x 11, 96 pp, 4/4 perfect bound book (quantity 120,000)? |
| 1/8/2006 | On average, how many times do your customers' print specifications change from the time they initially bid the job to the time you receive it? |
| 1/1/2006 | In the next twelve months, do you expect that your customers will require you to meet faster turnaround times for their print projects? |
| 12/18/2005 | Are your customers trying to mail as many print projects as they can now to "beat" the January USPS postage increase? |
| 12/11/2005 | Given that the holidays are upon us, what gifts – if any – does your company or you give to your customers? |
| 12/4/2005 | Do you go to lunch with prospective customers that have not yet given you work? |
| 11/27/2005 | How do your customers most often send you the files for their print jobs? |
| 11/20/2005 | How satisfied are you with the industry's printing associations and how they meet your needs? |
| 11/13/2005 | How much importance do you think print buyers place on selecting suppliers who provide "one-stop shopping" (e.g. provide multiple print-related services such as printing and mailing)? |
| 11/7/2005 | Would you be open to your customers providing you with detailed instructions on how they expect you to meet their quality expectations? |
| 10/30/2005 | What do you think your customers are most looking for when they request grid pricing or rate cards? |
| 10/23/2005 | What percentage of your customers ask for grid pricing or a rate card for all or a portion of their print projects? |
| 10/16/2005 | Have your customers' purchases of digital color printing (i.e. Canon, HP Indigo, Kodak Nexpress, Xerox)...? |
| 10/9/2005 | How, if at all, have the hurricanes Katrina and Rita affected your customers' print campaigns? (i.e. have they delayed print campaigns or not mailed to areas affected by the hurricanes, etc.) |
| 10/2/2005 | What percentage of your customers use reverse auctions to gather pricing from you and other suppliers to award their jobs? |
| 9/25/2005 | If a print buyer dislikes the sales rep that is assigned to her/him, but likes the printing company, how likely do you think they would be to ask for a different rep? |
| 9/18/2005 | On average, how often, if ever, do your customers make changes to the job during press checks? |
| 9/11/2005 | In your opinion, do you think print buyers and their companies should do fewer press checks? |
| 9/4/2005 | What percentage of your customers use a print specific e-procurement system? (i.e. P3Expeditor, Noosh, Cirqit, PrintCafe or a custom developed system.) |
| 8/28/2005 | Does your company have the ability to translate and communicate in Spanish? |
| 8/21/2005 | Do you think the paper industry should move the standard brightness level for U.S. paper products from a 84 brightness to a 92 brightness? |
| 8/14/2005 | Do you think that some of your customers will start purchasing high-end contract proofing systems for internal use? |
| 8/7/2005 | How interested are your customers in having your company or you educate them on print production and print technology issues? |
| 7/31/2005 | How much net profit do you believe the average printing company makes? |
| 7/24/2005 | How often do you participate in review meetings with your major customers to discuss process improvements, the business relationship and strategize on big-picture issues? |
| 7/17/2005 | Compared to the past few years, have your customers' print quantities (for individual print jobs) increased, decreased or stayed the same? |
| 7/10/2005 | How interested are your customers in buying "green" - buy printing with environmentally friendly papers and processes? |
| 7/3/2005 | What percentage of your prospective customers conduct a plant tour of your facilities before working with you? |
| 6/26/2005 | Are your customers more frequently specifying that your company purchase certain kinds of equipment, software, services, etc? |
| 6/20/2005 | How "print-ready" are the files that you receive from your customers for printing their projects? |
| 6/12/2005 | Do you offer other media services (such as the ability to do Internet or e-mail campaigns for customers) in addition to providing print services? |
| 6/5/2005 | How do you prefer customers to send you bid specifications for quoting a print job? |
| 5/29/2005 | On average, how long does it take before the work you do for a new customer is profitable? |
| 5/15/2005 | How often does your company charge "rush charges" for print jobs with very quick turnarounds? |
| 5/8/2005 | In the past 12 months, do you believe your customers have significantly reduced their print promotions by using Internet and e-mail promotions instead? |
| 5/1/2005 | Do you offer digital/variable data printing services to your customers? |
| 4/24/2005 | Does your company offer soft proofing/remote proofing to its customers? |
| 4/17/2005 | Is it okay for a printer to markup the price of a print job to the end customer with a "kick-back" or hidden commission that will be paid to the designer/agency who created the work? |
| 4/9/2005 | Have your customers become more conservative about accepting gifts from or being entertained by your company or other print suppliers? |
| 4/3/2005 | When is it okay for your customers to buy the paper for their jobs direct and then supply it to you? |
| 3/27/2005 | How often do you charge customers for overs? |
| 3/19/2005 | Are your customers doing more or less press checks (approvals on press) compared to a few years ago? |
| 3/13/2005 | If your company decides to “fire” a customer, how do you end the working relationship? |
| 3/8/2005 | How often does your company offer educational programs to its customers? |
| 2/27/2005 | Regarding your customers' AA (author's alterations) and change order costs, where do your customers' incur the highest charges? |
| 2/20/2005 | Does your company participate in competitive online bidding or print auction services? |
| 2/13/2005 | How often do you outsource customers' jobs (all or part) without their knowledge? |
| 2/7/2005 | Do you believe that your print buyer customers have sufficient knowledge of print and production to buy effectively? |
| 2/3/2005 | Is your company currently offering any Web-to-print solutions to your customers? |
| 1/30/2005 | Do you feel that your company can adequately respond to your customers' requests for RFIs and RFPs? |
| 1/23/2005 | What is your greatest challenge when working with current customers? |
| 1/14/2005 | Is it okay to "drop by" to visit current customers without an appointment? |
