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The Downside of Swatch Books

Wed, 30 Dec 2020 19:59:24 GMT

If you use these swatch books with your clients and assume that every color, weight, and finish shown in the swatch book is readily available through the distributor or even through the manufacturer, you’re making a big mistake.

The swatch books are designed to be very colorful and visually appealing. They usually display a wide array of colors and finishes, but in reality, not all the colors are stocked by the distributors, and in fact, not all the colors are even regularly produced by the manufacture. They have the ability to produce the colors and finishes, but they won’t, unless there is a mill order for that specific stock. The demand is so low for the specialty colors that both the mill and the distributors are in jeopardy of not selling the stock on hand, ever; so they only produce some of the colors or finishes for specific jobs.

If you’re sho wing your client a swatch book that displays a lovely ochre or cinnamon sheet in 120# cover stock, with a linen finish, and your client falls in love with that stock for her business card order, you and she may be disappointed to learn that she’ll needs to order 400 sheets of 26” x 40” paper to obtain that color, weight, and finish. To give you an idea of how much paper she would actually need for 1000 business cards (you can get approximately 120 business cards out of one 26 x 40 sheet) so approximately 8 sheets plus a couple of sheets for make readies, so 10 sheets max for the order of 1000 cards. If she only wanted 250 cards to get started in her new business, you could complete that order with only 3 parent sheets. What in the world would you/she do with the other 397 sheets?

I had to explain all that to my client, and of course I looked like a fool when their second choice was also a mill order. At that point I asked the distributor to tell me which of the colors in the swatch book were available and I marked those for the client, but as you can probably imagine the ones that were available were all the shades of white, and a couple of other not very interesting or inspiring colors. We eventually used a black sheet, that was available, and we displayed the art and text on the black paper, using mother of pearly foil. It was a stunning invitation, and a great lesson for me to always find out what is available before I share the swatch books with my clients.

Today, you can go on-line and find some of the more obscure colors but be sure to check with the sellers because even on-line, I have been disappointed to learn that the stock was not “in stock” and would require several weeks to manufacture.

One last point about colors and finishes and availability. Don’t be surprised if you can’t buy matching envelopes even, if the paper is available. The mills don’t make matching A-2, A-6, A-7 announcement envelopes, and #10 business envelopes in all the paper colors. If having matching envelopes is important for your client, then you will need to have an envelope converter make the envelopes for you, and all these operations add cost and delays to your projects.

Marketing Your Print Brokerage Services in the Middle of a Pandemic!

Thu, 29 Oct 2020 22:13:25 GMT

The economy sucks!

There, we got that out of the way right up front, but regardless of the economy we all still need to find a way to feed the kids. Excuses don’t cut it, when you’re sitting around the dinner table looking at your hungry children. So, let me help you market your services in the middle of this terrible pandemic.

Marketing 101 - Seek Clients that are Busy

Finding Leads in Difficult Times

Look for opportunities among firms that are busier now because of the pandemic, or because of changing world events. Take for example the companies that provide disaster response; like firms that provide road repair, construction companies, flagging agencies, organizations that provide essential services to forest fire crews (like portable toilets, food services, potable water trucks) and disposal and remediation providers, just to name a few. Also, the real estate markets are hot right now, so real estate agencies are going to need extra printed materials.

But how can you find these companies? Here are some suggestions. Read news articles, identify who the thought leaders are in any field and reach out to their firms. Pick categories of businesses that are in the news then search LinkedIn for firms in your area that are hiring new staff. For example, I searched LinkedIn for Disaster Relief Portland Or and further refined my search by just looking at companies that had job opening. My thinking is, if they are hiring, they are probably busy, and if they’re busy they are going to need printing. In my limited search I found 5 pages of 25 listings each for a total of 125 possible leads in just this one category. These are all companies I could reach out to about their printing needs. Some are more likely to be approachable, but the availability of leads is endless, if you take a little time to do some research.

Use Zoom

Additionally, you can use available technology to make your sales connections safe. The new normal is to connect via Zoom or Skype to maintain social distancing but still make your sales communications personal. Try to schedule sales calls with your prospect’s operations or marketing staff. When you schedule these meeting use the Value Formula described in Print Your Success , as your USP (unique selling proposition). You can find the Value Formula in Chapter 7 in the book, but for those who need a review here is the Value Formula. It’s simple but profound.

Value = Benefit – (Cost + Hassle)

Value equals benefit minus the sum of the cost plus the hassle

Reduce Hassle to Increase Value

Commit yourself to finding ways to reduce hassle for your current and new clients as they navigate the uncertain times of a global pandemic. Help them realize that you’re available to assist with all aspects of production, from design and creation to handling, shipping, distribution, and fulfilment, if that’s what they need.

Also, remember that many of your clients are working from their homes and may not have all the resources available to them that they would have in their offices. So, help them. Maybe they need a place to store a large order of donation envelopes, since their office is closed. Don’t make that their problem, make it your problem. REDUCE THE HASSLE, all of it, if you can. The more hassle you can take out of that formula the more benefit your clients will enjoy and the more value they will get by working with you. And ultimately the more you can charge for your services without sacrificing your client’s perception of value.

Your USP

Use the Value Formula as your USP (Unique Selling Proposition). Own it. Build a reputation on it. Make it so much a part of your service that your clients immediately think of you when they are faced with a new challenge or print problem.

Example of Reducing Hassle

Own the Value Formula

My suggestion is that you embrace and own the Value Formula and figure out how to incorporate it into the service you provide to every client. Find out what most annoys them then think of ways to eliminate that hassle. If you market yourself as their go-to problem solver, and deliver on that promise, you will have plenty of work to do in this pandemic, and plenty of food for the kids.

What’s the secret to proofing PMS colors?

Mon, 11 May 2020 19:07:33 GMT

What’s the secret to proofing PMS co lors?

You would think, in a world where we can broadcast messages instantaneously to computers virtually anywhere on the planet, that we could figure out a way to remotely proof PMS colors, but proofing these colors has been a problem since the first printing company decided to print in a color other than black. We ll maybe not that long, but as long as we’ve made Pantone Matching System (PMS) color choices available to print customers. The PMS system was originally intended to take the guess-work out of printing in color, but now that we work with vendors and clients all over the world, it has become much more difficult. (There are many color matching systems other than Pantone, but the issues are the same regardless of which system you’re using, so I’ll just focus on the PMS system, which is the most commonly used color system in the US).

If we all use the same standards and we all mix ink colors using the same PMS defined formulas, the color should be the same, every time, Right? If that is the case, then someone in Portland Oregon should be able to confidently communicate with a designer in Boston or San Francisco about a PMS colors and know they are all in agreement about the color choices. The Portland client and the Boston designer would be looking at the same thing on their computers and they would be able to have an intelligent conversation about the depth, tone intensity, darkness or brightness of the color, Right?

Wrong!

So what’s the problem? Let’s jump back in time, to when people talked to each other face to face and transacted business that way: when customers met with printers and looked at paper samples and ink colors in a physical PMS book and discussed all the details of the print job. When business was transacted in this manner the print buyer would see the color of ink in the PMS book and determine if it would be the right color for her/his printing project.

To further complicate the issue, Red/Green/Blue rendering of many PMS colors can be quite inaccurate so the image being displayed on your computer did not even start out being a good representation of the desired color specified in the art regardless of how calibrated your computer display may be.

The alternative to an electronic proof is to send a physical printed proof, but anything short of an actual press proof created on a printing press with printer’s ink, is equally problematic. Good quality color proofs are still made on some digital device using Cyan/Magenta/Yellow/Black (CMYK) toner not ink.

Again, the problem of correctly rendering a PMS color in CMYK toner is as limited as rendering that color in Red Green Blue light. Furthermore, a printed proof is still dependent on the quality and calibration of each proofing printer, and finally, toner and ink are as dissimilar as light and ink.

Imagine taking the cushion from your couch to Home Depot and asking the clerk to mix a quart of paint that is the exact color of your couch. The cushion is colorized with textile dyes, and the paint gets its tonal variety from a completely different set of pigments. Even if you knew exactly what textile dyes created the color of the couch, it would still be impossible to exactly match that color using paint pigments. In the same way, luminescent color, toner, and printer’s ink colors all have their own unique properties. Expecting them to perfectly match each other is as unlikely as matching the paint to the couch.

Additionally, there are many different colors of white: cool whites lean to the blue side of the spectrum and warm whites lean toward the yellow side of the spectrum and there are natural whites, that are slightly more ivory. Printing the same ink on all these different substrates will yield noticeably different results, so try to do ink draw-downs on the actual paper to be used in the print job to best reflect what the customer will get in their finished product.

Ink draw-downs are rarely used to proof PMS colors because they take several days to create, and they add cost to a project, but they are the most accurate representation of a PMS color. If color is critical to your project, then I advise that you build a little more time and money into the project and ask your printer to provide ink draw-downs for every PMS color used in your project.

Know the End in the Beginning, Building Bindery In Design

Wed, 04 Sep 2019 19:31:06 GMT

Know the End in the Beginning, Build ing Bindery In Design

Print Buyers beware….

You wouldn’t wait until you’re getting the keys to your newly built house to tell the architect and contractor that you want a walk-in pantry in the kitchen and a wood burning fireplace in the master bedroom. Those features need to be planned. Space needs to be allocated. Materials ordered and inspections completed. Those features need to be considered and incorporated into the design of the project not managed at the end. It’s not like you asked to change the color of the exterior paint. A walk-in pantry would require tearing out walls and completely redesigning the floor plan.

In the same way, a finished printed product must be fully defined at the beginning of the projects. Even somethings as simple as an envelope, a fold-over business card, or a booklet may have finishing issues that need to be considered and included in the design and preparation of the art.

Books, booklets, magazines, presentation folders, and even brochures or fold over business cards may have tricky elements that need to be addressed in the design. As print buyers you are ultimately responsible for the outcome of the printed document and you need to be aware of the red flag warnings that indicate a problem might be on the horizon. There are end stage processes that must be addressed in the beginning. If you’re working with in-house or contract designers who haven’t even asked how the product will be used, what kind of paper it will be printed on, what types of environmental conditions the product will be exposed to or what bindery will be needed to complete the project, then they are probably exposing you to some future headaches or the possibility that the job will need a costly rerun. A designer who neglects to incorporate all the finishing issues of a printed product is like an architect that doesn’t bother to find out if you want the walk-in pantry and fireplace. You should recognize this as a red flag warning.

Print design is different from web design. If a web image looks great on your computer it will probably look great on everyone’s computer and as long as the image is responsive it will even look awesome on notebooks and smart phones, but we’re talking about a printed document, a product in the physical world. A product that has weight and substance. Print products go through several unique stages in the process of become an acceptable finished object. First it is designed and proofed, then printed, then subjected to a variety of bindery processes, including trimming, scoring, folding, assemble, gluing, stapling, drilling, and mailing processes. This is where the traps are and if the designer does not anticipate these pitfalls, the finished product is apt to be a disappointment.

If the person doing the design is not aware of ALL the print and bindery concerns, the art might not be laid out correctly. This is a huge challenge because design and art are the first steps, but bindery and mailing are end-stage processes. Adding to the problem is that many people who work on design, don’t even prepare their files correctly for the printing process and have even less knowledge of, or concern for bindery. Some designers are consumed with how the design looks on the computer, and as long as that is acceptable and approved by you or the client then their work is done. But it’s not! As a print buyer, if you sign off on the design you’re assuming the responsibility and the risk for everything that happens after the designer releases it to you, so you need to make sure they have considered and incorporated all the finishing elements of the project.

Case Study: Mailing Panel . I had one client who signed off on a design for 80,000 folded full color brochures that were to be mailed to the client’s database. As their print broker, I knew that we needed both the bindery and the post office to sign off on the design. As it turned out the brochure folded in such a way that it could not go through the automatic scanner at the post office, and even if it could, the address block was in the wrong place. Fortunately, we had an opportunity to correct these design issues before the document was printed, folded, sealed and delivered to the post office, where it surely would have been rejected. By-the-way, the post office reserves the right to discard bulk mail that does not conform to its mailing standards. I doubt they would have thrown away 80,000 United Way brochures but with the fold and the address block in the wrong place, we would have needed to reprint it, anyway.

Incomplete design issues could be (and probably should be) the subject of a separate blog post but for this discussion, please understand the importance of harmonious relationship between design and bindery. Design incorporates bindery concerns, but bindery must perfectly execute the design, to produce the desired finished product. Both are important and neither is more important than the other.

Case Study: Roll Fold Brochure . Let me give you another example. We worked with a highly skilled designer who was creating a roll fold brochure for a client, that we shared. It was my job to take her design and print thousands of these full color brochures. There was no room for error. Any art, printing, or bindery misstep would have resulted in a costly rerun.

When finished the brochure would be 5” x 5”, but flat it was 25” by 5” and it had 4 folds. The paper was a thick coated cover stock and with each fold the brochure became thicker. Because of this, the exact width of the inner panels was different from the outer panels. This small difference between the panel widths was significant because the designer used full color blocks that changed color at the fold of each of the 10 panels (5 panels on one side and 5 panels on the other side) and each of those intersections of changing color had to line up exactly on the fold line or the product would be completely unacceptable to the client. The designer and I worked together with the bindery to calculate the exact size of each panel. We took the actual paper that would be used for these brochures and asked the bindery to create a prototype of the finished brochure. The designer then measured each panel and built her art to fit the bindery sample. The finished brochures were perfect, but they would not have been so without incorporating the bindery issues into the art.

Case Study: Fred Meyer Envelope. Following are visuals to help illustrate the challenges of how design needs to incorporate bindery processes. The first image is of a Fred Meyer envelope with a cross over from the body of the envelope to the flap of the envelope. The flap is folded down and sealed with fugitive glue, but the design intent was for the sealed envelope to looks like it is just one continuous image. That technique is called a cross over and this first example of it, is perfect.You cans see that the image on the flap lines up perfectly with the main image.

What makes th is particularly hard is the two images that create this cross over are on opposite ends of the flat sheet, so the trimming and folding of these sheets had to be very precise.

This is the flat unfolded image of picture 1. You can see the folded flap is at the top of this image, but it had to match up with the tomatoes just below the purple box (in this image). You can see where this sheet was folded into the shape of an envelope and by referencing the first picture with this one you can see where the bottom edge of the flap would land on this flat printed sheet.

On the inside of that same envelope however, there is a cross over where the short side of the envelope folds up to meet the printed image that is on the inside of the envelope. It was intended to be a cross over but the art on the inside of the envelope was not positioned correctly so the cross over “missed”. It’s worth noting that the designer got the harder of the two cross overs (picture #1) perfect and missed the one that would have been the easiest to get right (picture #2) When you look at these pictures it will make more sense.

What this picture shows is the portion of the envelope that is folded up to create a cavity where coupons are inserted. The short flap is folded up from the bottom and the arrows are pointing at the place where that short flap edge should have lined up with the image that is printed on the inside surface of the envelope, shown in the next picture.

If the inside image had been moved down and right slightly the cross over would have been much closer, but the color is still not right either. Look at the color of the tomato at the cross over. You can see that the tomatoes in the upper image are brighter than the tomatoes in the lower image. This is another common problem with cross overs. Whether the cross over is a band of color on the top of every page of an annual report or a photographic image like this one. When the images are laid down, side-by-side the intensity of the ink should be the same. There should be no difference in the color of these tomatoes. Take another look at the tomatoes in picture #1. They are exactly the same color.

Finally, here is the flat version of picture #2. You can see that the image printed on the inside of the envelope could have been repositioned without affecting any other part of the design to achieve a second perfect cross over on these envelopes.

That was just two examples of cross overs. You can see that the use of this design technique creates many challenges. The designer and the bindery need to work together to get the desired results. Even the press operator needs to understand where the cross overs are when printing the flat sheets, so they can check the density of the color at the point of the cross over.

Press operators who know where the cross over is can use densitometer readings to confirm color correctness.

Not every design or bindery challenge involves cross overs. Sometimes the art just needs to line up with the fold in a brochure, like the roll fold brochure example mentioned earlier. Sometimes it is a stapling issue, or a crucial part of a remittance envelope that falls inside the glue line. Perforations, drilling, gluing, folding, and trimming must all be considered when developing the art. These processes are necessary to finish the product, so the accommodation must to be made in the art, not at the bindery. Again, that is a challenge because the art always comes first.

Case Study: A Booklet with a cross overs and bindery challenges . Here is a booklet showing the cross over at the center spread. This is, of course, the easiest of all cross overs because the two sides of the cross over are contiguous and on the same piece of paper, but there is only one of these in an entire booklet. The arrows point out the spine.

Here is a tru e cross over like the ones shown on the Fred Meyer envelope but this is in the text of a booklet. Getting this right requires precision bindery. All these pages are printed on large flat sheets which are first folded, then assembled as folded signatures into the correct stacks then stitched and finally, they receive a 3-side trim to create a finished booklet. There are numerous opportunities to get this wrong.

Even though t hese pictures do not cross over from one page to the next because they stop in the gutter the bindery challenges are much the same as a cross over. If the page is folded or stapled incorrectly it will show up as white space next to these photos or part of the photos will wrap through the spine and be visible on other pages where it should not appear. Again, this art requires very precise bindery techniques. The following picture also illustrates this need for perfection. It is the outside cover of this booklet and if the folding, stapling, and trimming are off even a fraction of an inch this finished booklet would be a very disappointing finished product. The client literally sends these booklets all over the world and he and his international contacts expect this booklet to be finished correctly, as do I. It is my responsibility to make sure all these technical issues are managed at the front end of this process, so my client and his contacts receive a high-quality printed document.

As a print buyer it’s incumbent upon you to be thinking about the end in the beginning. The type and weight of the paper, the folding, stapling, drilling, assembly, and mailing requirements of the finished document all need to be managed at the beginning of the process. I think of print buyer or broker like a general contractor on a building project. The contractor has to know about every detail of the finished building. A print buyer or broker needs to know about every detail of the finished printed document. If you’re a business owner or print buyer but you’re not technically savvy in all these issues, I strongly recommend that you hire a print broker to manage the details for you , just like you would hire a contractor to handle a remodeling project at your business. Print brokers don’t work for a print shop, they work for you. They are your advocate. Print brokers will save you both time and money and they may even save you the aggravation of a costly redo.

Are You Struggling To Get More Qualified Leads?

Thu, 01 Aug 2019 19:35:26 GMT

Are You Struggling To Get More Quali fied Leads?

The survey should be coupled with an effective subject line so you can share the subject line and link to the survey in your social posts.

I suggest that you use a human trigger in your subject line and in this case, I would try to use a pain point to grab people’s attention. Pain points are things like the fear of missing out, the fear of humiliation, the fear of being excluded, the fear of others taking advantage of you. Not all human triggers are based on pain points, like curiosity, desire to belonging, being first, anticipation, and others. (This subject is covered extensively in marketing literature if you want to know more about human triggers), but for this blog post, let’s use the fear of being taken advantage of.

Here is where you introduce the pain point

The subject line could be…

Are you getting ripped off on your printing?

If you can’t answer at least 4 of these questions you probably are.

You could say … paying too much… if ripped off is too harsh for you.

I would limit this survey to around 6 questions.

Here is a list of possible questions or use your own.

What’s the difference between straight and reverse NCR paper?
Under what conditions would you use reverse NCR?
What are the environmental conditions that can render a label useless?
What is the difference between a “dull” and an “uncoated” sheet?
Which of the above sheets will generally cost less?
Which of the above sheets will produce the better printed image?
What’s the difference between digital and offset printing.
If you’re printing 10,000 fliers which is less expensive digital or offset.
What is CMYK?
What is RGB?
What is a PMS color?
Which file type is best for offset printing? .ai .psd .pub .doc .xls .pdf .indd

In the survey you can structure your questions as open ended questions, multiple choice or short answer, and you can provide immediate feedback.

Once the client has finished the questionnaire, if their answers indicate they need help provide some relief like this. After all you introduced the pain, now they need a solution. The relief goes something like this.

Relief from the pain of thinking that others are taking advantage of them

There’s no shame in not knowing everything about everything!

You’re probably an expert in your own business.

But don’t you hire a mechanic to work on your car,
a real estate agent to sell your home,
an IT specialist to setup your computer network,
and you’re smart enough to hire a financial advisor for help with your investments,
so why wouldn’t you hire an expert in a field as technical as printing?

Your current print resource may not be intentionally trying to rip you off, but your lack of technical knowledge will result in poor preparation, repeated steps, unreasonable deadlines, poor communication, potential redos and other costly concerns. They have no choice but to charge you for all the extra time and aggravation.

Here is the solution to avoid the pain in the future

The easiest solution for this lack of technical knowledge is to hire a print broker. A print broker, like a real estate agent, knows the market, has command of the language, knows what kind of expertise is needed for every type of job, and where to find those resource. They have existing relationships with vendors and speak the language of the trade, and just like a real estate agent they will represent you, as your advocate, through the whole process.

Print Brokers save you time and money and will give you peace-of-mind knowing that every detail of each project is being professionally managed. Print prices fluctuate based on market conditions so brokers shop for the best possible solution at the best price. Hiring a print broker is like having a print procurement specialist on staff, without the salary or HR headaches.

Here is the CTA, the Call to Action.

To learn more about the technical aspects of printing and to stop getting “ripped off" sign up for my free newsletter (provide a link) or send me an email (provide your email address).

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If you want to implement this pain and relief survey strategy and you need the answers to the questions in the quiz, send me an email and ask for the answers. Peggy@BecomeAPrintBroker.com

Decoding the Secrets of Carbonless Paper

Tue, 21 May 2019 19:37:35 GMT

Decoding the Secrets of Ca rbonless Paper

PLEASE DON’T MAKE ME WRITE THIS OVER AND OVER AGAIN!

Oh Great! I won’t have to…

… if I use the right carbonless form.

Carbonless forms are an essential part of many businesses and they can be a great source for profitable repeat business, but there’s a catch. I know, there’s always a catch…. The catch is that there are a few things you need to know about carbonless forms before they can become a viable profit center in your business.

You’ve probably seen and used carbonless paper (which is sometimes referred to as NCR paper) but have you ever asked yourself, "How does this stuff work?" In a nutshell, each sheet is treated on one or both sides with unique chemical compounds. The paper comes in different colors with different chemical treatments. For example, the colors are typically, white, canary, pink, goldenrod, blue and green (which we’ll discuss later) and the chemical treatment is either coated front, coated back, or coated front and back. Those chemical treatments are shortened to these abbreviations: coated back (CB) coated front (CF) and coated front and back (CFB). This is very important because the chemicals coming into contact with each other is what makes the image appear on the second, third, and subsequent sheets in a carbonless set.

So if you have a two-part form that consists of a white sheet on top that is coated on the back and a canary sheet behind it, that is coated on the front, when you write on the top of the white sheet, what you wrote can be seen on the canary sheet, because the pressure of the pen will burst tiny chemical beads on both sheets and the chemicals combine to create a visible pattern where your pen pressed on the sheet. If you reversed the order of these two sheets of paper (so the yellow sheet with its front side coating was stacked on top of the white sheet with its back-side coating) and tried to write on it, nothing would be visible on the bottom sheet.

The front side chemicals and the backside chemicals are different, and it takes both to create an image. Sheets that are coated front and back have different chemicals on both sides of one sheet and CFB sheets are used in forms with more than two sheets in the set, for example, a 3-part or 4-part carbonless form.

In addition to the chemicals needed to create an image, the paper is further treated with chemicals that allow the sheets to be glued together into sets. Carbonless paper comes pre-collated and unglued, so the sheets can be fed through a press or a copy machine. Once the sheets are printed, stacks of the printed carbonless forms are put into a “padding station” and are pressed tightly together with a clamp on the padding station. Then padding compound is “painted” onto the side of the sheets that needs to be glued (usually the top), literally with a paint brush. The padding compound soaks into the edge of the paper and reacts with the chemicals already in the paper and after the stack of loose sheets is completely dry and the clamp is removed from the padding station, the paper can be fanned out. When the sheets are fanned out the sheets in each set are glued together but they are not glued to the next set. If the carbonless form is a standard 3-part form, after the padding compound is dry and the sets are fanned out, the finished job will consist of a white sheet glued to a canary sheet which is glued to a pink sheet which constitutes one 3-part form and those glued sets are repeated throughout the entire stack of forms.

Now as to the color options in pre-collated sets. There are standard color combinations, as shown below, but if your client needed some other color combination then you’ll need to create their forms using paper that does not come in pre-collated sets. More about that later.

Color options in pre-collated sets

2-part White and canary or white and pink
3-part White, canary, and pink
4-part White, canary, pink, and goldenrod
5-part White, green, canary, pink, and goldenrod
6-part White, blue, green, canary, pink, and goldenrod

As a side note, the 4, 5, and 6-part forms are marginally effective for the purpose for which they were created, because it takes a great deal of pressure to make an image appear on the 4th, 5thand 6thply of the set. It can be done, but it requires an intentional effort by the writer to press hard enough on the top sheet to create the pressure needed on the last sheets to burst enough chemical beads to produce an image.

There are other features about carbonless paper that you should also know, for example, if the forms are printed on two sides, then the paper has to be stacked in the ream in a different order because each time the sheets go through a press it reverses the order of the stack. If it only goes through the press one time, to be printed on the front of each sheet, then you need to print that job on reams that are defined as "Reverse”. If the forms are printed on two sides, then you need to print that job on “Straight” carbonless paper, because it goes through the press twice and each time the order is reversed.

Now to further complicate this discussion, if the image on all plies of a carbonless form, are not exactly the same than an entirely different production method is required. Additionally, if the form needs any of the following: to be perforated, numbered, have a glued stub above or on the side of a perforated line, or the order of the colors is different from the pre-collated sets, or if the form is a unique size, or it will need to be fed through a printer using side holes in a perforated stub, then using pre-collated sets of carbonless paper is not the best method for producing these forms. Additionally, if the image printed on each sheet in the set is different then pre-collated sets cannot be used.

In any of these cases, you should talk to a forms manufacturer and describe exactly what your client needs. Forms printers print on rolls of carbonless paper, but they are not constrained by size limitations, or a pre-defined order of the colors of paper. They can print unique images on every ply simultaneously, in whatever paper color your client needs. The plies are all merged together, as the multiple streams of paper advance into the finishing area of the press.

There are many great forms printers to choose from. I have a favorite local forms house in Portland, but national firms like Ennis can also fill this need. If you use a forms house be specific about the job. They use roll stock that comes with a 5/8” stub with line holes in it and they can use that stub for gluing. If you ask, they can even print your company name and phone number right on that stub, so your client knows who to call for a repeat order and the printing on the stub does not cost any more. The stub is part of the roll stock so keeping the stub on your finished forms is actually less expensive than removing the stub and gluing the top or the side as I described above. If you want the stub removed it’s called a “dropped glue line”. Whenever possible I like to leave the stub on the form so my company name is always available to my client and they can easily see who to call when they start to run out of that form.

One final note about carbonless forms. Pre-collates sheets are typically 20# paper but forms printers print on roll stock that is typically 16#. The lighter paper works better for thicker forms such as 4, 5, and 6-part forms, so even if the client needs exactly what is available in the pre-collated sets you might still want to use a forms printer for the thicker sets. The speed at which a forms printer can print on roll stock is astonishing and they are usually less expensive than sheet fed presses using pre-collated sets, but they do have higher minimums and may take longer to manufacture the forms.

Like I said, there’s always a catch.

Can you save money on office printing?

Mon, 25 Mar 2019 19:39:20 GMT

If you’re like most people you want to save money wherever you can, so I have a few startling statistics to help raise your awareness and possibly motivate you to change some expensive habits.

According to a study released by Lexmark International, $440.4 million of the annual $1.3 billion spent on US government printing is waste. “So what!”, I hear you saying. “ Government waste is not news! ”

But Lexmark didn’t stop with the US Printing Office. They continued their research in European office buildings, on a Portuguese campus, and at other research sites and they learned that across the board approximately 30% of all desktop or copier sheets are placed directly in the waste basket or recycling bin after being removed from the printer.

Roughly, one in every three sheets of paper printed is waste! It wouldn’t be a big deal if we were only talking about a few extra sheets of paper, but we’re not. This trend is what caused the US Government to waste 440.4 million dollars in 1 year and it is the same thing that caused London office workers to waste 21 million trees.

21 million trees!! That is a whole forest and certainly a figure as shocking as the government waste. Perhaps because I live in the Northwestern part of the US, where trees are ubiquitous, it’s easier for me to get my head around 21 million trees than around 440 million dollars of wasted money. I’ve flown over the national forests in Oregon and I’ve seen 21 million trees, but I don’t really have a perception of $440,000,000 but either way, both figures are startling.

What causes all this waste, and how does it affect you? The studies show that the waste was basically caused by carelessness and old habits, such as:

People pressed the print button before they really thought about their needs.
They didn’t use the printer friendly version of a document.
They printed the whole documents when they only needed 1 page.
They thought they were printing one thing but actually printed something else.
They send the job to a copier but never picked up the copies.
A coworker misplaced or discarded someone else’s copies.
A coworker got sidetracked before delivering the copies, resulting in reprints.
And the list of carelessness and sloppy office practices goes on and on.

Does this happen in your office? Do you print things you don’t really need? Are you aware of the overall impact of this behavior? In the Portugal Campus study a few simple procedural changes saved the University enough money in one year to completely replace all of the campus copy machines. In their case, all print jobs sent to a copier were queued for print. The sender had to actually go to the copier and use a code to have the copies printed. Print jobs left in the queue for more than 24 hours were automatically purged.

Perhaps your office is not ready for a system wide change, but you can at least observe your own behavior. Observe how many times you take something off of a printer or copier and put it directly into the recycling bin. I was amazed by my own behavior and I think you will be surprise, as well. Ask yourself this, why is there a recycling bin right beside every copier?

How much money can you save? Divide the entire office supply budget for toner and paper by 3, and that is how much your business could be saving with very little effort. It adds up. Remember the waste in London alone was 21 million trees.

How many billions of trees could we save if everyone in London, Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Helsinki, Hong Kong, New York, Ft. Lauderdale, Tulsa, Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles and your city, all stopped wasting 1 out of every 3 sheets of office printing.

It’s a little thing you can do to reduce greenhouse gas and it doesn’t require giving up anything meaningful. Next time before you push the print button, ask yourself, “Am I really sure I need to print this document?”.

Internet “Custom” Envelopes - Not Really Custom!

Wed, 20 Mar 2019 19:44:31 GMT

Have you ever noticed that when you go to the internet to find an envelope to fill a specific need that there are hundreds of “custom” envelopes but never the exact one you’re looking for?

That is a lame attempt on the part of internet envelope suppliers to turn a custom print job into a commodity. Sure those prices are tempting, but after you’ve folded and refolded several hundred letters or statement to make the address “fit” in the window you may reconsider the “value” of compromising the exactitude of your envelope specifications.

And what about the colors? Online envelope suppliers do offer many other colors besides white. They have black, and pink, and rust, and gold, and yellow, and brown, and all the colors of Josephs Amazing Coat of Many Colors, but I have rarely found the right color to match or compliment the stationery, checks, policies, or other material that will go inside.

And if I do find the right color, invariably, it will not be available in the size of envelop that I need.

It always seems like when I find the right window configuration then some other part of the specification aren’t right. For example, I need very specific double window envelopes, with peel and stick glue and a privacy tint on the inside of the envelope. I’ve search the internet, spent hours checking one website after another, and I can find two out of three of these criteria but not all three in the same envelope. Or I need a one way remittance envelope with an extended flap in a paper color that compliments my newsletter. Then there are coin envelopes, policy envelopes, church donation envelopes, and non-tear envelopes for heavy content. Each of these types of envelopes have unique specifications and I have rarely found an internet source to fill these needs, although I keep hoping and searching. Unfortunately, if I do find the rare fit between my specifications and an internet supplier, then the supplier always seem to be located on the far side of the country, so whatever I save in production costs, I lose in freight.

So what’s the answer? Personally, I think we would all be better served and the environment would benefit, if we’d take some time to identify a trusted local source for true custom envelope manufacturing and make a habit of buying locally. You provide your envelope partner with your specs and time-line and let them price each job according to what it will truly cost to fill the order. You’ll get the right envelop every time: the right size, paper, color, window placement, printing, glue, tint, die cutting and delivery. After all, they are custom envelopes made to your specifications.

Don’t try to fit your work into a poorly designed envelope. Make the envelope fit your work. I regularly receive mail with a letter inside the envelope that has been folded, refolded, and then a ¼” section of the letter is folded yet again, to make the address show in the window. Another mailer sends their checks actually glued to the inside of the envelope and another one just shakes the content of the envelope down until the address shows through the window then they staple through the entire envelope to keep it there. Whaaaat? Is that really their solution?

Every time I get one of these pieces of mail it just makes my head shake and I think, “Wouldn’t it be nice if they could just fold their letter or check, stick it in the right size envelope, with the window in the right place, and stop doing all the paper crafting and origami every time they use an envelope?”

Remember, you wouldn’t buy poorly fitting jeans and you shouldn’t settle for poorly fitting envelopes just because that’s all you could find on the internet. If you have specific needs for construction, paper, colors, window placement, or durability, then contact an envelope specialist and ask them to manufacture what you really need!

The money you save through efficiency will more than pay for the custom production.

Case Study - Horrific Customer Service

Wed, 20 Mar 2019 19:41:32 GMT

Horrible customer service is all around us! With all these examples, it can be helpful to analyze what specifically makes an experience bad (or good) so we can learn from our own personal experiences.

Here is one sad story. I took a rear view mirror into an auto parts store to buy the little fitting that sticks to the windshield. I had just had the windshield replaced in our motor home and that fitting disappeared with the broken windshield, but the service techs at the RV shop, left the mirror on the console, so all I needed was the little metal piece that attaches to the windshield. That seemed simple enough especially since I had the mirror in hand.

I stopped by a local auto parts store on my way home to buy the part and I had the presence of mind to take the rearview mirror with me, so I would be sure to get the right part. In the auto parts store there were two clerks working the counter, both of them were busy with customers and there was a line forming in front of the checkout counter. One of the two clerks was also helping a customer on the phone. I patiently waited for my turn but then I was completely ignored by the manager who snapped an order to the other clerk to help the man who had just approached the counter and was standing off to my right (apparently this customer had never before seen a line of people waiting for help, because he just waltzed right up to the counter and transacted his business, oblivious to the fact that everyone else waiting at the counter also had business to transact.) Anyway, when I finally got to the counter to ask the clerk for help in identifying the specific part for my mirror, the clerk’s attention was immediately diverted to a ringing phone.

He quickly snatched up the phone and began a protracted conversation with the caller, leaving me standing there with my mirror in my hand and my question half asked. The call was clearly a question about a part which required the clerk to ask the caller a series of questions, reference more than one technical parts manual, and do some protracted research. All the while, I'm just standing there, quietly, patiently, listening, and waiting for the clerk to answer my question about my mirror. Truthfully, I was a little perturbed, and made a mental note, that if I really need an answer to a question I should call this parts dealer rather than come to the showroom, because it was obvious that callers received priority attention ahead of walk-in customers. After he finished with the call he still had to write down some notes for future reference, and I waited.

I finally had my opportunity to show him my mirror. It had the manufacturer’s name and part number stamped on it. I expected him to reference his pile of technical manuals to find my mirror so he could identify the exact part I needed, but instead, with an air of disgust (at my not being able to help myself) he darted from behind the counter and shot down an aisle where he took a $3.00 package off of a hook and headed back to the cash register. He said that part was the only rear view mirror attachment he had in stock and he thought it would work. He also said if it didn't fit he could just sell me a whole mirror.

For those of you who are not familiar with rearview mirror technology; they are not universally interchangeable. The angle, slope, curve of each windshield determines the exact design of the mirrors. Yes, they all allow for a small amount of adjustment but motor home windshields are at a different angle then most car windshields and the interior length of the vehicle, as well as the distance of the mirror from the driver makes the mirror adjustment very specific and limited. I knew that most rearview mirrors would not work in our motor home. I needed to re-mount the one that came with the coach not some generic, “I think it will work, mirror,” from the auto parts store.

Truthfully, I felt like the clerk just blew me off, that I didn't deserve the careful attention that the other customers (and particularly the phone customers) received. I took my $3.00 part and went home to see if it would fit. Of course the clerk could have tried it right there, in the store, since I was holding the mirror, but that would have demonstrated some understanding of customer service (which he clearly did not have) so he took my money and sent me away with, “Oh, I’m sure it will work”. But how could he be sure? There are hundreds of different mirror designs and they use a host of different mounting brackets (which I learned later from the internet).

I know you're way ahead of me. The next sentence is soooo predictable. I opened the package and the mounting bracket did not fit my mirror! It wasn't even close. Yes, I was irritated, but still hopeful, because I was pretty sure, if I just called and asked the right question I would finally get the clerk’s attention. Then he would help me like he had done for the two phone customers that he helped while I waited in the store! If I called, he would look up the mirror name, and part number, and I would finally be able to order the exact fitting I needed.

Well, not so fast. I did call, but the same clerk said he only had one mirror attachment in stock (I knew that) and he wasn't familiar with my brand of mirror (I didn’t expect him to be familiar with every part, especially not my mirror). I just wanted him to look it up, in his parts books and call me back. I gave him the manufacturer name and the part number and my name and phone number. He told me he would try to find it and call me back. That was over 4 months ago, and he has never called.

As I stated earlier, I needed this particular mirror, not a generic mirror, so I put a grinding blade on my Dremel tool and carefully reshaped the part to fit my mirror. It took about an hour of grinding and the heat destroyed the adhesive that came on the part but I have some amazing glue that will produce the bond I need to get my mirror back in service. That is however, not the point of this case study.

The point is that this auto parts firm failed on every level and at every point of customer service. First of all, their corporate name and identity is very weak and I personally don’t like either. The only reason I stopped at this store, in the first place, was because the direction of my travel on a busy road, at a busy time of day, made this store more accessible than the other three auto parts stores in our small town.

Secondly, this store now occupies the old Blockbuster building and I have always loathed the entrance and parking lot to that building. The entrance is at a bad angle, it's too narrow, and the liquor store behind the parts store generates a large amount of in and out traffic during business hours.

Now, it already has two strikes against it before I even entered the business, but a great customer experience could mitigate these negative attributes. I went into the store with an open mind. Unfortunately, my customer experience did not eliminate my negative mindset. Instead my negative experience compounded it.

Every part of my actual interaction with the staff was irritating and frustrating.

The dismissive attitude of the manager who ordered the clerk to help someone else
waiting while the newly arrived customer was helped before me
waiting while the clerk interrupted my transaction to help the person on the phone
getting blown off with the "only item in stock" answer to my specific question
getting a part that didn't fit my mirror
getting blown off again on the phone when I asked him to look up the part
and never receiving a call back even to tell me that they couldn't find the part I needed.

Their customer service grade - a resounding F.

Will I ever go back to this auto parts store? NO! There are three competing stores in my community, any of which, are an improvement over this store.

Will I ever buy from this franchise anywhere else? Not if I can help it.

Will my tiny amount of business matter to the long-term success of this store? Yes and No. My $3.00 purchase would not make any difference to their overall success, but people vote with their feet. All people! We’re all pretty much alike; if we receive poor customer service in one store, and there’s an alternative, we’ll go somewhere else. Poor customer service is like a virus, it spreads from one employee to another, until it infects the whole staff, leading to one lost sale after another, until it does begin to show up on the bottom line. Then the franchise owner will whine and lament that business is so hard. He can't make ends meet; the competition is eating him alive…blah blah blah. But all he really needs to do to help his business rebound, is flip the switch to outstanding service, day in and day out.

If a large volume of work comes from phone orders, then the business should assign an employee to the task of answering the phones, and make sure that employee is away from the walk-in service counter. It's the "back room" staffer's job to handle the phone, not the clerk serving walk-in customers. There are dozens of other ways to improve the experience of each customer. All it takes is a little role playing. Be the customer. What does it feel like to be a customer in your store, or business? Go shopping in your competitor’s businesses. What is the customer experiencing there? Be honest with yourself and your staff.

Each customer is important, even if they only need a small bracket for a mirror, the next time it might be a new headlamp, then seat covers, then wiper blades, then a battery, and so on. Repeat, loyal customers also refer other customers and it is through great customer service that you keep them coming back. This was an unfortunate experience for me, but a great lesson for all of us. I hope it helps you understand how your precious and fragile reputation rests on each customer’s unique experience. You can never rest, or let your guard down. Great customer service requires a total commitment and attention to all the details, day in and day out.

A satisfied customer is only one transaction away from leaving for good. Imagine telling your spouse that you’re satisfied with them as your spouse. Could there be a lower level of appreciation? Do you just want to be satisfied with your next car purchase or do you want to be thrilled?

Being thrilled with your service and attention to detail is what will keep your customers coming back for years, but to achieve this you have to continually find ways to deliver more, faster, and for less. Don’t ever ask a customer if they are satisfied. Ask them if they are thrilled with your service!

Confidence Thief – Taking Time for Self-Evaluation

Thu, 14 Mar 2019 19:48:22 GMT

Are you shrinking back from every challenge or charging ahead with boldness?

I’m older now….

That’s what I say today, but when I was “younger” and I talked then about people who were as old as I am now, I’d say, “they’re older than dirt.” So as a person who now fits that description, I was thinking back on my life and remembering all the times when I did exciting, crazy, foolish, brave, and dangerous things,and this little voice popped into my head and said, “When exactly did you stop believing you were invincible?”

That got me thinking about the transition from then to now. The change didn’t happen overnight, and for the most part, I didn’t even notice the subtle differences, each little change compounding onto the next.

I don’t know, maybe it started one sunny afternoon on a cliff over the Pacific Ocean, when I reached the end of my nerve and the end of my strength, and only the hand of God kept me from tumbling down the rock face into the ocean. Maybe a little piece got away from me in calculus class where math, which had always been so easy, suddenly became unintelligible. Maybe a little piece drifted away when I realized I couldn’t walk as fast as I used to or throw a 75-pound box up onto the top of a stack of boxes. Maybe some of it vanished when I realized I wasn’t a teenager anymore and that I was now invisible to them as three teenagers walking abreast, pinned me to the wall as they passed by, in the mall. Piece by piece, my conviction turned to compromise, endless energy replaced by a hint of weakness, and my unshakable confidence slowly gave way to timidity.

What’s the point of this self-analysis? Well it all started when I began working on my long-range plan. It started with goal setting and this deep wrenching gut check that comes from realizing that some of my previous goals have gone by unaccomplished simply because I didn’t believe in myself, anymore. In short, I’d failed to meet my own expectations, for a lack of conviction and a lack of confidence.

There it was, staring me in the face: the doubt, the fear, the weakness, the timidity and the question, “when did I stop believing I could do anything?”

That’s when I realized, the loss of confidence is a sneaky little thing, like an expanding waistline. The first “extra inch” is no big deal, but inch by inch it builds into a serious problem. And like the expanded waistline, recognizing each subtle attack on my confidence has given me the ability to take corrective action.

The confidence thief has been exposed!

So, now am I invincible? No. I never was! But now, I understand that believing in myself is the first step to regaining my strength, fearlessness, boldness, confidence, and conviction.

Armed with this renewed awareness, I’m boldly and enthusiastically planning my long-range goals, with new confidence and new courage. I’m not just older, (as I like to say, now) and I’m certainly not older than dirt, but I am finally old enough to be wiser, and with this wisdom I’m confronting the confidence thief to keep it from stealing another victory. I’m drawing the line here. Taking my stand. I’m done with fear, timidity, and unrealized goals.

I invite you to join me. Let’s set ambitious goals and plan with the boldness that says, “I know I can and will achieve my goals”. Remember, if we don’t take control of it – it will take control of us.

Come on, join me! Let’s boldly set big goals and plan to have a wonderful future, together.

Peggy

Managing Your TO_DO List

Tue, 12 Mar 2019 19:52:31 GMT

If your TO-DO list feels like a ball and chain, check your verbs.

Your daily to-do list should accelerate your performance and motivate you to get more done each day. But for some people a TO-DO list is like a ball and chain holding them back from their full potential, and making them feel like they’re completely ineffective. They look at the list at the end of the day and see all the easy stuff crossed off and all the hard stuff was never even touched. What’s going on? They’re not lazy, they worked hard all day, but the to-do list still accuses them, highlighting their failure to perform. Something must be missing.

If this describes your relationship with your to-do list then I suggest you check your verbs. Every item on your list must start with a verb: call, meet, go, write, email, but some verbs don’t really describe something you can do in one motion or at one time. In those cases the verbs that are on your list are describing a project not an action and projects need to be broken down into doable actions before they show up on your to-do list.

For example, your list includes the item, “Do staff evaluations”. Certainly, do is a verb but it usually references a project, like …

Do 2019 budget
Do 2nd quarter projections
Do customer satisfaction survey analysis

In the case of the staff evaluations, there are several steps to this project. You might need to go to human resources and obtain personnel folders, maybe you need to hand out peer review forms or self evaluation forms, or talk to other managers, or look up areas needing improvement, cited on their last evaluation. You’ll need to review your personal notes on each employee, etc., etc., etc. Each of these tasks is part of “do staff evaluations” and doing it right will take organization, time, and input from others. You cannot “do staff evaluations” today because it involves a whole series of actions performed over time. Are you a lazy goof-off because at the end of the day you didn’t cross off, “do staff evaluations”? No! But you will need to put it on a project list and then on your to-do list you should include, define steps and timeline for staff evaluations, because the first step in this project is “think time”.

This is the time you set aside to define all the steps in the project and the resources and input from others you will need to complete the project. Part of this think time is assigning a timeline to each step by starting at the due date and working backwards through the steps. Now you have actions that you can actually do within the flow of your daily work and as you cross off each item you will be working your way to the completion of the project.

Remember. It’s all about the verbs. We get lazy and just do a brain dump onto our to-do list without really thinking about each item. Maybe that works for you just to get all the stuff out of your brain and onto paper (or into your computer) but if the verbs are all descriptive of projects the result will be the same. There are lots of verbs we use in our to-do list that are project words. Organize, Analyze, Fix, Complete, Plan, Develop are all project words and on your to-do list you might as well write the words “put this off until later because it’s too darn hard” after each of them.

Once you’ve done the brain dump into your list. Go back through it and move all the projects to your project list so what’s left are actionable verbs and add think time to your to-do list for each of the projects, then when time permits you can systematically tackle each project to break it down its most elemental actionable activities.

Here is a short list of project words to avoid on your to-do list. When you see these words, stop and ask yourself if that item is actionable, as it is stated. Sometimes they are, like GET extra cups for the 2:00 PM meeting. But often these words describe much larger efforts like GET new timeline and cost overrun for the remodel project.

Do
Get
Fix
Plan
Develop
Organize
Analyze
Complete - Only use this verb if the activity is the very last item of a project list or you are describing an actionable item that you started at an earlier time. For example you started to write the trade journal article yesterday and you need to complete it today.

Otherwise Complete is about as vague as Do.

So, what’s the answer to the ball and chain effect of your to-do list?

Clearly, you’ll need to do all the hard stuff eventually, and I’m not suggesting that you just put easy items on your to-do list. No way! Every worthwhile project does need to be completed, but before it goes on your to-do list it needs to be broken down on a projects sheet. That’s where you think through all the steps needed to logically complete the project. On the project’s sheet you keep breaking it down until you get a list of actionable verbs for every step of the project with a corresponding date to start and complete the task. Once this work is done, you’ve reduced a daunting project to manageable steps, listed them in a logical order, and each step becomes a simple thing to do on your to-do list. It’s easy to do the steps when you know what they are. And as you cross them off you’ll feel like a winner not a loser.

This is how highly effective people get so much done in a day. They let their to-do list guide them systematically toward the completion of larger more complicated projects. Even if you’re building an ocean liner or a skyscraper the steps are the same. The whole project has to be broken down into its parts and that has to be broken down into its parts until you are finally at the most elemental level of action.

Finally, items on your to-do list require different amounts of energy and time. Both are resources you have in limited supply so work on tasks requiring a lot of energy (mental or physical) during the times of the day when you are at your best. Save the really easy stuff for times during the day when your energy levels are waning.

In summary, remember to check your verbs, don’t use a to-do list as a catch all for fragmented thoughts like; Gary’s retirement party. Use a verb, if you need to go to Gary’s retirement party at 3:00 PM put it on the list. If you need to plan Gary’s retirement party, put it on a project sheet.

This discipline will never be completely automatic, so be on your guard to make sure you’re not falling back into old habits. It’s easy to see when you do regress, however, because at the end of the day, your to-do list will reveal if it consisted of actionable items or projects.

One Million Notebook Tabs a Month!

Mon, 28 Jan 2019 20:12:21 GMT

Notebook tabs may seem like a narrow niche’ that you could ignore, but I talked to a vendor in Portland OR who makes notebook tabs (among other things) and I asked him if that portion of his business was growing or tapering off. He said it’s still a robust line of business and estimated that he produces about 1 million tabs a month worth upwards of $150,000 monthly. That’s significant, when you consider he’s just one small firm in Portland Oregon.

Are any of your clients using notebook tabs for their internal documentation? Is there an opportunity to pick up any of that business?

Police departments, legal firms, engineering firms, human resources agencies, call centers, hospitals, employment agencies, government organizations, and research facilities, are all organizations that might use notebook tabs. Anyone who needs to organize large volumes of documents, or who works on complex projects over a long time period, may be a likely customer for notebook tabs.

You’ll need answers to the following 10 questions and an understanding of the unique vocabulary associated with some of the attributes of tabs. Don’t skip any of these questions because all of them are relevant to a new tab order.

1. Where will the tabs be displayed (on the right side of a notebook or the bottom of a document)? Is the final size of the document 8.5 x 11 before adding the tab?

2. What is the depth and length of each tab? Most tabs are ½” deep but the length is expressed as a “ bank ” (a 3-bank tab is quite long, approximately 3.66” or 2.75” if displays on the bottom, because there are only 3 tabs in the bank. A 6-bank tab is much shorter because there are 6 tabs along the 11” or 8.5” side of the sheet depending on which side is the binding side.) See the mylar template picture to see how long each tab is in a bank.

3. How many tabs will be needed? One set of notebook tabs could consist of three 5-bank tabs = 15 tabs in the set, or it could also consist of five 3-bank tabs also equal to 15 tabs in the set. Another example is one set of 12-bank tabs = 12 tabs in the set, or two 4-bank tabs = 8 tabs in the set. Then you need to find out how many total sets are being ordered.

4. If the tabs are printed, are they printed only on the front of the tab, or on both sides?

5. Is there printing on the body of the sheet, one side or both sides? This is called body copy and if the body copy is not the same on all tabs in one bank, the cost of the tabs will increase massively, which I will explain later.

6. Will the tabs need to be mylar reinforces, and if so, in what color(s)?

7. Will the binding edge need to be mylar reinforced, again in what color?

8. Will the binding side need to be drilled, and if so in what pattern (for example, standard notebook 3 holes, or two holes at the top or left side for 3” or 4” prong binding)?

9. If there is print on the tabs what color of ink or is it a full color image?

10. Will you need the tabs collated into sets prior to delivery? This can be a significant issue. For example, if you order 1000 total sets of tabs consisting of five 3 bank tabs, the order has 15,000 sheets of paper that need to be collate together. Doing that work by hand takes forever, it’s a much better use of your time to have these sets collated mechanically.

If, however, the body copy changes on every tab in that last example, there would still be 18000 sheets in the total print run, but there would be 18 plate changes, because each tab would need to have its own unique plates and press run. Now if the text or image on the tab or body copy, is full color then there would be 18 full color set-ups to produce the printing. The difference between 3 set-up and 18 set-ups can add thousands to your estimate. You’ll need to confirm what body copy is on the tabs and if it is identical from tab to tab. If you miss this step and your vendor assumes there is no body copy, your estimate might come in at $600. You may win the bid based on your great price but then you find out there’s unique body copy on all the tabs and your print costs shoot up to $1600. That is hard to explain to your client after you won the bid based on $600 plus your mark up. When tabs are printed, all the text on all the tabs in one bank are printed on every sheet. The information that is not needed is trimmed off as shown below. You can see that this methodology of printing all tabs at the same time is not possible if the body copy changes from tab to tab.

Now regarding the cutting and other bindery functions for notebook tabs. In this example there are 6000 sheets printed with all 6 tab’s text printed along the side of the sheets. The die cutter would set up the die cutting tool and cut off everything except the text for tab 1 on 1000 sheets then they would move the die cutting tool and cut off the text for tab 1 plus everything beyond tab 2 on 1000 sheets, as shown in yellow on Tab 2 in the t he picture below.

The creation of notebook tabs is a fun project for print brokers and can be very lucrative. In addition, you’re helping your client create exactly what they need for their unique projects and you’re saving them from having to create their own tabs from tools and supplies in office stores such as Staples. It’s one thing to set-up one notebook with tabs, it’s quite another to set up 40 or 50 of them. Being able to arrange their project in a notebook with preprinted tabs is a time saver and creates professional documentation for your clients.

We’ve printed close to 200,000 tabs over the years and they have been a great source of repeat business. I was thrilled to learn from Johnny, that his business is still producing 1 million tabs a month. I recommend that you be on the lookout for notebook tab opportunities when you’re meeting with your clients. If you need help sourcing the design and bindery for notebook tabs let me know, I will help you.