How To Get The Most Bang For Your Printing Buck - by Tom Bradley

From a sign seen hanging in a local print shop:

"Quality - Service - Price! (Pick Two)

A little printer humor there and, like all good humor, it's rooted in truth. Depending on how you market your investment practice you will deal with a printer in some way or another.

Like every business, the printer tries to blend the key features; quality, service and price, into a mix that will satisfy the broadest base of customers. Knowing which of those features are most important to you will allow you to choose a printer wisely.

Getting the most for your printing dollar is not rocket science. For most of us a "one-printer-fits-all" approach is fine. Your basic priorities - business cards, flyers and the copies of important documents - can be handled by a local quick-print or copy center and the volume you do is not enough to stress about the price. Here are some basic guidelines to help you out:

SERVICE The more convenient a printer or copy center, the more you should expect to pay. Kinko's is the most recognizable of the ultra-convenient stores but there are others. Open 24 hours in many cases they can do ANYTHING you need from a box of business cards to several thousand flyers. They do it quickly and they do it well. Ultra-service centers like Kinko's are not cheap. Your favorite Mail Boxes, Etc. or Post Net center also falls into this category.

PRICE Big "box stores" like Office Max or Office Depot often have copy centers. With a much narrower service offering than an ultra-service center, they are price-driven. You can find other print and copy suppliers that are inexpensive and the trade off is quality and convenience.

QUALITY If part of your marketing involves appealing to high-end investors then you will want to leave the realm of quick printers and copy centers and move to a commercial printer. You may even find yourself working in concert with a graphic designer.

This is the least economical and not the quickest method to get printing, but it fills a need for some investors. When you think you have reached this level of need, multi color, multi page, component systems, photo shoots, etc., leave plenty of time for the bidding process, so SHOP AROUND. At this level you will probably have a sales representative assigned to you and they will do the running for you.

Volume is always your friend when it comes to print pricing. When you leave the world of copiers (short runs) and start dealing with printers, you'll find that the price drops significantly as the quantity goes up.

If your marketing includes flyer distribution think about printing "shells". In other words, design your piece so that one side stays the same and have large quantities printed of this side and then imprint the second side with dated material or information about a particular house on an as needed basis. Depending on the quality, this could drop your per unit price by 50% or more!

I could write pages about paper selections, ink combinations and typestyles but let's do it this way: If you have a printing question, email it to me at tom@tnthomebuyers.com. I'm not selling anything and I don't offer any courses on printing. I can't answer specific questions about price since pricing is regional but I do have 25 years of experience and am willing to share it via email. I'll be happy to counsel you and either confirm your suspicions or teach you something new.

Tom Bradley TNT Homebuyers Henderson, NV