Market Mad House

In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. Friedrich Nietzsche

Market Insanity

Ask These Questions Before Choosing Printing and Mailing Services

There are countless printing and mailing services around you. Not all of them provide similar services. So, as a self-aware person, you are not just going to leap in the dark, rather you should have a ready-made set of inquiries for them.

Before going into that let’s know the types of printing and mailing services normally available:

  • Printing and mailing: They provide printing, submitting, presorting services, as well as drop-shipment discounts.
  • Printing Only: Only provides printing a certain company’s mail with the important bar codes.
  • Presort/Comingling: They take emails that are letter-sized from one or multiple customers to presort and comingle. As a result, the mails potentially get qualified for the presorting discount.
  • Consolidate: These consolidating mails are prepared into bundles or trays within other mail in order to get more discounts.
  • List mailing: It is quite similar to the printing and mailing services. However, it won’t print the mailing components, instead, it only picks up mails from its customers.

As you have come across the type of services available mostly around, now let’s have a look at the inquiries you would require. Basically, ask these questions before choosing printing and mailing services.

Consider your needs

At first, you should think of the helps you need before contacting any legal printing and mailing services. The questions on your platter should be like these- Do you need discounted services? How much can you pay? What are the end goals you have? What is your expectation from their customer service?

Now, once you have concluded with your answer you can make a list of the MSPs around your desired area.

Evaluate their customer service

Good relationships between you and the MSP should always be your concern. It determines the kind of benefits or disadvantages you will face later. So, before you give the commitment to any MSP, judge the level of attention you get from them.

The core questions for this part should be:

Who is going to be your point person?

How often can you contact them?

What are the external reviews the company can show?

Can the service provide you with a contact for reference?

Ask about their customer service complaint in past and show eagerness to know how they solved it.

Assess their track record

Checking an MSP track record is equally vital. Otherwise, you won’t be able to pick what falls in line with your business. Consider asking the following:

Does the MSP keep a portfolio?

Does the portfolio show any study of record that speaks of success?

Does the portfolio maintain the standard you are looking for?

Do they have any creative ideas for your company?

Decide on services

While skimming on the services, it is important to be able to understand their capabilities. Therefore, the companies should be able to answer these questions:

Do the MSP offer the service you are looking for?

Are they eligible for making frequent pickups?

Can they customize their pick-up times according to your needs?

Does the tracking system gather step-by-step delivery information?

Settle on a budget

It is quite vital to pick the best mix of services according to your need at the right price. It will eventually help you with the bottom line of your work.

If you have come to terms with your needs from an MSP, the company should give detailing estimate. In this respect, a few important questions below should be on your platter.

How is the price of the services? Are they fixed or negotiable?

What are the doorsteps for bulk discounts?

Do these discounts appear by continuously using a service?

What is the maximum discount an MSP has to offer?

How much can you save with each MSP?

Negotiate the contract

The moment you have picked a service; the time of paperwork comes before you. In these stages you might like to ask these vital questions:

How many creative revisions can the contract give?

Will the employees involved be provided with any training or are they trained?

Are you sure that your all business needs are met? It includes the services, pickups, and pricing.  

So, these are the significant Questions before Choosing Printing and Mailing services. By now, you might already have a clear vision of the necessary questions. Remember, your preparedness will only determine your success or loss.