Where’s the Docutech?
March 17, 2009
A breakdown in communication about the sale of a piece of equipment resulted in the loss of a satisfied customer.
In a large organization, it is easy to see how there could be a breakdown of communications. But even in a small company, if you don’t make a point of sharing information across groups, the results can have a serious impact on your bottom line.
In order to keep a handle on expenses in our business, we routinely study the value we receive from our vendors in terms of service and quality versus price. As the cost of producing participant manuals for our training programs is one of our biggest expenses, we decided to obtain bids from several area copy centers.
To provide high-quality materials to our customers, we print the manual covers and have the inside pages copied using the Xerox Docutech system. Essentially, this machine accepts postscript files from our computer and runs the copies direct from digital. The effect is that each page in our manuals looks as if it is printed rather than copied.
We received a very favorable bid from a local vendor who could produce these Docutech materials for us quickly and reasonably priced. We began to use their services on a trial basis, and they proved excellent. They were very responsive, produced excellent quality materials, and were easy to work with.
When we needed to produce our next large run of manuals for our Customer Service and Defect Prevention programs, we decided to give the job to the new vendor. As usual, we asked for a proof copy before we proceeded with the large run.
As we examined the copies, something was wrong. The quality was noticeably poor. The type clearly didn’t have the crisp, sharp appearance of a laser output. When we called our sales rep to ask about this, he said he would look into it and call us back.
What he found out was that our books were actually produced on a traditional high-speed, high-quality copier and not on a Docutech. When he was on vacation over the holidays and without his knowing it, the company had sold the Docutech equipment because they wanted to focus the business on printing instead of general copying. The new printer was supposed to be of the same quality as the Docutech. It clearly wasn’t, and we decided to end our relationship with the company.
This lapse of communication between the company’s management and their sales rep, combined with misleading claims by the copier’s manufacturer, put us in a position where we had to scramble to get the materials produced on very short notice by another vendor.
Communication among groups in an organization is critical if you are going to be able to serve your customers effectively. Take a few minutes and find out from your group if there is anything that people in other parts of your company should be aware of. You might have the knowledge and information that can make the difference between keeping and losing a loyal customer.
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