About Us
We sell, install, and set up Epson and Canon large-format digital printers, as well as supply ink and media. As a value-added local business, we provide training as well as free marketing help to effectively position products, and enhance customer service. we also help schools at no charge to help teachers help students create kick ass start-up businesses.
Recommendations Received (37)
"Great source for inkjet printing need"
"Got my first pro printer from this team; they're a pleasure to work with."
Products & Services
17" to 64" wide printers. Aqueous, solvent, dye sublimation, technical
Recommendations Given (4)
"Very competent, experienced, and a great person to work with."
"Heidi is a first rate pro photographer, and was one of the first to embrace digital printing in..."
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"Heidi is a first rate pro photographer, and was one of the first to embrace digital printing in her photo business to elevate her work. More importantly, she always seems to make it all about others, and with her bubbly personality we always look forward to talking with and seeing her. What's not to like!"
Recent Activity
In general, thank them for their time and walk away. If the weak No means "I want to think about it", then ask them an open-ended question that they can't say Yes or No to, and see if response helps uncover what their true needs are. Then thank them and walk away.
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In general, thank them for their time and walk away. If the weak No means "I want to think about it", then ask them an open-ended question that they can't say Yes or No to, and see if response helps uncover what their true needs are. Then thank them and walk away.
Two stories:
1. A very knowledgeable but thinly financed small biz, long term excellent customer of ours, routinely operating in a weekly farmers’ market, came by our home in Bellevue to pick up some $115/gal canvas coating. It’s a unique product,and we had promised him to stock it for...
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Two stories:
1. A very knowledgeable but thinly financed small biz, long term excellent customer of ours, routinely operating in a weekly farmers’ market, came by our home in Bellevue to pick up some $115/gal canvas coating. It’s a unique product,and we had promised him to stock it for same day delivery but unexpectedly had run out of the goop. When he came by to pick it up, among other supplies, we discovered we were out, and told him the bad news. Needless to say he was extremely upset, and we don’t blame him. By not having the coating he was going to lose $3-4K of business that holiday weekend, which is a show stopper for him. He said that the goop was in Portland and he was going to have to drive to Portland to get it.
We fell on the sword, and told him to go home with his time better spent printing a bunch of canvas, and that I would drive to Portland to get the goop. I asked him to reconfirm that the goop was indeed the exact right stuff that they had in Portland, which he did. I left at noon on July 3rd. The traffic was horrendous, and with the use of toll pay for the car pool lanes got to Portland 15 minutes before they closed at 5:00pm. Wouldn’t you know it . . . when I saw the goop set aside, the blood drained from my face. It was for a solvent printer, not an aqueous printer – the wrong stuff which will not work. When I got our customer on the phone with the store manager, the manager had to hold the phone a foot away from his ear. Being totally depressed, I headed back to Seattle on the eve of the July 4th holiday. It took an hour from downtown Portland to the state bridge – normally 10 minutes. Then a light bulb went off as I was sitting at standstill in traffic.
I called the only other customer using this stuff who was on vacation in the San Juans and asked her if she had any goop we had sold her. She called back and said she had a half a gallon left, but she was gone from her shop in Ellensburg. She said a neighbor could open up her barn/shop. Hallelujah! All I had to do now was have my wife Kathy drive 4 hours to Ellensburg and back to retrieve the goop, so we could get it in our customer’s hands.
“No I just poured a glass of wine and am not driving to Ellensburg.” You’ve got to go in order to save our customer. “Read my lips, I am not driving to Ellensburg.” Alright, when I get home from Portland at 8:30pm, I will drive to Ellensburg. That did it. “OK, OK, OK, I will drive over to Molly’s and get the goop.” She always was a trooper.
Happy ending, Kathy arrived an hour after I got home, and we both drove out to the customer at 10:30pm and delivered $65 of goop. After 560 miles, we told him tongue-in-cheek that we did indeed promise same-day delivery on supplies. He stayed up all night and coated all his artwork and had a smashing weekend of sales at the market. He is still asking us why kind of wine we like.
Bottom line: You just have to do the right thing, whatever that is. We didn’t gain a customer here, but we sure didn’t lose one, which sometimes is even better. What’s not to like about making someone else’s life better
2. If we ever apparently lost a large-format printer order, say for $20,000+ and knew that we had a far superior product, we always write a very nice upbeat letter congratulating the customer on the purchase of his new equipment (from the competitor). We would point out good things to know about after-sale service, navigating installation snaffus, capitalizing on double warranty privileges etc. In a very nice way, we would point out that in this day and age, everything you buy in essence has a 30-day money back guarantee, (especially if it doesn't meet a user's needs, or it is just plain sucks . . . we don't spell this out in those words) We essentially plant a seed for the customer to observe how well over 30 days the competitor's product meets the sales pitch hype he heard when making the buying decision.
On a several deals, we have had the user contact us within 30 days and tell us to deliver our product, as he or she were getting rid of the crummy/marginal product he originally bought. In other cases, we hear from users months or years later who bought the competitor, but who now want a second unit, or other product from us. Our mantra is that a sale is never lost.
After selling and supporting 2000+ large-format printers to high-end photographers and finer artists (many finicky about image quality), we know of hardly any who are mad at us. Many of these customers keep coming back because of simple basics such as shipping Fedex Ground always same day, even...
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After selling and supporting 2000+ large-format printers to high-end photographers and finer artists (many finicky about image quality), we know of hardly any who are mad at us. Many of these customers keep coming back because of simple basics such as shipping Fedex Ground always same day, even for orders received at 4:00 pm. Those orders are always double boxed with common sense packaging producing zero shipping damage in ten years. A roll of fine art inkjet paper can cost $400 and is vital to the customer's business, who often needs it promptly and it has to have it arrive in good condition. We are always delighted and somewhat taken back when these customers tell us how important prompt safe delivery is to them. This is not brain surgery - just a whole lot of purchases of cartons/bubble pack/brown packing paper from U-Line, plus an attitude to always ship well, like you would want to receive stuff. We all reach for the blender box behind the one that is dented or crunched. This one thing brings huge dividends for all, and many of our customers come back just for that one reason alone of fast, professional, safe shipping.
Another basic that people love is to have a real person pick up the phone. One night I was watching TV at 11:30 pm on Sunday night and a new prospective customer called, fully expecting to leave a message about his printer product needs. He was shocked when I answered the phone (we work out of home). Needless to say, he became a valued long term customer that we see regularly every month. Now this is a wacky example . . . but no one wants to push phone buttons or leave messages, sometimes even at midnight.
There are many other basics that make customers want to return, including providing irresistible customer service and always doing what's right, business be damned . . .but that's for another day.
Of course, but it depends on what the products or services are. In-person real people always trump some character on the phone. Many unique products require touch and feel (walk by an Apple store), whereas commodity products and services lend themselves to ordering blind based solely on price,...
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Of course, but it depends on what the products or services are. In-person real people always trump some character on the phone. Many unique products require touch and feel (walk by an Apple store), whereas commodity products and services lend themselves to ordering blind based solely on price, availability, and delivery.
A business can position itself to be viable as a walk-in by business by providing unique products, irresistible service, and valuable face-time to customers as well as a myriad of added-value offerings such as in-person deliver, setup, training, and other services.
Tabitha Jean, we appreciate your taking the time to help understand Alignable. Quite frankly, we have been somewhat overwhelmed with responses shortly after joining several weeks ago, and feel a bit guilty about not responding to all the incoming. We are very busy . . and over ten years...
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Tabitha Jean, we appreciate your taking the time to help understand Alignable. Quite frankly, we have been somewhat overwhelmed with responses shortly after joining several weeks ago, and feel a bit guilty about not responding to all the incoming. We are very busy . . and over ten years providing large-format printers, we don't know of anyone who is mad at us. Because of our industry well known customer service, it felt like we were being a bit unresponsive on this biz network. Perhaps others feel the same. It seems our best course of action is to respond to those who clearly are taking the time to send us a personal message.
Make it all about them. Be truly interested in your customers as people and what their stories are, putting business aside. Do what you say, and simply following up on that will service customers in a fine way.
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Make it all about them. Be truly interested in your customers as people and what their stories are, putting business aside. Do what you say, and simply following up on that will service customers in a fine way.
