Capability Training Benefits

Published in: American Printer, July 1991

Customer surveys testify that buyers typically do not know or do not understand what a supplier's company is capable of producing. To take that one step further, since buyers generally do not know what suppliers are capable of producing, they also do not know how to interpret a supplier's capabilities in terms of building their business.

This is not a matter of responding competitively by putting more iron on the pressroom floor or adding hightech equipment in prep or finishing areas. Rather, it involves improved utilization of current resources through documentation of each production and service department's capabilities and then allowing every employee access to that documentation.

Increasingly, print buyers criticize supplier salespeople for a lack of understanding of the buyer's business beyond specifications of the current job. Understanding the buyer's business is a strategic prerequisite when offering recommendations on how to use printing and other graphic arts services. Often, sales and production personnel are trained to understand specifications, but usually within the framework of their production environment. They seldom are initiated in the strategic importance of learning the customer's business, within which specifications are to be interpreted.

Often at work is a "double-closed loop system" in which what we don't understand about our own production capabilities contributes to our inability to offer more value to the customer. In addition, what we don't understand about our customer's strategic business issues also contributes to our inability to offer services. These basic training issues often go unrecognized for their strategic contribution to the overall health and well-being of most companies.

Company owners sometimes ask (particularly after hard days) how they can get their personnel to handle things right and take more initiative. The best answer is a question — where is the documentation of what you'd like your personnel to know or learn on their own that would empower them to take control?

Individual initiative or talent is not the concern. Rather, the availability and organization of credible information and training, which empowers individuals and departments to act in specific situations, should be the focus. Most employees generally do well with what they have been asked to learn if it is written and available to be studied. Most do even better if they can question, openly discuss implications, and practice what they have been asked to learn.

Not understanding how to communicate production capabilities to customers affects the ability to escape pricing competition through delivering more value from a single, proven source. Most buyers prefer to deal with a trusted supplier who understands what is expected in the context of the buyer's business needs. Single sourcing also is recognized as a more efficient use of the buyer's time. The results of not understanding production capabilities in detail affect the ability to generate more business from current and prospective customers. This lack of buyer awareness inevitably affects how a company is valued by its customers.

Lack of awareness usually runs hand-in-hand with perceptions of value. If ever there was sufficient cause for buyers to be fickle, these issues often strike at the heart of why buyers sometimes lack loyalty and change suppliers.

Furthermore, sales personnel tend to adopt a responsive mode when attending to customers after first orders, rarely pursuing the critical issues that determine a customer's success. Sales and sales support personnel seldom understand the importance of knowing a customer's strategic business development needs.

Additionally, few sales teams internally and regularly share what each member is gathering about a given account through sales calls and phone conferences. Without this information, one naturally becomes neutrally responsive to customer requests, as opposed to offering substantive suggestions for business development.

Finally, the results of documenting a company's production capabilities for purposes of training and cross-training affect both overall productivity and the workforce stability of most companies. Today's graphic arts professionals expect more on-the-job professional development and cross-training than previous generations.

Companies profess they are looking for top investment opportunities. No other investment offers the payback, the appreciation or the exponential growth that documentation of production capabilities offers. Overall, it builds awareness and value with both employees and customers.

The paradox is that while production capability training offers increased awareness and value to both employees and customers, there is no capital investment or long-term financing required. Perhaps that is part of the reason there is so little of it going on.