Get The Respect You Deserve

"The reaction you get from people is just amazing," Renn says. Outstanding customer service skills, he adds, are the best way to make customers realize the in-plant is an invaluable source of printing expertise.

For instance, UCSD's Fox says one of the best ways for his 25-employee in-plant to present itself to customers as a source of print expertise is by acting as a liaison between them and the service bureaus that handle offset work. The in-plant is nearly all-digital, and does not offer offset printing. Instead, customers can simply tell the in-plant employees what they want, in plain language, and those employees will then discuss the technical details with the service bureaus—and negotiate a good deal for the customer.