Just about every print customer has to start at square one. Some will admit as much; others refuse to accept that they don’t know anything about printing. But I guarantee that printing is intimidating to business people. Most consumers don’t know how to prepare materials for a printer, or what printing costs, or how to conduct business with a printer.

Here are 10 basic things that new print customers may not know:

1. That printers accept jobs digitally these days -- that is, directly from a PC/Mac or from a floppy disk or CD.

2. That there is more to choosing paper than saying “heavy” or “lightweight” white‚ or “colored” stock.

3. That different printers charge different prices.

4. That once a job is handed over to a printer, changes made by customers can cost money and delay delivery.

5. That proofreading is their responsibility.

6. That there are many different types of printing and as many ways to print a job.

7. That 4-color printing doesn’t mean they get to pick the 4 colors.

8. That what they see on their computer monitor is NOT what they’ll get.

9. That most of the time, their files are NOT ready to print, that the printer will need to clean them up and is entitled to charge for it!

10. That once you give your job to the printer, the work has just begun, and it will take days or weeks to do it right. Don’t expect miracles.

Buyers and printers can save themselves a lot of grief by trying to establish the buyer’s “printing IQ” up front. How about these simple questions:

Buyer to printer (when the job is in the planning stage): “I’m totally new at this: can you tell me what kinds of things I need to know to do it right?”

Or printer to buyer: “Have you had any experience at all in working with a printer before?”

For new print buyers, knowing what you DON’T know is half the battle.