Back when you worked at a large agency or studio, or even as part of an in-house team in a corporation, print and paper vendors were probably banging down your door, plying you with paper swatchbooks and cool promos along with donuts and free lunches – anything to get your attention and a piece of the bigger budgets you had back then. These people may have seemed sometimes like an interruption in your busy designing day, but if you think about it, they probably also gave you lots of ideas about new production techniques, environmentally friendly paper options, or new software for the web.
However, now you’re out on your own with only a few, small clients who don’t have budgets for all those new tools and tricks of the trade. And yet, you still want to be up on everything that’s possible out there. Now, instead of ignoring their calls or postponing meetings, you’re the one waiting to hear back from a vendor. Maybe you’re hoping for a bit of a favor so you can impress that new client, or you simply need a call back about a price quote they promised you for a project you emailed them about last week. Fortunately, there are many ways to keep your vendors happy and helpful even without a fat checkbook. Or a box of donuts.
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