The Wright family first opened the doors on Central Commercial Printers (CCP) on April 1, 1974.
Ticking over 46 years in business is an incredible achievement in any industry, but especially for a regionally-based family-owned business in an industry that has seen rapid change in design and production technology and had to adapt to extraordinary customer access to online design software and overseas print competitors.
CCP offers a wide range of promotional material print and fabrication solutions, with a fully integrated service providing customers with design, production and delivery options. CCP produces brochures, flyers, vinyl banners, stickers, pull-up banners, report printing and binding, corflute signs, decals, bookmarks, business cards and much more.
CCP’s manager, Peter Wright, is known for his positivity, exceptional customer service and community-centred approach to business.
Prior to the COVID19 pandemic and lockdown, customers were welcomed into the premises to meet with designers and to generally discuss and review their print needs. Unfortunately, this personal customer service approach had to change in line with government restrictions – a challenge that Peter and his staff met with sensitivity and transparency. To find out more about how the CCP team responded to restrictions, we asked Peter a few questions.
You can check out our video interview with Pete by clicking the image below, and read some of his off-camera responses further in this article.
Here’s what Peter had to say about how he adapted his services:
How did the COVID19 lockdown and social distancing restrictions impact on your customer collections and reliance on delivery service?
“The COVID19 lockdown and social distancing restrictions meant our doors were closed, with a sign explaining if people required us we would prefer email and phone contact. We opened only to accept deliveries or for pickup after pre-arranged payment. Our customers were very understanding and grateful we were taking the necessary precautionary steps.”
How did the logistics/nature of your delivery service to customer change during lockdown/restrictions?
“Our deliveries were still being made, however, we would deliver and make the process “contactless”, handing over the goods and signing the delivery receipt for the customer.”
Do you have tips, advice or encouragement for other businesses relying more on delivery service to customers?
“My only message to others would be to communicate your preferences clearly so customers understand how you are handing the situation. Most people are grateful you take extra precautions and are very understanding.”
In addition to modifying his customer service and delivery solutions, Peter has increased his use of digital marketing to raise awareness of CCP’s changing operations and the range of print services they offer.
“We really value Google’s business services for our marketing and we’ve found Google ads to be a particularly effective tool for our business, giving customers easy access to all our contact details and leading them to our website to see our range of print production options. Our Facebook has also been useful, and allowed us to keep our customers up-to-date with more immediate changes and special promotions.”
