Start an online business – Juan Calvo
We will learn more about the secrets to start an online business with Juan Calvo, the founder of SOLOIMPRENTA.
Juan tells us about the origins of his company and how it was created as an “excuse” to leave a job where he didn’t feel fulfilled to achieve becoming one of the main options to print and personalize products online
Juan Calvo thinks that the key to start an online business and be sucesfull is the clients trust. Juan tell us that one of the secrets of SOLOIMPRENTA sucess is a careful and quality customer service.
When and why did you decide to found SOLOIMPRENTA?
SOLOIMPRENTA was established in 2012 but for months I combined it with working as Treasury Business Manager in the banking sector until the volume of work I had did not allow me to provide good customer service.
The truth is that SOLOIMPRENTA was an “excuse” to leave a job in which I did not feel fulfilled.
My company reflects values that I, as a commercial, have always valued: SERIOUSNESS, CLOSE CUSTOMER TREATMENT AND COMMITMENT.
I remember how I started attending Photoshop classes in the afternoon because I had no idea of graphic design. From the beginning I bet very strongly on SEO outsourcing the service and that helped me to achieve a good position in the online printing market.
What do you think has been the secret of its success? What differentiates SOLOIMPRENTA from other online printers?
Customer Service is fundamental, the entire team knows that the customer is the most important thing. But it is not just theory, in our more than 10,000 positive reviews you can read their opinions.
We know that when faced with a query or incident, the response / solution must be immediate and that is valued by our clients, they trust us because they know that we did not fail them.
In my opinion, what differentiates us is the close client treatment and the care when it comes to reviewing and printing their files. They value that very much because they know that there is a team who take care of their files to guarantee the printing quality.
The consolidation of a brand is important and this comes a lot by word of mouth. In the case of SOLOIMPRENTA we think that the name of Juan Calvo is also directly associated with it. Is that so? What process must be followed to achieve that value?
Indeed, we have many recurring clients who have worked with us for many years, loyal clients who know that SOLOIMPRENTA is a serious printing company that takes care of the client and their works.
Even I personally give support and talk to many clients and many tell me that come to us because someone recommended us.
For us it is a responsibility because we cannot fail those people who recommend us. It is a responsibility that leads us to be better.
It is anecdotal because sometimes when I answer the phone and tell them that I am Juan Calvo they do not believe it and they ask me if I am the same Juan who founded the company.
My involvement with the client is total.
You told us that SOLOIMPRENTA was founded in 2012, has your strategy changed much in recent years? How?
Our DNA we have not changed at all, we continue to act as a neighborhood printer; Close treatment, taking care of clients, with many more orders and more people giving support, a professional file review team and offering very competitive prices.
SOLOIMPRENTA has in its DNA what has to be a good commercial that always thinks about providing solutions to its clients. Be serious and be very involved with what they need and expect good professional and close service.
One of the challenges that many online stores face is to differentiate quite similar products. How do you work on it?
It is true that there is a lot of competition in the online printing market . But in our case the differentiation is not in the product but in the way of understanding the relationship with our customers.
With the simple sale process, incident support with our SATISFACTION GUARANTEE, reprint or refund or in the simplicity of our Prestashop platform.
The problem with large online printers is their lack of empathy with the customer, as can be seen in their evaluations. Webs that have become very complex product catalogs for a large majority of clients who are not as familiar with printing concepts as agencies or designers.
Our clients range from freelancers or small businesses that need basic products such as Cards, flyers, etc and our platform is very easy to navigate.
We also work with advertising agencies or designers, copy shops or local printers that are looking for a reliable supplier that we give them quick solutions to any incident. They are looking for a serious printing company that will give them professional and close support.
When it comes to marketing, what services do you consider basic? Is it important that this service is within the company or is it perfectly externalizable?
In our case when it comes to marketing and web development we have it outsourced.
We currently work with three suppliers with whom we are delighted and who help us to continue growing.
They are fully involved in SOLOIMPRENTA, they are companies with a close customer service and people who you can call if you have any questions, for me that is essential.
The first is Indexando Marketing with SEO, which is improving our positions every month and the involvement of the team is total. On the other hand, RECLAM who take care of our image, they are in charge of communicating our brand values, we are betting strongly on the RRSS. Lastly, the Ecdesign team, with whom I have been working for more than 12 years in the development and improvements of our Prestashop, with them SOLOIMPRENTA has managed to develop a simple web-to-print solution for our clients and we continue to improve internal processes and UX improvements for customers
On the other hand, you also have a blog in which you publish regularly. What strategy do you follow? What contribution is made in these contents to the readers?
On the one hand, we want to add value with articles that help our readers with marketing and branding strategies.
We do not only want to talk about specific printing issues, products and if we talk about, for example, Business Cards, arguing with the client why a good card is important, a good design for our clients or suppliers.
For example, in these difficult times, we have written to help our clients about how to promote a business We talk about RRSS, the importance of having a website and working on SEO, etc.
We want to add value and share what we have learned over the years with our readers who are not always looking for printing products.
You have the Trusted Shops seal and a high valuation on the platform that you highlight at all times on the web.
In your opinion, how important is it to build trust in the user who plans to make a purchase?
Very important, it is the best way to build trust.
Jordi Vives was the one that suggested working with Trusted Shops years ago. He explained to me how powerful this Seal of Trust was and it was thanks to him that we were able to exploit the great advantages that receiving the opinions that our clients give us, but not only the positive ones.
As he explained to me, negative opinions are opportunities. In our case the Quality team check the reviews every morning at nine in the morning, that is the first thing they do. If there is an incident, someone from the team or I personally call the client to worry about what has happened, apologize and, most importantly, give them a solution.
Customers appreciate it very much and are surprised that we call them so quickly. This negative evaluation allows the client to know what our philosophy is, we care about them and we want the service to be the best.
It is a perfect excuse to talk to them so they know that there are people who care for their works to go well and when faced with any incident we are to solve it because things do not always go as we would like.
I have seen that your customer service stands out a lot, how do you manage it?
We have a very powerful customer service, a chat. And, above all, we are very agile with email responses. Even Saturdays and Sundays we always have someone on duty for incidents that may arise.
I have a philosophy and that is that I do not want any client to suffer or not sleep due to a problem that could be generated with the delivery of their order or their product at SOLOIMPRENTA and that the client highly values it. When we receive an email with an incident or query where we detect a customer concern, someone from the team or I call them to give them that peace of mind that we are taking care of their issue and that we are going to solve it.
We know that in SOLOIMPRENTA you give it a lot of importance but, in your opinion, do you think that most online stores are concerned about offering good customer service?
At this point I am sorry to be critical to point out that many of the online stores do not provide good customer service, they do not think about solving their queries or incidents, they do not want to speak to the customer, they send a cold email.
In this case we have to talk about Amazon, we know that in the event of any incident the solution is immediate and that is why sometimes we prefer to buy from them; no matter who is to blame they solve your problem.
In my case I read a lot of customer reviews in online stores and I can see if a company really care about the customer or if it is simply machines with answers or canned solutions, with very little empathy with the customer.
And let’s never forget that the client entrusts us with their money and is the one that helps us grow and that without clients we already know what would happen.
I defend my clients because they are the most important thing in my business and thanks to them SOLOIMPRENTA is what it is.
