Hello,
My clients are usually towards the lower end of the fee scale. However I am proud of the work we do together and would like to project a professional image when i mail correspondence and bills.
I stopped using Tesco bargain photocopier paper for correspondence and have been using Ryman's 100 gsm textured paper and envelopes. However I know that 120 gsm or even 160 gms is also available and marketed as premium paper.
I have seen old legal correspondence where their details are printed, or rather embossed in lovely flowing script.
My questions in regard to this are:
1. What quality paper do you use for important correspondence?
2. Do you have you letterhead embossed or just printed?
3. What else do you do to make your letters/bills convey a professional image?
4. Am i just being silly here? With low end fee income should i just use basic photocopier paper? - i really don't think so but would be interested in alternative views.
Many thanks
Replies (25)
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We use good quality paper
We have letterheads printed on good quality paper, and we also print accounts for clients onto 100gsm paper.
The variation in cost is negligible, and while the client may (or may not) notice the extra quality, it's worth it for personal satisfaction and knowledge that we don't come across as cheapskate.
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100GSM.
Print out letter heads on the laser (no fiddling about)
Given a set of abbreviate limited company accounts now runs to a whole 3 sheets of paper (2 if double sided), then at least let them feel the quality!
70 or 80GSM is a bit thin. 90 is about OK.
Thing of the past
Very rarely print letters, invoices, accounts or reports these days. All goes by Email. But use 100 gsm paper for anything that goes put of the office. Letterhead is printed.
Ditto
Very rarely print letters, invoices, accounts or reports these days. All goes by Email. But use 100 gsm paper for anything that goes out of the office. Letterhead is printed.
Same here.
David
My clients don't care if it's toilet paper .
They want to know profit and tax liability and that's it!
Similar to above
We haven't used anything other than 80gsm recycled paper for about 10 years and now our 5-6 sheets a year end up with HMRC. (I did think of trying kitchen roll but it would clog up the printer).
These days, a profession looking PDF looks far better to my eyes and, I have to say, far more acceptable(well they are to my clients), however if your clients & contacts don't use email then, I think it's the quality of the printer that far more important, to make the text sharp and the colours well defined and you can get excellent conservation paper these days.
The best printer we ever had was one of the Xerox solid wax printers, not only was the printing excellent but it put a very slight wax sheen on the page making even kitchen roll look good.
Less letters
I do a lot less letters than I used to do but, sometimes, you need something on paper.
I have printed letterheads on 100 gsm paper. I use a ream a year. Maybe less - I can't be bothered to count.
I think my ....
... printed letterheads are 80g conqueror, certainly no more than 100g and I use Datacopy 80g for everything else. Too much dust from cheaper paper and I like crisp white, I hate paper that looks like you left it on the window cill to get sun-bleached!
Usage is going down though as I wean clients on to Openspace.
Eurooffice often better than Viking, although Viking seem to have got more competitive again lately.
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Clearly I am living in the past.
Still not had the guts to send everything out via email. I am probably at about 10%, only when the client asks me explicitly, but I do send PDFs of everything once signed.
what i use
100g paper both for letterhead and continuation sheets.
Only letters that tend to go out are engagement letters.
Everything else such as accounts, tax returns etc sent by email.
If client ask for hard copy of accounts is £1 per copy (and so far no one has asked for one).
Dearie me !!
If client ask for hard copy of accounts is £1 per copy (and so far no one has asked for one).
Jeez - would I send a bill out for a quid ?
It just makes you look cheap, surely.
90 + 100
90 gsm for accounts, tax comps, etc
100 gsm for letters
Printed colour letterhead, but not embossed
why not just email engagement letters then?
100g paper both for letterhead and continuation sheets.
Only letters that tend to go out are engagement letters.
Everything else such as accounts, tax returns etc sent by email.
If client ask for hard copy of accounts is £1 per copy (and so far no one has asked for one).
why not just email engagement letters then?
120gsm
for anything that goes out from here to a client.
My clients are also generally at the lower end of the fee scale but it seems to make them happy that they are dealing with professionals. Obviously they are dealing with professionals anyway :-) but several have commented on it and seem to like it. It's a tiny extra cost to make them happy!
80gs for any copying, printing for files.
From the receiving perspective anything over 100gsm is a pain for us to scan into our system from suppliers that dont send PDF's...
Another Aspect
We use at least 100gsm best finish paper for everything printed.
As we only use one sort of paper we buy in bulk when it is on offer.
Although it costs more - even on offer - than something with "JEYES" printed across the corner, we reckon that we save money due to the reduction in wear and tear / dust collection etc. etc. in our printers - and also because toner-save modes look better on decently-finished paper.
EDIT: Also reduces printer jams - very important with shared printers !
people still pay for and use printed letterheads from the local?
really? .. who not save your money and just put all the info in the document header ?..... and I think £2.50 a ream is enough
Yes ...
really? .. who not save your money and just put all the info in the document header ?..... and I think £2.50 a ream is enough
... I support my local businesses, cheaper and looks better than home made, there are still a lot of clients that appreciate a high quality, professional looking letter, but they are probably my peers and older.
Just because everyone else has ditched standards doesn't mean I will, certainly not for the sake of £2-3 per week.
I am happy to pay £3.50/£4 per ream too - I value my lungs enough to not breathe in all the crud you get off cheap paper.
Each to his/her own
1. What quality paper do you use for important correspondence?
My practice is almost entirely paper free the only letters which are posted are to HMRC so paper quality isn't at all important.
2. Do you have you letterhead embossed or just printed?
I do have a professionally printed letterhead.
3. What else do you do to make your letters/bills convey a professional image?
99% of our correspondence is sent via email so it's not relevant.
4. Am i just being silly here? With low end fee income should i just use basic photocopier paper? - i really don't think so but would be interested in alternative views.
If you are dealing with budget clients I personally wouldn't waste money on expensive letterheads but that said you can get some extremely smart professional letterheads for little more than the cost of cheap photocopy paper (and I don't mean VistaPrint and the like!) Many years ago I used to worry about things like this, I don't now, maybe age maybe because of the way I run my practice....probably a bit of both.
Glad you said that about letterheads oga. I used to begrudge 25p for each piece of paper but it's £150 for 500 sheets which lasts nine or ten months. How much time will it take to create (and make perfect) a PDF which needs pRinting off and won't look as professional. (160g btw)
Why do you lot of well off accountants worry about overheads? It's income which makes profit isn't it?