Ask these in order on every vendor call. Good companies enjoy this conversation; weak ones get vague around question four. We have annotated what a strong answer sounds like — hold us to the same standard.

Capacity & crew

How many pieces per hour will you produce for my guest count? Strong: a number, with press count and staffing attached. Weak: "depends on a lot of factors."
How many operators are on my event, doing what? One person pressing and handling guests stalls at volume.
Who is my on-site lead, by name? If the answer is "one of our team," you may be getting a subcontractor they have not met.
What is your backup plan if a press fails at hour two? Strong: redundant equipment on the truck. Weak: "that's never happened."

Product & art

Which garment brands and models will you quote? You want specifics — Bella+Canvas 3001, Richardson 112 — not "quality blanks."
Can I see my art proofed on the actual garment before event day? Non-negotiable for brand-sensitive events.
What happens to leftover blanks? Inventoried and returned or credited is the honest answer.
Which methods do you run, and which one fits my crowd? A one-machine vendor recommends their machine every time. A multi-method shop should argue for a fit.

Logistics & money

Can you send a certificate of insurance to my venue this week? Watch the speed of the yes.
What do you need from my venue? Strong answers are specific: a 10×10 footprint, one 20-amp circuit per press, a dock window.
What is included in the quoted price, line by line? Compare scope, not totals — staffing hours, setup, art prep, travel.
Have you worked this venue or one like it? Convention center? Ask about drayage and union rules and listen for fluency.

How to score the calls

Do not grade pass/fail — grade specificity. Give two points for a concrete answer with numbers or names attached, one point for a credible generality, zero for deflection. Out of 24, anything above 18 is bookable; 12–18 means ask for references from an event your size; below 12, thank them for their time. The rubric matters because charm is unevenly distributed in this industry — some of the smoothest phone manners we have ever heard belonged to vendors who showed up with one press, no spare, and a nephew. Scoring is charm-proof. Question four (the backup plan) and question eleven (line-by-line scope) carry the most signal per word; if you only get five minutes, ask those two plus the garment question.

Answers that should end the call

“We've never had equipment fail.” Every press fails eventually. This answer means it will fail for the first time at your event.
“We can do any volume.” Physics disagrees. A press finishes a piece roughly every fifty seconds; crews that will not do that math with you are guessing with your budget.
“The COI takes a couple of weeks.” It takes an afternoon. A slow certificate is a preview of every deadline to come.
“We'll figure out the venue stuff on the day.” Docks, freight elevators, and power do not improvise well, and your venue manager already knows it.

Two questions to add for conferences

If your event is a trade show or conference, append these. “Have you ordered power through an exhibitor-services portal?” — the advance-versus-floor pricing trap catches first-timers, and a fluent answer names the portal without prompting. And “how do you handle badge scanning at intake?” — a station that produces 400 pieces without capturing a single contact is a party trick, not a marketing spend. Vendors who light up at these two have stood on an expo floor; vendors who go quiet have not.

Where our own answers live

Since we insist you hold us to the standard: our capacity math and staffing model are spelled out on the pricing page, garment specifics and method fit on the service menu, and the venue requirements — footprint, circuits, dock needs — in the plain-English explainer. If a company makes you extract answers one call at a time that a web page could have stated, note it. Transparency before the contract is the cheapest predictor of behavior after it, and it costs a vendor nothing to publish a number unless the number changes depending on who is asking.

One last note on tone: run the twelve as a conversation, not an interrogation. The best crews will start volunteering answers to questions you have not asked yet — backup gear, restock plans, what they do when a design underperforms mid-event. When a vendor starts educating you for free — naming the freight elevator dimensions before you thought to ask — that is question thirteen answering itself, and it is usually the moment planners stop shopping.

Print this list, or start the conversation with us already in progress — send your event details and our first reply will answer most of the twelve unprompted.

Twelve questions that separate event crews from equipment owners.