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    PostPress

    Print Decorating, Binding and Finishing

    Recruiting & Training

    Old Thinking Won’t Lead to New Ideas

    5 tips to instantly become more innovative

    By Susan Robertson, Harvard lecturer and innovation consultant

    When you really need new ideas or fresh thinking or a creative solution to a challenge, a typical, day-to-day approach in your thinking is not the optimal process. Using the same old thinking will simply lead you to the same old ideas you’ve already had or tried before. Instead, you need to do something different that will stimulate your brain in diverse ways and shift your perspective on the issues. Here are some ways to ensure you (and your team) shake up your thinking so that you actually come up with the fresh, new ideas you need.

    1. Change your environment. Get outside your own conference room or office. Debrief the latest research results or industry report in an art museum. Or take your team to the zoo with the objective of coming back with new ideas. Depending on what part of the country you’re in, you could send your teams to the Mall of America, Walt Disney World or a trendy area of Manhattan to look for inspiration and new ideas.

    If you can’t physically get out of the office, then find a way to get out metaphorically. Ask people to imagine how they would solve the problem at hand if they lived in Antarctica, or if viewed from the perspective of a submarine captain.

    2. Bring outsiders in. Overtly invite other perspectives into your discovery and idea generation processes. For example, for a project on new packaging and product ideas for a beverage company, invite a boat designer, a rainwater management expert, a sculptor and a water-park designer (among others). Your project team will be amazed at the range and diversity of new ideas that come when they are exposed to new perspectives on their challenge. They’ll think of ideas they’ll agree they never would have arrived at on their own – due to their own embedded assumptions about the topic.

    3. Truly engage with your customers. Don’t rely solely on second-hand data to understand your customers’ needs. You need to actually talk to them. Go to their homes or offices to see the problems they need solutions for.

    All too often teams looking for an idea generation project will say, “We don’t need to do any discovery in advance because we already have ‘lots of data.’” This should always make you wary, because it usually means they have numerous reports with reams of statistics about customers. Unfortunately, it rarely means they have discovered any real new insight into customer needs.

    If you’re expecting your team to understand the customer by reading a deck or attending a Power Point presentation, challenge yourself to find a more engaging and interactive process. It will be far more effective to immerse your team in real customer understanding.

    4. Question everything. Do some specific exercises that force people to confront and challenge their subconscious assumptions about the topic. An easy way to do this is to first ask for ideas that the team thinks would solve the problem, but they probably couldn’t implement for some reason.

    Then, ask them to reframe each idea by saying “We might be able to implement this idea IF … ” What comes behind the “ifs” will help surface a lot of assumptions people have that may or may not actually be barriers. Of course, some of the barriers will turn out to be real, in which case, don’t spend more time on those ideas. But in every case that I’ve ever done this with client teams, they also discover many supposed barriers that they could actually solve for.

    5. Let some crazy in the room. The academic definition of creative thinking is “the process of coming up with new and useful ideas.” The only way to get new ideas is to start with seemingly crazy ideas. Every truly innovative idea seems a little crazy at first. If you only start with ideas that are comfortable or clearly easy to implement, they’re probably not very new.

    So, encourage people to throw in extremely wild ideas. Then, play a game called “If We Could.” Instruct the team to temporarily let go of the problems in the idea and ask, “If we could implement this idea, what would be the benefit(s)?” Once you have identified the benefits of each crazy idea, narrow down to the most promising few and ask the team to look for possible solutions to the barriers.

    A team was on the verge of killing a truly original idea for a new kids’ cereal, because they didn’t know how to create the critical component. However, after “If We Could,” they agreed the idea was so interesting and unique that they needed to explore it. The R&D team made a few calls to other experts, and within a few weeks, they had solved it. This idea resulted in the most successful new product launch in the brand’s history!

    It is unfortunately all too easy to simply approach every new challenge using our typical day-to-day thinking. It feels familiar, it’s easy to access that type of thinking, and it works on most daily challenges. So, you subconsciously assume it will work on any challenge. But it’s incredibly helpful to do some meta-analysis on your thinking. I.e., think about how you’re thinking. Not every problem will benefit from the same type of thinking. Once you recognize that this new situation needs new thinking, it’s fairly easy to do some things to shift to a more productive mode for this particular challenge. Then shift back to the more familiar day to day thinking for your daily tasks.

    Susan Robertson empowers individuals, teams and organizations to more nimbly adapt to change, by transforming thinking from “why we can’t” to “how might we?” She is a creative thinking expert with over 20 years of experience speaking and coaching in Fortune 500 companies. As an instructor on applied creativity at Harvard, Robertson brings a scientific foundation to enhancing human creativity. To learn more, go to https://susanrobertson.co/.

    Finding & Keeping Good Salespeople, Part 2

    By David M. Fellman

    This is the second part in a two-part series. Part one, in the May/June 2022 issue of PostPress, focused on hiring salespeople. Part two focuses on retention.

    Having (hopefully) found yourself a good salesperson, how do you keep that person with you? It’s pretty simple, really. First and foremost, you make sure your expectations and your salesperson’s expectations are in sync, and then you keep your side of the bargain. (And if your salesperson doesn’t keep his/her side of the bargain, we’re not talking about a good salesperson, right?)

    Your expectations start with the job description – developing new customers vs. servicing established customers, quote machine vs. missionary, etc. – and continue with more tangible action standards and objectives. Your overall objective (and the salesperson’s quota) might be $500,000 in sales, and one of the action standards to support that might be 20 “prospecting starts” each week. (That’s my term, by the way, for a process which begins with the identification of “suspect” companies and ends with the qualification of real prospects.)

    Your salesperson’s expectations probably start with an income goal but may also include support and “working conditions” expectations. Let’s deal with those first. Part of your side of the bargain is to ensure that the promises your salesperson has to make are being kept; promises of quality, service, reliability, etc. Now, the salesperson shouldn’t be making unreasonable promises – again, one who does that would not be a good salesperson, right? – but you have to understand that those promises are a critical part of the selling process. If the promises aren’t kept, the customer may not buy from you again, and that affects the salesperson’s income. Put yourself in a salesperson’s shoes. If you do your job – developing customers, winning orders, etc. – but your “promise keepers” don’t do their job, you’re probably going to look for a better group of promise keepers before too long.

    Income expectations

    Now let’s talk about income goals and expectations. I’ve seen many situations that were doomed from the start because the printer either created or allowed an unreasonable earnings expectation. Here’s an example: A candidate earned $65,000 the previous year selling office products. The printer told him he could earn a lot more than that selling printing. “I’ll pay you 10% of everything you sell,” the printer said, “and for the first 3 months, I’ll let you draw $5,000 per month so you won’t be taking a huge pay cut while you’re getting things rolling.”

    In the first month, the salesperson worked hard, but sold basically nothing. In the second month, he continued to work hard and landed a few small jobs and one good-sized (by this company’s standards) job. The small jobs were in the $300-$500 range. The good-sized job billed at $3,500, and his total sales for the month were a little less than $5,000. In the third month, he landed several new customers, six small jobs and three good-sized jobs, for total sales of approximately $11,000.

    I asked the owner how the new guy was doing. “Great,” he said. “I couldn’t be happier!” I asked the salesperson how he was doing. “I’m dying here,” he said. “Everyone tells me I’m doing great, but I’m not even close to covering my draw. I must do $650,000 in sales to equal what I earned last year, and I can’t see any way that’s going to happen.”

    Here’s the problem. The printer hired a $65,000 guy for a $30,000-$45,000 job. The first question you should always ask yourself before hiring a salesperson is how much sales volume you can reasonably expect. I ask my clients to produce three figures: a solid performance, an exceptional performance and a minimum level of performance. The second question you should ask yourself is how much you’re willing to pay for each level of performance.

    When I did this “after the fact” with this particular printer, we came up with $300,000 as a solid performance and $450,000 as a really outstanding performance, all of that based on his equipment and capacity and market dynamics. His answer to the second question was the same 10% of sales he’d offered to the salesperson, with the expectation that benefits and expenses and taxes would increase that to a total “compensation load” of about 15%. “With anything more than a 15% load,” he said, “the work he brings in won’t be profitable.”

    Here’s a hard fact. The arithmetic of the situation tells you exactly how much salesperson you can afford, and it may very well disqualify the kind of candidate you would really like to hire. The trap that many printers have fallen into is to think that a more talented and experienced – and therefore more expensive – salesperson will automatically bring in enough business to make everybody happy. It doesn’t work that way. If the printer paid $65,000 for $450,000 in sales – which we agreed, remember, would represent an outstanding performance – the salesperson might be happy in the short term, but please also remember that the printer promised him he could earn “lots more” selling printing. And the printer wouldn’t be happy at all with a wages-plus-benefits-plus-expenses-plus-taxes compensation load up around 20%. The most likely scenario is the loss of a talented salesperson because the job was not all it was cranked up to be.

    The moral of this part of the story is don’t oversell the job. Remember, this all starts with reasonable performance expectations. If it would take a beyond-reasonable sales performance to get to the salesperson’s desired or required income level, the relationship is almost certain to fail.

    Affordable salespeople

    All of this begs a question: What do you do if you can’t afford to hire – or if the job won’t support – a proven professional? My best advice is to hire someone who’s going to be a proven professional someday. Let’s take another look at that quote from Caliper’s promotional material: “The Caliper Profile is a personality assessment instrument that objectively quantifies an individual’s competencies and identifies candidates with the strongest potential.” In other words, you have tools available to help you identify young/inexperienced people who are likely to grow into the job. You’ll have to train them, and manage them effectively, but the “opportunity equation” is pretty clear-cut: good candidate + solid training + solid management = great salesperson.

    Here’s something else to consider: Attaining an income level is no guarantee of performance. There are plenty of “hacks” earning $65,000 or more in sales, some of whom inherited great territories or compensation plans that benefit the salesperson far more than the company. I believe, though, that the top 25% of people who will start with you at $35,000-$40,000 will outperform the bottom 50% of people currently earning $65,000 or more, and the top 10% of those $35,000-$40,000 people will outperform the bottom 80% of those earning $65,000 or more. Like any other investment, the best strategy with salespeople is to buy early in the value cycle; in other words, to invest in relatively inexpensive things which will appreciate in value.

    Appreciation

    Appreciation, by the way, is another part of the formula for keeping good salespeople, and you show your appreciation in both tangible and intangible ways. The intangibles may be the most important consideration here, and the moral of this part of the story is to treat your valued salespeople with at least the same respect you show a valued customer. (That’s good strategy, of course, with any valued employee.)

    The tangibles provide you with opportunity too. Here’s an example. One of my clients had determined that she was willing to pay a new salesperson $45,000 to bring in $350,000 in sales in her first year, and we both agreed that $350,000 was a reasonable expectation. We told the candidate that this position had “low 40’s” potential in the first year, and that met her income requirements and expectations. The salesperson’s compensation plan started with a salary of $2000 per month, and my client’s original plan was to pay 6% commissions on top of that, which would add up to exactly $45,000 on $350,000 in sales. My recommendation was to reduce the commission rate to 5% and add two incentives to the plan. The first was a $2,500 bonus to be paid if the salesperson reached her quota of $350,000. The remaining $1,000 was budgeted for “random acts of appreciation.”

    About five months into the first year, the owner and salesperson went on a sales call together, and on their way back to the office, the salesperson remarked on a watch that the client was wearing. “I really want one of those,” she said. “I can’t really afford one yet, but it’s definitely on my list.” That led the owner to call the client to inquire about the watch, and that afternoon, she ordered one (about $400) from Amazon. As she gave it to the salesperson, she said, “This is just because I appreciate the way you do your job and represent the whole company. Keep up the good work!”

    I’m sure you see the motivational and loyalty-building value of that act of appreciation. Please also note that there was still $600 in the budget for additional “random” acts.

    Danger!

    Let’s go back to the subject of income expectations for a moment. For most salespeople, part of the expectation is the opportunity to increase sales and earnings from year to year. That holds true right up to the point where many salespeople settle into a comfort zone.

    What do you do in that situation? Here’s what you don’t do. You don’t arbitrarily decide that since the salesperson isn’t working as hard, you won’t pay him/her as much.

    This goes all the way back to the question of reasonable sales expectations and what you’re willing to pay for that level of performance. After asking my clients to define first year objectives and compensation tolerances, I always ask them to think ahead. This process, combined with the interview process, ultimately yields seven data points: (1 & 2) first year sales expectations and what the printer is willing to pay for a reasonable performance, (3 & 4) future sales expectations and what the printer is willing to pay for a reasonable performance, (5) what the salesperson needs to earn in the first year, (6) what the salesperson wants to earn in the first year and (7) what the salesperson wants to earn by some future year. With those seven data points, it is usually possible to craft a compensation plan that will work for both parties in both the short term and the long term, and that’s important because changing a compensation plan is by far the most dangerous element of sales management.

    Please note that there’s usually a difference between what a salesperson wants to make and needs to make, especially in the first year. The need figure may have to cover hard, fixed expenses or it may reflect the value the salesperson places on his/her own talent and experience. Either way, you have to guarantee that need figure, or else the salesperson won’t come with you or stay with you.

    You don’t have to guarantee the want figure, but you do have to provide a reasonable opportunity to reach it. If not, the salesperson is probably not going to stay with you. Again, don’t oversell the job!

    Closing thought

    Here’s a closing thought for today. It is certainly worth the time and effort it takes to find good salespeople, but ultimately, you don’t need to keep salespeople – you need to keep customers!

    In addition to the expectations and appreciation issues, it’s important that you never let a customer be your salesperson’s customer, as opposed to being your company’s customer. You prevent that by broadening the interface between your company and your customers, involving designers and customer service personnel and maybe even production people in the relationship. You also make sure that you have a personal relationship with the most important customers.

    Most printing companies seem to abdicate “ownership” of the customer, which makes it easy for a salesperson to take a customer along if he/she leaves to go to work for a competitor. I want you to be able to go out and say: “I’m sure ‘Fred’ has talked to you about continuing to buy from him at his new company. We just want you to know that ‘Fred’ was only one of the people at our company who’s been responsible for your level of satisfaction, and the rest of us want to keep your business!”

    Dave Fellman is the president of David Fellman & Associates, based in Raleigh, NC, a sales and marketing consulting firm serving numerous segments of the graphic arts industry. Contact him by phone at 919.606.9714, or by e-mail at dmf@davefellman.com.

    Finding & Keeping Good Salespeople

    By David M. Fellman

    This is the first in a two-part series. Part one focuses on hiring salespeople. Part two focuses on retention and will appear in the next issue of PostPress.

    “As I look at the industry,” a printer told me, “I see great things being done on the printing end. We have fantastic capabilities. We’re just not very good on the selling end or at sales management. I think most of us struggle with finding and keeping good salespeople.”

    It’s an age-old problem: Where do you find good salespeople, and how do you keep them? The answer to both of those questions starts with this one: What exactly do you want your salesperson to do?

    The answer probably seems obvious: I want my salesperson to sell! But doing this right requires more thoughtful consideration. Do you want your salesperson to develop new customers or to service established customers? If the answer is both, what’s the mix between those two activities? Do you want your salesperson out looking for things to quote or selling innovative applications of your production capabilities? There are plenty of candidates for most good sales positions, but are they really good candidates for your sales position?

    Hunters

    The prime directive for most businesses is to grow the business, and for a printing firm, there are only two ways to do that: gain new customers and/or sell more to your current customers. It’s generally acknowledged to be easier to do the latter, which I think provides evidence that you need someone with special skills and attitudes to do the former. I don’t have any factual data to prove this, but my consulting experience suggests that maybe 10% of all current printing salespeople have well-developed hunter skills and attitudes.

    Hunter skills include questioning, listening and negotiating. Hunter attitudes start with a very competitive nature, and a desire to avoid getting bogged down in details. Now, that should scare you, because the definition of a good salesperson for most printers would include being detail-oriented and working well with the production side of the business. You have to understand, though, that you don’t pay a hunter to get orders or to process them, you pay him/her to create a decision – the decision to give your company a chance. A pure hunter will do that and your company will (hopefully) benefit from the lifetime value of that customer. The (hopefully) part reflects the distinct possibility that it won’t be a long and full lifetime if you expect a real hunter to farm that account too.

    Farmers

    The hunter/farmer analogy is not as clean as I would like it to be because it’s based on the idea that hunters kill and farmers grow. A better analogy might be obstetricians and pediatricians; one is responsible for the birth of a relationship and the other is responsible for maintaining its health. The hunter/farmer terminology is pretty well accepted, though, so let’s continue to use it.

    Farmer skills include questioning, listening and negotiating, too, but there’s a significant difference in the application of those skills. For the hunter, questioning and listening are essential to finding weaknesses in the status quo, and negotiations are mostly about positioning a higher price as the solution to a problem, or possibly a better way of doing something. For the farmer, questioning and listening are more about getting the specs on every project right, and the justification for a higher price can be tied to proven performance.

    Farmer attitudes start with a commitment to customer satisfaction, and that should scare you a little bit too. As I tell salespeople in seminars, a large part of their job is to be the advocate of the customer to the company; in other words, the salesperson communicates the customer’s needs and wants to the company, and fights for the customer’s best interests. At other times, though, the job description shifts, and the salesperson has to be the advocate of the company to the customer; in other words, sometimes the bearer of bad news.

    I have never been one who believes in the idea that salespeople should be called something else, because of a stigma attached to the sales profession in our society. I do believe, though, that account manager is a very good title for a salesperson whose primary responsibility is customer maintenance rather than new customer development. I think the combination of representing the customer and representing the company is well-defined by the phrase managing the account.

    Where do organizational skills fit into all of this? From my perspective, strong organizational skills are a significant asset for a hunter but an absolute necessity for a farmer. To put that another way, I will tolerate some organizational deficiencies in a salesperson with a proven ability to develop new customers. I’ve found that you can’t tolerate the same lack of organization in an account manager, though, because the largely reactive nature of the position requires strong organization and prioritization skills.

    Missionaries

    My dictionary provides several definitions of the word missionary, one of which is: somebody who tries to persuade others to accept or join something. In our industry right now, there’s a pretty significant need/opportunity for missionaries who can sell innovative applications of our capabilities and technologies. From printing on textiles to what I like to call extreme personalization, 21st century printing capabilities have opened up vast new possibilities for business communications.

    The problem, though, is that these applications don’t sell themselves, so we need salespeople who can sell them. Missionary skills certainly include questioning, listening and negotiating, but they also include an intellectual component that not all hunters have. To put it bluntly, you have to be smart enough to understand both the technical aspects and the communications potential. And then you must have both the patience and the creativity to develop and sell a program, not just a relationship or a product.

    Missionary attitudes include that patience, and also a commitment to the concept of return on investment. A true printing missionary is almost always selling something that costs more than the status quo. That means his/her negotiation position will almost always be: “Yes it costs more, but it’ll work better and therefore be a better investment.”

    Your Sales Position

    The point of all of this, of course, is that the person needs to be matched to the position. If you have a need for a hunter or a missionary, you won’t be happy with the performance of a person with farmer skills and attitudes. So how do you know what skills and attitudes a candidate possesses?

    First, all of your recruiting material should stress exactly what you’re looking for. Second, most of your interview and reference check questions should be about confirming these traits. Third, don’t ever hire a salesperson without first testing for the skills and attitudes the position requires.

    Recruiting

    It’s important to understand the difference between advertising and recruiting. One is mostly passive, the other is highly proactive. Most printers seem satisfied to list the job on one of the online services. That strategy usually fails, though, and the reason is simply that the person you really want to hire is not looking for a job right now.

    Think about this for a moment. There are only two reasons why someone would be looking for a job. One is that there’s something wrong with the job they have, and the only other is that there’s something wrong with the person. Now, there certainly are good people in bad situations out there, including very good people who have become available through layoffs and business failures that were in no way their fault. But I still think it’s fair to say that the majority of job-seekers – especially sales job seekers – are job-hoppers or poor performers or very possibly both. I think the salesperson you really want to hire is working right now, and performing at a high level right now, and loyal to his/her employer … but smart enough to listen if something potentially better comes along!

    How do you reach people like that? One possibility is to hire a search firm, but there’s a significant cost attached to that and no guarantee of success. A better strategy, I think, is simply to network through your family, friends, suppliers, customers, etc. Describe the opportunity in general terms and the skills and attitudes you’re looking for in specific terms and ask if they know anyone who might fit the bill. Hopefully, between advertising and networking, you’ll come up with a few viable candidates.

    Interviewing

    A job interview has both buying and selling elements to it. It’s fair to say, though, that most printers put the cart before the horse, trying to sell the job to the candidate before they’ve decided that they want to buy that candidate’s services. I urge you to focus on the buying side before you spend any significant time trying to sell the job.

    My interviewing strategy is pretty straightforward, and it doesn’t include questions like, “what did you like about your last job?” Or “what did you not like?” I start with a statement, “Here are the skills and attitudes I’m looking for … ” and continue with a challenge: “Convince me that you possess these skills and attitudes!”

    I would probably not be as direct if I were interviewing, say, a candidate for a design or prepress position. A salesperson, though – certainly a hunter or a missionary – should be able to handle this sort of situation. The way I look at it, the interview process is the first element of testing a candidate. By the way, I would never hire a salesperson on the strength of a single interview. I make it a point to have at least two face-to-face meetings, and I have talked with some candidates three to four more times on the phone. I’m also a very strong believer in having others in my organization talk to each candidate. The better you get to know a candidate before you make a hiring decision, the more likely it is to be a good hiring decision.

    Testing

    As noted, the interview process is the first element of testing, and I hope you see how my interviewing strategy puts a candidate in a selling situation. My requirement for testing goes well beyond that, though. Just as I would never hire a salesperson on the strength of a single interview, I would also never hire one without input from an in-depth psychological profiling tool. One such tool – and one I’ve been using for many years – is the Caliper Profile (www.caliperonline.com). Here’s a quote from Caliper’s own promotional material: “The Caliper Profile is a personality assessment instrument that objectively quantifies an individual’s competencies, and identifies candidates with the strongest potential.” I have found this to be an invaluable sales management tool.

    Caliper tests for personality characteristics such as ego drive, assertiveness, empathy, self-structure, abstract reasoning and idea orientation. In other words, Caliper can tell you if a candidate is a hunter, a farmer, a missionary or some combination of all three. I can also tell you that, in my experience, Caliper has been uncannily accurate.

    Here’s my proof of that statement. I have had clients over the years who didn’t want to take the time or spend the money to test candidates before hiring. I have always insisted, though, and in numerous cases where we ultimately hired a candidate we’d tested, I revisited the Caliper report with my client six months later. “OK, you’ve watched this person in action for six months,” I have said. “Now tell me if the Caliper Profile accurately describes the person you’ve gotten to know.” The response has always been the same: “This is amazing!”

    No matter how carefully and thoroughly you interview, you’ll never know a candidate pre-hire as well as you will after he/she has been working for you for six months. Caliper – or any other in-depth assessment tool – can give you a look into the future. I hope you’ll agree that you have to be crazy to hire a salesperson without taking that look.

    Part two of Finding and Keeping Good Salespeople will focus on retention and will appear in the next issue of PostPress.

    Dave Fellman is the president of David Fellman & Associates, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, a sales and marketing consulting firm serving numerous segments of the graphic arts industry. Contact him by phone at 919.606.9714 or by email at dmf@davefellman.com.

    The Workforce Solution is Career Awareness

    By Donna Painter, assistant professor, Department of Applied Engineering, Safety & Technology, Millersville University

    Currently, there is a lot of unpredictability in the future of the print and finishing business, but there is one thing that is known for certain – an infusion of skilled young talent is needed to continue to innovate and thrive. While struggling to manage the risks and uncertainties of doing business during a global health crisis, talent development may seem like a low priority, but consider this: When the economy emerges from this pandemic, the workforce will be older, and businesses still will be facing an impending workforce shortage. Finding, attracting and retaining young talent remains one of the industry’s primary challenges.

    effectiveness-workforce-development-optionsThe Graphic Communications Workforce Coalition (GCWC) was formed last year to coordinate a cohesive, industry-wide effort to attract, recruit and retain the next generation of workers. GCWC has completed a comprehensive survey of the industry and released a white paper, titled “Workforce Concerns in Graphic Communications,” detailing the results and recommended actions. Survey respondents covered all areas of the industry, including service providers, suppliers, associations and schools. The purpose of the survey was to identify current efforts to cultivate talent and define areas that need support. The primary finding of this paper was that the young talent so desired is not aware of the career possibilities in printing and graphics.

    To determine the kinds of workforce development options that are most needed, this survey asked participants to rank seven items from most to least effective. Highly ranked options designed to draw in new employees were internships, hands-on equipment training, skills training and certifications, and apprenticeships, but career awareness clearly was ranked as the most effective means to attract and retain workers. Rankings of all seven items are shown on the chart Effectiveness of Workforce Development Options.

    The young talent the industry desperately needs is not aware of the careers available in print media, because the industry is not showing these young people what it looks like to work in this field. This industry offers high-tech, highly skilled positions that require creative problem solving and critical thinking. It has interesting, desirable jobs – but young people think it is old tech, low-skill and boring. The industry needs to overcome that flawed perception. With an increased awareness of careers in printing and graphics, and opportunities through internships and apprenticeships, it could motivate students to pursue this field of study and ultimately help to meet the workforce needs of the industry. GCWC will be working through its membership to provide positive messaging about graphic communication careers.

    The complete white paper, “Workforce Concerns in Graphic Communications,” can be downloaded by going to the GCWC website.

    Become an active part of the Graphic Communications Workforce Coalition. The Coalition consists of associations (including the FSEA), educators and industry representatives that have joined together to coordinate the efforts of organizations to create awareness, recruit new people into the industry, provide a framework for apprenticeship and training programs, and retain the existing workforce. Join GCWC at www.gccoalition.org.

    Donna M. Painter, M.Ed, is an assistant professor at Millersville University and a GCWC Board Member. She teaches graphic communication and writes and presents about the need to develop the next generation of leaders. For more information, contact donna.painter@millersville.edu.

    Recruiting the Next-Generation Workforce

    By Brittany Willes, editor, PostPress

    Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, one of the key issues facing leadership across nearly every industry was that of recruiting and retaining the next generation of employees. For the print finishing and binding industry, workforce development is especially crucial as the older generation – often with decades of specialized knowledge and skill sets – begins to retire. So, how do businesses find the right people to fill the necessary roles in their facilities? During the FSEA Online Learning Experience this past June, marketing and communications expert Shelly Otenbaker, president and founder of WayPoint Marketing Communications, shared current human resources marketing trends and best practices for recruiting the next-generation workforce.

    Marketing for employees

    There is a common myth that marketing is solely for business development. In reality, a company’s marketing resources and strategies are incredible assets when it comes to attracting and retaining the best employees.

    “Marketing plays an important role in the hiring process,” said Otenbaker. “It creates awareness of your company, as well as engaging the right people to move them through the different phases of the hiring process.”

    Consider the sales funnel – the process of attracting leads and moving them through the funnel to the intent to purchase. This is similar to how employers should consider their workforce. “Think about your workforces as an audience and the funnel is an employee acquisition funnel,” explained Otenbaker. In this acquisition funnel, employers should make use of their marketing resources to attract potential new hires. Similar to the sales funnel, the acquisition funnel begins with creating awareness, followed by consideration and interest. In this case, the intent to purchase becomes the application, selection and hiring process.

    As Otenbaker noted, marketing is a key component in moving potential employees through the tunnel by attracting just the right candidates. “If someone searches for your company online, what do they find?” she questioned. If the next-generation workforce is the audience, what message are they receiving about a given company?

    “In 2020, 50% of the workforce is made up of millennials, who look at things very differently than previous generations,” said Otenbaker. “These folks know all about your company before they even submit an application or resume. They’re qualifying you and your company without a single conversation. Seventy-five percent have researched the company’s reputation before applying for the job. They’re using social media, job boards and other sources to determine what your company offers, how you operate and what your commitment is to your team.”

    A company needs to look at all of its marketing and recruiting materials – read them, analyze them and see what they say. What picture is being created about the company? Is it easy for people to access the materials? Are they up to date? Do they reflect the company’s culture? Is the website inviting? “It’s time to really be honest with yourself,” said Otenbaker. “Take a step back and look at what it is you’re sharing with the world.”

    Which, again, begs the question: How are companies marketing themselves to this new audience? What messaging are they passing along to potential hires? Now, more than ever, it is just as important to sell the company to potential employees as it is to sell products and services to clients.

    Evolving needs and processes

    “A lot has changed in the last two decades when it comes to talent acquisition,” said Otenbaker. “The process has evolved and so have the needs and wants of the next-generation workforce. This is the generation that grew up with smart technology, that is known to challenge hierarchical structures. They want the flexibility to work when and where they want. They are open to change, and they want to build relationships with managers that deliver constant feedback and recognition. They’re looking for a place where they can continue to advance, as well as someplace where they can have a social and enjoyable workplace.”

    This is in stark contrast to previous generations for whom flexible schedules and work/life balance were rarely on leadership’s radar. As a result, a large portion of today’s leadership is resistant to the evolving needs of the current workforce, something Otenbaker has encountered all too often.

    “Unfortunately, a lot of companies’ leadership are not open to some of these characteristics or changes in the workplace that are appealing to the younger generation of workers,” she stated. “There’s work to be done,” Otenbaker noted. “As the current workforce continues to age and more people are going to be retiring, leadership is going to have to embrace these younger generations. Adjustments will need to be made.”

    For companies to continue to grow and succeed in the current and future marketplace, it is vital that leadership support the needs of the next generation workforce.

    Talent management

    According to Otenbaker, to effectively recruit a workforce, companies need to develop a talent management strategy. “Statistics show that people change jobs 12 times during their career,” she stated. “While it could be a little longer or shorter in the print industry, the average employee tenure is roughly 4.3 years. This means you will need to continuously replenish your workforce.”

    A typical talent management strategy includes the establishment of a talent pipeline – a pool of candidates available before a position is even open. This, in turn, means a reduction in the amount of time required to hire candidates, access to better-qualified candidates and reduction in recruiting costs.

    So, how do companies go about establishing a talent pipeline? There are several steps that can be taken, but first and foremost, Otenbaker said, companies need to identify their long-term needs. “What are the employee characteristics – the types of people – you need in the long run to continue to meet your business’ goals?” she asked. “Once you have that, you can work on attracting and engaging candidates.”

    Candidates in the talent pool should be assessed to determine which of them are the right fit. Who are those candidates who will best align with the business’ goals? Those are the candidates to nurture.

    “It’s not something that can be done overnight,” said Otenbaker. “It takes time, and there are a lot of resources that have to be put into place. However, once all of the strategy and work has been put into it, and it finally is up and going, it is a lot easier to maintain.”

    Additional steps for establishing a pipeline include conducting an audit of the business – i.e., going back to those marketing and recruiting materials. Once those have been reviewed, it is vital to secure the support of leadership. “Company leadership needs to agree that talent and the future workforce is important for the company’s success, and that building a pipeline will help the company perform better,” noted Otenbaker.

    Next, connect with HR and/or marketing departments and make sure they are aligned and working in tandem, leveraging their tools and resources to build the talent pipeline. Once HR and marketing are aligned, focus should be turned to determining metrics for what success looks like for the company and establishing a budget for meeting those metrics.

    “What are you trying to accomplish and how will you measure the effectiveness of your strategy?” asked Otenbaker. “Some of your metrics might look at reduced time to replace an employee or filling all talent gaps within a certain time frame. Whatever those success metrics look like, they need to be in place so that you understand what you’re trying to accomplish and can plan accordingly. And you need to understand what kind of budget you have to work with so you can prioritize tasks and determine what can be accomplished within that budget.”

    Finally, companies must build an “employer brand tool box” that will help in attracting talent. “The most important tool is your website,” said Otenbaker. “It is the foundation for all of your recruiting activities, not to mention business development activities. Whether it is a customer or a potential candidate, people are looking at your website every day and making decisions on whether or not to engage with you. If your desired brand identity doesn’t match with your website, you may lose potential candidates.”

    Recruiting during COVID-19

    As COVID-19 continues to spread across the US and the world, many companies are experiencing a hiring freeze – or even layoffs. Depending on their individual situations, continuing to develop a talent pipeline may be the last thing they’re worried about. However, Otenbaker advised not to let efforts with the talent pipeline fall by the wayside.

    “Continue working on your pipeline through the hiring freeze,” she stated. “If you stop now, it will put you behind when we get on the other side or are dealing with the new normal. You want to continue to work on it and make sure you are communicating what’s going on with your company to ensure you are appropriately staffed and ready to react throughout the crisis.”

    With nearly 20 years of marketing communications experience under her belt, Shelly Otenbaker has the experience, knowledge and determination to help companies develop and implement strategic communications strategies focused on improving their business’ bottom line. For more information, visit www.waypointmc.com.

    Label Academy Launches Virtual Master Classes

    Global training provider for the label and package printing industry, the Label Academy, London, UK, will start offering its master classes to an international audience online outside Labelexpo shows for the very first time. This is in response to the increased appetite for digital learning.

    The Label Academy’s in-depth and expert-led master classes in English have proved extremely popular around the world at Labelexpo tradeshows during the past few years, covering a wide range of key topics in the label and package printing industry. These have included shrink sleeves; inks, coatings and varnishes; and flexible packaging.

    Building on this success, the first international “virtual” master class will cover digital printing technology. It will be spread over two, two-hour parts on Tuesday, June 23 and 30. It will be presented by Labelexpo strategic director Andy Thomas-Emans, who will be joined by expert guest speakers from AB Graphic, Avery Dennison, Cerm, Domino, Durst, HP, UPM Raflatac and Xeikon.

    Attendees will gain a unique insight into the technologies, materials, finishing and embellishments that could transform a converter’s product offering, and learn how to maximize operational workflow. Part 1 will cover digital markets, future predictions and compare the different technologies and processes such as liquid/dry toner, hybrid and inkjet. Part 2 will look at prepress systems and strategies, the importance of workflow automation, substrate selection and print quality, plus digital print finishing.

    The virtual master class costs $60 (US dollars) per session. For more information, visit www.label-academy.com/master-classes-0.

    FSEA Launches Online Learning Experience

    The Foil & Specialty Effects Association (FSEA) is launching a free online event to provide resources for print decorating, finishing and binding providers. To be held virtually on June 23 and 24 at www.fseaconference.com, the FSEA Online Learning Experience will provide education on topics that are critical to the success of small- to mid-sized specialty businesses.

    “When COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the 2020 FSEA·IADD Joint Conference, we were concerned that our association members and others in the industry would miss out on the business-impacting content we had planned,” said FSEA Executive Director Jeff Peterson. “Thanks to our amazing industry suppliers, we’ve been able to pivot to a two-day online event that is free to attendees. We believe it’s absolutely critical that the print decorating, finishing and binding industries have up-to-date information, and the 2020 FSEA Online Learning Experience will deliver.”

    Event topics will include:

    • Recruiting, Training & Retaining the Workforce
    • Sustainability in the Print Industry
    • Tax Savings through the R&D Tax Credit
    • The Impact of Cold Foil on the Embellishment Landscape
    • Working Through Challenges with Today’s Paper Stocks and Coatings
    • Digital Decorating – Where Does it Fit and Where is It Going?
    • Grow Your Business: Promoting Foil and Finishing

    Registration is open. Attendees can sign up now for free at www.fseaconference.com. On Tuesday, June 23, and Wednesday, June 24, attendees will log in at www.fseaconference.com to view live and recorded webinar content.

    The event is sponsored by these industry suppliers: BOBST; Duplo USA Corporation; H+M; KURZ; Infinity Foils, Inc.; Metal Magic; Mueller Prost CPAs + Business Advisors; Sakurai; Univacco; and Universal Engraving Inc. – a UEI Group Company.

    For more information, call 785.271.5816 or visit www.fseaconference.com.

    Top 5 Skills Required for 4th Industrial Revolution Success

    The skills gap continues to widen and is expected to endure, according to the latest skills gap study conducted by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute (2018). These findings were based on a survey of more than 400 US manufacturers, interviews with manufacturing industry executives, economic predictions by Deloitte’s economics team and analysis of secondary data. While just a few years ago manufacturers saw the retirement of baby boomers as the biggest reason for the skills gap, opinion has shifted. The gap is being attributed to the rapid rise of advanced technology and automation in the workplace.

    Manufacturers see great benefit in adopting robotics, cobots, AI and machine learning, but they are finding that these technologies require employees with particular skills and aptitudes. While the design and engineering phases of manufacturing will increasingly call for job candidates with STEM degrees, the production side of manufacturing will see its own growing need for technology-savvy employees.

    Here’s a quick take on the top five skills and qualities that manufacturing executives believe will be most important in the next few years.

    Critical thinking

    In an environment filled with integrated and interacting technology, tools and robotics, employees with the ability to think critically will be increasingly valuable. Manufacturing plants, no matter how well designed, will not run without human oversight. Critical thinking is necessary, for example, to monitor quality control. When quality lapses, astute thinking is required to troubleshoot, identify the source and reason for the lapse, and take the right action to remedy the problem.

    Digital skills

    As manufacturing itself leans on automation and computerization as work horses on the production floor, employees have their own sets of digital tools upon which to rely. Company-specific social media, messaging and texting apps are some of the digital tools commonly in use in every line of work. Manufacturers who have implemented these types of productivity and communication methods will need to place digital skills high on the list of must-haves for new employees.

    Technology and computer skills

    The day-to-day in manufacturing relies on an infrastructure of computer-based functions. Computerized platforms for things like timekeeping, communications, job tracking, supplies management, calendaring and scheduling, learning management and inter-department collaboration are all commonplace. New employees must arrive with an understanding of the more ubiquitous software and technologies, and with an interest and aptitude for learning industry- or company-specific packages.

    Programming skills

    The programming requirements of manufacturers might not call for employees capable of creating advanced algorithms or complex, nested subroutines. But the CNC machines, robots, cobots and lights-out operations found in many plants do call for basic programming skills as well as the methodical, meticulous, patient and persistent mindset often associated with programmers.

    Aptitude with tools and techniques

    Lest anyone think that manufacturing has gone entirely cerebral and totally computerized – and therefore with no need for the mechanically inclined – the Deloitte/Manufacturing Institute study points out that there is still a strong need for employees with an affinity for mechanics, along with an aptitude for using tools and applying techniques.

    To read the 2018 Skills Gap Report by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute, visit http://www.themanufacturinginstitute.org/Research/Skills-Gap-in-Manufacturing/Skills-Gap-in-Manufacturing.aspx.

    New Coalition Addresses Communications Industry Concern

    A group of concerned associations, educators and industry representatives has formed the
    Graphic Communications Workforce Coalition.

    As stated in its organizing documents: “The purpose of the coalition will be to coordinate the efforts of all organizations representing the broad scope of the graphic communications industry for creating awareness, recruitment of new people into the industry, providing a framework for apprenticeship and training programs, and the retention of the existing workforce. By combining the separate efforts, experiences and initiatives of various organizations, coordinating actions and the sharing of ideas and resources, it is expected that all will benefit.”

    This new initiative will address the number one issue that faces the industry today. That is the recruitment, retention and training of its workforce. Numerous studies and surveys have documented that this is a major concern for nearly every company in the industry. Various associations and individual companies have taken steps to address this issue, but there has never been an organized joint effort. The coalition will seek to bring together and focus efforts and energy for the mutual benefit of all parties.

    Membership will be open to interested parties representing a broad spectrum of the graphic
    communications industry. This will include associations, vendors to the industry, educational institutions and all areas of print and graphic communications service providers. Those interested in participating are encouraged to visit https://app.donorview.com/kwMW to join the group. Currently, there is no cost to join, only the desire to participate in the process.

    The coalition’s aim was to form a board of directors and electing officers at the end of June. While some two dozen organizations already are involved in the process, more are welcomed. All that are interested in being a part of this industry-wide effort are encouraged to join.

    For more information, contact John Berthelsen at jberthelsen@printing.org or 608.575.3904.

    5 Reasons to Hire for Skill Over Experience

    by John Carrozza, principal consultant
    Riviera Advisors, Inc.

    When hiring a new person into your organization, it’s very likely that you will review the resume, CV or professional profile and assess how that experience might apply to what your team needs. This is a very logical approach to assessing talent; however, when you look at how quickly the skills to perform each role are changing, only looking at past experience could leave you with a big skill gap. Hiring employees for their skills is a much safer – and longer-term – bet.

    Hiring for skill means your workforce is better prepared for the changes your business may need to make in the future – and those employees will likely be more adaptable to the future organization you are starting to envision.

    To make sure you are not only attracting the best candidates, but know who they are when they’re right in front of you, here are five ways to approach hiring for skill.

    1. Don’t get too caught up with ‘fit’

    Hiring for culture is extremely important. However, hiring for what ‘fits’ today is extremely limiting. Think about where your business will be in three to five years – will the prospective employee fit what you need then? Every area of your business likely is evolving; make sure your talent acquisition activities are, too.

    2. Avoid the shiny pedigree appeal

    Many organizations focus too heavily on sourcing efforts that target candidates with “pedigree appeal” – impressive credentials, educational or employment backgrounds. In fact, these days it takes precedence over the thorough investigation your team should be doing to understand if candidates have the skills needed to do their job today and tomorrow. Make sure you still are using some good old-fashioned interviewing and assessment skills to learn what these candidates gained from their prestigious experience.

    3. Leverage technology, but don’t fully rely on it

    There are amazing tools today to search resumes for key words that can help create a shortlist of job candidates. Where the technology cannot help you is in uncovering why/when/how do people entertain new career opportunities, and what they need or want before you start selling the job and the organization. Be sure to learn candidates’ aspirations for growing their career and constantly enhancing their skill sets.

    4. Sharpen your assessment skills

    Further to #2: Know how to effectively assess candidates for desired skill sets based on prior accomplishments and results – and coach hiring managers to do the same. Think about the skills the candidate has demonstrated and get an understanding of what the individual learned from that experience. You can do this by actively listening and interpreting for understanding, not just responding.

    5. Learn the story of the skills

    Know where the value lies in the story of the job seeker’s experience. Ask at least two skill-based questions (with follow-ups) for each attractive experiential accomplishment, and you can get to the story of the skills. Coaching the team members who participate in the interview process can help them put the skills in the proper context. An example of a skill-based question could be, “How did you build the skills you needed after a setback?”

    Previous approaches may have had you looking for top commercial or consumer brands on a resume. Some have assumed that surviving a period at that school or at that employer would automatically prepare the individual to deliver what is needed in a particular role. Skill-based hiring involves looking for stories with keywords like: ability to communicate, learning new systems, managing relationships, interpreting situations, forming new ideas, strategic thinking and respecting others’ input.

    Many of these skills are much harder to teach, change or develop in candidates regardless of the industry. These are the solid skills that can make an immediate impact and help a candidate fit in with your culture, today and in the future. For consistency across all your interviews, a scoring tool to identify where the greatest added value would be, where the growth opportunity for each candidate lies and what your recommendations are can be a helpful way to later review the talent available to you.

    Having a strong understanding of what you need each role to bring to your team today – and how that role may quickly evolve – will help your company find strong candidates. These will turn into fantastic employees who are adaptable and will help bring your organization into the future. It may be tough at first, but know that getting a start on this will give you a competitive edge as the battle heats up to attract, develop and retain your talent.

    John Carrozza is a principal consultant with Riviera Advisors, Inc., a boutique recruitment/talent acquisition management and optimization consulting firm based in southern California. For more information, visit www.RivieraAdvisors.com.