The Importance of Customer Experience // TJ Bedacht

00:00:00TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: Learn how to build a better sign and

00:00:03Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: print shop from a few crusty sign

00:00:05TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: guys who've made more mistakes

00:00:08Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: than they

00:00:08TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: care to admit. Conversations and advice on pricing, sales, marketing, [00:00:15] workflow, growth, and more. You're listening to The Better Sign Shop podcast with your hosts, Peter Kaunas,

00:00:24Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: Michael Riley, and Bryant

00:00:27TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: Gillespie.

00:00:29Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: All [00:00:30] right, guys. Welcome to the next edition of the Better Sign Shop podcast. Brian Gillespie here, and as always, I've got my friends and colleagues, the Sign Shop, Yoda Peter Karus, and [00:00:45] the Sign Burrito. Michael Riley . We need to get a, another nickname. I, I feel like we have to switch every, every

00:00:53Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: episode.

00:00:56Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: Mayor McKee signed burrito. If you're listening to [00:01:00] this right now, send us your suggestions for Mike's nickname On the next episode, we want to hear from,

00:01:06Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: You mean we need to like hop on Jasper and let a computer, give me a nickname, See what it comes up [00:01:15] with. Yeah, yeah.

00:01:15Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: Let's get some AI involved.

00:01:24Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: Well, I'm getting married in two weeks, so it's been, I am like, like stressed beyond belief right now. [00:01:30] It's crazy. I don't

00:01:33Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: what, what is, what's your stress level at like a one to 10?

00:01:39Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: Oh, it's cranked up to 11, man. , like it's just

00:01:43Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: as full spinal [00:01:45] tap.

00:01:45Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: Uh, Yeah, you know, I'm, I'm handling it well. It's just, it's very, it's a lot of internal stress.

00:01:59Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: But you're not [00:02:00] even stressed about the, the wedding part or like getting married or any of that?

00:02:08Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: the guests are the most stressful part. Yeah, no, like, we don't know what we're gonna do for food for the wedding yet, so we're still, we're, you know, that's, that's a little up in the air , which is kind of of [00:02:15] a big thing, so we need to figure that out. Um, but no, the wedding plans are pretty, pretty solid.

00:02:30 trying to to help and everything. But, um, yeah, it's really just, you know, all the prep work, trying to get ready and then I'm gonna shut the business down for a week and a half, um, to go on honeymoon and everything like that.

00:02:42Peter Kourounis: #583e31;">Peter Kourounis: Well, I got one question for you, Michael.

00:02:44Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: One [00:02:45] question, lay it on me. What's that? You're

00:02:48Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: gonna have to get close to, to the mike or some of

00:02:48Peter Kourounis: #583e31;">Peter Kourounis: Pete who, who was that amazing photographer that you

00:02:52Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: had

00:03:00 published a few books on, uh, like lake photo books as well. But, um, I mean, it's a pat, my, my future wife on the back, like, you know, she went to school for photography.

00:03:15 were, you know, fairly unimpressive. They were, they were nice. They were, well, well compos and framed, but, um, but she actually did all the editing on it.

00:03:20Peter Kourounis: #583e31;">Peter Kourounis: yes, she's outta here. Oh my God. Because I was gonna give, I was gonna give your photographer all the accolades. Those were the best photos I have ever seen. And I think I commented that. I mean, it sincerely . [00:03:30] I literally thought my wedding photos might have been the best, but that wasn't until I saw.

00:03:45 check it out. They are literally the best in, I guess what is it? Is that, is that, is that like a wedding photo engagement photo? What, what, what was that?

00:03:53Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: was just an engagement, like photo session that we did. Cuz she, she wanted to have like a, a, a picture of us that we could send out with the wedding invites. Um, so we just did a quick, [00:04:00] like one hour beach session with the guy, um, out of sunset. Um, Amazing. So yeah, having like a beautiful spot like that to have pictures taken as well, really helps.

00:04:15 master. She's really, really good at it. So she can take a.

00:04:30 Photoshop is, uh, she's good at it. Um, thank you, Peter. Yeah, they, they, we were really happy. I'm excited to see how the actual wedding photos come out.

00:04:45 but the wedding is, is in late September.

00:05:00 down rain on the.

00:05:11Peter Kourounis: #583e31;">Peter Kourounis: rained on my wedding. Don't, don't tell my wife that she hates three B.

00:05:15 rained on my wedding. It was devastating cuz we picked this venue for an outdoor venue. Mm-hmm. and then we got like huddled into this like small little room. So it was, it was uh, not the best scenario but you know, still

00:05:25Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: a great, you're getting married, like, it doesn't matter like you're getting married.

00:05:30 up and, and do it. And we're, we're trying to brace ourselves. Yeah. Like I'm actually like secretly sort of hoping it rains cuz I, I love the rain. That's why I live in Oregon because it rains so much. I just think it's beautiful and like a rainy day at the Oregon coast is just otherworldly beautiful, but she's a [00:05:45] little less enthusiastic about it.

00:05:51Peter Kourounis: #583e31;">Peter Kourounis: Uh, I'm planning something but not planning a wedding. I'm planning my son's second birthday and my other son's baptism, so they are within [00:06:00] eight days of each other. So it's a lot of, And I and I, and I'm, I'm just gonna throw this out there, cuz Brian, you got kids.

00:06:07Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: Uh, yes. Okay. We're not Catholic or anything like that. The,

00:06:12Peter Kourounis: #583e31;">Peter Kourounis: Sorry. That's all right. Well, the first one, [00:06:15] my first son, it was a full out party, like a full out extravaganza. You know, I had dozens and dozens of people at my house. I, I rented everything, including like the camel.

00:06:30 This one, it's like, let's just do it at a restaurant.

00:06:45 second time, like for the first, for the second kid. And I'm like, this is too much money happening at the same time, so I'm just gonna listen.

00:07:00 restaurant. And, and my wife and I are feeling so guilty about it because when mys, when my second son gets older, he's, I'm afraid he's gonna ask like, Why didn't you throw, I feel like I'm damaging his being by [00:07:15] this, You know, I'm not, It was, it was not as exciting as the first one.

00:07:24Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: We're, we're on the third kid. Okay. Like I, I know like, you're just now on the second kid that's kind like the second [00:07:30] kid. You're, you kind of just like, you're like, eh, but when you get to the third kid, you're like, uh, like whatever, Like, fuck it.

00:07:45 out, you know, like, Oh, you wanna run around outside, You wanna ride your bike without knee pads and stuff like that.

00:07:55Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: about. I've heard that's the way it goes with kids. Like with, with every [00:08:00] subsequent one you have, like you your, your helicopter parenting just kind of like goes down a notch or two until, until you're just like, eh, they'll survive.

00:08:15 cool, but she's already grown up and so I don't have to worry too much about all the, about her just

00:08:20Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: dying on a daily basis for self-inflicted death.

00:08:23Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: Well, no, actually, I still worry, worry about that for other reasons though. She she's not always the best at the logical decision making [00:08:30] still, but, um, less so I probably expect than you guys with your, your young ones. Yeah. Hundred percent.

00:08:36Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: Yeah. So what's the topic today, guys?

00:08:41Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: Today we are talking about customer [00:08:45] experience and, and.

00:09:00 You're, if you spend any time on any of the Facebook forums, like those damn sign guys or sign Shop Talk or anything like that, you'll inevitably, you know, seen TJ's name, um, thrown about quite a bit.

00:09:15 printing or fleet of wraps printed, or you're just like totally in a. You know, in a rut and need somebody to save your ass. It seems like TJ is like the, uh, uh, uh, the Superman , uh, and, and, and apparently he's doing something right.

00:09:30 says like, he just, he will bend over backwards for you every single time and get it done and knock it outta the ballpark. And, and on a rare occasion, he doesn't, he'll, he'll be Johnny in the spot to make it right for you.

00:09:45 talk to the guy.

00:09:45Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: do we just bring him on now? He's like,

00:09:48Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: he's in the lobby. Yeah. Yeah. Let's go ahead and, uh, let's bring him on. He just sent me messages waiting. Okay. All. All right, so welcome, uh, TJ Bak. Tj, did I say your last name right? Bak abs. Yep. [00:10:00] Awesome. All right. I didn't want to butcher your name there. Welcome to TJ Bak from GCI Digital Imaging.

00:10:15 everything to, to accommodate us here. Um, so to start, just, uh, just kind of give us the quick rundown, like the, you know, the, the nickel experience of your, your company and, and how you got into the industry.

00:10:27Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: The nickel experience. I've never heard that. The Tencent [00:10:30] tour. The Tencent tour. The Tencent

00:10:31TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: tour . There you go. Okay. I, I might give you the 25. All right, That works. Um, so once again, TJ bak, GCI Digital, uh, we're based outta Cincinnati, Ohio, uh, family owned business.

00:10:45 operation out of the, the basement of his house. Um, we were retail for a number of years, and when I was finishing high school in 2001, I don't know where that put you guys, but 2001 was a, a [00:11:00] very interesting year. Um, started calling wholesale, uh, vehicle rep companies.

00:11:15 my dad. My grandpa kind of bred into me. I'm fourth generation. My grandpa always said, Buy something that nobody else can, and, uh, you'll. A great success in it, build it, they will come type of theory.

00:11:30 And, um, so we were buying 10 foot machines when everybody else had, you know, five foot, four foot. Uh, so we started printing banners. Lots of them. I mean, we're printing right now we're, we're 40,000, 50,000 square foot per day in banner work. Wow. We're running, you know, a a thousand [00:11:45] sheets through the flatbed department.

00:12:00 Saturday night at 10 o'clock and say, tj, we have an emergency. There's not too many people that are going a answer the phone, but to go in, get the estimate done except the order on a Saturday night.

00:12:15 I.

00:12:16Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: Well, that's why, just shout

00:12:17Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: out Sign guys left and right, huh?

00:12:19Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: Yep. Yep. That's why I wanted to have you on the podcast, tj, because I, you know, if you spent any time on any of the Facebook, you know, sign industry groups, your name is inevitably gonna come up as the guy who's [00:12:30] gonna swoop in and save the day when somebody's printer, shit the bad, or they've got an impossible deadline that they just flat out cannot meet.

00:12:45 there's a human element to it that's just, uh, uh, it, it's impressive. And, you know, like I said, what we wanted to talk about the day was, you know, cultivating and creating a great customer experience.

00:13:00 pretty impressive. So how did you, uh, how did you get to that point? What, how do you approach that customer experience and, and, and, Teamwork makes dream

00:13:08TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: work.

00:13:15 my wife and the kids get it. Uh, you know, we've slept in the truck, delivering a job on a Friday night in North Carolina. Um, you know, my staff has worked all night to give me the proper product [00:13:30] to, um, to make that drive the kids, you know, helping pounding the last couple grommets.

00:13:45 Yeah.

00:13:46Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: How, how do you maintain that, that passion for the industry? Cuz like, you know, you and I were in, I was a, I have no idea . I have no idea.

00:14:00 crazier than others. Um, it's a hard industry. It's a, it's, it's it's an industry that will definitely, you know, grind you down. Especially when on the end of the industry that, that you were in and that I was in, where you're, you're, everything's a rush job.

00:14:15 strikes, you get, you know, things just go sideways on you and it can be super stressful. How do you, how do you maintain, touch a positive outlook? Is that something else that I notice? Is that, you know, you'll see you complaining and bitching and moaning a lot on those forums.

00:14:28TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: industry. Well, um, Um, you know, one of my big [00:14:30] things with all of my customers, I say, you know, how soon do you need it? And, you know, the, like for example, it's, you know, 1230 on a Thursday right now.

00:14:45 So then I back into it, Okay, when do I have to have it out the door? Is it, are we gonna chance it with UPS or FedEx? Are we going to drive it straight there? And they're like, Drive it.

00:15:00 that, that whole thing. I mean, we've dealt the dashed projects before up to New York and stuff like that. Um, there's not an option. You have to get these jobs done. And you know, my dad, my grandpa, it's, it's your reputation. It's the company name.

00:15:15 You have to make it happen no matter what. I have to print faster than fast signs. I have to deliver for all these agencies and brokers and, and sign shots because at the end of the day, if they lose that account, it could be, it could be they lost their largest [00:15:30] customer because of TJ in Cincinnati. He didn't deliver it.

00:15:45 Bear with me. You know, and that's just the motto that we've always had. Um, my dad's hopped on an airplane, um, you know, it was like a $2,200 airline ticket for a powerboat race down in Fort Myers, Florida.

00:16:00 delivered that banner the afternoon. You know, it was like a Friday afternoon. He was very mad that I sent him to Florida, but, um, the customer got it and it was only $150 banner, you know, but I had to get it there because the guy, he was, he was so pissed.[00:16:15]

00:16:30 call the shop, she's, um, basically she helps me keep my sanity.

00:16:45 after the podcast and everything. To help simplify my life. Uh, we've got some online, uh, ordering systems in place to where people will be able to upload automatic proof, and now it's gonna go straight to the [00:17:00] printer, so it's gonna bypass our pre-press department.

00:17:15 the whole shop without any hiccups. But yeah, we'll see what happens there.

00:17:20Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: Let me ask you, like, you put your dad on a plane, you said it was like $2,200 plane ticket for like $150 banner.

00:17:30 happen like often or?

00:17:32TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: No? We, my guys don't miss man, my guys, if I have to do that, Once, once a quarter. Like that's a lot. I mean, we, Okay. You know, my dad's not on an airplane every week. It's, you know, if we really screw up, we make it right. Um, even [00:17:45] if it's in store credit, crediting it back to customer.

00:18:00 it, they complain. We have a checks and balances system will take a photo of almost every single job through here to make sure that, you know, the i's are dotted and cre t's are crossed.

00:18:15 until late. Uh, 55 banners already went through to production. Are boxed ready to go. That 56 banner got lost. Right. And, uh, Gotcha. So we have to make it right and get it to the guy. It happened to be the entrance banner [00:18:30] or the podium backdrop for the power bit race.

00:18:34Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: Mm-hmm. . Yeah. No, I was um, I, I was just thinking like, if you're customer experience is obviously hugely important, but if you're like bending over backwards for every single customer, like [00:18:45] it's every day. Wait, how do you, how do you turn a profit? You know,

00:18:46TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: especially on, we don't, we don't make any money.

00:18:55Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: Are you, uh, are you comfortable sharing some numbers or? [00:19:00]

00:19:01TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: I feel like the number situation would, uh, would size me up. Um, you know, In, in, uh, 2001, when I graduated high school, we were, we couldn't break a million. Okay. My dad was in business for, [00:19:15] I think he started in 19, 19 91, 92, and they couldn't, they couldn't hit that threshold.

00:19:24Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: retail work

00:19:25TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: though, at that, that was retail. Um, you know, posters, you know, you're gonna sell poster for eight [00:19:30] bucks. I mean, we were, we were doing a lot of posters, a lot of encapsulation of, of things. And then we got into the vehicle wrap market. And, uh, you know, we still have a few retail customers that, you know, I still service.

00:19:45 don't go retail door to door. It's just not, we're not built for. You know, if somebody calls in I'll, I'll recommend them to a local Fast signs or, you know, one of my buddies that sends me a decent amount of work, I'll just pass it off to them cuz I don't want the headache.

00:19:58Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: Peter, I, I I think it's an [00:20:00] Ohio thing to just refer people to fast signs. I'm not sure. I used to do the same thing. TJ fast. Well,

00:20:05TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: yeah, these guys, they, you know, most of the fast signs guys here and some of the other sign shops have the code to get into our side door so they can go pick up their, uh, their [00:20:15] jobs on the pickup shelf.

00:20:30 four and five were covid. So we're, we're up there past that right now, and it's nine months in. So I'm, I'm very pleased to say that [00:20:45] the hard work of the whole staff, um, the customer service, the designers, the everyth, everything, the freight train's in motion, and, you know, I couldn't do without the awesome customers we have.

00:21:00 used to using Science 365 or IND or some of these other wholesalers. Okay. Yeah. And

00:21:08Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: some of my next questions were like, who are you guys competing with? Like directly head to head with Science

00:21:14TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: [00:21:15] 365. I, I'm, I, I'm putting in some equipment. Um, this is newly released, uh, As of yesterday, we're putting in a couple, uh, H five Tex and a couple, uh, 16 footers.

00:21:30 online ordering and with the stuff that we've been implementing this year, I feel very confident to step up to the plate 2 65. I don't drive a silver dually, so please don't blow me up. 365, um, . So, you know, there's plenty of work out [00:21:45] there for all of us, but with the request that we have been getting, it's faster, higher quality.

00:22:00 acrylic portion of things. I wanna focus on rigid. I wanna focus on banner and mesh and vehicle wraps. You know, other guys can kinda take on the acrylics and the higher end stuff. I just want to kind of, the lower margin, higher [00:22:15] volume runs.

00:22:20Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: So how do you keep your, your staff motivated to, I mean, cuz you're to, to deliver the customer experience that you, you guys are, it's not, it's obviously not just you like as you said, I mean, it takes an entire team behind [00:22:30] you to pull that off. You can't be out there, you know, promising the world that your customer is, and then your staff isn't gonna, you know, tow the line behind you.

00:22:45 faces, especially right now is, is just, is staffing in general. Right. And, and just finding decent employees who are willing to roll up their sleeves and work hard for you.

00:23:00 you, mean, you're, you're running a high pressure. Everything's a rush. We, we gotta bend over backwards and tire ourselves and knots for every one of our customers. How do you keep the staff passionate about that alongside you?

00:23:12TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: Um, not afraid to get my hands dirty. Um, I've got a [00:23:15] kind of a famous line that I came up with and that was here, uh, at this building, maybe at the old shop. Um, you know, if I have to do your job, I don't need you. Mm-hmm. , um, is, is one of those lines that I will use if I, if we get behind and work.

00:23:30 we've got some really, really, really strong team players that will step up, make things happen. They understand that the yellow ticket that's flying through the shop is, it's hot. I mean, it's, it's to grab your [00:23:45] attention. You know, we've got some, uh, the yellow ticket is, is the golden ticket, right? Um, I don't make a lot of money on that one banner that you might send in and give me seven to 10 day turn time.

00:24:00 turn. And you know, we use that for fill in work. The yellow tickets, the rush tickets. I make a little bit extra rush fees on. Okay. But as far as keeping the employees focused and, um, getting the jobs [00:24:15] out the door, you know, perfect example.

00:24:30 buy each guy a drink or a candy bar outta the vending machine.

00:24:45 We get that 30 to 50,000 square feet out a day in just an eight or 10 hour day. We're not running two, three shifts like some of these other guys are, and we're still making it happen.

00:25:00 with respect has been one of my things. Also, I can't have a guy pounding a grommet, making a lot of. I've been there, I've done it. I've had to pound thousands of groms five days a [00:25:15] week. You know, I've been there, done it. Um, just having respect and, you know, earning their respect, I think is, is one of the key to help be successful in it.

00:25:28Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: I just can't imagine like every [00:25:30] job being for like another sign guy and having that not be like a pressure cooker situation or I, I guess you'll probably deal with some like marketing agencies and, and and folks like that as well. But I just know the way [00:25:45] that I was back in the day when I ran the shop and I know how discerning Mike is, and I know Mike has been on the other side where he was, uh, is sling some wholesale prints as well.

00:25:59TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: You know, my, my [00:26:00] guys, um, I mean they sent, they sent a banner out. It was, uh, I believe it was like 20, 2200 inches long. And it was like, it was like 180 feet by, what was it? Nine and a half, 10 foot tall. They [00:26:15] forgot the grommet. The one whole bottom side, like 2200 inches.

00:26:30 What do you wanna do? I just gave him a in-store credit on the other job that he has in here, and he was fine with it. But man, some of the stuff I've seen , like we shift, we shipped out a pallet and didn't even strap it [00:26:45] down, shrink wrapped it, you know, one of the guys just.

00:26:56Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: Do you, I mean, it sounds like a lot of your jobs are, are last minute high [00:27:00] pressure rush jobs, which is typical in the area of the industry that you, you operated in. Is it are, do you have a lot of redos and, and mistakes that you have to fix and catch on the fly be just because of the, the rush nature of the job?

00:27:15 pretty rare for you guys?

00:27:16TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: We make more mistakes when we're slow.

00:27:22Peter Kourounis: #583e31;">Peter Kourounis: that's a very interesting statement.

00:27:24TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: It's when we're slow, we have to think about it when we're, you know, when we are [00:27:30] hammered, the jobs just go through and they flow well, uh, I compare ourselves to a fast food restaurant, not a high end, sit down, you know, meal. We will have, I think UPS typically picks up somewhere around 150 or 200 [00:27:45] boxes a day.

00:28:00 anticipate with the package count, the amount of work that we're putting out. You know, we might double print one banner to where there might have been an A and a B art, um, that would make it through the shop.

00:28:15 and a B proof sheet. But maybe the customer only approved a, so whose fault is it? You know, it's, We don't make all the mistakes. Some of the customers will own up to it. Some of the customers just blame it [00:28:30] all on us, and that's when they don't come back. You know, I'm, I'm that crusty wholesale printer that will tell a customer, Hey, you were wrong.

00:28:45 always right. Correct.

00:28:49Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: when somebody says that out

00:28:50TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: loud, and I, and, and, and not to throw rocks at, at, uh, where I've, I've had the most trouble out of people. But the [00:29:00] northeastern corner of the United States, those people tend to be the most, see, they on the sheet, the roughest to work with. Um, not to point fingers.

00:29:14Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: see [00:29:15] Peter success letter from the whole, these now , right?

00:29:18TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: right. No, I've, I've got some really good buddies up there. Christo. Tamir, there's, there's a lot of guys up there that, you know, I've, I've done work with and, um, versus called me, I've been mowing my grass, you know, shoot the shit with them. That's, [00:29:30] that's kind of the whole thing.

00:29:45 down to it. Like I've, I've called Chris up asking for advice, you know, um, you know, it's, it's kind wild.

00:30:00 wild experience. I needed help on an install. He's like, Hey tj, just do it this way. And actually my installers are done. They're gonna help you out. Like, this dude's my competitor. This dude's a monster in the industry and he just is helping me do [00:30:15] something I've never done before.

00:30:30 aren't in this, the, the big inner circle, you know, my arm, you know, I'll talk to any of them, you know, know, I'll give 'em all pointers.

00:30:44Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: So you guys [00:30:45] said that you're, you have launched or are just launching online ordering for clients. Uh,

00:30:50TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: so we've got, we've got new, new system that's getting ready to be released here, um, to where it's, it's very similar to the other guys, uh, where it's the online proofing and it goes straight [00:31:00] to the rip.

00:31:15 probably changed, uh, two to three software companies. I've gone to two or three different ones. Um, I actually removed myself from this, that whole side of things, and that's one of my dad's projects.

00:31:30 He's still here every single day. Uh, I wanna focus on the sales and the production and the like, acquiring of equipment, stuff like that. And I've put him pretty much on the, he is not it savvy at all. He can barely turn on his cell [00:31:45] phone, but I've got him working with a couple of our internal people.

00:32:00 banner, any quantity of the size automatically picks up if it's low res and it'll shoot a, this is, this isn't gonna work, type of email. And we're trying to make it so simple that my dad can do it.

00:32:13Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: Nice. [00:32:15] So like, prior to this were, were you guys using like online ordering as well or like how do, how were most of the orders coming in or how do most of the orders come in,

00:32:24TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: I guess? Uh, so we, we used to operate off of job tickets and that just got out of hand. Um, now we're using [00:32:30] Corbridge, uh, currently and um, pretty decent software.

00:32:35Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: I think.

00:32:37TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: Pretty decent

00:32:37Peter Kourounis: #583e31;">Peter Kourounis: Corbridge too. Guess what? Fast Signs uses Corbridge

00:32:40TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: It's, it's, it's pretty good. Um, one thing that I, you know, have been begging Corbridge to do, [00:32:45] and I actually saw him down at the Atlanta Show, uh, prior to the gentleman passing the owner, um, I asked them to, when you build an estimate in Corbridge, it doesn't automatically send out. So [00:33:00] the opportunities of all of the estimates that we do daily, if we don't pick up the phone call each opportunity, it's lost.

00:33:15 for me with Corbridge. I, I can't, uh, I can't call every single customer that we've. Send an estimate I mean, one banner might be, we have a $50 minimum. You know, I might have a $50 estimate, I might have a $50,000 estimate.

00:33:30 Which 1:00 AM I gonna call the 50,000 and I, and I lose track of the $50 jobs. So I'm trying to get those to where it's the easy online order. Sure.

00:33:40Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: But like, what percentage are like through email now? And what [00:33:45] percentage are online? Is it all through like email? I would say the call, I mean, I'm assuming they're just, even if you talk to them on the phone, they're sending you an email with the files and the details

00:33:56TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: of the job.

00:34:00 70%. Uh,

00:34:15 to send an estimate, process, the order, and they don't wanna really mess with it.

00:34:30 12 people in the front office pre Covid, you know, I had, uh, four people that did nothing but make phone calls, telemarketing to all the sign shops nationwide. I can't get, I can't get four people to come into work.

00:34:45 two other two o three other people in the front office right now. So, majority of our sales is still kind of the old fashioned way.

00:34:59Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: that, um, like [00:35:00] causing stress for you guys? Or like what, what was the the point where you were like, Hey, I, I want this other system in place. Like what was the, what was the tipping point? Like where were you at? Like what was the time period? How long ago was it?

00:35:14TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: So [00:35:15] I said five years ago, it might, it's my, let's see.

00:35:30 That guy that's placed that 50 or that a hundred dollars order is a regular customer knows how to send it over.

00:35:45 know what my cost is, you know, we're gonna get it done, just send it over. Um, I've actually passed some of the smaller things off to Mark who's in the front office, so that way I can focus on the larger, more profitable, uh, projects.[00:36:00]

00:36:10Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: experience, like given the opportunity, customers will self serve. Um, but you know, if you've got, Hey, this is [00:36:15] how I've always worked with TJ and the, the crew, and like, they're fine with that. That's, that could be a headache trying to onboard them to this new system.

00:36:23TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: Well, and and that's, and that's something that, um, some of these other guys they don't offer, can't pick up the. And call and ask for [00:36:30] tj, Mark, Patricia. Um, you know, our whole experience is we want, we want to be the good old boys, you know, I'll talk to anybody on the phone and I'm not gonna hurry up and let 'em off, you know?

00:36:45 a sign shop, uh, the point of contact there, Oh, he's, you know, they're out, whatever, you know, we try to find out, Hey, what's, what's their birthday? You know, did they just have a kid? And we try to build off of that relationship. We'll send them a, a pacifier, we'll send them a newborn [00:37:00] outfit.

00:37:12Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: uh, The Rusty bus. Yeah. We, we, [00:37:15] did we share the picture or I saw the picture, Yeah. We'll make sure we add it to the, uh, the show notes as well.

00:37:20TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: I mean, you watch a movie, Cousin Eddie.

00:37:30 just a, a magnet for people. But, um, James and those boys over at Fire Sprint, we were, we were kind of friendly betting because they're so close to Kansas City and, um, I actually made a bet with them. And that reminds me I need to get.

00:37:45 cuz I never sent them all GCI hats to put on and take a picture of. They were in the middle of their move and I think it's time. I think they've had plenty of time. I'm gonna be sending them some hats. Mm-hmm. . But

00:37:57Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: yeah, I, I like that. I, I, I'm always preaching that you should, [00:38:00] your competitors aren't your enemies.

00:38:15 competition is the enemy and, you know, you're at war with them. And I don't real, it was too small of an industry for that. Yeah. You know, know, you never know when you're gonna need somebody's help.

00:38:23TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: Correct. And you know, How many times have we ran out of ink because we're running all weekend and I've called, hey, you know, [00:38:30] Sport Graphics up in Indy.

00:38:45 that's what makes the world go around.

00:38:48Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: Uh, do you guys do like your clients, do they also purchase from like Science 365 and, and some of these others that are like hands off? Yeah, I don't think I've ever talked to anybody at Science [00:39:00] 365, but I, you know, I used to order from them a lot.

00:39:02TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: I could be, I could be the, uh, new Science 365 rep.

00:39:10Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: but I mean, do you, like, do the customers that you deal with, do they prefer your good old boy [00:39:15] approach and that's why they're coming to you guys? Or

00:39:17TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: is it, I th I think it's, it's kind of like the pricing game. You know, they might send a project to 365 because that $10 flat rate shipping, or they might be cheaper on one [00:39:30] item, but then I might get their mesh work, or I might get their banner work.

00:39:45 niche. Um, I, I don't know how they're doing the $10 flat rate and making any money, but it is what it is. You know, I know that they're build, they've gotta be building it into their, their front end price of their banner.

00:40:00 We're very aggressive on our banner and mesh pricing. They're a little bit higher if you do the math. Ours is still less money than what they're doing, but people like to see that $10 thing, [00:40:15] whatever. They can't call and talk to a live body there like they can here. So I think the good old boy club, it does help.

00:40:30

00:40:31Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: ideal client or customer?

00:40:33TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: Hmm. My ideal customer would be, um, a print broker or a signed guy that, that, um, may be struggling to find. [00:40:45] Employees to help in their shop. Might, might have to upgrade equipment soon. Um, struggling to, to get the jobs out the door, you know, Um, they call, they just know it's gonna get done. Um, that's my ideal customer.

00:41:00 machines that try to do the stuff and then it's like, Oh, we can't get it all done in this timeframe. Let's just send it to GCI and we'll get, you know, we'll pay a rush fee and have it done tomorrow. I, I'm not gonna say it, that's not my [00:41:15] optimal customer, but I make money off of 'em.

00:41:30 take 'em. Sure.

00:41:37Peter Kourounis: #583e31;">Peter Kourounis: your current wholesale customers any type of access to your wholesale

00:41:44TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: print list?[00:41:45]

00:42:00 system, uh, driven specifically for fast signs, uh, organization, um, the Fast Lane, you can go on there and we have, I think it's five, five items that are our sweet spot that we felt.

00:42:15 list the pricing's in there. You know, you put your size and it's there. We don't have like a menu for square foot pricing. Um, if that's what your question was. Um, it's just, well, it's a bit,

00:42:23Peter Kourounis: #583e31;">Peter Kourounis: it's been a, it's been a question that I've, I've talked about here in this group, on this podcast before about how few [00:42:30] of our stein shop owners out there actually have the, well, first the guts to ask.

00:42:45 wholesaler in mind.

00:42:48TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: Yeah. Um, so the pricing structure's changed like almost weekly anymore. So we're, we're kind of doing it over under. Right now, I might lose a little bit on [00:43:00] one job to where another job, I'll make it back up.

00:43:15 I've got in the back of my head where we can do it for and still get away with. You know, that over under part, I mean, a buck 25 for mesh or banner.

00:43:30 cost us a little bit more, but we are now back to ordering it from overseas, uh, containers. So right now we've got five, five containers of mesh and banner on the water.

00:43:43Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: Okay.[00:43:45]

00:43:56TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: Um, I go through a pallet of 3M [00:44:00] every couple days and they're the 300 foot rolls of CB three.

00:44:15 up to the door. But I was sweating it a little bit, um, because in our business we have to, we have to have vehicles printed ahead of time for the installers because if the installer gets the vehicle there, you know, that [00:44:30] whole chain of.

00:44:45 installed. So if we missed that window of opportunity, it's not good . Sure. But the supply chain issues, um, I know we had, uh, ran into a couple issues with Grim Co.

00:45:00 at one point be Craft had it. So, I mean, you can't have all of your eggs in one basket. And I feel that that's the same way a lot of these guys feel with the wholesale side of things, is they don't wanna put all their eggs in one basket and I don't blame 'em. Um, but they do need to order [00:45:15] more from.

00:45:23Peter Kourounis: #583e31;">Peter Kourounis: there something specific about gci? Maybe it's about you, maybe it's about your team, but is there [00:45:30] something specific that you do, uh, in regards to the customer experience that they just can't get anywhere Like, do you pay a lot of attention to the, what the customer's experience is, knowing that most of your customers are sign shop owners?

00:45:45 specifically that comes to mind that really paints a picture of, Why should I use you? What is it that's different than anything else?

00:45:52TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: Um, I feel that the, there's no excuse [00:46:00] for failure type of approach. Um, when a sign shop. Places an order with us. I feel that, uh, the customer experience, they know that it's gonna get done.

00:46:15 order, they can go home and they can say, you know, sit down with their family not working throughout the night, and the job will get there. If it was a rush job, it'll get there by 10 30. The next morning ups stress free. Um, that's kind of the approach that we've [00:46:30] had.

00:46:45 motto, We'll get it done. Just, just emailed over. Get it to me. You know, Lincoln from Fast, He's brick, uh, Lincoln O'. He, he calls and he's like, tj, I got, um, I've got this mess job.

00:47:00 reinsurance. So it's, it's

00:47:00Peter Kourounis: #583e31;">Peter Kourounis: the, uh, so it's the, it's the, like the guy in your pocket kind of of feel? Is that what you're feeling? Like? It's, it's the, it's the, I'm the sign shop owner. You're a sign shop owner.

00:47:15 actively giving you orders cuz of how simple it's

00:47:17TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: correct. Saying Correct. And, um, the, the personalization that we give to the sign shop owners, you know, for example, you place a mesh banner order with us for a baseball field.

00:47:30 The line that I tell my, my whole staff is if they're asking for a six foot tall mesh banner, please ask 'em what size the fence is. Number one. If it's a [00:47:45] six foot tall fence, you don't want the mesh banner to go from top to bottom. You want that little bit of a gap for stretching the zip ties. I can give you a better deal at five foot.

00:48:00 You go online and you type it at six foot. Nobody's gonna ever ask that question. You know, we're, we'll give kind of the industry insight, um, over the phone and that helps everybody in the end. Cuz I can run two up [00:48:15] at five foot on a 10 foot roll versus a six foot one up. Yeah. On the roll. Saves everybody money at the end of the day.

00:48:24Peter Kourounis: #583e31;">Peter Kourounis: Um, I had just one follow up question here for you. And, and this is, I guess it's maybe not a question, but it kind of [00:48:30] speaks to your sentiment about what we were discussing earlier, and that's, I gave you, uh, I guess it was sometime last year, you had 10, You had done a very large order for my fast signs, uh, job, but it was, it was a little different than what I was normally used to.

00:48:45 different from, uh, from the, uh, previous vendor I was using. So I had this customer, this school that wanted 1200 lawn signs, graduation signs. You know, you, you know what that was that, what that was like, like during c, like every kid's got their photo and their name and [00:49:00] every parent was buying one for their kid.

00:49:15 And you said, Hey, Not only can I do it, just give me, give me the template and gimme the photos and gimme their names.

00:49:30 But the fact that you took that, that extra step, that's, that's what, that to me is your secret sauce. Is that, I see, I sense that you're doing that a lot with your customers.

00:49:41TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: that assumption? Mm-hmm. delivering every job is very important. Um, I've, I've, um, [00:49:45] I'm gonna be very bold by saying this. I've never over promise and underdelivered. Um, I believe your, your manager went, I can't remember if it's that job or if it was a, Job for Frankie out of [00:50:00] Chicago.

00:50:15 wrong. Um, the 1200 lawn signs, I, I'm pretty sure I don't, I don't know. We've printed so many damn signs like that last year.

00:50:21Peter Kourounis: #583e31;">Peter Kourounis: I,

00:50:30 wonderful that experience was. But when we're talking about the customer experience from a sign shop's owner's perspective, which is your majority of your clientele,

00:50:39TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: that's my customers, right?

00:50:42Peter Kourounis: #583e31;">Peter Kourounis: When we're talking about that, the biggest. [00:50:45] The biggest thing for me, and this is I guess gonna speak true to what you were saying, is that you went that extra step. It wa you heard about the timeline? I said I need it by next week, and then you reverse engineered Well, if I have to wait for you to send me [00:51:00] 1200 art files, Right, because that's what you would need to do.

00:51:15 was dealing with. It was a woman on your staff?

00:51:17TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: Miss Patricia. Miss Patricia.

00:51:20Peter Kourounis: #583e31;">Peter Kourounis: Okay. Patricia. Hats off to Miss Patricia for making that like an incredible experience. So I. The logic [00:51:30] there was that you backwards engineered it, you heard the timeline, you said, This is what I need in order to get this done for you. This is what I'm willing to do for you in order to meet that deadline.

00:51:45 file, give me that Excel spreadsheet, uh, gimme that Google Drive with 1200 photos in it and we'll take care of it. Mm-hmm. . And then a, you know, a a day or two later, you sent it over to us and we were, uh, you know, we were, we had a satisfied client.

00:52:00 love about wholesalers and sign shop owners. We're all sign shop owners, but the ones that really do, the ones that do a bang up job are the ones that only care about the end user. Mm-hmm. . And that seems to be what your philosophy is, is that you don't over promise [00:52:15] and underdeliver.

00:52:30 you from any other wide format wholesale printer out there, is that that's what you care about Most care about the end user getting what they need more than the cus more so than the vendor meaning us or the sign shop owner making a [00:52:45] profit or getting their customer happy.

00:53:00 that, that would be the way I would.

00:53:07Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: No. Peter also does copywriting for websites on the, the weekends if you, if you need a guy.

00:53:13TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: No, I really [00:53:15] appreciate that creation. My, my team will, my team will be, uh, very pumped of when this podcast comes out. They will love to hear that story. It means a lot.

00:53:24Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: Let me ask, that brings up, like, Peter's story kind of brings up something that I was kind of thinking of, [00:53:30] but like, how, how are you gonna replicate that with your online

00:53:32TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: ordering? So with that, with the online ordering, uh, I'm going to staff a couple people to review every single order. And if there's something that's kind of out of the [00:53:45] ordinary, they will be call, they will be called, um, yes.

00:54:00 personalization still on those orders. Uh, you know, if there's a typo or something like that, it needs to be caught. A sign shop's not gonna be able to eat 1200 signs that they only put one PDF and it was supposed to be [00:54:15] 1500 PDFs.

00:54:30 pdf. Oh man, I, something must have happened. You know, there's that I can afford to lose $50, but I can't afford to lose 1500.

00:54:45 every single job is as perfect as they can be, but that 50 or that hundred might, you know, it's just gonna go through the system. I want them to just double check [00:55:00] some and just make sure you know who your customers are that will send over the good stuff.

00:55:15 Yeah. Hey, hey.

00:55:16Peter Kourounis: #583e31;">Peter Kourounis: Uh, who, who, did you build this system for yourself or did you have somebody build it for you?

00:55:20TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: Um, we have had like five people totally. That have done some software stuff.

00:55:30 knowledge. Like I said, my dad has kind of. Tackled that I'm, I'm not, I, I, we, we've gone through so many different software. I don't know where we're at and who we're using currently. , what's, uh,

00:55:40Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: why have you gone through so many different ones?

00:55:42TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: Um, because of, uh, some didn't integrate with [00:55:45] Corbridge, some didn't integrate with QuickBooks.

00:56:00 on banner sizes. Um, so the customer couldn't order over like a five by 10 banner. I'm like, That's not gonna fly, dude. He's like, Well, we can't, we can't, uh, expand it any.

00:56:15 ones that we used, they just, they were more of a paper printer to where it was built by sheets and with it being built by rolls. So where we're using master rolls of 750 feet in [00:56:30] length in a sign shop or a printer might have, you know, 150 foot roll, well, it doesn't work for us.

00:56:45 96 here soon. Um, that's where a lot you know, however, signs 365 did it, and however B2 did it, that's off to them. They were the first in the market. I don't, I mean, eight, 10 years worth of trying to, [00:57:00] I'm not gonna say copy 'em because we are trying to make ours better and we've kind of stuck with the same model over the last 10 years.

00:57:15 quantity. Here's the artwork order, boom. Uh, drop shipping is a must. And Yep. You know, estimating the freight. We, we got all the way through this last software package, I think, um, I spent almost 275,000 on the software [00:57:30] package and the guy told us, Well, we can't, um, we can't estimate weight and, and sizes of the package.

00:57:45 But I'm not gonna lose $20 every box, $30 every box. I want it to be accurate. So that way there's a percentage on markup, on shipping. And um, man, that was the last go around.

00:58:00 fiery EFI software. Um, we're moving down the road from that one. But, um, it, it's, uh,

00:58:04Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: it sounds like a headache to me, is what it sounds like,

00:58:07TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: you know, That's why I kind stepped away from it. I wanted to focus on what I do best and that's, you know, getting the orders in, getting them delivered, making the customer [00:58:15] happy.

00:58:30 All right. So for our listeners

00:58:31Peter Kourounis: #583e31;">Peter Kourounis: out there who, you know, follow, uh, TJ on all these sign shop talks and other Facebook groups and things like that, uh, me being one of them, I have to ask, I'm gonna ask for the users that are out there that are afraid to ask, What is up with the Rusty [00:58:45] Bus?

00:58:53TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: know. All right. So that Rusty bus, um, is kind of a joke. Uh, Craig Snowden, uh, he's out of Indiana. [00:59:00] We were on the sign Shop talk and he said something about, Hey, here's cousin Eddie. I'm gonna be at Fort Wilderness over Christmas.

00:59:15 let. Let's see who has the better looking campsite. I'm like, Huh, okay. And, uh, . So we called each other on the phone. I said, What are you gonna do? And he's like, Well, I I wanna put some decals on my truck and I'm gonna make a big cousin, [00:59:30] Eddie Fricking sweet.

00:59:45 Make it happen. I leave on Thursday. That was Friday afternoon, . That was Friday afternoon. So, um, I had the, the, uh, RV here at the shop, and, uh, so Jeff started dropping files Monday [01:00:00] morning.

01:00:15 wrapped the expedition with some woodgreen, make it look like, uh, Clark Griswolds, uh, the family Truckster. It's one of my favorite movies of all times.

01:00:30 pitcher to Craig and he was like, You've got to be kidding me. So he kind of told a couple people what was coming and then, um, I sent a video to my buddy Matt Meyrick, that owns busted [01:00:45] knuckle films on YouTube. He posted it up with, before I hit the Florida Georgia line, there was almost 5 million views.

01:01:00 I looked at Heather and Jeff called me and we're like, We made something really wild and crazy and the amount of people that are checking this thing out, it's making everybody smile. So [01:01:15] that was our approach. We did it to make people smile. It was kind of a joke.

01:01:30 that title until I remove the wrap off. There's not another wrap that's as crazy. I mean, it's a 2014 Fleetwood discovery that my wife makes really good money [01:01:45] and she's the one that bought it.

01:02:00 drone shots and the just checking it out. He, uh, he looked at me, he goes, This thing is getting so much attention.

01:02:15 gci. And I've got our Instagram for that rusty bus and the, like, the Facebook thing. I didn't do it. I, I didn't want to be like a huge marketing campaign for gci.

01:02:30 Or shitty RVs look beautiful . And I hope that the, the rap world is capitalizing. On this. I, I think there's, you know, Chad out of Fast Lane out in Illinois, he's [01:02:45] doing some really cool work. Jamie, the rap artist killer work. Um, you know, the, there's so many, like vehicle rap people.

01:03:00 p all these RVs that have the 1.5 million coaches, I'm gonna call 'em Karens, because they don't want that in their RV resorts because it looks like shit in their [01:03:15] mind. Well, it's art. It fits the year. It's art. You can't kick me out because it's, it's physically, it hits all the requirements.

01:03:30

01:03:44Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: gonna try to [01:03:45] top yourself eventually or are you just gonna wait until somebody else comes along and knocks you off the, the throne to reclaim?

01:03:51TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: So version two isn't gonna be on the same bus. I'm thinking about the next, the next one, what version two is gonna be. [01:04:00] But with it being getting close to the age requirement for some of the RV parks, we have to, uh, upgrade the next year or two. Cause it's 10 years or older. So we're at the eight year mark.

01:04:13Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: yeah, I know nothing about the [01:04:15] RV world, so

01:04:15TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: Well, when you come to Cincinnati, I'll just take you a ride in. You'll have to put the robe on and go pump some gas . But, uh, , no, it's, it's, uh, you guys have to check it out. It's that rusty bus on Facebook. And, um, the family, we, we really appreciate all of the, [01:04:30] we're all of the smiles going down a road.

01:04:42Peter Kourounis: #583e31;">Peter Kourounis: touched it and thought it was real? Dude, [01:04:45]

01:04:45TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: Dude, it's, If you don't walk by it and not touch it, I think there's something wrong with you. Like it, everybody walks by because it, it did just win. Um, Where's that at? I had a, an extra copy.

01:05:00 don't know what they did with it, but it just won like best, uh, rap in the signs of the Times Magazine and it's on the, uh, their website and stuff. What Jeff did was he took and make, made everything look so [01:05:15] real in 40 plus hours in design time was, was spent on it. So Remarkable. Yep. Remarkable.

01:05:30 traveling with the kids and I will actually want to, we're, we've got a map planned out. We wanna see some of the, the customers and we headed up the sign show up at Indy. Um, couple of my, my employees and I, we jumped in it, took it up there and parked it out in front of the hotel.[01:05:45]

01:06:00 what to expect. Make sure

01:06:02Peter Kourounis: #583e31;">Peter Kourounis: you come to the northeast.

01:06:03TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: Okay. Make sure you, we actually plan part of your trip. . We plan on it. Um, you know, it's just, we have to, He's

01:06:10Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: gonna pull it up in front of your shop. Pete,

01:06:12Peter Kourounis: #583e31;">Peter Kourounis: I'm pull it up. I could use the publicity. Gonna

01:06:14Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: [01:06:15] gonna block

01:06:15TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: the street. Do you have a sewer drain out front? ? Yeah, course I do. Shitter. I really do. Yeah.

01:06:30 in this bathroom with the, in my bath with the hat. Drinking a beer bush light. And a cigar. And a cigar. No, but uh, No, we do plan on coming up there and, you know, checking that, that northeastern area out. Hopefully you guys will accept us [01:06:45] up there, so.

01:07:00 and now I have to work everywhere I go. There's no excuse. Yeah. Yeah. , there's no excuse to get away. That's not fun. Yeah. .

01:07:09Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: Well, cool. Uh, I, yeah, I really enjoyed this interview, tj.

01:07:15 there that, uh, doesn't know you or GCI yet, how can they find you? How can

01:07:22TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: they contact you? Uh, they can, uh, reach out tj@gcidigital.com. They can go [01:07:30] to print gci.com. Uh, they can search us on the internet, uh, you know, gci badass banner, dude. Um, look at, you know, if you're on any of the sign shop forms, just, just ask who, who they need to print with.

01:07:43Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: if I type in badass banner, dude, does [01:07:45] that come up with you guys?

01:07:46TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: My, no. , Oh, actually, actually, actually,

01:07:48Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: Jeff, I should say I would be putting that on my business card. , Just Google Badass banner. Dude.

01:07:54TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: Jeff's, uh, email address was, um, Miss Patricia, What was that? Uh, badass. [01:08:00] It was like badass, uh, designer or something like that.

01:08:15 walking on your desk? I do. Is that a tiger?

01:08:18Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: She looks like it. Come here. Yeah. That's, uh, one, one of my three at least at least she, at least she

01:08:23Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: didn't shit on the desk.

01:08:25Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: Yeah. No, that, that's legit. She has like irritable bowel syndrome and I, [01:08:30] she's had some accidents like on my keyboard. I've had to replace a keyboard before . You just can't clean that out. Shit happens.

01:08:36TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: Shit happens. She's something else. Um, , if anybody's wanting to come visit, uh, I, I strongly, um, you know, suggest it, um, that, that 25 cent tour [01:08:45] that, you know, we were all joking about at the beginning.

01:09:00 We have more equipment than the sign show does. And, uh, , I looked over at my, my kid, he's 12 years old, and I'm like, Dude, you're not joking.

01:09:15 got the new 10 foot, uh, 10 by 10 colberg. So watching those things run still to this day, like when I walk out there, I'm, I'm amazed. So if anybody's in the Cincinnati area, I highly suggest, you know, coming [01:09:30] in, taking your kids to Cincinnati Zoo Museum or whatever here in Cincinnati and coming up for 10 minutes just to check it out.

01:09:40Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: I'm in Dayton visiting family, man, I'll definitely haul down there and check on the shop and [01:09:45] visit for sure. I definitely wanna do that.

01:09:47TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: Will you do some collections up in Dayton for me about the. What we talked about before,

01:09:55Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: I, I left Ohio because I'm sick of doing collections in Dayton. . [01:10:00] Right. I don't think there's enough money on this planet .

01:10:04TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: No. But, uh, yeah, we'd love that. I want everybody to print with us, man, at least one time. If, if, if we're not doing what, what I've, um, you know, strived for and, and put into effect, you know, [01:10:15] by all means, try somebody else.

01:10:21Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: everybody like,

01:10:22TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: Oh, go. Yeah. We treat everybody like family. You're not an employee. You're a family member team, team member. I [01:10:30] don't like to use the word customer. It's, it's, we're all a team. Cool.

01:10:35Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: Well, your, your reputation definitely precedes you and, uh, uh, Thanks again for joining us, tj.

01:10:38TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: Yep. Appreciate it. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. Sounds good. All right, see you guys. [01:10:45] So

01:10:45Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: let's bring this one to a close. Rapid fire takeaways, Peter, He's here this week.

01:10:53Peter Kourounis: #583e31;">Peter Kourounis: I mean, listen, if I want to talk a little bit [01:11:00] about the customer experience that that man does a lot of really great things.

01:11:15 thinks of customer experience. It doesn't necessarily have to be systems or SOPs. It could be just getting the job done.

01:11:30 was kind of refreshing to hear just how simple black and white, a very big shop, a very big operation, looks at customer experience. You know, we all, we often think about, we often think about customer experience being like, All right, [01:11:45] did they get that email?

01:12:00 love that. It's just like, Hey, let's just get the job done. By all means necessary.

01:12:08Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: Simple and

01:12:08Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: honest, Mike.

01:12:15 Peter said, like everybody's trying to automate everything and then not that there's not a place for that. I mean, I think the automation is key to efficiency and profit and making it in this job.

01:12:30 personal relationship with his clients. And, and, uh, you know, if you, if you watch him interact with everybody on, on the social media channels, uh, it is, it is a good old boys' club and he is buddies with everybody, everyone with his clients that he's buddies with.

01:12:45 processes or automation or fancy websites or anything else can replace. That one on one personal relationship that you have with, with a crusty sign guy who has walked a few miles in your shoes and knows exactly what it's like to be in your boat.

01:13:00 you can get that experience from just placing an order on a website, you know, faceless website without a person. So I love that he's trying to combine technology and modern efficiency with, with old school business tactics and just going out there and shaking [01:13:15] hands and interacting with people and being buddies with people and, and building friendships.

01:13:27Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: 110%. Yeah. You know, especially the market [01:13:30] they're in, it's all based on relationships. Uh, you know, the sign world is a small one.

01:13:45 yeah, he's the Kevin

01:13:48Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: Bacon Industry. That's, that's awesome. There

01:13:51ep-9: #c50052;">ep-9: you

01:13:51Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: go, dude. You're just spit out nicknames left and right. Yeah. We struggle for

01:13:54Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: you, my man. Yeah. Why can't we get one for me?

01:14:00 but yeah, I, I wish he was still on the call for that. That's awesome.

01:14:05Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: But anyway, you know, I think systems and processes have their place, but like you guys have said, there's, there's no substitute for having [01:14:15] that consultative approach with customers, even though he, he, he didn't explicitly say that like, Hey, uh, we're act as consultants for our clients, but that's essentially what he's doing or what he described in, uh, for that ballpark job where it's like, Hey, how tall is the fence?

01:14:30 foot fence? Why are we printing a five foot banner? Yeah.

01:14:33Peter Kourounis: #583e31;">Peter Kourounis: Yeah, he did mention that. He did mention that. Mm-hmm. and you, And you wanna know, maybe, I was just reading behind the scenes here a little bit like in between the lines when it comes to what he was saying and what he was trying to imply.

01:14:45 all this equipment and I don't, and I've seen the videos, I've seen pictures of like his new equipment arriving. But I don't think the motivation for purchasing new equipment comes from like having that shiny new toy. I think he literally looks at it like, [01:15:00] now I can print. Now my customers, my son shop owner customers can now print 10 foot wide banners.

01:15:15 his potential buddies or clients to say like, I'm still your guy, but, And now not only am I your guy, I'm able to do this for you as well.

01:15:30 But a lot of us are buying that for the, the, the affair of what could be. He's doing it to solve a problem. I, I get the opinion that he's doing it to solve a problem with his, uh, sign shot customer.

01:15:45 these are the ways that he's thinking that he's going

01:15:47Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: to be better. Yeah. And you know what, like he may never build quite as big a business as B2 or, um, you know, sign 365, um, based on that. Cause I, I think there's probably like a, a natural [01:16:00] ceiling to how much you can scale if you want to have that close personal relationship with every single one of your customers.

01:16:15 And that, that's a, that's a huge thing. And he is not hurting. I mean, his business is doing pretty well regardless, but.

01:16:30 important thing in this industry, especially wholesale.

01:16:33Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: Absolutely.

01:16:45 provide, uh, with that

01:16:46Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: system. Yeah, I'm really anxious to see how they're goes for 'em as well. I hope it works and I hope they figure out how to, to not lose that personal touch, uh, in it as well.

01:17:00

01:17:02Peter Kourounis: #583e31;">Peter Kourounis: Uh,

01:17:02Bryant Gillespie: #6600cc;">Bryant Gillespie: if, if you , if you, if you're interested in being a guest on the podcast, make sure you shoot us an email at, hey, better sign shop.com. Frank Fellers, we're putting the call out for you, dude. We'd love to have you on the [01:17:15] podcast. Um, if you guys know Frank, if you're listening, tell him, Tell 'em we want Frank Fellers on the podcast.

01:17:25Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: Talk to me frank.com. ,

01:17:28TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: that's a real site. [01:17:30]

01:17:30Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: Oh, yeah. It's amazing. You need to look at it. It's, it's worth your

01:17:33Peter Kourounis: #583e31;">Peter Kourounis: time. I thought you were just spurting out the ideas last night when you're like, That's it, we're going on. Oh my God. Okay, talk to me, Frank. Talk to me.

01:17:45

01:17:45TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: If you liked this episode,

01:17:46Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: make sure you hit

01:17:47TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: subscribe to get all the latest episodes and check out our website, Better sign shop.com.

01:17:54Michael Riley: #de4a1d;">Michael Riley: Get free resources

01:17:55TJ Bedacht: #72b372;">TJ Bedacht: and helpful tools on growing your shop. Thanks for [01:18:00] listening.

The Importance of Customer Experience // TJ Bedacht - GCI Digital

GCI Digital Imaging