Legacy Prep Charter Academy launches new Digital Printing Course

Legacy Preparatory Charter Academy in Mesquite Texas is off to a fast start with their new Xerox Digital Production Printing Pathway Course. The Pathways Course is designed to help build tomorrow’s digital printing workforce by teaching students the skills required in today’s printing companies.

 The school recognized the tremendous growth of digital commercial and industrial printing and added the course for the 2023-2024 school year. Legacy Prep through meticulously designed 21st-century programs, their learning academy equips students with the skills essential for thriving in both academic and real-world settings

The new course curriculum complements Legacy Prep’s existing philosophy of empowering students in grades K-12 to take charge of their education. They accomplish this by preparing them for careers by implementing innovative opportunities using project-based learning and enriching educational programs. Legacy Prep’s focus is on coursework that provides the skills necessary to succeed in and outside the classroom.

The school added the course after a review by Innovation Specialist, Bradi Braley and Senior Director, Josie Eatman. Legacy Prep’s Principal, Dr. Stephanie Edwards, recognizing the opportunity to develop graphic communications skills related to graphic design and printing technology decided to add the course.

Graphic Communications Instructor, Tomas Matic, is teaching the Pathways printing course along with a separate graphic design course. The 50 students enrolled in 4 classes are getting many opportunities for “hands-on” experiences in producing printed projects using a state-of-the-art Xerox press. Mr. Matic brought his previous classroom and graphic design experience to implement the Pathways Course at Legacy Prep. Intellective Solutions, the developer of the course, worked with Mr. Matic through a series of Zoom calls to build his printing skills and gain a comfort level with the lesson plans, PowerPoint screens, samples, and student hands-on exercises provided.

Instructor, Tomas Matic said, “I was thrilled with the support and resources he has received from Xerox and Intellective Solutions. Frank Kanonik of Intellective Solutions is the best printing teacher anyone could have. He helped me ramp up to teach the class with confidence. The materials are excellent. I was able to build on them to introduce fun competitions and activities between students.

Mr. Matic’s efforts and dedication to his students were acknowledged this year by the PIA of MidAmerica when he was awarded the Educator of the Year award at their recent annual banquet.

His class also entered the student print competition and won the competition for researching, designing, and printing a replica of a historical newspaper to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. It was produced on a 12-inch by 18-inch sheet of paper that resembled newsprint and printed on the Xerox digital press. The award-winning entry is proudly displayed in the print classroom.

Mr. Matic explained, “I am immensely flattered by the image of the Educator of the Year award but I would much rather highlight the efforts of Ms. Jessica Sanchez of the Mid America Printing Industries of America (PIA) and my guys from 5th Period Printing & Imaging as well as Drew Grace of Xerox and Frank Kanonik and Joe Rickard of Intellective Solutions. I deeply appreciated the support of Teresa Campbell, Jessica Sanchez of the PIA team, and all my wonderful students who deserve the lion's share of the credit for making this class, indeed this academic year, such a success!

Intellective Solutions Since our founding in 2003, we have delivered, through training and consulting, significant results for digital and inkjet printing organizations, technology companies, and K-12/CTE/vocational schools throughout the world.. Our strategy is to leverage the latest developments in the graphic communications industry to provide time and cost-effective solutions based on our customer’s specific needs.

Joe Rickard 845 753 6156

Five Keys School launches print education at Los Angeles Sheriff's Department

Five Keys School has partnered with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department to invest in individuals living on the margins so they can change their lives.

Offenders often exit criminal justice without a clear path or purpose to pursue a sustainable career. The Sheriff’s Department partnering with Five Keys Schools to provide at-risk youth with sustainable job skills for an opportunity with a great future.

Since the Sheriff’s Department had a large implant printing operation, they looked for a workforce development program that was industry-aligned and leveraged current digital imaging software technology. Five Keys turned to Xerox for its Xerox® Digital Career Pathway Program. The curriculum and instructor resources were developed by print education leader Intellective Solutions. Now Five Keys and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department is training students in the industry-required skills to work with digital production printing, and helping them find jobs with local businesses.

 Tom Hood, Five Keys principal instructor of the Xerox Pathways course is passionate about providing students with the opportunity to succeed. A fifth-generation printer, Tom knows the satisfaction and career possibilities that employment within the graphic communications industry can give his students.

“Using the Xerox® Digital Career Pathways Program and working with their partner, Intellective Solutions, I paint a canvas of what the industry is about. At first, it’s difficult to convince a student of how high-tech the industry is. Once we take them through examples of how projects are created and produced, it becomes clear to them that they can have a long-term, sustainable career that pays well. Working with the curriculum and resources has been a tremendous help in building our outstanding program.”

Intellective Solutions To Present at Xerox Beyond CMYK webinar

Seven Steps to Success!

Looking to jumpstart 2021 with a plan to capture new customers and increase your profits with specialty ink embellishments? 

Join us on Jan 27th when Joe Rickard and Bob Ross from Intellective Solutions will enable Owners, Business Development, and Sales Managers to get off to a fast start with Xerox Specialty Inks.

In this webinar, you will discover the key ingredients to a successful plan including:

• High-value opportunities for Specialty Inks

• Seven game changer strategies to Drive Business

• How do we turn great sales and marketing ideas into action?

Intellective Solutions is a leading training and consulting company focused on helping graphic communication companies and InPlants improve their sales and operational effectiveness. Their proven management, market research, and marketing consulting methodologies have helped printing organizations leverage their assets to achieve greater sales and profits.

Title: Drive Profit in 2021 - Keys to Success with Beyond CMYK

Date: Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Time: 11:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

Duration: 1 hour

Register for the event at https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=reg20.jsp&referrer=&eventid=2929436&sessionid=1&key=4039A2EEF3B19E14EC89A3B3042764BF&regTag=&sourcepage=register

Essentials for a Graphic Communications CTE Program

Facing a demand for skilled workers in the Graphic Communications Industry, schools are adding printing and graphic arts programs. The move to digital printing technology and platforms, new printing applications and the retirement of older workers have created an enormous need for skilled workers.

Based on our work with schools and vocational institutions around the country, we see six essential program elements when building a great CTE, vocational, or STEM printing and graphic arts program.

1.    Committed and Skilled Instructor

No program can be successful without a great instructor. Most have a graphic design or printing background.

We have seen some amazing teachers in many states that have created creative and exciting programs. LaVista High School’s highly successful program in Fullerton, CA led by instructor Henry Sandoval is not only motivating students with graphic art applications but is providing them valuable and transferable skills.

2.    Industry Linked Curriculum and Instructor Resources

Since the industry is growing and changing rapidly, institutions should make sure they are building programs aligned with current industry requirements.

Fortunately, there are resources available within the Graphic Communication’s community. Print Ed, a printing industry association, provides standards, accreditations and skill competencies for use in the classroom. Also, technical education leader, SkillsUSA provides assessment tests and competitions for High School students.

Xerox offers an industry-aligned curriculum through their Xerox® Digital Career Pathway Program for its customers. Our company, Intellective Solutions, provides a robust set of instructor resources and services to help schools launch their programs. Our resources and tools are used by vocational and CTE programs across the country.

3.    Consistent Reinforcement of Life Skills

Most successful CTE and Vocational programs ensure their students are ready for employment by adding or integrating life skills into their programs. At Hudson Community Enterprises in Jersey City, having strong Life Skill training and reinforcements in addition to a robust graphic communications curriculum has resulted in benchmark student employment results.

4.    Aggressive Business Development

We have seen schools connect with local commercial printing companies, in-plant printers, and marketing organizations. Students armed with certification and portfolio are in great demand.

For those students who want to continue their education in advanced graphic communication in College level courses, the industry provides scholarships to encourage continued education. The Industry needs design, database, engineering and supply chain workers and managers too. The Print and Graphic Scholarship Foundation (PGSF) provides approximately $500,000 in scholarships every year to high school students. PGSF also provides financial help to workers currently employed in the graphic communications industry that are attending classes part-time.

Local trade associations and PIA affiliates hoping to respond to their memberships are eager to help. For example, the Printing Industries of New England (PINE) supports the schools and institutions in their area at job fairs. Christine Hagopian, President of PINE, has made education and student skill development a priority for her organization.

5.    Program Accountability

Program accountability is the number of students who complete the program and are able to gain high wage employment or move on to higher-level graphic communications education. Great vocational programs and CTE institutions regularly report to their administrators and grantees their success rates.

There is an enormous need for skilled workers in this industry. Most schools that have implemented courses and programs will have little problem ensuring their graduates gain opportunities.  

6.    Relevant Technology

The best news is most institutions already have professional workstations, Adobe creative software programs, and high-speed digital production printers. By providing students access to current software and equipment, they become “job-ready” and potential employers find their skills very attractive.

Many institutions have implemented programs to use their current internal printing operations as classrooms, simulating real-life work environments for their students.

The Graphic Communications Industry is a huge opportunity for vocational, CTE and STEM schools to provide the foundation needed for students to obtain valuable life skills and training. The industry is a high tech and constantly changing world that provides plenty of opportunities for high pay and advancement.

If you have any questions or need information, contact me, Joe Rickard, at https://www.intellectives.com/contact

Video Call Best Practices

Many of us have been spending most of our days on video conference calls. Unfortunately, we have seen some examples of poorly executed calls.  Here is a link to a blog by Dan Park featuring Margaret Rickard Rubinacci from pureIntegration for Women in Cable Telecommunications Greater Philadelphia that gives some good tips.

What may be OK for friends and family, can be a major distractor for general business and sales calls. If a good first impression is critical for lasting business relationships then all should consider heeding this advice and recommendations.

Video Calling Best Practices

Career Pathway Need for Printing Workers is Exploding

This is an appeal to vocational schools to add production digital printing, graphic design, and introduction to graphic communications to their current offerings.

The United States printing industry is a huge manufacturing segment, employing over a million workers. The challenge to acquire talent from traditional and nontraditional labor sources is daunting. Almost every graphic communications company we speak to is concerned about the increasing shortage of skilled labor.

The graphic communications industry shift to high tech manufacturing has created a huge demand for new skills and talents. In addition to this shift is that current workers are aging, with over 30% of current workers being over 55 years old. This is putting tremendous pressure on companies to recruit employees with the necessary skills.

Contrary to popular perception, printing, and related applications are not shrinking. Innovative applications enabled by new inkjet imaging technologies have created new solutions within the packaging, label, sign, cross-media, statement, book, and home accessory segments. Estimates this year from industry sources predict that over $56 Billion in revenue will be generated by digital printing alone.  

The vocational schools that we work with are seeing extremely high placement rates for their graduating students. Every location in the country needs workers.

Unfortunately, we need more institutions to take up the challenge of preparing the future printing industry workforce. Also, some of those that are providing training for graphic designers and print workers need to immediately upgrade their curriculum to reflect current production imaging, software, and platform technologies.

In the past, the printing industry could count on hundreds of printing schools across the country to train skilled workers in various departments found in many printing companies. We need more vocational schools across the country to help prepare workers with up to date skills.

For those institutions, we offer an industry-developed curriculum, a full range of instructor resources and certifications. There should be nothing to hold back any institution that is looking to prepare students for high paying careers in the graphic communications industry. 

Starting Your Career with Five Lifelong Strategies

Here my advice for those starting their career. It is based on what I have learned during my long career.

For me in order of importance behind faith and family, comes work. I love to work. It does not make a difference whether it is physical or mental. I learned early on that work is part of who I am. It has allowed me to use my gifts and talents for good.

In the “work for pay” arena, I liked all of my jobs through my entire life. If I did not like what I was doing, I would not do it. For the most part, I have been lucky to be able to choose my jobs. I rarely put my professional life above my family and never above my faith. I worked to earn money to help my family live a good life and give them some opportunities that I did not have.

I loved teaching, coaching, working at Xerox, managing people and working in my own business. Physical, mental, for pay, not for pay, and volunteer work are all fulfilling for me because I always find a higher purpose in it. No purposeful work is too menial for me. Based on what I know and learned, here is some advice about work.

Working Hard Is Important

Current thinking is that working “hard” is not as important as is working “smart”. That may be true but putting in a sustained and strong effort is essential. When I started as a sales person at Xerox, I had no business experience or natural aptitude for sales. I had a good personality but knew very little about sales or business.

I observed successful people, studied my company, its products and my customers. I then managed my time and territory efficiently. I have found people who succeed, work not only smart but very hard.

Identify Smart People and Then Stay in Touch

I received good advice when I was young. Identify winners. Seek out successful people. Through my work life, I found there were plenty of people who did not perform due to bad work habits, weak commitment or incompetence. I tried to minimize my interactions with them. I looked for people that I felt were talented, shared my values and whom I could learn from.

It was these successful people, who helped me through my career and allowed me to start my own business. To this day, I receive business opportunities from individuals that I identified early in my career and have maintained a long-term relationship. 

Treat Your Job as A Profession

With technology advancing at a fast pace, expect that what you are doing today will likely change multiple times before your finish your career. One should think of not only what is needed today but what skills will be needed for the future. Many of the skills I learned earlier in my career has helped me to publish over 60 articles and speak extensively at business forums.

As I entered the business world, I got my MBA and worked hard to advance my marketing, managerial, financial and interpersonal skills every chance I had. It is these skills that enabled me to change jobs, advance my career and become a Divisional President at Sharp Electronics. These experiences allowed me to pursue my dream of running my own business. It also created many good and some cases more lucrative opportunities through my working life that I chose NOT to pursue.

Activities are not Accomplishments

A way to ensure success is to consistently deliver results. It is amazing how many employees go through the day completing tasks and activities that have no impact on their or their company’s results. Identifying what the company’s goals are, what your boss’s boss objectives are and setting lofty goals for yourself and then meeting them, will make you invaluable.

Though I always set goals for myself, I feel now that perhaps I did not set them high enough since I always made my goals for performance and career advancement. Maybe I could have even done better. My advice is to set lofty goals for your personal and business life.

Good People Finish First

Business people are constantly being presented with ethical challenges. Whether it is expense reports, marketing tactics or personnel decisions, I have constantly asked myself if what I was doing was consistent with my family, personal and religious values.

Most successful people that I admire are good people. The adage that “nice guys finish last” is not true. I believe that people that I have worked with through the years felt that I could be trusted to do the right things. It helped me to be a successful manager and executive. No one wants to follow a dishonest or unethical leader. I like to think I was tough and ambitious while being ethical and moral.

I have followed this advice for my whole life. All and all I have really enjoyed my personal and professional life. I seldom made decisions about my career or personal life based solely on money. I just wanted to make an impact, earn enough money to move my family forward and do good deeds.

By sticking to my core principles and working hard toward my personal and career goals, I have been afforded the freedom to work for companies and markets that I enjoy while earning a good income with a minimum of debt. Maureen and I live a fulfilled and financially secure life.

Joe Rickard is the founder of Intellective Solutions. Intellective Solutions (see our web site at www.intellectives.com) is a consulting and training company. They work with printing and technology organizations to improve their sales, marketing and operational effectiveness. 

Perkins CTE Act Approved and Improved

We are excited with the recent reauthorization of the HR Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education (CTE) Act. This is a bipartisan triumph for Congress and the Administration to extend and improve the 2006 Perkins Act. In the very large and transitioning Graphic Communications Industry there is a growing demand for skilled workers. This Act addresses many needs of job seekers and industry.

The Graphic Communications Industry is rapidly changing due to the impact of the internet, data driven printing, digital imaging technologies and expanding industrial applications. As a consequence, we are seeing shortages in labor in multiple states. Graphic Communications is among the top five manufacturing sectors in the United States.

A highlight of the Act is bringing the funding and decision making closer to the local communities and employers. For a good review of the improvements, see H.R. 235s: Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act. A key focus of the legislation is directing resources to providing the students with the actual skills necessary to fill today’s available jobs. For us, that means less theory and old thinking and more “hands on” and creativity.

This Act is huge step in providing the right skills to available job openings. There is no better place than the ever changing and transitioning Graphic Communications industry.  We at Intellective Solutions are very proud to working with High Schools and vocational institutions across the country to provide benchmark curriculum and instructor/student resources for courses in Digital Production Printing and Intro to Graphic Communications. Congratulations to our government for agreeing in a bipartisan way to deliver a great bill.

Production Digital Printing Education Thriving in New Jersey

Congratulations to Hudson Community Enterprises (HCE) (http://hudsoncommunity.org) for successfully launching their new Digital Printing Career Pathways program.  All the students in the pilot program have been placed in jobs within New Jersey. This year HCE plans to make the program available to 50 job ready candidates. We at Intellective Solutions were very pleased to support their efforts.

The program was established to respond to growing need for skilled workers in the very large Printing Industry. Printing is one of the largest manufacturing sectors in the country. Many thousands of skilled workers will be needed to staff open positions in the next few years. As the industry continues to transition to digital technology and emerging industrial printing applications, a strong workforce is required.

Our company, Intellective Solutions along with Xerox helped HCE to develop a course using the proprietary Xerox® Digital Career Pathways Program Curriculum (//www.xerox.com/en-us/services/government-solutions/print-production-training). Students are trained at the HCE’s fully operational print shop. Within this facility, students have an opportunity to learn and develop the key skills necessary to work in a graphic communications organization. The emphasis is to give students the necessary knowledge and hands on experience that would be welcomed by any employer looking for job ready entry level workers.

Here is a summary of the program

·       12-week Intensive Digital Printing Curriculum

·       Career Development Classes

·       4 week paid internships

·       Job Placement and Higher Education Referral Services

·       Nationally recognized accreditation upon successful completion

·       Open to people with and without disabilities

The HCE Jersey City-based program is led by printing industry pro Brian Opitz, VP Digital Printing Services. Some the areas that the students are trained include pre-press, production, printing workflow and personalized printing. In addition to an industry expert instructor, graphic designer Alex Rivera works with students to help them to properly receive, proof, fix common errors and prepare files for printing.

HCE is a non-profit organization that has been based in Jersey City, New Jersey since 1957. Since the organization’s inception, the primary mission has remained consistent – creating employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities and other barriers to employment while providing valuable services to the business community.

Intellective Solutions (intellectives.com) works with vocational and STEM organizations to provide resources and support for printing industry training programs.

For perspective participants in the HCE’s program or employers looking for more information contact:

Abbe Morello , VP, Workforce Development, 201-434-3303 ext.228, amorello@HCE.works         

Sarah Barks, Senior Vocational Counselor, 201-434-3303 x437, sbarks@HCE.works                                      

Get Better Results from Fewer Marketing Programs

Marketing Makes the Difference

We find the number one challenge for printing companies to develop great marketing and sales programs is time and focus. For smaller companies, success is seldom about the size of marketing budgets or the number of marketing initiatives being managed. With the day to day pressures of satisfying customers and getting work out, many marketing activities are often relegated to a low priority. This is counter-intuitive because without marketing there can be no sustained growth.

There are more choices than ever for businesses. For instance, for many small printers, maintaining and regularly creating new content for a great web site, pushing content to multiple social media sites, managing Google ads, maintaining an eCommerce site, participating in business networks, keeping up with LinkedIn, hosting a customer event or two, driving Search Engine Optimization (SEO), as well as other forms of marketing is just “too much”. The time and focus needed to manage everything possible is daunting.

Recently we researched printing company web sites. It was interesting to find so many not well maintained, displaying broken links and errors. A poor web site will create a negative perception for a perspective customer and may cause them not to place a call for a quote. This helps prove the point that it is better to do a few things very well than to do many things poorly.

Before spending any money or exerting any effort on marketing, here are 10 questions to answer. The answers will help narrow down your program to a “vital few”.

Ten Questions

1. What is your company’s story? How did you get to where you are now?

2. What do your sell that generates the most sales and profits?

3. Are you a technology company, a service company, or a PRINTING company

4. Who are your customers?

5. How do your customers describe what you do and how you make them successful?

6. What are your company advantages?

7. How much is the company willing to spend on marketing and sales?

8. Based on the answers above, list and prioritize every marketing and sales initiative
   that the company could possibly implement

9. Pick 1, 2 or 3 of the top initiatives that can supported and maintained

10. Monitor progress regularly and adjust as required

Whatever is decided upon, the approach should be: do it well. The advantage of doing a few things well is that they can be easily scaled up or down as required. For instance, one company may do well a robust eCommerce site, an aggressive Search Engine Optimization program and a well-managed in bound and out bound telemarketing team. While another print provider may want to focus on a direct sales team, customer events and a dynamic web site.

If something is working, then increase it. On the other hand, if an initiative is getting tired or simply not working, replace it with a new program. Doing a few things well builds a great brand and generates results.

Joe Rickard is the founder of Intellective Solutions. Intellective Solutions (www.intellectives.com) is a consulting and training company. They work with printing and technology organizations to improve their sales, marketing and operational effectiveness. 

Leading Printers Praise GAERF Skill Competencies and Assessments

Printing company owners Tim Boucher and Todd Ventura discussed the value of skill competencies and assessments for employees of printing companies provided by Graphic Arts Education and Research Foundation (GAERF).

GAERF provides Graphic Communications Skills Competencies (GCSC) and Skill Assessments  for the graphic communications industry. The competencies and assessments were written by industry professionals and graphic communications educators to provide measurable or observable knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors critical to successful job performance in six key content areas

“The ability to evaluate and benchmark high level skills for prepress and print production professionals is essential” says Tim Boucher owner of BSquared Design & Printing. BSquared is a state-of-the-art digital printer that runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Boucher feels to compete in his very competitive market he insists that his employees maintain the highest level of technical and professional skills. Supporting high expectations of his time-starved customers is an important ingredient to his company’s success. BSquared is one of the fastest growing printers in the Northeast.

Discussing SkillsUSA assessments, Megan Valdez, Managing Director of BSquared said, “Many pre-press professionals are self-taught or learn through on the job training”. The use of these assessments is a way to identify areas where further training or mentoring is required”.

Recently, one of BSquared customer service account representatives reviewed the results of the Digital File Preparation and Output Assessments and found a potential gap in their knowledge of color management. This allowed the employee to take steps to deeper their skill level in this area by working with more experienced employees and reviewing available training materials.

PRP Companies is a full service commercial printer located in San Luis Obispo, California. The President, Todd Ventura, is a firm believer in the value of putting in place a continuing education program for both sales and production staff.

According to Ventura, “because of the changes in the graphic communications industry, we must provide a systematic educational approach to stay abreast of not only technological changes, but also in what types of products and services our customers are requesting”.

Ventura’s staff has been involved with the review of the updated PrintED GCSC skill competencies and assessments. “As the person responsible for ensuring that PRP companies maintains its competitive edge by hiring and maintaining a skilled workforce, the PrintED skill competencies are exactly what we need”

When asked about the value of the assessments for his company, Ventura answered “We were not aware of the PrintED program prior to agreeing to review the materials. However, we absolutely will use the GCSC skill assessments in two different ways; number one is to give preferential treatment to prospective candidates that possess a PrintED certification and number two, to use the assessments to benchmark current employees to help develop a training continuum based on their needs.”

Small Businesses Working and Succeeding in Government

This week I attended a workshop at Dominican College in Orangeburg, NY sponsored by the Palisades Institute of Dominican College. The title was, How to Make Government Your Customer.

Business educational workshops are always good for networking but even better if you can learn a few things along the way. In this one, I received a double payoff for attending and listening. The format of the session was two panels of speakers. One represented Rockland County Government and the other was successful small businesses serving the county.

Paul Brennan Director of Purchasing for Rockland County gave a compelling overview of Doing Business with Rockland County, Local Governments and School Districts by sharing engagement approaches and taking the mystery out of engaging public entities. He explained the national state and local government marketplace is very large and represented over $6 trillion dollars and there are over 90,000 local governments nationwide. He suggested this is a perfect place for small businesses of any type to build their top and bottom lines.

With him were Paul Piperato, Rockland County Clerk, who discussed the engagement and contractual process. There was a surprise for me when Lin Simeti, Program Director, of the REDC Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PATC) shared the free services of her organization to help small businesses wade through the myriad of steps to effectively engage government agencies. She provided some straight forward strategies for those in attendance.

A key message from the government panel was that it is great for small businesses to gain business from government markets but they should not depend on it. They recommended that no more than 50% of their total revenue should come from the public sector to assure a less risky mix of customers.

For the small business panel, Harry Campbell, President, Biofeedback Resources International, Ellie Kassner, President, W.H. Kassner, Inc., Marcelo Reggiardo, Principal, Alianza Services shared their processes, successes and recommendations to compete and succeed in this market. There were also some great tips on how to succeed as a Minority Supplier.

Getting out there and spending the time in events like this is a great way to gain valuable information and insights. There is no substitute for listening, learning and interacting in person.  If you are alert, you will find many of these networking and learning opportunities by colleges, trade associations, community groups and networking groups.

Joe Rickard is the President of Intellective Solutions which is a training and consulting company for the Graphic Communications Industry. He serves as an advisory Board Member of the Palisades Institute of Dominican College.

Skill Assessments are Crucial to Validate Performance For the Graphic Communications Industry

Frank Kanonik , Printing Industry Expert

There are thousands of students enrolled in programs preparing them to enter the printing and graphic communications workforce. For graphic communications industry instructors and employers, there is no better way to ensure that new hires have required skills than with industry-driven skill competencies and assessments.

We at Intellective Solutions are proud to be the developer of the competencies and assessments used by the Graphic Arts Education and Research Foundation (GAERF) and SkillsUSA. Joe Rickard and Frank Kanonik led the efforts to create and develop the industry resources. They worked with education and industry subject matter experts to ensure the competencies and assessments are current, valid and relevant to today’s printing industry.

Patty Duncan, Program Manager of the SkillsUSA Work Force Ready System recently said, “I am impressed with Intellective Solutions professionalism and as well as their expertise in graphic communications. They have developed outstanding and timely industry standards and assessments that will benefit all those who use them”

GAERF has available through PrintED, a national accreditation program that is based on industry standards for graphic communications courses of study at the secondary and post-secondary levels. Their Graphic Communication Skill Standards (GCSC) are six sets of skill competencies and corresponding assessments that are used by instructors to validate their curricula, and also by employers to confirm a potential candidate’s capabilities.

There are 6 topics that are covered by the GCSC competencies, and are available for free download at www.graphiccommcentral.org/gcsc.

·        Digital File Preparation and Output

·        Digital Production Printing

·        Graphic Design

·        Introduction to Graphic Communications

·        Offset Press Operations/Bindery & Finishing

·        Screen Printing

The GCSC assessments are available through GAERF and SkillsUSA, and test technical skills and knowledge using an online, graphic rich format. The assessments correspond to the six GCSC competencies. Ordering information can be found at www.workforcereadysystem.org. Immediate grading and feedback is provided.

With rapidly changing technology, digital integration and new business models, having up to date and printing industry driven standards and assessments are critical for our industry to ensure a steady stream of great employees. These standards and assessments support that requirement.

The Value of a Sales Relationship

Spending a many hours researching and writing about the transition taking place in B2B direct selling, I have found that the value of networking and relationships still remain paramount.  More than a few Decembers ago, I remember a specific deal where a relationship of my father-in-law helped me finish the year strongly.

After a promotion to a sales manager for a Manhattan-based team of savvy and seasoned pros, I was faced with a dilemma. My sales team was reluctant to share information about their prospects or bring me in to meet their large prospects. It seemed they were testing their new and young sales manager. At this time, members of my sales team were engaged in a very large sales opportunity at a prominent publishing company. Because of the size of the deal, it had high visibility in my company. My boss repeatedly quizzed me on the status of the prospect. An order here would immediately propel my sales team and me from mediocrity to stardom.

I understood we had a strong support and agreement from within the account. The barrier according to my salespeople was gaining agreement from a tough VP of Finance, a long-term employee who had a reputation akin to “Attila the Hun”.  Not only was my team terrified of him, but the account’s employees were as well. Nothing of significance was ever approved without a scrupulous and contentious review by this tyrannical VP. One member of my sales team suggested we wait until he retired.

Over a weekend, my retired father-in-law gave me an encouraging talk on his experiences dealing with tough decision makers. Years earlier as a printing salesman, he sold to the very same publishing company. He talked with great fondness about a print buyer who gave him his largest order. He viewed the order as a reward for persistence and professional selling.

Consequently, the buyer became his friend and they spend many hours together. My father-in-law described the buyer as a “wild man”. After his retirement, he lost track of the buyer. Upon hearing the man’s name, I was excited as I realized that his last name matched my invincible VP of Finance. The first name my father-in-law remembered was a nickname and was not the same as the formal first name we knew. We decided, given the disparity in first name and the apparent difference in personality, the man was probably not our VP of finance.

The year-end approached, we had our final meeting to defend our proposal and close the deal. I forced my reluctant sales team to bring me along. This was my first visit to the account. There wasn’t too much pressure, since no one expected us to win the deal. As I entered the conference room, I took a chance. I whispered my father-in-law’s name in the VP’s ear. The VP smiled broadly. He pulled me from the room and spent the next fifteen minutes asking about his old friend. As we re-entered, the meeting participants were stunned.

Although no one knew how I “broke the ice” with is reluctant buyer, we got the order. My sales team was impressed. I gained their confidence, and the VP and my father-in-law renewed their friendship.

Some things do not change. The value of relationships is very powerful.

An Often Missed Sales KPI That Drives Results

With the wide acceptance of CRM and sales performance reporting, we regularly see sales managers review a variety of performance indicators ranging from what’s in the pipeline to how many deals were won in a specific time frame.

Data readily available from salespeople can be a huge help for not only the sales staff but also the marketing and senior management teams.  For instance, if there are not enough deals in the pipeline, then an early alert is given to all in the organization that corrective actions must be taken or suffer the consequences of a missed sales or profit objective.

Now that the year end is near, it’s is a great time to take stock in the effectiveness of your sales program.

Based on our observations working with a variety of commercial printing companies and equipment manufacturers, there is one indicator that is rarely leveraged. It is deals won divided by proposals generated where customers actually made a decision to act. We use decisions where customers actually acted because we expect great salespeople to qualify opportunities before generating proposals.

The simple formula is:

Deals won/total deals where customers actually made a decision to act = sales effectiveness

5 deals won divided by 25 customer opportunities where the customer actually acted equals 20% effectiveness

We recommend using this KPI to give everyone in the organization a view of what is vital. Detailed analysis of sales effectiveness could lead to adjustments on sales coverage, skills, compensation, marketing and management.

Here are some key questions to ask

·       Of the proposals generated how many were a response to “blind” RFPs – That means situations where salespeople had no significant involvement prior to the RFP being developed?  Are these opportunities worth responding to?

·       How many proposals were enabled from leads generated by the company’s marketing e.g. SEO, social media, trade shows?  How many of those were won? Do we need to do more marketing? What role does the salesperson have in creating and developing leads?

·       How many proposals and wins were generated by salespeople where the lead was mainly enabled, developed and qualified by the hard work and skill of the salesperson? What can be done to create even more opportunities?

·       Are we in enough opportunities that are qualified and the customer is ready to act?

Organizations need to understand where opportunities come from, why some proposals are won and some are lost. Most importantly, how companies and salespeople can add more value to win more deals. The answers to questions can only be developed through using and managing the data that is readily available to marketing and management teams.

Joe Rickard is the President of Intellective Solutions

How Much Pressure Can Salespeople Stand?

The general thinking in managing salespeople is that the right amount pressure on salespeople is good for sales performance.

There have been countless articles on sales management and how to effectively manage sales performance without using undue pressure tactics. What about salespeople who put too much pressure on themselves when closing a large deal?

Recently, I read an abstract, The Impact of Pressure on Performance: Evidence from the PGA Tour February 2015 published in the Harvard Business Review written by Professors Daniel C. Hickman and Neil E. Metz. They used data analysis to determine the effect of pressure on making big money putts on the PGA golf tour. A key finding was that short putts that would result in winning significant amounts of money were not appreciably impacted by the pressure. But they did find that slightly longer putts of 6 to 10 feet were in fact impacted.

For salespeople and managers, an analogy to golf may be logical and no further discussion is needed. For me, the abstract reinforces the necessity for managers to ensure salespeople are working in environments that minimize mistakes and paralysis caused by pressure.

The takeaway is that large deals that are “more than short putts” and which will generate large rewards do result in a “choking” phenomenon for many salespeople.  Here are four recommendations to minimize pressure on large deals where there is a lot at stake.

1.      Match less experienced salespeople with seasoned pros. Experience salespeople will less likely be impacted by the pressure.

2.      Don’t leave a big deal to one person. Make it a team approach. The more support and help will alleviate the pressure on any one individual.

3.      Ensure the deal is sold before the close. Carefully review the sales and buying process to make sure each step was carefully executed.

4.      Test the proposal with the “customer champion” or a loyal supporter in the account to make sure everything has been covered before presenting.

By qualifying the account and thoroughly managing the sales process, longer putts become shorter putts. The shorter the putt; there is less pressure.

Joe Rickard is the founder of Intellective Solutions. Intellective Solutions (www.intellectives.com)  works with printing and technology organizations to improve their sales, marketing and operational effectiveness. The Intellective team enjoys providing Customer Event marketing services. Follow him on Twitter @joerickardIS

Three Must Do's Before Planning Your Customer Event

There is no better way to get closer to customers and prospects than a successful customer event or open house.

Many marketing pros and salespeople cringe at the idea of another customer event. This is because many events have failed to produce results. It can be a frustrating experience when a customer event ends up being an expensive party that produces no business.

A successful event depends on a number of variables. Yes, themes, story-lines and the invitation process are very important. We have worked with a variety of printing and in plant organizations to promote customer events and open houses. There are a few key than many organizations forget to complete before they even begin planning their event.

Here are three essential steps to take before planning and executing the details of a customer event.

1. Create a simple and specific objective for the event.

A broad sweeping goal such increase customer interest in our services or launch our new product is not good enough. As the planning process develops, it often becomes unclear why the organization is having the event in the first place. Objectives such as, increase our pipeline by 25% or 10 additional customers for our new solution helps keep everyone focused on the same objective.

2.  Get an approved budget before you start.

Knowing how much money and internal resources are available will help tailor the theme, size and scope of the event. There is nothing more frustrating than running out of money or internal resources prior to the completion of all the planning steps. Getting the budget requires a sign-off by management. Once the budget is approved then the task is managing it rigorously to ensure getting the greatest return for investment.

3.  Get everyone on the “bus”.

Before moving forward, it is vital to get every employee who will potentially influence and work on the event to be committed. No marketing or sales effort can be successful without the entire organization pulling the same direction. That means production people, finance, customer service in addition to management, marketing and sales must do their part. Getting a commitment from all before planning the details will ensure success.

A recommendation to all event planning managers, don’t start planning and executing until these three steps are completed.

For those who need marketing resources for their events, see our cross media invitation marketing services http://www.intellectives.com/open-house-cross-media-services/  

When to Train College New Hire Salespeople

We train a large number of salespeople within the graphic communications market. We still see companies formally training new salespeople in classroom settings on the very first day that they report. This is a common practice because most companies want to get salespeople out there and start selling as quickly as possible.

New College Hires Must Earn Training

Based on our experience, the traditional thinking may need to be adjusted. There has been change in the attitude from many coming out of school. Though we still see a great amount of talent and potential, many graduates view corporate education and training as an entitlement.

The percentage of students living at home, hustling, working a part time job and studying through the night to graduate college is not large. Consequently, many new college graduates expect training but don’t really value it.

Many recent graduates fail in their first year of sales and the training investment is also lost as well. Based on our experience, we have found it is a better practice to make new hires earn training. This way the employer will know within a few weeks if they made the right hiring decision.

How to Manage New Hire Sales Training

We recommend giving new hires tasks that they need to accomplish BEFORE they enter into a high value and high cost formal sales training program. For instance, have them work and produce in a production capacity for a week. Then have the current employees in that area evaluate the salesperson on work ethic, timeliness, ability to take constructive criticism, confidence, quality of work etc.

Another example would have new hires prepare a company presentation. Then have the salesperson present it to the team. Check for quality, attire, writing skills, confidence and persuasiveness. If they can’t do this well, they will not sell.

If the new hire fails in deliver outstanding results in these endeavors, make them do it over again or remove them from the team. Under no circumstances, should you let them go through any costly formal sales skills, product or industry training program without demonstrating they can deliver results first.

As a result, salespeople will be much more motivated in their formal training when they get it and management will have an employee who is much more likely to succeed.

How the Printing Industry and Retail is the same

This morning, I had the good fortune to hear retail senior executive Mark Cohen speak about a range of topics affecting the retail industry.  It was outstanding. Mark teaches at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business and also consults with leading retailers.

To an audience on the campus of Dominican College, he spoke specifically about the challenges, changes and opportunities facing the Retail Industry. Mark gave many examples about the rapid transformation that has taken place and some of the companies that will not survive. He emphasized that leadership and creativity is vital. He emphasized that no matter what changes take place over time, customers will always still search for value.

It struck me as a consultant and trainer who works within the Printing Industry that some of his advice and consul that he gave to the audience apply to the printing industry. Here are some key points that every printing business needs to pay close attention:

·       Short term pricing discounts that impact long term profitability is
        a prescription for disaster. Once you discount, it is impossible to  
        reverse the tactic with customers.

·       Consistent and large discounts are unsustainable and reduce 
        customer confidence in the brand.

·       Provide wonderful and high value products and services

·       Create exciting promotions that don’t rely on discounts

·       Participate with partners to support customer requirements

·       Provide great customer service

·       Move quickly to a multichannel system of delivery and marketing

With all the challenges facing printers, these bullets should be carefully considered. The commercial printing industry was built by small, regional and family businesses. Their core advantage is that they have been able to establish deep relationships with customers in a very personal business.  Keeping up with the times and knowing how to deliver high value products and services is the road map for long term success.