Leading Change & Labor Challenges: Transactional and Direct Mail Printers Share their Strategies at thINK Ahead 2022
A highlight of every thINK Ahead Canon inkjet user conference is the opportunity to learn from other print providers who share the same challenges and goals. This year was no exception, with lots of conversations focusing on how companies are strategically responding to shifting realities and disruptions in the marketplace.
During a session for direct mail and transactional printers entitled The Path that Got You Here May Not Be the Path to Get You There, Greg Groleau, vice president of operations at Venture Solutions, the transactional mail division of Taylor Corporation; and Rob Nordwall, director of customer experience at Impact, shared some insights into how they're taking a strategic approach to their businesses in order to get to a better normal.
Leading Change
Presenter Karen Kimerer of K.L. Kimerer & Associates kicked off the conversation by referencing how much the industry has changed the past few years and how that is impacting leadership decisions for print providers. “Strategy is often forced upon us,” Kimerer said. “So, what made you realize you needed to adapt and make changes within your own organizations?” The overarching answer was the same for both panelists—actively listening to their customers.
Overseeing a 100 percent transactional and customer communications business, with five facilities throughout the US turning out a billion mail pieces a year, Groleau recognized the organization’s strategy needed to be market driven.
“The turning point for Venture Solutions was probably 10 or so years ago, starting off with demand for reduced turn times and more speed,” said Groleau, “and the transition to the digital side of the business with e-presentment. And it's been progressive. We're seeing the transition continue—probably driven by paper and envelopes and changes in postal regulations and all the other things that are going on in the market today. Plus, frequently the customers themselves are looking for us to coach them and help them along the path of change. They're looking at us as the leaders who can guide them to what's their best next step. All of that is what is pushing us forward and driving how we need to respond to the customer.”
“Frequently the customers themselves are looking for us to coach them and help them along the path of change.” — Greg Groleau, VP of operations, Venture Solutions
For Nordwall, the experience was similar at Impact, a privately held company specializing in direct mail and critical documents as well as fulfillment services. After doubling in size and revenue since 2019, Impact currently produces about 30 million pieces monthly for verticals including nonprofit, retail, home services, and financial services.
“We really just listened to our customers and what they want,” he said, “like reduced turn times and more volume. And when digital print kind of closed the gap with offset printing, it enabled printers to do more one-to-one messaging and do it in conjunction with digital messaging. So we responded to our customers who were asking, ‘How do we do this?’ and we also pushed the capability out to our customer base as a proven method for enhancing recipient response, especially in the financial sector.”
In addition, Impact took a more selective approach to its customers base. “We identified our big players that yield the largest revenue, as well as the smaller customers that maybe were not fitting the bill and consuming just as much or more time, especially on the front end,” Nordwall explained.
Crafting Strategy
Kimerer followed up by asking the panelists how they took what they learned from listening, figured out what their focus should be, and refined that into a strategy to grow their businesses. For Groleau, the answer was simple—“focusing on the opportunities as a way to grow our market share.” He listed several ways Venture Solutions invests in what customers are looking for.
“We’re looking at our equipment, to make sure that we're set up for the changing marketplace and keep driving costs out—which really improves with automation. Some of the changes in postal, for example, required us to get the technology and equipment that enables us to respond more nimbly and cost effectively. We also keep looking for ways to be more productive and drive quantum change where we can—even incremental change on a daily basis,” Groleau added. “People expect better. They expect it faster. So quality and speed continue to be ratcheted up.”
“Definitely automation is key. We need to keep finding innovative ways to serve our customers that are outside the box.” — Rob Nordwall, Director of Customer Experience, Impact
Nordwall immediately picked up the thread. “Definitely automation is key. We need to keep finding innovative ways to serve our customers that are outside the box to a certain degree,” he said. “I think customers are going to demand more updates on where the product is, how soon it is going to mail, etc. Those lines of communication need to continue to stay open as much as possible. And we have to have the means to provide that information. We've invested a lot into individual piece tracking and the ability to put dashboards up identifying exactly where each job is in the plant. Having that information at their fingertips makes the front end and the sales and client services teams’ jobs a lot easier. We’re just being very mindful of dialing in on our equipment and the investments we make.”
Being Collaborative
Like many print providers in the transactional and direct mail space, Impact and Venture Solutions recognize the value of collaborative leadership in creating and executing strategy. After looking at their customer bases and determining what direction they want to go, both Groleau and Nordwall relied on internal teams to help bring their vision to life.
At Impact, Nordwall has built an experienced leadership team that directs from above, cultivates employees, and empowers them to participate in pursuing strategic initiatives. To build the leadership team and drive employee engagement, the company offers access to LinkedIn Learning. “It’s a great educational tool” he said. “Our people can educate themselves on their own basis, then we bring our folks together in monthly employee recognition meetings. And communication is so key. You have to continually communicate with your employees to ensure that you're getting the message across.”
According to Groleau, at Venture Solutions “strategy is driven top down by our leadership team. But that leadership really reflects engagement and driving culture versus managing it,” he explained. “Managing is almost too distant in a work environment. And leadership is, in my view, engagement. It's very cross-functional—our technology team, our marketing, sales obviously—they’re right there making sure I do the right thing. I may come up with what looks like the best solution from a purely operational standpoint, but if we can't bolt on the right technology, then it becomes less the right tool, right? So, it’s really important that it's cross-functional or you'll be solving the wrong problem.”
“It’s really important that it's cross-functional or you'll be solving the wrong problem.” — Greg Groleau, VP of operations, Venture Solutions
To support the team and a culture of learning and collaboration, Venture Solutions offers different levels of training and development. “We've invested a lot in leadership development programs and formalized mentorship programs, which is really an important piece. Mentorship provides people who are trying to grow a safe place to fail—an environment where they're not putting themselves or anything else at risk. You know, if you're not making mistakes, you're probably not making anything,” Groleau summed up.
Meeting Labor Challenges
Recruiting, hiring, and retaining team members that share a company’s value set and collaborative culture has grown increasingly difficult across the entire print industry. Kimerer inquired how Impact and Venture Solutions were hiring people to help secure their vision. To set the stage, she mentioned Impact had recently hired more than 50 new staff members and made some very strategic location changes.
“Labor was definitely a challenge” said Nordwall. “We previously had two locations. One of them was in Winsted, Minnesota, where the labor force was a little thin. But our workload was increasing, and obviously we needed more people on the floor. So, we had to make a strategic decision to consolidate our two facilities into one in Minneapolis.
“I'm not going to say it was easy to bring in that many people in just eight months,” he continued. “But we really believe in putting the right people in the right seats. We had some key areas of our production floor that needed new leadership. And then, those new leaders could identify talent on the production floor and create the culture that we ultimately wanted to develop at Impact. Employee retention is huge as well, and we focused on that by refreshing our work environment and adding some amenities for our employees, enhancing our benefits package, and even doubling our 401(k) contribution.”
“Employee retention is huge. We focused on refreshing our work environment, adding some amenities for our employees, enhancing our benefits package.” — Rob Nordwall, Director of Customer Experience, Impact
Groleau agreed the labor market is a challenge right now. “What we have really tried to do is top grade leadership within each individual facility.” said Groleau. “But when things are changing, it often involves breaking old cultures and molds. Even if you want to bring them along, some people historically don't want to change. That's a path to irrelevancy. When that happens, the best change is for them to leave and for you to bring in somebody who wants to change with you.
“If you can find people with some experience and they fit the culture, that's great,” he continued. “If you find some people who want to come in and learn, that's also good. I think it's really important to have a blend. Whether it's quality or delivery, the expectation is you're 100 percent. And that in itself can be labor intensive, so also approaching staffing decisions through the lens of how we can drive labor out of the equation is going to help us and our customers.
A Reason to thINK
Opportunities to learn together like this session are what make thINK—the industry’s largest independent community of Canon inkjet users—and the annual thINK Ahead conference so valuable. To learn more about becoming a member visit thINKForum.com.
SIDEBAR
Strategy Reading List
The panelists each named a book that helped drive their focus and decisions.
Greg Groleau
Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan
“It's a map of who you should be interviewing, how you get things done, and where you get things done” GG
Rob Nordwall
Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman
“It heavily focuses on putting the right people in the right seats, and it helped us establish the structure that we have today.” RN
Did you know?
Canon Solutions America offers its inkjet customers free access to the valuable resources, learning experiences, and networking opportunities presented by thINK, an independent community of inkjet users, solution partners, and print industry experts.