The Dscoop Podcast

Dscoop is a collection of industry mavericks — people around the world who aren’t afraid to make mistakes, to push the envelope and to eagerly share ideas with others. Kjetil Hovland is the epitome of that description.

When he's outside, skiing in the nearby mountains or boating on the picturesque fjord next to his office, Kjetil is peaceful in his element. He loves the fresh air, mountains and glaciers around Gaupne, the location of his impressive company, Digital Etikett. But when he's inside the company's remarkable all-wood office, Kjetil is ready to crank up rock-and-roll music and guide his kick-butt team. He loves using digital print to delight brands of all sizes.

This maverick will be a magnificent resource at the Greening the Bottom Line, set for June 8-9 in the village of Songdal, about a half hour south of Gaupne. Kjetil is eager to talk to fellow printers about his company's extensive sustainability practices.

In the "Unvarnished" video above, Dscoop's Chris Hyde and Darin Painter caught up with Kjetil to talk about the coolness of Norway, his personal and business journey to protect the environment, and why printers should attend Greening the Bottom Line.

In the 1990s, "we really had an identity crisis," recalls Brian Benson, CEO and Founder of Benson Integrated Marketing Solutions, based in Alpharetta, GA, USA. Was his business a print company? An apparel provider? A promotional products vendor? "People wondered, 'What do you really do? Why are you different?'"

Today, Brian and his firm know exactly who they are and why they matter to customers. Benson Integrated Marketing Solutions offers a comprehensive, efficient and transparent centralized marketing platform that helps multifamily-property marketing teams buy, personalize and track their marketing activities.

If that sounds ultra-specific, that sounds great to Brian. He's a visionary whose company's deep dive into one key vertical market has led to extremely high client retention. He and his team know the nuances of each need property owners, marketing executives and field workers have, thanks in part to their own original research. Benson Integrated Marketing Solutions now has more than 20,000 registered users of its online web-to-print platform.

In this episode of "Unvarnished," Brian talks about getting his first multifamily apartment order in 1992, his commitment to making each client look like a superstar, his sales process, his approach to turning down business that doesn't fit the company and his appreciation for other innovative Dscoopers.

The team at LPi believes that vibrant churches matter — that they're life-changing places deserving of highly impressive and integrated communication services. They're on a mission to help these clients connect with their congregations.

To say LPi produces and delivers print and digital church bulletins is an understatement. LPi currently works with more than 4,000 Catholic parishes, printing an eye-opening 1.3 billion total pages annually, primarily in full color. The company is one of HP's largest ink users globally, and exemplifies the power of HP PageWide technology.

As Vice President of Operations Jerry Messner talks about in this episode of "Unvarnished," perhaps even more impressive than LPi's volume is its precision. The company's core business revolves around printing within an hour in most instances, with all equipment and software in multiple locations geared for this purpose. He explains LPi's process from file submission to printing within minutes, without the need for manual intervention. He also explains LPi's full-service approach to church communication, including art and content, website design, online directories, and logo/branding services, plus advertising solutions for businesses wanting to target church-goers.

Jerry is friendly and thoughtful, and his passion for his work and team shine through in this conversation.

"Our customer service team talks to a beekeeper," says James Nilles in this episode of the "Unvarnished" video interview series, "and then they talk to a beer brewer, and the next one wants technical labels."

As General Manager of online label provider etikett.de, part of CCL Label, James relishes the power and beauty of delivering impressive labels to a huge breadth of brands and markets. To that end, he also loves blending his team with his technology. "We try to produce everything the way the customer needs it," he says.

His efforts are paying off for etikett.de, a successful and growing label provider based in Germany. Its website features and produces amazingly impressive labels to markets such as beer, chemistry, cosmetics and nutritional supplements.

The Link is a new virtual series where each conversation is a deep dive into a Dscooper's experience with industry collaboration. The idea is to shine a spotlight on how, when and why members of the Dscoop global community join forces and share business opportunities, new ideas, friendly tips, tools and resources, and more.

The first episode of The Link (video replay above) features Jon Bailey, CEO at Precision Proco in the UK and Dscoop's Global Chair.

Go to the Events page to register for future episodes, all held directly on the new Dscoop.com community platform.

In this webinar, Greg Kestler, product manager of narrow format digital and offset media, will introduce General Formulations' Narrow Format Digital (NFD) product line and the Graphic Arts market segments they serve. He will take a deep dive into the widest array of solutions for label and signage applications available for HP Indigo presses. With 17 individual products utilizing a combination of seven face stocks and six adhesives, GF's NFD product line has a product to fit your needs.

Presenter: Greg Kestler

With over 40 years of experience in the Graphic Arts industry, Greg Kestler started his career working for a traditional paper merchant. He spent the next three decades with GPA, where he focused on pressure-sensitive sheet products. Today, Greg is the Product Manager at General Formulations (GF) for the Narrow Format Digital (NFD) and Offset products. Greg's role with GF, a world-class manufacturer of pressure-sensitive films, is to manage, market and educate the industry on GF's NFD product offering. Over his career, Greg has worked closely with HP Indigo and is acutely aware of the technology and the importance of high-quality products that offer trouble-free processing in HP Indigo presses.

For more information and the full video replay of this episode visit dscoop.com

Kate Dunn from Evolve Sales Group has amazing energy, along with a refreshingly straightforward approach and style. She also has great insight into what it takes to succeed in print sales, whether there's a pandemic or not. Kate shares a heap of great sales concepts in this interview.

Kate is a highly respected print industry veteran, with experiences at Xerox and KeyPoint Intelligence (formerly known as InfoTrends). She has trained and coached scores of salespeople, teams and business owners - enough to know what works and what doesn't.

"The problems we had in the industry were just exacerbated by the pandemic -- they existed before," Kate says. "It's a fundamental problem, and I've been talking about it for 25 years: Our sales process models are just not good. So the idea is let's use this disruption to figure out what we should be doing, and making systemic changes."

Since the pandemic began, some of Kate's clients have ramped up their e-commerce and web-storefront efforts to empower clients to order faster and more efficiently. Others have streamlined their sales forces, increased their focus on social selling and made other smart "pivots" in the past year.

Kate enthusiastically cites current examples from her clients to paint a positive picture of print sales in 2021 and beyond -- especially among companies bold enough to not be stuck in traditional sales and marketing approaches. "What we should be doing is positioning ourselves as experts that can help you accomplish business objectives," she says.

For more information and the full video replay of this episode visit dscoop.com

Bill Gillespie has been in the print industry for 44 years and has written more than $100 million in business. He loves the industry - and sharing ideas with fellow printers. Bill isn't just a print salesperson and sales manager; he's a sales motivator. In this interview, Bill shares his views on the current state of sales and why now is as good a time as any to find opportunities.

Bill points out that economic downturns tend to expose the health of PSP/client relationships- - for better or worse -- because customers aren't comfortable and seek options to maximize the value of their vendors. At the same time, PSPs that creatively get in front of prospects (using video, social media and other tools) and impress them can gain new business today.

"The playing field has been leveled by what's going on, and that creates opportunity," Bill says, adding that today's sales reps have more tools available at their disposal than ever before to earn attention from prospects.

Bill also professes the importance of being genuine, open and empathetic to a buyer's needs -- traits that have worked in sales for decades. "I think a 'regular' person is a lot more likeable than an artificial person they become because they think it's the right way to sell stuff."

For more information and the full video replay of this episode visit dscoop.com

Stephen Yu of Willow Data Strategy obviously knows data -- he has been in the data and analytics industry for 35 years. What's better, he understands how to connect data to make it understandable and usable for marketers and designers. In this interview, Stephen uses stories and examples to illustrate his four pillars of successful personalization campaigns: data, analytics, creative and delivery.

That's important today, as PSPs increasingly seek ways to turn data into action. They want to help clients (and often their own print firms) create emotional appeal with highly targeted recipients. The goal is to make campaigns smarter, more effective and more responsive across all marketing channels.

No matter the size of your clients, Stephen says, "you're in a great position to [use business information and analytics] so you can create more multichannel buyers, convert more one-time buyers into multi-time buyers and increase customer value."

The good news: Working with data and print doesn't require hiring awkward people who wear shirts with pocket protectors. You can take immediate steps to get more comfortable with data and eventually become a data-and-print dynamo.

For more information and the full video replay of this episode visit dscoop.com

With COVID-19's impact on the economy, disaster loans can provide vital assistance to qualified businesses. Every U.S. business owner should hear this, as you may be surprised by what is still available to help you mitigate loss of revenue.

In this recording, Jennell K. Taylor, Economic Development Specialist in the Georgia District Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), provided informative updates about Paycheck Protection Program Loans (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL).

"As COVID-19 hit everyone across America, the SBA was called upon to take a big lead to assist with the recovery effort," Jennell said. He mentioned that typically only about one in five SBA employees work on disaster loans, but for months those loans accounted for nearly 100% of SBA's work.

The SBA's mission is to help small businesses grow, and Jennell and his colleagues worked hard to give relief printers and other companies who needed relief in 2020.

In this recording he reviews...

• Eligible proceeds of PPP loans (06:45 mark of video)
• PPP loan forgiveness criteria (15:45 mark) -- pay attention to what Jennell says about loan proceeds not used for employee compensation, and the need to document those expenses 
• PPP loan exceptions and "safe harbors" (18:50 mark)
• PPP loan forgiveness process and timeline (20:45 mark) -- you'll need to use SBA Form 3508 or 3508 EZ
• EIDL loan details, application process and FAQs (23:20 mark) -- this is still available until December 31, 2020; for details visit this SBA website page
• Forms needed for organizations applying for an EIDL loan (34:30 mark)

Jennell also provided candid answers to attendees' questions in a Q&A following his presentation.

For more information and the full video replay of this episode visit dscoop.com