TJ Bedacht: Learn how to build a better sign and
Bryant Gillespie: print shop from a few crusty sign
TJ Bedacht: guys who've made more mistakes
Michael Riley: than they
TJ Bedacht: care to admit.
Conversations and advice on pricing, sales, marketing,
workflow, growth, and more.
You're listening to The Better Sign Shop podcast with your hosts, Peter Kaunas,
Michael Riley: Michael Riley, and Bryant
TJ Bedacht: Gillespie.
Bryant Gillespie: All 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 the Sign Burrito.
Michael Riley . We need to get a, another nickname.
I feel like we have to switch every
Michael Riley: episode.
It's.
Bryant Gillespie: Mayor McKee signed burrito.
If you're listening to this right now, send us your suggestions
for Mike's nickname On the next episode, we want to hear from,
Michael Riley: You mean we need to like hop on Jasper and let a computer, give
me a nickname, See what it comes up with.
yeah.
Bryant Gillespie: Let's get some AI involved.
let's let the Terminator give you a new nickname.
. Hey.
So what's new with you guys before we dive into all things customer experience?
Michael Riley: I'm getting married in two weeks, so it's been, I am
stressed beyond belief right now.
It's crazy.
I don't
Bryant Gillespie: what is, what's your stress level at a one to 10?
Michael Riley: Oh, it's cranked up to 11, man.
, like it's just
Bryant Gillespie: as full spinal tap.
Michael Riley: Yeah, I'm handling it well.
It's just, it's very, it's a lot of internal stress.
There's, we have a lot of balls in the air right now trying to
get some stuff done in the house.
We have a bunch of guests that are gonna stay here, so we're trying
to get bathrooms done and siting done, and the house is just a wreck.
So,
Bryant Gillespie: But you're not even stressed about the wedding part or
like getting married or any of that?
It's just Hey, we've got guests coming to the house.
, Michael Riley: the guests are the most stressful part.
Yeah, no, we don't know what we're gonna do for food for the wedding yet,
so we're still, we're, that's a little up in the air , which is of a big
thing, so we need to figure that out.
but no, the wedding plans are pretty, pretty solid.
they're, that's for the most part under control.
I'm sure that the, the shit will hit the fan when people start
arriving here and parents and.
People get involved in tr trying to help and everything.
But, yeah, it's really just, all the prep work, trying to get ready
and then I'm gonna shut the business down for a week and a half, to go on
honeymoon and everything like that.
So just trying to get everything done and ready is,
Peter Kourounis: I got one question for you, Michael.
Michael Riley: One question, lay it on me.
What's that?
Peter Kourounis: who was that amazing photographer that you
Michael Riley: had we just, we hired a, a local wedding photographer.
he's a pretty, pretty talented guy.
he's done quite a bit of, I think like nature and landscape photography.
He's published a few books on, like lake photo books as well.
But, it's a pat, my, my future wife on the back, she went to school for photography.
She's got.
a degree in fine art photography.
And she was a wedding photographer herself for many years.
Wow.
So he just sent us the raw files, which were, fairly unimpressive.
they were nice.
They were, compos and framed, but, but she actually did all the editing on it.
Oh,
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.
it sincerely . I literally thought my wedding photos might have been the
best, but that wasn't until I saw.
Your photos.
So whoever touched them up, I whe whether it be your wife
or the photographer the best.
If you haven't seen it and you're friends with Mike, go check it out.
They are literally the best in, I guess what is it?
is that like a wedding photo engagement photo?
what was that?
What was it?
Yeah, that
Michael Riley: was just an engagement, like photo session that we did.
Cuz she, she wanted to have a picture of us that we could send
out with the wedding invites.
so we just did a quick, like one hour beach session with the guy, out of sunset.
Amazing.
So yeah, having a beautiful spot like that to have pictures
taken as well, really helps.
having a background like, as beautiful as that, doesn't matter what the photo
looks like, there's no such thing as a bad picture when you're at the Oregon coast.
So, But no, she's a, like a photo editing, master.
She's really good at it.
So she can take a.
Just a crappy picture and turning into a pretty impressive work of art.
So I'm, I've seen some masterpieces as well.
Oh yeah, she . I know she's made a few . Photoshop is, she's good at it.
thank you, Peter.
Yeah, they, we were really happy.
I'm excited to see how the actual wedding photos come out.
He's gonna be the safe photographer for the wedding, and the wedding's
actually gonna be on that beach as well.
That'll be our backdrop for the wedding.
So, the only thing that we're worried about is, we took those photos in
like mid-July when the weather is pretty much perfect out there, but
the wedding is in late September.
which could very well be like, 50 degrees pouring down rain, like
sideways wind, like just the weather is unpredictable in the fall out there.
So we're a little nervous that the wedding is gonna have to be either moved
inside or we're just gonna get married in like the pouring down rain on the.
Which I'm all for.
Like I think that's gonna be awesome to get married in the rain.
if you're gonna have a Oregon beach wedding, prepare for
rain, rain should be involved.
I think.
I mean it's just part for the course.
I
Peter Kourounis: rained on my wedding.
don't tell my wife that she hates three B.
Reminded rained on my wedding.
It was devastating cuz we picked this venue for an outdoor venue.
and then we got huddled into this like small little room.
So it was not the best scenario still
Michael Riley: a great, you're getting married, it doesn't matter
like you're getting married.
just suck it up and do it.
And 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 little less enthusiastic about it.
Raining so we'll, , kinda don't blame her.
The fence here, I don't blame her.
What about you guys?
What have you guys been up to?
Peter Kourounis: 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 eight days of each other.
So it's a lot of, and I'm just gonna throw this out there, cuz Brian, you got kids.
did you baptize your daughters?
Bryant Gillespie: yes.
Okay.
We're not Catholic or anything like that.
The,
Peter Kourounis: Sorry.
That's all right.
the first one, my first son, it was a full out party, like a full out extravaganza.
I had dozens and dozens of people at my house.
I rented everything, including like the camel.
At my house, . This one, it's let's just do it at a restaurant.
I swear to you, I feel awful.
I feel awful about it, but I'm just like, there's a birthday with the
first kid and then there's a, like a christening or baptism the 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.
It's a baptism, it's a birthday.
We're just gonna do the birthday at home and we're gonna do
the baptism at a restaurant.
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 this, I'm not, it was
not as exciting as the first one.
And here I am just.
Feeling bad that my second son happens to be just born Second.
Bryant Gillespie: we're on the third kid.
Okay.
Like I, I know you're just now on the second kid that's like the second kid.
You're, you just you're like, eh, but when you get to the third kid,
you're like, like whatever, fuck it.
Yeah, the first kid.
Like we did all the baby proofing, all the stuff, all the little things
in the outlets and all that stuff.
And now it's just you'd knock yourself out, Oh, you wanna run around outside,
You wanna ride your bike without knee pads and stuff like that.
Like fine.
get after it.
Yeah.
Oh my God.
Don't feel bad, man.
Don't feel guilty
Michael Riley: about.
I've heard that's the way it goes with kids.
Like with every subsequent one you have, like you your helicopter parenting
just goes down a notch or two until you're just like, eh, they'll survive.
Like whatever.
Yeah.
This is a hundred percent true.
Yeah.
See, I'm skipping all that young stuff too.
I'm inheriting a 15 year old stepdaughter, which is awesome.
she's cool, but she's already grown up and so I don't have to worry too
much about all the, about her just
Bryant Gillespie: dying on a daily basis for self-inflicted death.
Michael Riley: no, actually, I still worry about that for other reasons though.
She she's not always the best at the logical decision making still,
but, less so I probably expect than you guys with your young ones.
Yeah.
Hundred percent.
Bryant Gillespie: Yeah.
So what's the topic today, guys?
Michael Riley: Today we are talking about customer experience and.
what you can do improve your customer experience.
what makes customers keep coming back and buying from you?
I think in the first place, and, we're gonna bring on a guest today.
a lot of people probably know the guy TJ Bak.
He owns GCI Digital Imaging down in Cincinnati, Ohio.
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, seen
TJ's name, thrown about quite a bit.
He seems to be pretty much the go-to guy for anybody who needs, some big wide
format digital printing or fleet of wraps printed, or you're just like totally in a.
in a rut and need somebody to save your ass.
It seems like TJ is like the, the Superman and apparently he's doing something right.
I don't know the guy personally, but I reached out to him to bring
him on the show because he's just, everybody raves about him and his
service and everybody just says he just, he will bend over backwards
for you every single time and get it done and knock it outta the ballpark.
and on a rare occasion, he doesn't, he'll be Johnny in the
spot to make it right for you.
So, he's definitely delivering some sort of exceptional customer experience
and I wanna know what and why and how, so I'm excited to talk to the guy.
Bryant Gillespie: do we just bring him on now?
He's
Michael Riley: he's in the lobby.
Yeah.
Let's go ahead and, let's bring him on.
He just sent me messages waiting.
Okay.
All.
All right, so welcome, TJ Bak.
Tj, did I say your last name right?
Bak abs.
Yep.
Awesome.
All right.
I didn't want to butcher your name there.
Welcome to TJ Bak from GCI Digital Imaging.
How you doing tj?
Doing wonderful.
Awesome.
Glad to have you.
Thank you.
Yeah, thanks for joining us, especially on such short notice.
we just reached out to you this week on it, so thank you for dropping
everything to, to accommodate us here.
so to start, just, just give us the quick rundown, like the, the
nickel experience of your company and how you got into the industry.
What led you to where you're at and, we'll go from there.
Bryant Gillespie: The nickel experience.
I've never heard that.
The Tencent tour.
The Tencent
TJ Bedacht: tour . There you go.
Okay.
I might give you the 25.
All right, That works.
so once again, TJ bak, GCI Digital, we're based outta Cincinnati,
Ohio, family owned business.
My dad and I, took it from a three man operation out of
the basement of his house.
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 very interesting year.
started calling wholesale, vehicle rep companies.
fast signs locally, saw very interesting niche.
And, we had equipment that nobody else wanted, didn't have the space for my dad.
My grandpa kind of bred into me.
I'm fourth generation.
My grandpa always said, Buy something that nobody else can, and, you'll.
A great success in it, build it, they will come type of theory.
And, so we were buying 10 foot machines when everybody else
had, five foot, four foot.
so we started printing banners.
Lots of them.
we're printing right now we're 40,000, 50,000 square foot per day in banner work.
Wow.
We're running, a thousand sheets through the flatbed department.
72,000 grommets in a week.
it's, it, the task of what we've built is, is quite interesting.
to feed the beast is you call me on a 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.
that's just what I do.
It gets me up every morning.
I.
Michael Riley: Well, that's why, just shout
Bryant Gillespie: out Sign guys left and right, huh?
Michael Riley: Yep.
Yep.
That's why I wanted to have you on the podcast, tj, because I, if you
spent any time on any of the Facebook, sign industry groups, your name is
inevitably gonna come up as the guy who's 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.
I don't personally know how you do it.
it's mind boggling to me.
I know you've got a big staff and a, some serious firepower at your
shop to fulfill those orders, but still, like there's a human element
to it that's just, it's impressive.
And, like I said, what we wanted to talk about the day was, cultivating and
creating a great customer experience.
And you're clearly doing something right in that regard because these
guys, almost they stop short of worshiping the ground you walk on.
I would say it's pretty impressive.
So how did you, how did you get to that point?
What, how do you approach that customer experience and, Teamwork makes dream
TJ Bedacht: work.
Teamwork makes dreams work.
every single one of my customers has my cell phone.
it's of one of those things to where my wife and the kids get it.
we've slept in the truck, delivering a job on a Friday night in North Carolina.
my staff has worked all night to give me the proper product to, to
make that drive the kids, helping pounding the last couple grommets.
The wife's helping me hold the banners up.
it was, it's been fun, very passionate about it.
We have, we have one of the best teams in the industry for sure.
Yeah.
Michael Riley: how do you maintain that, that passion for the industry?
Cuz you and I were in, I was a, I have no idea . I have no idea.
You, you and I were in a similar market, I was 50 miles north of
you and we had some crossover customers, like we were talking about.
Some of 'em are crazier than others.
it's a hard industry.
It's a, it's an industry that will definitely, grind you down.
Especially when on the end of the industry that you were in and that I was in,
where you're, everything's a rush job.
Everything's gotta have it right now.
and printers don't always work the way you want 'em to.
You get head strikes, you get, things just go sideways on you
and it can be super stressful.
how do you maintain, touch a positive outlook?
Is that something else that I notice?
Is that, you'll see you complaining and bitching and
moaning a lot on those forums.
You maintain a pretty level head and a, a pretty positive
outlook, which is unusual in this
TJ Bedacht: industry.
one of my big things with all of my customers, I say, how soon do you need it?
And, the, like for example, it's, 1230 on a Thursday right now.
my event's Friday I gotta install for my customer.
I'm like, Okay, but you haven't ordered it yet.
what time does the event start?
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.
It's 10 hours.
I'm like, do you want it or not?
that, that whole thing.
we've dealt the dashed projects before up to New York and stuff like that.
there's not an option.
You have to get these jobs done.
And my dad, my grandpa, it's your reputation.
It's the company name.
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 sign shots because at the
end of the day, if they lose that account, it could be they lost their largest
customer because of TJ in Cincinnati.
He didn't deliver it.
I don't accept a loss ever.
even if UPS loses a package, my trucks have full tank of gas in it right now.
I'm, I'll be there in a few hours.
Bear with me.
and that's just the motto that we've always had.
my dad's hopped on an airplane, it was like a $2,200 airline
ticket for a powerboat race down in Fort Myers, Florida.
And, I put him on an airplane because UPS lost it.
He went and delivered that banner the afternoon.
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, but I had to get it there
because the guy, he was so pissed.
And it was just one of those things where you have to talk
people off the ledge sometimes.
And I'd rather just make it right than put a bad taste in somebody's mouth.
So the customer experience, is very important here at the shop.
Miss Patricia is, if you guys call the shop, she's, basically
she helps me keep my sanity.
She's my, my right hand.
She handles all of my orders.
I still enter all of our orders right now.
I know that you guys, have, some things that I wanna talk to you guys about
after the podcast and everything.
To help simplify my life.
we've got some online, ordering systems in place to where people will be able
to upload automatic proof, and now it's gonna go straight to the printer, so it's
gonna bypass our pre-press department.
where we are trying to get to is to where it will auto tag it on the back side.
It gets cut and then, goes through the whole shop without any hiccups.
But yeah, we'll see what happens there.
Bryant Gillespie: Let me ask you, you put your dad on a plane, you said it was
like $2,200 plane ticket for $150 banner.
Yeah.
Is that, does that happen like often or?
TJ Bedacht: No?
We, my guys don't miss man, my guys, if I have to do that, once a quarter.
that's a lot.
we, Okay.
my dad's not on an airplane every week.
It's, if we really screw up, we make it right.
even if it's in store credit, crediting it back to customer.
you wouldn't believe some of the situations we get put under.
people, approve the proof, right?
The whole, I'm gonna prove this thing, but I'm not gonna pay for it.
theory, when they get 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, the i's are dotted and cre t's are crossed.
but there's that one banner that just wasn't approved until late.
55 banners already went through to production.
Are boxed ready to go.
That 56 banner got lost.
Right.
And, Gotcha.
So we have to make it right and get it to the guy.
It happened to be the entrance banner or the podium backdrop
for the power bit race.
Right, Right.
. Bryant Gillespie: Yeah.
No, I was I was just thinking if you're customer experience is obviously
hugely important, but if you're like bending over backwards for every
single customer, like it's every day.
Wait, how do you turn a profit?
TJ Bedacht: especially on, we don't make any money.
We just like the print banners.
Bryant Gillespie: Are you, are you comfortable sharing some numbers or?
TJ Bedacht: I feel like the number situation would, would size me up.
in, 2001, when I graduated high school, we were, we couldn't break a million.
Okay.
My dad was in business for, I think he started in 19, 19 91, 92, and
they couldn't hit that threshold.
And, it took me, And that was
Bryant Gillespie: retail work
TJ Bedacht: though, at that was retail.
posters, you're gonna sell poster for eight bucks.
we were doing a lot of posters, a lot of encapsulation of things.
And then we got into the vehicle wrap market.
And, we still have a few retail customers that, I still service.
They're legacy accounts.
I don't, it's, we don't go retail door to door.
It's just not, we're not built for.
if somebody calls in I'll recommend them to a local Fast signs or, 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.
Sure.
And, sorry
Michael Riley: Peter, I think it's an Ohio thing to just refer people to fast signs.
I'm not sure.
I used to do the same thing.
TJ fast.
TJ Bedacht: yeah, these guys, they, 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, their jobs on the pickup shelf.
But, back to the number deal, it took us a number of years
to pass that 1 million mark.
Two was really easy, three was difficult, four and five were covid.
So we're up there past that right now, and it's nine months in.
So I'm very pleased to say that the hard work of the whole staff, the
customer service, the designers, the everyth, everything, the freight
train's in motion, and, I couldn't do without the awesome customers we have.
the worst thing is when, they're used to using Science 365 or IND
or some of these other wholesalers.
Okay.
Yeah.
And
Bryant Gillespie: some of my next questions were like, who
are you guys competing with?
Like directly head to head with Science
TJ Bedacht: 365.
I'm, I'm putting in some equipment.
this is newly released, As of yesterday, we're putting in a couple,
H five Tex and a couple, 16 footers.
So I'm swinging for the fences and I'm going to, with this new 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, . So, there's plenty of work out there for all of us, but with
the request that we have been getting, it's faster, higher quality.
What are, what limitations do you have to, and I don't wanna have many, cutting
out the acrylic portion of things.
I wanna focus on rigid.
I wanna focus on banner and mesh and vehicle wraps.
other guys can kinda take on the acrylics and the higher end stuff.
I just want to the lower margin, higher volume runs.
Michael Riley: So how do you keep your staff motivated to, cuz you're to deliver
the customer experience that you guys are, it's not, it's obviously not just
you like as you said, I it takes an entire team behind you to pull that off.
You can't be out there, promising the world that your customer
is, and then your staff isn't gonna, tow the line behind you.
How do you keep them motivated and moving forward and focused on
the same goal that, that you are?
Cause I think a lot of the, a lot of the challenges that every business
owner faces, especially right now is just, is staffing in general.
Right.
and just finding decent employees who are willing to roll up their
sleeves and work hard for you.
And who care about that ultimate goal of, making the company money and putting out.
Good service and a good product.
How do you, you're running a high pressure.
Everything's a rush.
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?
how do you keep them motivated and checked in?
TJ Bedacht: not afraid to get my hands dirty.
I've got a kind of a famous line that I came up with and that was here, at
this building, maybe at the old shop.
if I have to do your job, I don't need you.
is one of those lines that I will use if I, if we get behind and work.
we've got some 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.
it's to grab your attention.
we've got some, the yellow ticket is the golden ticket, right?
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.
We don't have things that sit here for seven to 10 days.
It might only be a three to five day turn.
And 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, getting the jobs
out the door, perfect example.
We've got a job in here right now for.
Company in Lexington, Kentucky.
All the UK banners, all the field banners for all UK football
are going through the shop.
Hey guys, they're gonna be here tomorrow morning.
I'll go back there and buy each guy a drink or a candy
bar outta the vending machine.
and if you work through lunch, bust out a little bit early today.
you guys were working your butts off pick up tomorrow, last Friday.
We all left a little bit early because it was a holiday.
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.
treating the employees, 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 week.
I've been there, done it.
just having respect and, earning their respect, I think is one of
the key to help be successful in it.
Bryant Gillespie: I just can't imagine like every job being for like another sign
guy and having that not be like a pressure cooker situation or I guess you'll
probably deal with some like marketing agencies and folks like that as well.
But I just know the way 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,
is sling some wholesale prints as well.
But, parti like we're a crusty bunch just by.
TJ Bedacht: my, my guys, I mean they sent a banner out.
It was, I believe it was like 20, 2200 inches long.
And it was like 180 feet by, what was it?
Nine and a half, 10 foot tall.
They forgot the grommet.
The one whole bottom side, like 2200 inches.
So they forgot to do it.
So customer called.
He was pretty fired up because they're installing.
I'm like, What do you want me to do?
I can drive down there and pick it up.
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 down, shrink wrapped it, one of the guys just.
Put forth the extra effort.
He's not here anymore.
Miss Patricia.
let him fly.
Michael Riley: Do you, it sounds like a lot of your jobs are last
minute high pressure rush jobs, which is typical in the area of
the industry that you operated in.
Is it are, do you have a lot of redos and mistakes that you have
to fix and catch on the fly be just because of the rush nature of the job?
Or is that pretty rare for you guys?
TJ Bedacht: We make more mistakes when we're slow.
Interesting.
Peter Kourounis: that's a very interesting statement.
TJ Bedacht: It's when we're slow, we have to think about it when we're,
when we are hammered, the jobs just go through and they flow well, I compare
ourselves to a fast food restaurant, not a high end, sit down, meal.
We will have, I think UPS typically picks up somewhere
around 150 or 200 boxes a day.
That one box could have 50 banners in it.
So you know, these guys, if they mess up one order a day,
first off, it's not acceptable.
But we anticipate with the package count, the amount of work that we're putting out.
we might double print one banner to where there might have been an A and a B art,
that would make it through the shop.
But, the art room prints out an A and a B proof sheet.
But maybe the customer only approved a, so whose fault is it?
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 all on us, and that's when they don't come back.
I'm that crusty wholesale printer that will tell a customer, Hey, you were wrong.
And some of these guys don't accept, Hey, I was slightly wrong in this.
No, it is Gcis fault.
it is the customer's not always right.
Correct.
I always like it
Bryant Gillespie: when somebody says that out
TJ Bedacht: loud, and I, and not to throw rocks at, where I've had
the most trouble out of people.
But the northeastern corner of the United States, those people tend
to be the most, see, they on the sheet, the roughest to work with.
not to point fingers.
Bryant Gillespie: see Peter success letter from the whole, these now , right?
TJ Bedacht: right.
No, I've got some really good buddies up there.
Christo.
Tamir, there's a lot of guys up there that, I've done work with and,
versus called me, I've been mowing my grass, shoot the shit with them.
that's the whole thing.
I'm wholesale to the trade, but it's funny the amount of wholesalers that I deal
with and the relationship that I have with these guys, I help a lot of people out.
And a lot of people help me out when it all comes down to it.
Like I've called Chris up asking for advice, it's wild.
I got, involved in the Cincinnati Red's All star game tug, or with
blue media, it's a wild experience.
I needed help on an install.
He's Hey tj, just do it this way.
And actually my installers are done.
They're gonna help you out.
this dude's my competitor.
This dude's a monster in the industry and he just is helping me
do something I've never done before.
okay, I appreciate the help.
And I helped them out yesterday at the Great America, or down at
Paul Brown Stadium, the old one.
I helped them on an install yesterday, so it's the good old
boys club and the wholesale world.
The guys that aren't in this, the big inner circle, my arm, I'll talk to any of
them, know, I'll give 'em all pointers.
We're to a stage now to where if we don't all help each other get through it,
it's, we're just gonna, we're gonna fail.
Sure.
Bryant Gillespie: So you guys said that you're, you have launched or are just
launching online ordering for clients.
TJ Bedacht: so we've got new system that's getting ready to be released
here, to where it's very similar to the other guys, where it's the online
proofing and it goes straight to the rip.
We wanted to bypass some things, how some people have ordered from
B2 or Science 365 to where, Oh man, that experience is so cool.
Okay.
I've, over the last five years have probably changed, two
to three software companies.
I've gone to two or three different ones.
I actually removed myself from this, that whole side of things,
and that's one of my dad's projects.
I put him on like day to day operation.
He's still here every single day.
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 phone, but I've got him working with
a couple of our internal people.
And with some, outside help to get this thing moving, it's very close.
You'll be able to order any size banner, any quantity of the size automatically
picks up if it's low res and it'll shoot a, this isn't gonna work, type of email.
And we're trying to make it so simple that my dad can do it.
Bryant Gillespie: Nice.
So prior to this 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,
TJ Bedacht: I guess?
so we, we used to operate off of job tickets and that just got out of hand.
now we're using Corbridge, currently and pretty decent software.
Pete's got corbridge,
Bryant Gillespie: I think.
TJ Bedacht: Pretty decent
Peter Kourounis: Corbridge too.
Guess what?
Fast Signs uses Corbridge
TJ Bedacht: it's pretty good.
one thing that I, have been begging Corbridge to do, and I actually
saw him down at the Atlanta Show, prior to the gentleman passing the
owner, I asked them to, when you build an estimate in Corbridge,
it doesn't automatically send out.
So 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.
It's stuck in the software.
It doesn't automatically send it out.
And that's a huge, flag for me with Corbridge.
I can't, I can't call every single customer that we've.
Send an estimate one banner might be, we have a $50 minimum.
I might have a $50 estimate, I might have a $50,000 estimate.
Which 1:00 AM I gonna call the 50,000 and I lose track of the $50 jobs.
So I'm trying to get those to where it's the easy online order.
Sure.
Bryant Gillespie: But what percentage are like through email now?
And what percentage are online?
Is it all through like email?
I would say the call, 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
TJ Bedacht: of the job.
Right.
Most of it's 60, It's probably 60%, 70%.
so you do the estimate, you convert it with the Corbridge thing, it walks its
way through the system if they know how to use it and they use it properly.
we still get, I'm gonna say 70% old fashioned way where they send over
to email, send over the artwork.
We have to send an estimate, process, the order, and they
don't wanna really mess with it.
So we're still trying to train our customers how we need to accept
the orders to help them out.
because staffing, we had 12 people in the front office pre Covid, I
had, 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.
it's me, Patricia, and two other two o three other people
in the front office right now.
So, majority of our sales is still of the old fashioned way.
And is
Bryant Gillespie: that, causing stress for you guys?
Or like what was the point where you were like, Hey, I
want this other system in place.
what was the tipping point?
Like where were you at?
what was the time period?
How long ago was it?
TJ Bedacht: So I said five years ago, it might, it's my, let's see.
We might have been working on this project for the last eight years.
it's not that I don't wanna spend time on a 50 or a hundred dollars order,
but I think it's wasting my time.
I don't wanna say it's wasting my time.
That guy that's placed that 50 or that a hundred dollars order is a regular
customer knows how to send it over.
He should be able to place the order online without calling
and asking for that estimate.
Every single day, You know what my cost is, we're gonna get
it done, just send it over.
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, projects.
But I would say, we've been battling this for six, seven years.
Gotcha.
Yeah.
In my
Bryant Gillespie: experience, given the opportunity, customers will self serve.
if you've got, Hey, this is how I've always worked with TJ and the
crew, and they're fine with that.
That's, that could be a headache trying to onboard them to this new system.
TJ Bedacht: and that's something that, some of these other guys they
don't offer, can't pick up the.
And call and ask for tj, Mark, Patricia.
our whole experience is we want to be the good old boys, I'll talk to
anybody on the phone and I'm not gonna hurry up and let 'em off, I'd like
when my people call and ask for a sign shop, the point of contact there, Oh,
he's, they're out, whatever, we try to find out, Hey, what's their birthday?
did they just have a kid?
And we try to build off of that relationship.
We'll send them a pacifier, we'll send them a newborn outfit.
You.
If they're a Pittsburgh fan, we'll send 'em a Cincinnati Bengals t-shirt, and
actually with the boys over at Fire Sprint, James and those guys, I took the
bus, I don't know if you guys saw that.
and that Rusty bus,
Bryant Gillespie: The Rusty bus.
Yeah.
we, did we share the picture or I saw the picture, Yeah.
We'll make sure we add it to the, the show notes as well.
TJ Bedacht: you watch a movie, Cousin Eddie.
I'm so cousin Eddie.
Cousin Eddie isn't even Cousin Eddie.
we roll in anywhere and it's just a magnet for people.
But, James and those boys over at Fire Sprint, we were friendly betting
because they're so close to Kansas City and, I actually made a bet with them.
And that reminds me I need to get.
Them all, some GCI hats, 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.
. But
Michael Riley: yeah, I like that.
I'm always preaching that you should, your competitors aren't your enemies.
Right.
they never know when you're, they're gonna need help from you or
you're gonna need help from them.
And, I got bailed out more than a few times by some of my competitors.
And I'm thankful every day for them because they help
contribute to my success.
And I think a lot of shops lose sight of that.
And they see the competition is the enemy and, you're at war with them.
And I don't real, it was too small of an industry for that.
Yeah.
know, you never know when you're gonna need somebody's help.
TJ Bedacht: Correct.
And How many times have we ran out of ink because we're running all weekend and I've
called, hey, Sport Graphics up in Indy.
Hey, you guys have a couple cys.
Yeah, no problem.
Come up and get 'em.
and they know a lot of these people in the industry know if they need
a part, if they need my machine time, something, just gimme a call.
I'm more than willing to help out.
that's what makes the world go around.
Okay.
Bryant Gillespie: do you guys do like your clients, do they also purchase
from like Science 365 and some of these others that are like hands off?
Yeah, I don't think I've ever talked to anybody at Science 365, but I,
I used to order from them a lot.
TJ Bedacht: I could be the, new Science 365 rep.
Their phone number is (513) 521-7446.
Give me a call,
Bryant Gillespie: but do you, do the customers that you deal with, do they
prefer your good old boy approach and that's why they're coming to you guys?
Or
TJ Bedacht: is it, I th I think it's like the pricing game.
they might send a project to 365 because that $10 flat rate shipping,
or they might be cheaper on one item, but then I might get their mesh work,
or I might get their banner work.
So, like I said in the beginning, I've got a niche banner, mesh,
coro, some flatbed stuff, right?
They have their own niche.
I have my own niche.
I, I don't know how they're doing the $10 flat rate and making
any money, but it is what it is.
I know that they're build, they've gotta be building it into their
front end price of their banner.
We're.
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, 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.
It does help significantly.
Who is your
Michael Riley: ideal client or customer?
TJ Bedacht: My ideal customer would be, a print broker or a signed guy
that, that, may be struggling to find.
Employees to help in their shop.
might have to upgrade equipment soon.
struggling to, to get the jobs out the door, they call, they
just know it's gonna get done.
that's my ideal customer.
the people that have the machines that try to do the stuff and then it's Oh, we
can't get it all done in this timeframe.
Let's just send it to GCI and we'll get, we'll pay a rush
fee and have it done tomorrow.
I'm not gonna say it, that's not my optimal customer,
but I make money off of 'em.
But they turn that, they turn the wheelbarrow.
we're trying to streamline things and then that one rush job we
might have to swap out materials just to get that one job out.
It's not the optimal customer that I want, but we take 'em.
Sure.
Do you give
Peter Kourounis: your current wholesale customers any type
of access to your wholesale
TJ Bedacht: print list?
So with print gci.com basically actually you're a fast signs customer
or you're a fast I used you before.
Yeah.
Okay.
So the Fast Lane ordering system, driven specifically for fast signs, organization,
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.
Any fast signs could go on there, order at a wholesale price to
list the pricing's in there.
you put your size and it's there.
We don't have a menu for square foot pricing.
if that's what your question was.
it's just, it's a bit,
Peter Kourounis: it's been a, it's been a question that I've talked about here in
this group, on this podcast before about how few of our stein shop owners out there
actually have the, first the guts to ask.
that's one.
Two, the time to actually take a wholesale pricing and then build out,
You have corporate, so building C bridge products with a wholesaler in mind.
TJ Bedacht: Yeah.
so the pricing structure's changed like almost weekly anymore.
So we're doing it over under.
Right now, I might lose a little bit on one job to where another
job, I'll make it back up.
The core bridge is very, to go in there and change a pricing structure.
You have so many line items and so many sales to fill in.
It's not the easiest thing.
And that's where, the old fashioned way I've got in the back of my head where we
can do it for and still get away with.
that over under part, a buck 25 for mesh or banner.
it's, I'm losing a little bit because the pricing, of the scrim,
the mesh might have cost us a little bit more, but we are now back to
ordering it from overseas, containers.
So right now we've got five, five containers of mesh
and banner on the water.
Michael Riley: Okay.
Is, are the current supply chain issues raking havoc on your business in general,
or are you guys pretty insulated from it?
Just what the volume would do and the quantity of material you order at a time.
TJ Bedacht: I go through a pallet of 3M every couple days and they're
the 300 foot rolls of CB three.
And there was a couple times where we were almost out, and when I say almost,
we're down to our last pallet and then the truck backs up to the door.
But I was sweating it a little bit, because in our business we have to have
vehicles printed ahead of time for the installers because if the installer gets
the vehicle there, that whole chain of.
Organization up to that graphic kit coming for the installation of that rep.
It might have taken, the installer, five tries to get this guy to
bring a semi truck to their location to get it installed.
So if we missed that window of opportunity, it's not good . Sure.
But the supply chain issues, I know we had, ran into a
couple issues with Grim Co.
they ran out of some material, at one point be Craft had it.
So, you can't have all of your eggs in one basket.
And I feel 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.
but they do need to order more from.
That the other guy, just feeds the, it feeds the family.
Is
Peter Kourounis: there something specific about gci?
Maybe it's about you, maybe it's about your team, but is there something
specific that you do, in regards to the customer experience that they just
can't get anywhere 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?
What is it 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?
TJ Bedacht: I feel that the, there's no excuse for failure type of approach.
when a sign shop.
Places an order with us.
I feel that, the customer experience, they know that it's gonna get done.
They can go home that night after they place the order, they can go
home and they can say, 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.
that's the approach that we've had.
My, the process that my team has put in place is to make it so much easier
for the customers to just want to rely on us, bigger, small gci does
it all that motto, We'll get it done.
just emailed over.
Get it to me.
Lincoln from Fast, He's brick, Lincoln O'.
he calls and he's tj, I got, I've got this mess job.
I need it done.
Okay, just send it over.
that's the whole conversation, just wanting to that reinsurance.
it's
Peter Kourounis: the, so it's the, like the guy in your pocket of feel?
Is that what you're feeling?
it's the, I'm the sign shop owner.
You're a sign shop owner.
The job is, the focus is to get the job done.
And the e the easiness of getting in touch with your team is what Yeah.
Keeps me actively giving you orders cuz of how simple it's
TJ Bedacht: correct.
Saying Correct.
And, the personalization that we give to the sign shop owners, for
example, you place a mesh banner order with us for a baseball field.
Okay.
The line that I tell 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 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.
Okay.
You go online and you type it at six foot.
Nobody's gonna ever ask that question.
we're, we'll give the industry insight, over the phone and
that helps everybody in the end.
Cuz I can run two up 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.
Very true.
Very.
Peter Kourounis: I had just one follow up question here for you.
and this is, I guess it's maybe not a question, but it speaks to your sentiment
about what we were discussing earlier, and that's, I gave you, I guess it was
sometime last year, you had 10, You had done a very large order for my fast
signs, job, but it was a little different than what I was normally used to.
The experience was very different from, from the, previous vendor I was using.
So I had this customer, this school that wanted 1200 lawn signs, graduation signs.
you, you know what that was that, what that was like, like during c, every kid's
got their photo and their name and every parent was buying one for their kid.
Right.
So we had a lot of those orders and I had this one order from
this one school said, I need this.
And the next week, we hadn't ordered these yet, so my manager
reached out to you and said, Hey, is this something that you can do?
And you said, Hey, Not only can I do it, just give me the template and
gimme the photos and gimme their names.
And I'm gonna set out, I'm gonna set up this file for you.
I'm gonna get it out here tomorrow.
Now, once that was approved, of course, by, by the manager here.
But the fact that you took that extra step, 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.
Is, would you, would I be correct in making
TJ Bedacht: that assumption?
delivering every job is very important.
I've, I'm gonna be very bold by saying this.
I've never over promise and underdelivered.
I believe your manager went, I can't remember if it's that job or if it
was a, Job for Frankie out of Chicago.
there's two orders that kind of cross paths mentally.
I believe that's the one that I said that I would throw in my enclosed
trailer and deliver, if I remember correctly, but I could be wrong.
the 1200 lawn signs, I'm pretty sure I don't know.
We've printed so many damn signs like that last year.
Yeah, I,
Peter Kourounis: I bet that one order bleeds into the next, But for me, in
my perspective, I've used your shop a couple of times after that because
of how 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,
TJ Bedacht: that's my customers, right?
Yep.
Right.
Peter Kourounis: When we're talking about that, the biggest.
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 if I have to wait
for you to send me 1200 art files, Right, because that's what you would need to do.
this, I can't promise you anything.
I can't promise you anything other than a price today on how to get
that done for you in your timeline.
Yeah.
You'd made I'm not, I can't remember the name of the woman who I was,
who my manager was dealing with.
It was a woman on your staff?
Probably.
TJ Bedacht: Miss Patricia.
Miss Patricia.
Peter Kourounis: Okay.
Patricia.
Hats off to Miss Patricia for making that like an incredible experience.
So I.
The logic 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.
And it doesn't just mean delivery.
It was, I'm gonna set up these art files for you.
Give me that CSV file, give me that Excel spreadsheet, gimme
that Google Drive with 1200 photos in it and we'll take care of it.
. And then a, a day or two later, you sent it over to us and we were, we
were, we had a satisfied client.
And that to me is the relationship that I 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.
. And that seems to be what your philosophy is that you don't
over promise and underdeliver.
But kudos to you for Thank you.
really focusing on the school's needs, not the sign shop owner's
needs, or the end user's needs.
Because I think that's what's going to, if there was, one way in one sentence
I can make that really separates you from any other wide format wholesale
printer out there, is 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 profit or getting their customer happy.
You just want that customer to get what they want.
And that to me is really what GCI is all about.
Yep.
That if you can put, if you can, if you could put it into one sentence, is
that we don't care about the sign shop owner, we care about your customer.
that, that would be the way I would.
But maybe not in such a New York way of saying
. Bryant Gillespie: No.
Peter also does copywriting for websites on the weekends if you need a guy.
TJ Bedacht: No, I really appreciate that creation.
My, my team will be, very pumped of when this podcast comes out.
They will love to hear that story.
It means a lot.
Bryant Gillespie: Let me ask, that brings up, Peter's story kind of
brings up something that I was thinking of, but like, how are you
gonna replicate that with your online
TJ Bedacht: ordering?
So with that, with the online ordering, I'm going to staff a couple
people to review every single order.
And if there's something that's out of the ordinary, they will be
call, they will be called, yes.
It's supposed to be hams free, paperless type.
But when I feel like when that process gets there, it's gonna be more headaches.
So I want personalization still on those orders.
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 1500 PDFs.
that online system isn't smart enough for that.
So I want my team to, okay, there's 1500 signs.
There's supposed to be 1500 individual artworks.
Where's the art?
We only have one pdf.
Oh man, I, something must have happened.
there's that I can afford to lose $50, but I can't afford to lose 1500.
On a bunch of orders, you know what I'm saying?
I want to make sure that every single job is as perfect as they can be, but
that 50 or that hundred might, it's just gonna go through the system.
I want them to just double check some and just make sure you know who your customers
are that will send over the good stuff.
Right?
It's the ones that send over the kind of questionable jobs from time to time
that you have to double check their work.
Yeah.
hey.
Peter Kourounis: who, who, did you build this system for yourself or did
you have somebody build it for you?
TJ Bedacht: we have had five people totally.
That have done some software stuff.
I don't have all of that knowledge.
Like I said, my dad has Tackled that I'm not, I, we've gone
through so many different software.
I don't know where we're at and who we're using currently.
, what's,
Bryant Gillespie: why have you gone through so many different ones?
TJ Bedacht: because of, some didn't integrate with Corbridge, some
didn't integrate with QuickBooks.
Some of 'em didn't ha this was the best one.
So we spent like a year and a half.
and we found out that when we started out with, Pace, ero, and they
had a limitation on banner sizes.
so the customer couldn't order over a five by 10 banner.
I'm like, That's not gonna fly, dude.
He's we can't, expand it any.
So Corbridge adapted with us, and we've had them the longest, but some
of the other, 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 length in a sign
shop or a printer might have, 150 foot roll, it doesn't work for us.
and then the, they're used to building it at 60 inch, where
ours are 126 or 1 96 here soon.
that's where a lot 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 eight, 10 years worth of trying to, I'm not gonna say copy
'em because we are trying to make ours better and we've stuck with the
same model over the last 10 years.
We just want simple.
We want a guy to be able to go size, quantity.
Here's the artwork order, boom.
drop shipping is a must.
And Yep.
estimating the freight.
we got all the way through this last software package, I think, I spent
almost 275,000 on the software package and the guy told us, we can't, we can't
estimate weight and sizes of the package.
I'm like, What do you mean?
you're just gonna have to do a standardized shipping.
And I'm like, that's what the other guy does.
$10 a box.
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 man, that was the last go around.
And then there was another, we tried the fiery EFI software.
we're moving down the road from that one.
But, it's,
Bryant Gillespie: it sounds like a headache to me, is what it sounds like,
TJ Bedacht: That's why I stepped away from it.
I wanted to focus on what I do best and that's, getting the orders in, getting
them delivered, making the customer happy.
Dad, your job I'd need this website up quickly.
. Okay, Dad, there you go.
And that's his project Jack.
That's his project, and he still doesn't have it up.
Still doesn't have it up 10 years.
All right.
So for our listeners
Peter Kourounis: out there who, follow, TJ on all these sign shop talks and
other Facebook groups and things like that, 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 Bus?
Where did that idea come from?
what is that all about?
Tell me.
I need to
TJ Bedacht: know.
All right.
So that Rusty bus, is a joke.
Craig Snowden, he's out of Indiana.
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.
And I'm like, No, shit.
I'm gonna be there too.
And he was like, let's have, let.
Let's see who has the better looking campsite.
I'm like, Huh, okay.
And, . So we called each other on the phone.
I said, What are you gonna do?
And he's I wanna put some decals on my truck and I'm gonna make a
big cousin, Eddie Fricking sweet.
I'm like, All right, I've got the perfect plan.
So, Jeff Roland, is one of my designers, and, he and I sat down
and he goes, What do you wanna do?
I said, Here's a picture.
Make it happen.
I leave on Thursday.
That was Friday afternoon, . That was Friday afternoon.
So, I had the, RV here at the shop, and, so Jeff started
dropping files Monday morning.
By Thursday, the bus was done.
And, I'm like, Jeff, I need some woodgreen for, to decide the expedition.
And he goes, You're doing that too.
Friday.
I hurried up before we left, wrapped the expedition with some
woodgreen, make it look like, Clark Griswolds, the family Truckster.
It's one of my favorite movies of all times.
And so I sent a teaser pitcher to Craig and he was like,
You've got to be kidding me.
So he told a couple people what was coming and then, I sent a video to
my buddy Matt Meyrick, that owns busted knuckle films on YouTube.
He posted it up with, before I hit the Florida Georgia line,
there was almost 5 million views.
on TikTok and on YouTube, and it was just, 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 that was our approach.
We did it to make people smile.
It was a joke.
We wanted to have the best looking campsite at Fort Wilderness and with all
of the tools that I have here, we did it.
And I think we're gonna hold that title until I remove the wrap off.
There's not another wrap that's as crazy.
it's a 2014 Fleetwood discovery that my wife makes really good money
and she's the one that bought it.
But I'm just a dumb sign guy.
she, It's created an identity and the kids even love it.
And, so when we go down to Fort Wilderness, there's some videos
that I sent to you guys and it shows when Craig was of doing the drone
shots and the just checking it out.
He, he looked at me, he goes, This thing is getting so much attention.
I said, I'm doing it for the industry, dude.
I don't, I have a little small QR code on the back, corner of the bus.
It says GCI printed by gci.
And I've got our Instagram for that rusty bus and the, the Facebook thing.
I didn't do it.
I didn't want to be like a huge marketing campaign for gci.
I wanted it to be holy shit.
We can make beautiful RVs look like shit.
Or shitty RVs look beautiful . And I hope that the rap world is capitalizing.
On this.
I think there's, Chad out of Fast Lane out in Illinois, he's
doing some really cool work.
Jamie, the rap artist killer work.
the, there's so many, like vehicle rap people.
It's an art that the big thing with that Rusty bus right now is 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 mind.
it's art.
It fits the year.
It's art.
You can't kick me out because it's physically, it hits all the requirements.
Yes.
It's sort of patinaed
Yeah, it's fun.
We, I, it's definitely holding the title for the most photographed
RV on the planet right now.
. So, Fleetwood Discovery or Fleetwood, rv, are you going, are you
Bryant Gillespie: gonna try to top yourself eventually or are you just gonna
wait until somebody else comes along and knocks you off the throne to reclaim?
TJ Bedacht: So version two isn't gonna be on the same bus.
I'm thinking about the next one, what version two is gonna be.
But with it being getting close to the age requirement for some of the RV parks,
we have to, upgrade the next year or two.
Cause it's 10 years or older.
So we're at the eight year mark.
Yeah.
But,
Bryant Gillespie: yeah, I know nothing about the RV world, so
TJ Bedacht: 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, , no, it's,
you guys have to check it out.
It's that rusty bus on Facebook.
And, the family, we really appreciate all of the, we're all
of the smiles going down a road.
it's unbelievable.
So That's awesome.
But, has anybody ever
Peter Kourounis: touched it and thought it was real?
Dude,
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 did just win.
Where's that at?
I had a, an extra copy.
I don't know what they did with it, but it just won like best, rap in
the signs of the Times Magazine and it's on the, their website and stuff.
What Jeff did was he took and make, made everything look so real in 40 plus
hours in design time was spent on it.
So Remarkable.
Yep.
Remarkable.
Yep.
Yeah.
I love it, man.
It's great.
So we're talking, Heather and I are actually talking about 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 customers and we headed up the sign show up at Indy.
couple of my employees and I, we jumped in it, took it up there and
parked it out in front of the hotel.
But we're gonna do a sign shop visit tour.
And, I feel that the, that would be pretty sweet to roll out in front
of a sign shop and, just see that wild ass thing sitting out in front.
some of these guys probably won't know what to expect.
Make sure
Peter Kourounis: you come to the northeast.
TJ Bedacht: Okay.
Make sure you, we actually plan part of your trip.
. We plan on it.
it's just, we have to, He's
Bryant Gillespie: gonna pull it up in front of your shop.
Pete,
Peter Kourounis: I'm pull it up.
I could use the publicity.
Bryant Gillespie: gonna block
TJ Bedacht: the street.
Do you have a sewer drain out front?
? Yeah, course I do.
Shitter.
I really do.
Yeah.
What?
Not before.
I'm gonna drop the tank right in front of your shop.
? No, in this bathroom with the, in my bath with the hat.
Drinking a beer bush light.
And a cigar.
No, but No, we do plan on coming up there and, checking that northeastern area out.
Hopefully you guys will accept us up there, so.
Nice.
That's awesome.
No, we appreciate it.
It's it's been fun and the whole princess, I think that's my escape,
but we just put the star link on and now I have to work everywhere I go.
There's no excuse.
Yeah.
, there's no excuse to get away.
That's not fun.
Yeah.
Bryant Gillespie: cool.
I, yeah, I really enjoyed this interview, tj.
I appreciate you coming on, man.
for everybody out there that, doesn't know you or GCI yet, how can they find you?
How can
TJ Bedacht: they contact you?
they can, reach out tj@gcidigital.com.
They can go to print gci.com.
they can search us on the internet, gci badass banner, dude.
look at, if you're on any of the sign shop forms, just ask
who they need to print with.
And
Bryant Gillespie: if I type in badass banner, dude, does
that come up with you guys?
TJ Bedacht: My, no.
, Oh, actually,
Bryant Gillespie: Jeff, I should say I would be putting that on my business card.
, Just Google Badass banner.
Dude.
TJ Bedacht: Jeff's, email address was, Miss Patricia, What was that?
badass.
It was like badass, designer or something like that.
He made it up and, was like, badass designer doc or@gci-digital.com
or something like that.
He.
It was one of those bets with a buddy of his and he's Yeah, dude,
you got a cat walking on your desk?
I do.
Is that a tiger?
Michael Riley: She looks like it.
Come here.
Yeah.
That's, one, one of my three at least at least she
Bryant Gillespie: didn't shit on the desk.
This test.
. Michael Riley: Yeah.
No, that, that's legit.
She has like irritable bowel syndrome and I, 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.
TJ Bedacht: Shit happens.
She's something else.
, if anybody's wanting to come visit, I, I strongly, suggest it, that
25 cent tour that, we were all joking about at the beginning.
The Nickel tour.
The nickel tour.
so when we went down to the Atlanta Sign Show, I made a comment to
my dad and my son actually was the one that brought it up.
He goes, Papa Tom.
We have more equipment than the sign show does.
And, , I looked over at my kid, he's 12 years old, and I'm
like, Dude, you're not joking.
it's impressive to see, five latex machines running two big Tex.
And then we got the new 10 foot, 10 by 10 colberg.
So watching those things run still to this day, like when
I walk out there, I'm amazed.
So if anybody's in the Cincinnati area, I highly suggest, coming in, taking
your kids to Cincinnati Zoo Museum or whatever here in Cincinnati and coming
up for 10 minutes just to check it out.
I'll buy you some lunch or something.
Next time
Michael Riley: I'm in Dayton visiting family, man, I'll
definitely haul down there and check on the shop and visit for sure.
I definitely wanna do that.
TJ Bedacht: Will you do some collections up in Dayton for me about the.
What we talked about before,
use this.
Michael Riley: I left Ohio because I'm sick of doing collections in Dayton.
. Right.
I don't think there's enough money on this planet
. TJ Bedacht: No.
But, yeah, we'd love that.
I want everybody to print with us, man, at least one time.
if we're not doing what I've, strived for and put into effect,
by all means, try somebody else.
Once you're in.
I think it's one of those deals.
I treat
Bryant Gillespie: everybody like,
TJ Bedacht: Oh, go.
Yeah.
We treat everybody like family.
You're not an employee.
You're a family member team member.
I don't like to use the word customer.
it's, we're all a team.
Cool.
Bryant Gillespie: your reputation definitely precedes you and, uh,
Thanks again for joining us, tj.
TJ Bedacht: Yep.
Appreciate it.
Thank you, gentlemen.
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
Thank you.
Sounds good.
All right, see you guys.
So
Bryant Gillespie: let's bring this one to a close.
Rapid fire takeaways, Peter, He's here this week.
Peter Kourounis: listen, if I want to talk a little bit about
the customer experience that man does a lot of really great things.
That man does a lot, that business does a lot of really great things
as far as customer experience goes.
So I think my biggest takeaway here from today is just another
perspective of what somebody else thinks of customer experience.
It doesn't necessarily have to be systems or SOPs.
It could be just getting the job done.
focusing on the end user and what they need and getting it done.
They're.
I, it was refreshing to hear just how simple black and white, a very
big shop, a very big operation, looks at customer experience.
we all, we often think about, we often think about customer experience being
like, All right, did they get that email?
Did we respond quickly?
Did we shoot them a reminder text?
Are we being competitive with pricing?
Is it just doesn't even have to be that complicated.
He simplified it in this little interview.
I love that.
It's just Hey, let's just get the job done.
By all means necessary.
Bryant Gillespie: Simple and
Michael Riley: honest, Mike.
Yeah, I agree.
I love his, like his good old boy club that he is building there.
it's like Peter said, everybody's trying to automate everything and then
not that there's not a place for that.
I think the automation is key to efficiency and profit
and making it in this job.
it's critical, but I like that he's not putting all his eggs in that basket and
he's not turning his back on, on having a personal relationship with his clients.
and, if you watch him interact with everybody on the social media channels,
it is a good old boys' club and he is buddies with everybody, everyone with
his clients that he's buddies with.
And I think there's, I don't think any amount of systems or processes
or automation or fancy websites or anything else can replace.
That one on one personal relationship that you have 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.
And I don't think you can get that experience from just placing
an order on a website, faceless website without a person.
So I love that he's trying to combine technology and modern efficiency with
old school business tactics and just going out there and shaking hands and
interacting with people and being buddies with people and building friendships.
and at the end of the day, I don't really think there's any more way to, to have a
solid killer business than, being close with your customers, I think's great.
Bryant Gillespie: 110%.
Yeah.
especially the market they're in, it's all based on relationships.
the sign world is a small one.
it's a large industry, but everybody knows each other.
We're all connected through the seven degrees of tj, I
guess , but yeah, he's the Kevin
Michael Riley: Bacon Industry.
that's awesome.
There
ep-9: you
Bryant Gillespie: go, dude.
You're just spit out nicknames left and right.
Yeah.
We struggle for
Michael Riley: you, my man.
Yeah.
Why can't we get one for me?
But dude, he so Seven Degrees a tj , , but yeah, I wish he
was still on the call for that.
That's awesome.
Bryant Gillespie: But anyway, I think systems and processes have their place,
but like you guys have said, there's no substitute for having that consultative
approach with customers, even though he didn't explicitly say that Hey, we're act
as consultants for our clients, but that's essentially what he's doing or what he
described in, for that ballpark job where it's like, Hey, how tall is the fence?
Is it five a five foot fence?
Why are we printing a five foot banner?
Yeah.
Peter Kourounis: Yeah, he did mention that.
He did mention that.
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.
But he's got 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, now I can print.
Now my customers, my son shop owner customers can now
print 10 foot wide banners.
Right?
and he's gonna be the vehicle for how that's getting done.
When he posts the new piece of equipment, I feel like he gets, he's putting it out
there for all of his potential buddies or clients to say I'm still your guy,
but, And now not only am I your guy, I'm able to do this for you as well.
And maybe there's something in the, maybe there's something in the back
of everyone's head when they're buying that kind of piece of equipment.
But a lot of us are buying that for the affair of what could be.
He's doing it to solve a problem.
I get the opinion that he's doing it to solve a problem
with his, sign shot customer.
he said it himself.
He wants to be better than signs 365 wants to be better than b2, and these are the
ways that he's thinking that he's going
Michael Riley: to be better.
Yeah.
And you know what, like he may never build quite as big a business
as B2 or, sign 365, based on that.
Cause I, I think there's probably like a natural ceiling to how much
you can scale if you want to have that close personal relationship with
every single one of your customers.
Right?
you just can't do it if you're planning for every single sign shop on the planet.
But I think he's probably gonna generate probably more profit
in the long run because he's, he is like family to these people.
And that's a huge thing.
And he is not hurting.
his business is doing pretty well regardless, but.
I I love his approach.
I'm excited to see people that still, take the approach that he
does and recognize that the personal relationships are never gonna go away.
And that's ultimately, the most important thing in this
industry, especially wholesale.
Bryant Gillespie: Absolutely.
Yeah.
I'm curious to check in on 'em in six months from now and see
how the online ordering piece is gone and if they've been able to
replicate some of that personalized feel that they provide, with that
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 not lose that
personal touch, in it as well.
All right, guys, Great episode.
Go us.
Bryant Gillespie: 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 podcast.
if you guys know Frank, if you're listening, tell him, Tell 'em we
want Frank Fellers on the podcast.
What's the website we set up?
Talk to me frank.com.
Michael Riley: Talk to me frank.com.
, TJ Bedacht: that's a real site.
Michael Riley: Oh, yeah.
It's amazing.
You need to look at it.
it's worth your
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.
Talk to me baby.
TJ Bedacht: If you liked this episode,
Michael Riley: make sure you hit
TJ Bedacht: subscribe to get all the latest episodes and check out
our website, Better sign shop.com.
Michael Riley: Get free resources
TJ Bedacht: and helpful tools on growing your shop.
Thanks for listening.