Smarter Training: Digital Tools, Real-World Results

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This week, Terry Combs is joined by special guest host Erich Campbell for a timely conversation about Production Training in the Digital Age. As training demands grow and time becomes more limited, the guys explore how shops of all sizes can take advantage of digital tools, from structured video libraries to AI-assisted learning, while still honoring the hands-on experience our industry requires. Whether you’re onboarding new employees, improving consistency, or just trying to stop repeating yourself, this episode is packed with real-world ideas, honest discussion, and new opportunities for smarter, more scalable training.

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News

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Dad Joke

Terry: What did the janitor say when he jumped out of the closet?

SUPPLIES!!

Smarter Training and Education

Let’s talk training in general to start

• Most people do little to no training. “Watch what I do.” “Watch what she does.”
• Why do owners and managers do limited training?
  • There’s no time for training… you manage the business in crisis mode, daily
  • They’ll take my double secret methods and techniques to the competition
  • They’ll steal my ideas and go into competition with me
• Another option for training may not be the end-all-be-all if you’re not of a training mindset
• What’s reality?
  • The more you invest in training, the more likely that person will want to stay with you
  • The more you invest in training, the more efficient you’ll be, and the better product you’ll produce
  • Most employees rarely want to change jobs if they don’t have to, so if you have a great work environment, they want to stay
  • The bottomline truth, “I don’t know where are how to start.”

What is the new opportunity with digital training?

• Some of us aren’t the best at structuring training in our own businesses
• Recorded training can get us started and stay on track with a structured format

Can we turn training over to the internet?

• Hands on is still a part of the picture
• People who come to my screen printing classes who tried to start their business with YouTube training
• You still need to interact on the content as well. Showing them doesn’t mean they understand how it translates to your company.

Onboarding new employees

• No matter the size of your company, time is at a premium. If you can use digital training for some part of this process, everyone is ahead.

52/15 Training

• Let’s talk ongoing training
• Using 2RG Secret Sauce
• If you’re not comfortable doing this training yourself, digital training may be your salvation

Building a library of digital content

• A large well known company in the industry uses Aaron and my DTG training class available through Printing United Alliance for all their employees.Trade show: “I feel like I’ve been talking with you all week.”
• Rather than training binders, you’ll have training links.

Recording your own content

• The next time you onboard a new employee, think about recording some or all of it while you’re going over the information. When you’re doing any training (like you should be now) record and edit it as a training tool.
• Ever invite any of your vendors to come into your workplace to train on their products or services? They’ll do that, you know. Record it for future use.

Using AI in the training process

• AI is making the both the creation of training materials and the capture of trainable tasks easier and more accessible
• Tools for digesting and creating training regimens
• NotebookLM – Digesting materials to create audio content, training guidelines, and tests – using your own materials or those you access through trainers, guides, bullet points, summaries, podcast format
• Scribe – captures digital tasks and describes step by step processes on easy to follow guides. Think order systems, e-commerce, etc. Capturing idiosyncratic or multi-software practices that a user manual won’t describe completely. 

Wrap up: Just like with new decoration methods, we decorators have multiple options with training as well. It’s just a matter of what we do with them.

The Secret Sauce

We serve up bite-sized tips for our #regulators to instantly spice up their decorated apparel business. Just like the perfect wing sauce, these quick tips can transform your business experience, adding flavor and depth to your operations. Each video in this playlist is a nugget of wisdom, carefully selected for its potential to bring immediate value to your work. So, whether you’re a seasoned pro or just getting started in the decorated apparel industry, dip into our ‘Secret Sauce’ for insights that can help you soar.