Inspire Podcast: Episode 3 | Pivoting During a Pandemic

DeanHouston’s Dale Dean (CEO & Founder) and Colton Stombaugh (Director of Digital Marketing) sat down with Exhibit Logistics' Tyler Houston (Business Development Director) and Andy Dean (Vice President & General Manager) to discuss how they quickly shifted from organizing in-person trade shows to creating face mask and shields for clients, employees, and other essential workers.

DeanHouston’s Inspire Podcast offers fearless B2B marketing insights aimed to inspire and provide value to its audience. For more information on DeanHouston please visit deanhouston.com.

Transcript

Music: 0:00

[ Upbeat guitar music]

Colton: 0:11

Hey everybody, it's Colton Stombaugh in with the Inspire Podcast, we're providing fearless B2B insights one week at a time. Uh, today I'm with, uh, three gentlemen who are part of our exhibit logistics group who, uh, due to the recent COVID crisis has made a quick and dramatic pivot in their business to help supply PPE, uh, to the greater business community. Um, so with no further introduction, we've got Ty Houston. Why don't you, uh, give us a quick introduction?

Ty: 0:43

Yeah, my name is Ty Houston. I'm Business Development Director, at Exhibit Logistics and uh, yeah, happy to be here.

Colton: 0:50

Got a Andy Dean. How are you doing?

Andy: 0:54

I'm doing good. I'm the Vice President and General Manager of Exhibit Logistics by DeanHouston, Inc.

Colton: 0:59

And last but certainly not least, Dale Dean, how you doing?

Dale: 1:03

Hey, good. Colton. Hi, I'm Dale Dean. I'm the CEO and the founder of Dean Houston and, uh, of our division, uh, Exhibit Logistics. And, uh, I love doing these things with you, Colton. So, uh, let's rock and roll, man. That's awesome.

Colton: 1:17

Highly appreciate it. So I teased a little bit of the story that we'll on back here. Um, you know, but obviously exhibit logistics, you guys specialize in trade shows. Right. Has there been any recent changes in your operations due to a global events?

Ty: 1:36

Well, Andy, you want to take that one because, uh, you know, that's a, that's a heck of a good way to lead in there. Colton. Yeah. The trade show business as you know, is been, and that was one of the first, uh, first companies or first businesses industries that was hit by this COVID 19 thing. So, uh, Andy, what do you think about that?

Andy: 1:55

Yeah, I a ramped up a little faster than what we thought, you know, going from postpone to a canceled and rescheduled a year later. Um, so yeah, we've, uh, we've definitely had some, some new changes and some new challenges and, and being a sustainable business and not only that, but coming up with creative solutions to keep us moving forward.

Dale: 2:16

Yeah, I'll tell ya, Colton, it, you know, it was quite devastating. You know, it was interesting because, you know, I want to say this was probably, uh, at the end of February, we, we, we had a huge trade show out in Las Vegas and Tyler, I don't know, did we have other shows up through March? I mean, we have one scheduled, uh, that we were doing for a client of, we, we had lots of little shows going on, but major shows, you know, we had one schedule was gonna be in the middle of March. We had everything ready to go with everything's on the dock. These guys were ready to rock and roll. Uh, I think some guys were off at some trade show, setting up trade shows in March. Weren't they Ty, I mean,

Ty: 2:51

Yeah, we had a couple of shows in March, but for the most part, u h, you know, I think March 15th, that's pretty much,

Dale: 3:00

That was the cutoff date, huh?

Ty: 3:01

Pretty much. That's when trade shows started to decline and I mean, it came fast. It was like getting hit in the mouth with a baseball bat. So it was, it was really, really fast.

Dale: 3:11

Yeah, it really is. You know, and so we, we, you know, as you know, you know, we've got that huge facility out there. You know, we were a total turnkey solution, you know, and our exhibit group, you know, and, and so we've got this entire facility, we've got a whole staff of people you know, that are all working around trade shows. And one day everybody's rocking a rolls is a really busy trade show, season time for us. And then all of a sudden it just gained to a screeching halt man. And in one brief moment, you know, and that was quite a wake up call as we were trying to figure out like, where the heck is this going out first. I will say this, you know, at first, you know, a lot of the effort was they're canceling their reorients. So Joe, here's, we are, we're trying to, to adjust to this for our clients cause they're contacting us like, what's going on? What are we going to do? And you know, so we're adjusting, we're talking to all the trades. So we were busy as heck. Just trying to, you know, just trying to adapt to this, you know, and, uh, so, so that was like kind of the first thing and uh, uh, when this first happened, so you get through that first couple of weeks of just trying to readjust, you know, it's for the clients. Cause you know, at the end of the day, Colton, you know, we're still taking care of every one of those clients and these are things that had to, we had to take care of, you know, so, um, and I mean, what was that, that, you know, all those back to Andy and Tyler, like, you know, in the shop. I wasn't out there, you know, I mean like what was going on? Like what are the, what are the activities you guys were doing, you know, scrambling around there at the end.

Ty: 4:41

Go ahead, Andy. I'll let you answer that one.

Andy: 4:44

I think the greatest activity was trying to figure out what we were going to do with the volumes of freight that we're piling up and staging, uh, the, you know, the advanced warehouses and direct to shows weren't going to take. So it became a production issue. And then, you know, as these things started repurposing, it was the open communication with the customers on, you know, what, what do we do now? These things aren't going to happen. So,

Colton: 5:09

So you guys are flying around. I mean, Tyler, I really liked your analogy like getting hit in the jaw with a baseball bat. Somebody who has had that happen to him. It's not fun, it was completely innocent and it was actually playing baseball I promise. No weirdness.

Dale: 5:29

We'll leave it at that, okay.

Colton: 5:31

Obviously, you know, you're, you're running around, you know, it's clear that your first thought is how do we take care of our customers? You know? And that came through apparently. But how does this idea then of, of starting to produce PPE? I mean, you guys are experts in custom fabrication and you're really good at building stuff and manufacturing things. But correct me if I'm wrong, uh, you know, face masks and face shields, we're not in the plan. So how do we get from, you know, trade shows being canceled, intense focus on the customer to now start in this PPP, you know, PPE production.

Dale: 6:12

Well I gotta throw that over to Tyler to start off with because, um, you know, again, we're all scrambling around and then, uh, you know, one night, uh, you know, I got a text message or a call from Tyler and, uh, he had this idea, you know, like, Hey, let's sew masks, you know, and uh, so Tyler, I don't know man, like, like what, what were you thinking when that can we have a lot of sewing machines because, you know, we, we, we had these giant printers and we're printing hanging signs and graphics and we have, you know, we have to seam all these together. So we have a sewing machine. So I dunno, Tyler and I don't know where the idea where you came up with it, but he's the one who prompted it, you know, at that point.

Ty: 6:52

So, yeah, I was watching the news and I, you remember Kerrick and Dale where we had a dinner at the first night, so they switched all of their brewery capacity, like all their equipment and everything to brew hand sanitizer. And I got to think, and I said, well, we got to look around in our, in our warehouse, you know, and you know, what could we provide to help out with the fight against COVID? And I said, all right, well we've got a printer, we've got a, you know, the resources to get this cotton and to make it and to make it custom. And I mean, that's basically how I came up with the, the, the, the initial idea. And then the face shields, uh, you know, same, same deal. We've got all this material, we've got an out, I'll let you get the actual face shields, you know, why not make some of these, help people with COVID, fight it and also help us, you know, uh,

Dale: 7:43

keep, keep working, you know? Yeah. And to add to that, Colton, I will say so, so this was the Genesis of the idea and these guys mobilized. I mean, immediately, man, they started ordering material. Uh, Mandy, I'm not sure how that all got ramped up internally, but they started ordering materials and started coming up with their plan, how they're going to do it. And just by coincidence. One of our biggest clients, Dover corporation, um, you know, we, uh, we bought, they have a division that's a printing, an identification division and we bought one of their, one of their enormous wide format, um, fabric printers. So we could print these hanging signs and we have a, we have a marketing meeting with them once a month where we bring all the marketing directors from all these different operating companies together. And on that call, somebody, uh, you know, the, the VP of corporate marketing, he showed a picture of one of the printers that MS Printing, which is a Dover business, was using to print masks. And when we saw that, we recognized that, like, that's our printer only. It was, it was the printer. It's half the size of ours. So when we saw that, we were like, Hey, look, not only can we sew these masking in and do this, but we can do custom branded masks. And so that just, that brought in a whole new dimension to it, you know. And so then, uh, you know, Andy, uh, Tyler, tell me what, what happened next? Cause all I know is I, I, I, I got ahold of you, you guys and said, Hey look, you know, these guys are using our printer, the Impres printer to print masks. So what happened next in term only there.

Colton: 9:25

Dale, if you don't mind me jumping in, I think you're getting onto something really interesting there. I mean that, that custom branded, I know, you know, there are a lot of organizations out there or pivoting and mobilizing to do masks and you know, help protect their people and as well as, you know, the greater community. But one of the things you don't see a lot of is that custom branded and you're talking about this MS Printer. I mean, Andy, I know you're really close to that. You mind getting into that technology a little bit because I mean to be able to, to print direct to a garment like that, that's something special. So

Andy: 9:59

Yeah. Yeah, I can not elaborate on that. So we have a, uh, MS 4320 grand format dye sublimation machine, which gives us the ability to print up to 126 inches wide by and undetermined length really is whatever the material is we're going to run. Uh, in this process, what we're doing is we're going from a liquid to have a solid and then from a solid to a gas. And in that process with the fibers and the materials, we're not actually laying ink on top of anything. We are actually dying the fibers in the woven in the woven materials and it's never going to come out, you know, it's a hundred percent washable the minute it comes off the machine. So for us, you know, to look at that technology and to look at what we're using it for in regards to the trade show world. Um, we already had a supply chain for, for the textiles and the other materials that we needed, like elastics and Velcros and, and the plastics, the PPE, plastics and Sentras and things that Tyler is working on with other things. So for us it was just identifying those materials and beginning to source them, which we already had supply chain to and getting them in house. And then, you know, these guys started with several, uh, several templates that the CDC was putting out and what the regulations were for what they were saying was acceptable for, uh, the general public versus the medical field. And we, uh, you know, we can only, so, so many things. So then we started recruiting individuals that we had personal relationships with who were able to get us over the prototype stage as fast as we could to see which ones were most efficient and which ones were not going to work at all to get us started. And then beyond that, we'd been looking at how to scale this into industrial manufacturing so that, so that we can provide large quantities to the masses who would need them regardless of what they're,

Colton: 11:57

You know, you can to think about that and like just the entrepreneurial spirit there and thinking about all the assets you have. I mean, you know, Tyler, that's something that you were talking about is really reverse engineering that, that brewery's process and thinking about all the things that, that you guys have access to that are special. So kind of create this product. Um, you know, Tyler, I know you were pretty close to kind of the ideation. So when we think about the mass specificly, um, what are the different things that, uh, you know, people be able to see and experience with these masks? Um, you know, what is the design look like? What are some of the features?

Ty: 12:37

Well, it's a hundred percent polyester on the outside, totally customizable with your logo on the, on the, uh, or actually whatever you want. Uh, it's got a pocket on the, uh, on the inside where the elastic is, so you can put whatever filter you want in it. Uh, it's machine washable, it's a hundred percent made in America and it's, it's actually extremely comfortable. I've been wearing mine for two weeks now, washing it every, uh, every day. And it's, it's held up. It's right here. So it's all good.

Colton: 13:07

Well and that rewashable too, like thinking about how sustainable that is. You know, you don't have one, you don't have to work through a bunch of disposables, but also it's good for the environment. It's going to help protect people. I mean that's a true win, win, win story for everybody. Uh, you know, I know you had mentioned that that custom branding, um, and Dale you had just talked about, you know, some of, you know, Dean Houston, you know, and we serve a lot of major leading manufacturers and talking about connection there, um, how that custom branded element, why is that so important for companies?

Dale: 13:44

Well, where that idea came up from on the custom branding was that, uh, you know, we started talking to our clients and just letting them know that we were doing this. And uh, and just again, as a creative agency ourselves, we started making some samples to show them, well naturally we say it's like, Hey, when you do that, print their logo on that. So it developed into that. Then some of our creative people, they started coming up with other designs besides just logos and stuff. You know, like for instance, kids aren't going to want to wear the company logo of their parents. You know, that the company that worked with companies are going to buy the, so it helps their own employees know that the company is donating these to them. It makes them feel comfortable and confident in their company that they're taking care of their employees, what the employees then that they want. They need this for their family. You know, now they can use these masks. So the designers are creative. People start coming up with other ideas like robots and cupcakes and dinosaurs and all kinds of other like really cool designs. And at that point then it just, it just keeps blossoming into everything cause we can literally print anything on these design whatsoever. So, so that was kind of the Genesis of the branding was so that companies, they're all seeking out ways that they can, can take care of the health and safety of their own employees first, you know? And so, so that's where the idea originally was spawn.

Colton: 15:08

Okay. Yeah. And I think that that element of kind of having, you know, the cartoon designs or kid-friendly designs, I mean I've got a little one myself, you know, and, and can't imagine him wearing something that was dodgy, you know, you gotta make it fun.

Dale: 15:23

Yeah. Yeah, definitely

Colton: 15:25

Incredible through this, you know, organically, you know, you've created the business mask but then also an avenue to kind of get families and youth covered at the same time. You know, that's incredible way to mobilize their, you know, speaking to, you know, being even more agile. You know, I know we're also doing face shields. Right. Um, you know, so that's another part of PPE that we pivoted to. I mean, I don't know what you gentlemen wants to cover for that, but, uh, my, a bit about those,

Dale: 15:53

that was definitely Tyler's idea again. I think this guy's got like this entrepreneurial inventor's brain or something. You know, cause it was just so funny cause you think the mass thing was a great idea. And then he comes back with like, Hey, let's make these, uh, these face shields. Do you know, like, you know, I'll tell you, I'll be honest with you, man. My first thought, Tyler, when you presented that or whoever called me and told me about it, uh, I was thinking like, how in the world are we going to make face shields? And then within like two hours, they sent me a picture of one. I'm like, Oh my gosh, they're already making these things, you know, they're awesome. They're, they look, they look great, you know, and so, yeah. Why don't you tell us about that? I'd love to though that story.

Ty: 16:35

Oh man. Well, we had a face mask call every day and I was thinking, what else could we produce to help out with the fight and keep people busy and, you know, what do we have at our hands to help, you know? And you know, we have thin gauge plastic that we usually print on for trade shows. We have Velcro, we have pop rivets and we have double sided tape. So that's basically the mask. We ordered some thin gauge, FDA approved face shields, uh, from a vendor. And, uh, basically that's all it is with uh, some thin half, half inch foam, uh, in between the mask and the forehead. So yeah, those, we just sold a 200 of those to a client. So those are, those are, I'm doing well too. Yeah.

Dale: 17:24

Yeah, those are great. Now the interesting thing Colton, that you have to understand is, you know, Andy's kind of the operations guy. So Tyler comes up with these ideas and then Andy's got to figure out how to mass produce them done.

Ty: 17:39

I'm like, all right, well here's the idea. I love it.

Dale: 17:44

So these ideas, you know, we're looking at it and we're saying like, here we are, we're dead in the water man. I mean it's like, you know, what do we do so we can have the number of ideas. Like you know, one of our first ideas, it was to create virtual trade shows. So that was one of the things we did first and cause our team, I could still set up, you know, an entire trade show in, in our space. We've got a 50,000 square foot facility there. And we have a place where we set up trade shows so our clients can come in and walk through them prior to sending them to the actual show. So that was one of our ideas. And then, and then the mask idea, then taking, you know, kind of looking at it being bold and being creative. And what we said, and I, and I hear you, you even said it here at the beginning, is you know, one of our, one of our ideas is be totally competent, totally fearless. And we emphasize that to all of our employees at DeanHouston as well as, as Exhibit Logistics. So the idea is is that you don't want, if you can think it, we can do it. And this is a, this is part of our culture, you know, and so people are coming up with these great ideas and guess what, when you hear people say like, you know, there are no bad ideas. There's no dumb ideas. We believe it we actually live it, you know? And so when these ideas come up, you know, we pursue them, you know, and to Andy's credit, I mean his with his organization, he's saying like, yeah, let's do this thing. Let's see where this goes, man. And here are, here are several really great ideas that says like, are we really dead in the water? Are we just not looking at this from the right perspective? And these ideas that Tyler came up with with the ones that I, Andy came up with, the whole idea of putting this all together now are this machine is running man. And I'll, all of our people out there are being rude. They're really, really busy. And the nice thing about it is, is like we are keeping every single person employed and that's a great thing, you know? Right. And we're helping people out as Tyler keeps saying too, and we're helping people out in the cause, you know? So, uh, so anyway, that's for me, that's what gets as you can tell. That's what gets me super excited.

Colton: 19:39

Absolutely. I think, you know, Tyler sum that up, I can't for this, I always do this, you know, this already down. I'm always thinking about what we're going to title this thing as we go. You know, it's real words of wisdom here. First thing you thought Tyler, what do we have in our hands to help? And uh, that's, that's an incredible statement, you know, and I think that's something that, uh, you know, one of the questions I was going to ask is what advice do you have for, for organizations that maybe now we're facing a pivot or might have to in the future and those simple words and what you express there, Dale, you know, that's a big part of it. Um, you know, talking about, you know, helping people, you know, I know part of, you know, this PPE pushes also giving back to the community. Um, and I know that that's still a program and the specific details are in progress, but you guys have any notes or current status of how we're giving back as we're producing PPE?

Dale: 20:39

Yeah, I can tell you right now. One of the ideas, you know, when we first started this thing, you know, we were going to, uh, you know, we were hoping that we could just, you know, keep our people busy making masks, donating these masks, you know, and this was one that we first came up with the idea, um, you know, and then, you know, with the business completely drying up, it's like, well, you gotta have the financial means to be able to do that, you know, so, you know, money doesn't grow on trees and it just doesn't fall out of the air. So we looked at it and said, like, you know, for us to go out and when Andy first started sourcing, like getting all the material to make this and having freighted it in and shipped into us, um, you know, it's, it became very, very expensive and costly. So we said, okay, well how can we still do this because it's still important to us that we want to, we want to make sure we give back. So we started reaching out to our clients and saying, Hey, look, you know, for the, for the common cause, for the common good, we're going to invest in getting the material and uh, and getting this machine running, get it converted over. It's going to cost an investment for us to do this. Right now everybody's in this liquidity, preservation kind of mode, you know, and, and for the right reasons. And, uh, and so, you know, we're looking at that and we're talking to our clients and say, look, here's what we'll do for every so many masks that you buy, we're going to donate, uh, you know, masks, uh, you know, to a certain percentage to the, uh, I think we came up with, correct me if I'm wrong guys, you guys are out doing it. So for every 10 masks we sell, we're donating one to a social cause. Whether that's to the first responders, whether that's to families, whether that's the underprivileged households, whatever it is, we're asking the client to tell us, where do you want the donation to go? We'll do that in your name on your behalf. And we're going to donate these masks to a good cause. So, so Andy and Tyler, I'm not sure that that's still a program that we're on. I know we're donating mass, I just don't know if it's one to 10. Is that what it is right now? Yeah, that's correct. You got it right. Yeah. And so, uh, and we're also supporting some nonprofit organizations. You know, we offered to, to, uh, provide mass for the epilepsy Alliance of all Ohio, uh, because, uh, you know, they have caretakers, they have these group homes. Um, you know, they're having a hard time getting mass. We've also, uh, you know, uh, or are offered and are going to provide masks for, uh, the world affairs council of greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky world affairs council is going to do this as a donation to other groups and they're going to have groups of people come in and help. So the masks on their behalf, you know, so, uh, uh, so that's going to be, it's, it's actually, it's kind of a pay it forward kind of an exponential, you know, type of an effect right now.

Colton: 23:22

Yeah, no, I mean it's, it's an incredible story. Just, you know, how everything was mobilized and the fact that it's helping us protect jobs and protect our communities. I mean, it was one of the most, you know, obviously there's a lot of difficult things happen right now, but these are the types of stories that are incredibly inspiring and also prove that, you know, even when times are dark, we come together that we can find bright spots. And now I'd like to thank every single one of you guys for being instrumental and to help and helping us shift while we've always been an organization like this, but we're really amplify that here.

Dale: 24:00

You know, if I can, if I can add to that, one thing is, is that I feel very grateful that we're in a position and again, I marvel at how these things happen. You know, it's like, you know, when we, when we, this, this investment in this printing equipment is, is, is a big investment. You know, these are big and industrial-size printers and they're very, very expensive. And, and you know, when we invested in this, you're thinking to yourself at the time like, wow, I hope we're going to be able to, to make the payments on this thing. You know, we have to take out these huge loans and all this kind of stuff. And you're thinking about that at the time when you're doing regular commerce. It's funny how your minds might, your mindset shifts when it comes into pay. How can we mobilize to, to, to help other people. And it starts with first half. And people that think that way, just like Tyler and Andy, you know, their mindset was like, how can we help people rather than thinking about their own welfare. And then we just haven't been fortunate to have this equipment there. And it's like these things take care of themselves, you know, whenever you have that kind of mindset, you think that way, you know? And so I just feel very grateful that we're in a position to have made to be able to make this difference, you know? So, uh, so yeah, that's, uh, that's, that's kind of where my mind is on this whole thing. It's still marvels me.

Colton: 25:14

If I'm a business and I'm looking to figure out how I can get involved with this or maybe I'm an even an individual looking for masks for my family, where should I go to start finding some of this information? Is there a website or something like that right now?

Dale: 25:31

Yeah, absolutely. And, and, uh, you know, uh, we're, we're, we just launched a website called businessmasks.com and that's business and then masks plural. com and on that, on that landing page, it'll give you the information and also give you, uh, you know, kind of a contact information form. And when you submit that and send that in, Hey, here's what I'm looking for, you know, this is what I want. Uh, you know, Tyler will contact you right away. Um, you know, he's extremely responsive and uh, you know, he'll then work with you to understand what your needs are and uh, we'll get that thing rolling. Tyler, you want to add anything to that?

Ty: 26:12

Nah, I think you nailed it. That I'm extremely responsive. You know, 15 minutes I'll get back to you, I promise. But yeah, thanks though. Yeah, fantastic man. And then athletic, then Colton, then it gets thrown over to Andy. He's got to figure out how to make it happen. Easy job, you know, job.

Colton: 26:33

Andy, since you're the last guy in the process, we'll give you the opportunity here. You got any last words for the audience where we sign off?

Andy: 26:41

I think it's a, I think it's a thing that's happening and you know, through this, through this time of trouble. It's also the opportunity for us to look in and see what we, what we're capable of outside of our everyday inner engagements in business and personal. So yeah. You know, who knows what the future will hold for us, you know, after going down this path, you know, but it's definitely going to open a lot more doors for us and regardless to how we think about the equipment, the men and what we have in house,

Dale: 27:06

You know, so proud of these guys. But you know, they'll tell you there are so many people behind the scenes that are working around the clock that are working super hard to make this happen. You know, we've got an enormous, we have an incredible, incredible team. And I mean, when it comes down to it, you know, these guys, you know, they're, they're going in every day. They're probably working harder than they ever did. And I thought the trade show business was, was a very demanding business. But doing this is super demanding. They've got to get innovative, they've got to get creative and thinking about how to make these things happen. They got to do it now. And every one of these guys, and Tyler and Andy will tell you that the team that's behind the scenes, that's not on the show with you right now. They deserve so much credit for everything that they've done for us, you know, and for the people that they're helping. And so let's, let's recognize it. It's a huge, huge team as well, you know, so a lot, I mean, across our whole enterprise, you know, I mean this also engaged all of our designers. We have like 15 designers on, in our company, you know, across our Cincinnati or Chicago or LA office, Nashville. I mean, all those people have come together for a common cause, for a common purpose. It's one team, one mission, everybody going after this thing. And so, you know, as I keep thinking about it, it's like this, I mean, it's a whole company wide effort right now and there's so many people involved. It's just great to see.

Colton: 28:31

Well, I don't know what else I can say. Uh, you know, again, I appreciate you guys and, and yeah, the, the whole greater team too. Um, you know, it's been inspiring to watch. I've been lucky enough to be a little bit of a part of it in this conversation. And you know, I really look forward to seeing how that goes. Uh, and again, to the audience out there. Thanks for listening to the third episode of Inspire. Um, have you been inspired and, you know, want to figure out how maybe you can source or, you know, participate in this mask initiative. That's businessman.com and, uh, we look forward to talking to you all again soon.

Dale: 29:11

Great. Thanks guys. See you later. Thanks.