Balancing workflow within an apparel decorating business is often centered around production. Where equipment is physically positioned, which employees operate where, and how the shipping area functions are all important areas to examine when implementing an efficient workflow.

But incorporating communication strategies between front-of-house staff and production teams is equally important. Maintaining an efficient workflow between the various teams in an apparel decorating business is crucial to success.

Following, members of the Apparelist advisory board share their tips and strategies for making sure each team within their business communicates efficiently to keep their own shops operating at top speed.

Internal Staff Communication Platforms

What communication platforms do you use (Slack, Asana, CRM systems)?

“We use Slack a lot internally but also spend a lot of time on the phone or email with each other. Our system (DecoNetwork) sends a lot of automated notifications to staff — when an order was paid, changed, or approved. We have automated follow-ups through DecoNetwork as well. When an order is ready, our staff marks it complete, and the customer gets a text and email letting them know. When the order ships, they get tracking. When they pick up the order, they get an email saying they picked up. And two weeks after the order is picked up, it sends a follow up email making sure they were happy and asks for a review.” —Tim Pipp, Beeze Tees

“We use Google Workspace.” —Tom Rauen, 1800Tshirts.com

“The majority of our internal communication is done using email or direct phone/in-person communication. I am a fan of email since it gives a recorded timestamp of who, what, and when that can easily be shared as needed. We use Slack for certain specific department-related tasks as well.  Anything that requires any sort of change within production must have a new work order and mock-up created and approved by the client. All production is signed off by three production associates and sometimes an artist or salesperson (if this is required per the work order, usually involving a customer photo approval). Our sales team is actively involved with production, so they are able to help support and react quickly if production requires customer involvement or other administrative support.” —Jeff Meilander, Redwall Prints

Staff Communication Challenges

What challenges have you encountered when it comes to internal communication between your sales teams and production teams?

“Mostly all of our communication with production is done through out production manager. I would say the biggest challenge is having five or six people asking our production manager questions all the time, but our system does a really good job of keeping the job statuses up to date so most of the communication is more urgent or something we aren’t sure of like a rush job.” —Tim Pipp, Beeze Tees

“The challenge we most often deal with is the comfort for the sales team to walk out to production and ask questions or see where things are at in the process. It’s a nice benefit of comfort in being able to do that, but can cause interruptions and take time that could be used doing more meaningful tasks. With any system, it is getting 100% buy-in from the entire team and trusting the process and system to do what it is supposed to do.” —Tom Rauen, 1800Tshirts.com

“Order and mock approval by the customer is crucial. Whatever the customer approves is exactly what production will then work from to process an order. Any shortcuts around the standard operating procedure (SOP) pertaining to order entry, art setup, mock creation and customer approval is where problems can come into play. While I appreciate the good intent of an employee trying to reduce cost by jumping ahead of or around a tedious task that may seem trivial at a time, SOPs must always be followed. Operating outside of the normal process greatly increases the chance for unfortunate production-related issues to occur.” —Jeff Meilander, Redwall Prints

Advice About Staff Communication

What’s one piece of advice you can offer other shops struggling in this area?

“Find a good order management system that works for your shop. Every shop is different, and you should really think about how you operate and what would work for you.” —Tim Pipp, Beeze Tees

“It takes constant attention to stay on top of as well as adjustments to make it fit your business needs.” —Tom Rauen, 1800Tshirts.com

“Create simple and clearly communicated SOPs and expect everyone to follow them, every time.” —Jeff Meilander, Redwall Prints