February 2017 Office Technology

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CONTENTS Volume 23 • No. 8

FEATURE ARTICLES 10

The Year Ahead: Part Two Dealers share strategies for success in 2017

SELLING SOLUTIONS True GRIT Do your sales reps have what it takes?

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by Melissa D. Whitaker Melissa Whitaker International LLC

Compiled by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

What do you believe will be the areas of greatest opportunity for office technology dealers in 2017? What do you believe will be the best strategies for success in pursuing those opportunities? Recently, Office Technology magazine asked these questions of dealers via an email survey. Following are many of the responses received. Perhaps the comments shared by your fellow dealers mirror your plans — or provide some new ideas.

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Dealership Events Maximizing attendance & impact using social media

Do your sales professionals have what it takes? Do they have guts, resilience, initiative and tenacity (GRIT)? Going into 2017, set your team up for success. The changes in our industry are creating exciting times and, when prepared, we can create opportunity from these changes.

P R I N C I PA L I S S U E S Are You Impeding Growth?

Train & empower your management team

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by Ken Edmonds Service Management Coach

One thing is almost universal: Dealership principals want their companies to grow. Yet, in many cases, they are the roadblocks to growth. The solution to this is developing a management team that functions well; one that does will broaden the company’s horizons and improve current procedures.

by Jon Mitchell Dealer Marketing

Dealerships can generate sales opportunities with events. While putting an event on the calendar is easy, the hard work begins when it comes to getting people in the seats.

Hosting events can be a great way to create new relationships, educate prospects on your products, generate more quality leads, grow your pipeline and, ultimately, close more sales. In this article, you will discover new social media strategies to maximize both the attendance and the impact of your next event.

Due Diligence Make sure you know the person you are hiring

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by Troy Harrison Troy Harrison & Associates

After your candidate clears the first interview, you are still not done with the verification process. Next comes the phase I call “due diligence” — using readily available information to verify your candidate’s credentials again. Due diligence comes in several parts, which I will address in this article.

COURTS & CAPITOLS 39

The Employee Manual Has yours been reviewed lately?

by Robert C. Goldberg BTA General Counsel

Many states have numerous laws and regulations that took effect on January 1. One thing that is often forgotten in the new year (but should definitely be looked into) is the effect these changes have on your existing employee policy and procedure manual. As their businesses grow, many dealers have employees in more than one state and, thus, rules will vary based on each individual’s location.

A manual that does not distinguish among states can be problematic.

D E PA R T M E N T S Business Technology Association

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• BTA Education Calendar • BTA Highlights

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Executive Director’s Page

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BTA President’s Message

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Advertiser Index

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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S PAGE

More 2017 Dealer Success Strategies

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hat do you believe will be the areas of greatest opportunity for office technology dealers in 2017? What do you believe will be the best strategies for success in pursuing those opportunities? Recently, I asked these questions of dealers via an email survey. A number of responses appeared in this space and as the cover story feature in the January issue. Below and starting on page 10 are the remainder of the responses received.

Opportunities: Providing products and services that are relevant to your customers in your markets. These vary from market to market, but should be a good fit with what you are currently good at doing.

Strategies: Investing in the training and services needed to actually support those efforts and being committed from the top down.

— Ken Retzer, president, Advanced Business Methods Inc., West Fargo, North Dakota Opportunities: IT services still appear to be a great opportunity for 2017.

Strategies: (1) Hiring sales personnel who understand IT services and how it can be implemented into the customer’s office technology. (2) Having qualified IT professionals to handle and maintain the services.

— Tony Castellano, COO & CFO, Business Complete Solutions, Poway, California Opportunities: The marriage of IT and office equipment.

Strategies: A lot of dealerships are smaller and a full-on MS division is out of the question. So, adding an IT person and letting all your customers know allows you to gain more business.

— Rick Echols, president, Total Laser Care of NC Inc., Durham, North Carolina

Opportunities: Our two areas for the greatest growth going into 2017 are managed services and document workflow solutions.

Strategies: Our plan is to leverage the relations that we have in our core business to offer assessments. We will show them how we can help improve their overall work processes, therefore allowing them to concentrate on their businesses.

— Alan Albergaria, president, Automated Business Solutions, Warwick, Rhode Island Opportunities: Wide-format printing services and selling the machines. We are neutral on the whole MPS offering; we see profits, but we also see lots of losses.

Strategies: Learning more about how to use the machines and signing up to become an HP dealer. We are still working to find a way to make MPS profitable and easier.

— Kevin Jaundoo, vice president of sales, Document Technologies Inc., Bedford, Massachusetts Opportunities: I believe the greatest opportunities continue to be understanding client needs and offering solutions that are cost effective and promote efficiencies.

Further, continuous dialogue with clients and, as always, exceptional service delivery.

Strategies: Working together with the appropriate partners to offer not only solutions to current requirements, but looking ahead as best we can to anticipate future opportunities.

— Jerry Blaine, president & CEO, LDI Color ToolBox, Jericho, New York Opportunities: IT work for small and medium-sized businesses, managed services and billable project hours.

Strategies: A solid product to offer and aggressive marketing toward the current “copier” base of customers.

— Rob Crowell, president, Canyon Falls Business Solutions LLC, Indianapolis, Indiana n — Brent Hoskins

Executive Director/BTA Editor/Office Technology Brent Hoskins brent@bta.org (816) 303-4040 Associate Editor Elizabeth Marvel elizabeth@bta.org (816) 303-4060 Contributing Writers Ken Edmonds, Service Management Coach ken.edmonds@CKE-Enterprises.biz Robert C. Goldberg, General Counsel Business Technology Association Troy Harrison, Troy Harrison & Associates www.troyharrison.com Jon Mitchell, Dealer Marketing www.dealermarketing.net Melissa Whitaker, Melissa Whitaker International LLC www.melissawhitakerintl.com

Business Technology Association 12411 Wornall Road Kansas City, MO 64145 (816) 941-3100 www.bta.org Member Services: (800) 505-2821 BTA Legal Hotline: (800) 869-6688 Valerie Briseno Marketing Director valerie@bta.org Mary Hopkins Database Administrator mary@bta.org Teresa Leerar Bookkeeper teresa@bta.org Brian Smith Membership Sales Manager brian@bta.org Photo Credits: Bigstockphoto. Cover created by Bruce Quade, Brand X Studio. ©2017 by the Business Technology Association. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without the written permission of the publisher. Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of published material. However, the publisher assumes no liability for errors in articles nor are opinions expressed necessarily those of the publisher.

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BTA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Download the New BTA Service Report

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f you have not downloaded your copy of the 2016 BTA Service Report from the Business Technology Association (BTA) website (www. bta.org/Benchmarking Reports) already, I encourage you to do so today. This report tabulates the results of a survey completed by 202 office technology dealers, and compares median industry performance by both size of business and geographic region. You will find the report to be a valuable resource for comparing the service operations of your dealership to other U.S. dealerships.

My thanks to all of you who took the time to complete the online survey. By doing so, you have played an important role in creating an industry resource that will serve as a guide for your fellow dealers. By the way, I would like to congratulate the first 20 of you who completed the survey and earned a $25 American Express gift card for your participation.

The data captured by the 2016 BTA Service Report survey gives insight on various performance metrics such as: revenues and expenses for service contracts last year; percentage of office equipment on prepaid maintenance; cost vs. charge per click; average billing rate; distribution of time; percentage of first-call completions; average response time from the time the customer places a call until a tech arrives; and many other items regarding the service department’s performance and efficiency.

The results also reflect the answers to such questions as: How many parts inventories do you conduct annually? What is your typical car stock value? What percentage of revenue is time and material billing?

How often is travel time included in your

average billing rate? What print management system do you currently use? What incentives do you offer your service technicians? Do you charge for scans? If yes, what do you charge? What is the total number of full-time service employees in your dealership by position? What is your hourly burden rate? What percentage of your leased equipment includes a full service and supply agreement?

As noted, the results of the survey are reported by both size of business and geographic region. For example, looking at the “by size of operation” results, the report reflects the responses from 56 $3 million to $7 million dealerships, with total service contract revenues last year of $1,896,245 (median). They achieve this amount with six field technicians at a median copier/ MFP field billing rate of $125 per hour.

Technicians in this dealership revenue category spend 60 percent of their time repairing equipment/hardware.

Conversely, looking at the “by region” results, we see, for example, that dealers in the West (11 states designated; 33 respondents), had total service contract revenues last year of $2,457,302 (median). They have 11 field technicians at a median copier/ MFP billing rate of $123 per hour. The reps in the West likewise spend 60 percent of their time repairing equipment/hardware.

Want to see all of the numbers in the full 34-page report? Then don’t delay in downloading your copy of the report from the BTA website. The report is free to BTA members. Non-members may purchase the report for $200. While on BTA’s website, you can download the association’s two other Benchmarking Series reports — the 2015 BTA Compensation Report and the 2015 BTA Finance Report — if you have not already done so. n — Rob Richardson

2016-2017 Board of Directors President Rob Richardson Allied Document Solutions & Services Inc. Swedesboro, New Jersey robr@ads-s.com President-Elect Dan Castaneda International Copy Machine Center El Paso, Texas dan@icmc-elp.com Vice President John Eckstrom Carolina Business Equipment Inc. Columbia, South Carolina johne@cbesc.com BTA East Jim Donnellon ABS Business Products Inc. Cincinnati, Ohio j.donnellon@absproducts.com Greg Gondek ACT Group Cromwell, Connecticut greg@advancedcopy.com BTA Mid-America Erik Crane Copy Products Inc. Springfield, Missouri ecrane@copyproductsinc.net Bob Evans Function4 Sugar Land, Texas bobevans@digiteconline.com BTA Southeast Brian Snow Tallahassee, Florida Advanced Business Systems bsnow@a-b-s.com Tim Renegar Kelly Office Solutions Winston-Salem, North Carolina trenegar@kellyofficesolutions.com BTA West John Hines Copiers Northwest Inc. Seattle, Washington jhines@copiersnw.com Cathy Dimon Northern Business Systems Fairbanks, Alaska cdimon@acsalaska.net Immediate Past President Dave Quint Advanced Systems Inc. Waterloo, Iowa dquint@asiowa.com Ex-Officio/General Counsel Robert C. Goldberg Schoenberg Finkel Newman & Rosenberg LLC Chicago, Illinois robert.goldberg@sfnr.com

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The Year Ahead: Part Two Dealers share strategies for success in 2017 Compiled by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

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hat do you believe will be the areas of greatest opportunity for office technology dealers in 2017? What do you believe will be the best strategies for success in pursuing those opportunities? Recently, Office Technology magazine asked these questions of dealers via an email survey. Following are many of the responses received. (See the January issue for additional responses.)

Perhaps the comments shared by your fellow dealers mirror your plans — or provide some new ideas.

Opportunities: In 2016, CEI had yet another record year for both revenue and profitability, but we were particularly excited to see exponential growth in two vertical areas: (1) production print; and (2) managed network services (MNS).

Today’s production-class devices offer exceptional speed, color quality, media-handling capabilities, finishing options and a very aggressive TCO. While we will continue to place these devices in traditional print-for-pay and CRD environments, the advances in production-class technology have made these units attractive to non-traditional production opportunities (i.e., legal, financial services, insurance and textiles). These non-traditional placements are more conducive to generating significant click volumes at more profitable click rates.

CEI’s MNS division, Strategic Systems, experienced significant growth in 2016. Focusing our efforts, strengthening our core IT offerings and taking it to market using CEI’s traditional customer support model has been well received by both core customers and prospects alike.

Strategies: The key to pursuing any vertical, specialty product or service is investing in the teams that will be tasked with selling and supporting it. We employ product specialists who focus their efforts in these areas and we provide all of the necessary training to stay up to date with the

vertical trends. We train our core sales team to prospect for these opportunities and to understand when they need to engage the product specialists. We also invest in project managers, CSRs and other support personnel who specialize in vertical fields and make sure they have all relevant credentials, training and certifications. We do all of this to ensure that clients are comfortable and confident that they are partnering with an expert in their particular fields. If you put the right team members in place and give them the tools necessary for success, you can significantly grow a specialty area in 2017.

Jeremey Whitaker, director of business development CEI — The Digital Office, Raleigh, North Carolina Opportunities: It’s always been our approach to surround our customers with quality. In 2017, we will be focusing harder on the solution sale and the hardware as the addon part. Every business is given the same amount of time daily to achieve as much as possible with a smaller workforce. Utilizing a solution to increase productivity and simplify the workflow is key.

We have also invested heavily into the NOC area with managed network services. Our computer division was predominately a reactive service provider, and we have taken those customers into a proactive approach with quarterly business reviews. MPS and MNS will be a large part of our day-to-day selling, allowing us to build up that monthly recurring revenue stream.

Strategies: In 2016, we enlarged our level-one field support techs and looked to take our showroom and make it larger to hold remote technical support for MFPs as well.

Building a reputation for a strong proactive group in south central Pennsylvania allows for the ultimate combination — customer referrals and strong customer loyalty. We are also adding feet on the street with our sales group and look

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strategy with messaging focused on MPS, production print, MNS and software/so“We have hired subjectlutions.

We are directing these marketing matter experts (SMEs) campaigns to our current customers to for software and educate them on our additional products solutions. Software and and services offerings.

Opportunities: Managed print sersolutions sales cycles We have hired subject-matter experts vices and production print still provide (SMEs) for software and solutions. Softavenues to increase revenues, but I beare too long ... for our ware and solutions sales cycles are too lieve managed network services and traditional MFP ... reps. ” long and too complex for our traditional document management software/soluMFP sales reps. Our SMEs work with the tions will be the greatest opportunities sales teams to prospect, generate leads, develop, close and to grow our business in 2017.

It is becoming more and more difficult to achieve revenue manage software/solutions opportunities.

Dealers are partnering with services providers or acquirgrowth in the traditional MFP business. Unit placements are down and monthly page volumes are decreasing. Add ing managed network services companies to transition competitive price pressure to the mix and it is a recipe for a into this business. We researched both options and chose continual decline in hardware and service revenues. Office to partner with a services provider. We felt working with a technology dealers are going to have to transition into solu- partner provided us the best risk/reward ratio. It allows us tions and services companies in order to grow revenues and the opportunity to learn how to sell and manage a services business and provide immediate, quality service to our cuscontinue to be relevant to customers.

Strategies: We have implemented a targeted marketing tomers with no large up-front expense. As we continue to learn and grow the services business, we will look at possible acquisition opportunities.

Bob Evans, partner Function4, Sugar Land, Texas to grow by two reps every six months.

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Opportunities: We believe the greatest area of opportunity for office technology dealers in 2017 will be expanding our offerings in an effort to broaden beyond the clicks of traditional copier-based businesses. We have worked closely with our OEM reps to divest into the digital signage and document solutions software arenas. We installed our largest deal ever — regardless of type of product — in our 34-year company history in January through partnering with Toshiba and a software solutions provider. Soon, an even bigger deal that we have been working on for about eight months involving outdoor digital signage displays and maps will close. We can see that, although the sales cycles are a bit longer and the prospects a bit tighter, these types of offerings have definitely made a significant impact on our sales that have been above and beyond expectations.

Strategies: The best strategies for pursuing these opportunities and being successful is to first hire and develop sales reps who can get to C-level decision makers and put forth professional presentations, both in attitude and communication. Second, as dealers, we must work closely with our OEMs and any subsidiaries involved. Communication between the selling, developing and installing parties involved is key. And while that is important, we think it is also important to limit the amount of people who contact the customer directly. We have let sales reps establish good

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and trusted relationships with decision rested on the perception of dealerships “This year, companies makers so that we control the message improving performance to eventually and customers know where to go for grow; that also made it imperative to are expected to focus questions or issues. Finally, we have follow a cost-cutting strategy. Howevon prioritizing strategic been able to position ourselves as the er, the industry trends point to 2017 as growth through local, long-term and trusted contact a year for dealerships to seek plans for expansions, and this on these deals, while partnering with a expansion, and identify how to take adpriority should drive major OEM and all of its technology. But vantage of emerging or niche markets, if customers ever have issues, they can which can offer promising returns and their investments.” find us in their neighborhoods and know reach new customers. This year, compathat we will assist in their concerns. nies are expected to focus on prioritizChristina Dargis, corporate administrative manager ing strategic growth through expansions, and this priority Copy Concepts Inc., Fort Myers, Florida should drive their investments. Furthermore, in order for dealerships to obtain this type of strategy, they must line Opportunities: 2017 is going to be the year for technol- up their costs with their goals, and deploy their resources ogy. As the most sophisticated products have now emerged accordingly, efficiently and effectively. over the last five years in the industry, customers are graviJim Donnellon, president tating toward them; for example, the introduction to manABS Business Products Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio aged network services and integrated solutions. Let’s not forget that we are in the service industry and how we comOpportunities: 2017 should be a fantastic year for office municate with customers is becoming more digital than technology dealers. Your dealership is properly positioned ever. Dealers must be in position to handle the infrastruc- for it. All of the standard areas we have spoken of for years ture our clients demand, such as remote diagnostic, e-info still represent excellent growth opportunities. MPS, MNS, and automatic toner reordering processes. Clients are de- document management and production print are all very manding that dealers maintain, implement and strategize much alive, well and growing. on how they receive their service today. This topic is all cenStrategies: If your dealership is not positioned to provide tered around “data traffic,” meaning that consumers utilize these offerings, you will be missing the opportunities within their workflows in a digital aspect. Office technology com- your existing customer base and those of your competitors. panies strive to continue to introduce the uses of document Customers are looking for comprehensive answers to their management strategies, however, market trends tell us that business workflow questions, not just a salesman pushing the percentage of paper to digital is still on the rise — ap- a box. The strategy of having a specialist to handle specific proximately a 70/30 split, paper to digital. areas such as MPS, MNS, document management and proStrategies: Companies will focus on operations or duction print is very important. plans that will increase their competitive advantage and A specialist takes a much more consultative role and add value to them. In addition, they will focus on the gen- works more as an engineer in his (or her) area of expertise eral inclination toward development of IT technology, tools to enhance and coordinate the offering to more closely meet and data analytics that can help organizations retain their the customer’s needs. This will put your specialist and dealbases, make the best fact-based decisions, gain net-new op- ership in the role of a trusted advisor with your customer, portunities and grow. Most importantly, they will focus on which is a much stronger position than a product provides. the efforts placed in the right vision, mission, strategy and Tim Renegar, president culture. These components act as the strategic compass for Kelly Office Solutions, Winston-Salem, North Carolina organizations’ successful futures. In 2017, companies will continue their efforts to improve employee engagements; Opportunities: I don’t think there is any one answer that so, providing a competitive advantage through their people. fits. Each dealer needs to look at several variables within his The better the work environment for a company, the bigger (or her) own organization and in his market to find the right the profits in the long run. Efforts to maintain the IT tech- answer. It’s important that you build an offering that your nologies, which are rapidly growing and advancing, will af- employees will excel at and find excitement in, whether it’s fect many dealerships in 2017. Company road maps are im- document management software, IT support, 3D or any of proved by harnessing employees’ willingness to use such IT the areas where you already have the core competency and tools as CRMs and ERPs, and implementing platforms that talent to succeed. drive success. In the past decade, business expansion has Strategies: First and foremost is an honest evaluation of 14 | ­w w w. o f f ic et ec hno lo g y m a g.c om | F e b r ua r y 2 0 1 7

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your current capabilities and if whatenables dealers to define themselves to “We need to stay focused ever new area you decide on developing prospective customers as far more than will complement your current operacopier dealers. on understanding tion, or if it will be disruptive and possiStrategies: First, we will be putting a customer needs, and bly hurt revenue and profit, and weaken strong IT management person in charge then deliver and any core strengths you take for granted of solutions in 2017 — an individual who support leading-edge that keep the engine running. Evaluathas grown up in the computer age. It is office technology and ing your market and understanding important for us to present staff who where you can bring value to your curare more “like” our customers’ decision solutions ... ” rent customer base, along with attractmakers. Also, as the decision makers ing new business, should weigh heavily in the IT space continue to be younger on the direction you decide to move in. Our traditional mar- and younger, we will continue to invest in training for our ket is shrinking, so adding to your portfolio of offerings has IT sales and technical employees to better present ourselves turned into a requirement for long-term growth and sus- and relate to these tech-savvy buyers. Additionally, targettainability. Whatever direction you choose needs to have ing some of the simpler solutions initially to new prospects the buy-in and commitment from your entire organization makes it easier for customers to choose to move forward. before you can be really successful bringing it to market.

This then enables dealers to eventually take over the copier Greg Gondek, president and printer fleets, as trust is developed with the customers’ ACT Group, Cromwell, Connecticut IT management staffs. Secondarily, after successful implementation of simpler document solutions, it becomes easier Opportunities: I view our traditional document and im- to present customers with more advanced and costly soluaging business, and the managed services wrapped around tions that may require greater management buy-in. Develthat business, as being tremendous opportunities in 2017. In oping trust is essential, and this is easier when we focus on addition, I view managed IT services as continuing to be a strong relationships that the directs don’t always value as tremendous opportunity in 2017. they are driven to push more boxes in this declining equipStrategies: Our best strategy for success is to be a trust- ment market. ed advisor to our customers. We need to stay focused on unRichard Van Dyke, president derstanding customer needs, and then deliver and support Advanced Office, Santa Ana, California leading-edge office technology and solutions that solve our customers’ problems. We want to put our customers in a poOpportunities: For us it will no doubt be in production sition where they can use office technology to assist them and software offerings. Historically, we have always had in doing the things that allow them to run successful busi- good growth in our “down-the-street” business and cernesses or organizations. tainly expect that to continue. With that said, we expect our Stephen W. Jacobs, president (with our current offering from our manufacturer) producInfomax Office Systems Inc., Des Moines, Iowa tion placements and software installations to grow exponentially in 2017.

Opportunities: With the continued maturation of the Strategies: We believe that having in-house expertise is traditional MFP market, I believe that managed services the key to taking both offerings to market. These products has the greatest potential. are a much more complex sell than the typical “down-theStrategies: It is my feeling that the best way to enter the street” placement, and relying on the manufacturer supmanaged services arena is through acquisitions. I truly be- port, although strong in our case, can delay the process. lieve we need to separate managed services from our tra- Customers want to know that the dealer has made the inditional business model to be able to bill for services that vestment and can support them. might be given away in the heat of the sale or with the belief Lonnie W. Gordon, vice president of operations that it is part of the MFP contract.

Hendrix Business Systems Inc., Matthews, North Carolina Michael Sommers, senior vice president & general manager Pollock Company, Augusta, Georgia Opportunities: Among the areas of greatest opportunity: landing that large contract; having that great new inOpportunities: To grow solution sales and offerings to novative solution; receiving the top award; mergers or acbetter assist small to mid-size businesses with any pain they quisitions; and winning a championship. After all the wins are experiencing that revolves around documents. This also and losses, and after celebrating the last 75 years of office 16 | ­w w w. o f f ic et ec hno lo g y m a g.c om | F e b r ua r y 2 0 1 7

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What’s happening in Vegas will grow your business

Become “stickier” in your accounts Muratec Label University will feature “Labels 101,” a course outlining the short-run color label market and why office equipment dealers should capitalize on this growing adjacency. We’ll have education, live demonstrations and even new product launches.

Mandalay Bay

The entire independent dealer channel is welcome April 18 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, in conjunction with ITEX 2017.

Unlike your child’s private school, Muratec Label University is tuition-free; however, advance registration is required and space is limited.

Visit www.muratec.com/MuratecLabelUniversity to register. You don’t want to miss this opportunity to expand your business.

For more information, contact your area sales manager or Andrew Jones at ajones@muratec.com.

T H e

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l i m i T

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Muratec America, Inc. 3301 East Plano Parkway • Suite 100 Plano, Texas 75074 • www.muratec.com • 469.429.3300 ©2017 Muratec America, Inc. All rights reserved.

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technology, it has always been the peofamiliar with the basic functionality and “Be involved in the ple who make it happen. So, the greatthe bells and whistles of their software est opportunity is having good synergy and hardware products. The plan should BTA Channel — network within your team; that will make 2017 include routine, ongoing, in-person seswith all the people the greatest. sions by someone who is designated to and manufacturers in Strategies: We will need to continue this task. this organization [BTA], thinking outside the box, without makMark Miller, president and attend all of the ing it complicated. Things like CPCs and Eakes Office Solutions CPPs were innovative and changed how Grand Island, Nebraska events you can.“ maintenance agreements were offered up to the late 1980s. Later, it moved over Opportunities: Our greatest opporinto MPS. So, cultivate the managed services that you will tunity in 2017 will be growing our market share through propose so they provide your business with solid margins winning more major-account business. and recurring revenues. That is an old farming term — “culStrategies: Our strategy for closing more major-account tivate” — but I think it is applicable for our business today. business consists of years of constant communication with Be involved in the BTA Channel — network with all the key decision makers. Major accounts have very long sales people and manufacturers in this organization [BTA], and cycles, but we have a consistent marketing strategy to keep attend all of the events you can. This should be a big part of in communication year after year, so when the opportunity your strategy every year. presents itself, we are in position to win the business. We DJ Hastings, president continue to grow our business after 35 years with a focus on Hogland Office Equipment, Lubbock, Texas customer retention and major-account market share.

Kevin Jackson, president Opportunities: As overall U.S. unit placements continue Advanced Business Equipment Inc., Asheville, North Carolina to decline slightly year over year, dealers will need to find aggressive ways to maintain and gain market share. I see Opportunities: I would say managed services continues acquisitions of struggling dealerships and/or taking over to be a great opportunity for dealers to impact their bottom those dealerships’ MIFs as an emerging opportunity. To lines, as well as strengthen their presence within those acspur growth, dealers will also need to investigate product counts. Along those IT lines, we are seeing security as the expansion into gaps that they are not necessarily great in, most inquired-about subject as companies seek to shore up such as production and wide format — or even investigate any holes within their networks. But there is also a great tertiary product categories like water dispensers. Finally, deal of education that we must push out to potential cusas the total number of dealerships decline, competition tomers, as most really don’t realize all the holes they have will get better. Top-tier dealerships must be great at their in their networks. We start with doing and charging for a core business — sales and service of technology products security assessment, and then go from there.

— to compete. Dealerships will need to keep focused on the Strategies: I really believe that at no time in our hisblocking and tackling that made them great. tory has educating our sales and technical people been Strategies: Once dealers decide acquisitions are a desir- more of a difference-maker in terms of winning prospecable way to grow (buying dealerships is not for everyone), tive business and keeping those customers. The solution they should define a strategy that calls for them to identify side of copiers and IT projects are where we are seeing our other dealers who desire to sell. A transaction almost never ability to differentiate. Price erosion in the copier market happens on the first call, so the creation of the relationship continues, so having relationships with your manufacturis key. The longer the list of possible activity gets, the more ers is vital to at least be in the game with regard to price likely something is going to happen.

— and even then we see takedowns where a particular Office technology is a tough business. To stay on top, you manufacturer comes in much lower than everyone else, have to have great people. Dealers should have a specific hir- so that can be frustrating; I think we all see this from ing process — complete with multiple (at least two) inter- time to time. views of the top candidates, a personality profile performed Mark Watson, president by an independent company and an attractive compensaCDS Office Technologies, Spring field, Illinois tion program to be sure the best are wearing their logos.

Then, dealers should have a formal training program that Opportunities: I still believe hardware will be a large part focuses on their dealerships’ key products. Reps should be of our business, but I also see managed print and managed 18 | ­w w w. o f f ic et ec hno lo g y m a g.c om | F e b r ua r y 2 0 1 7

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network services to be integral parts of growth — maybe the most important.

Strategies: Marketing, marketing, marketing! Whether it be by cold calls, printed media or radio, we must continue to evolve as more than just box movers; we need to market as total office technology and solution-based operations.

Bob Lovelace, vice president Image Matters Inc. Knoxville, Tennessee

keep up with all of the larger dealerships and manufacturers. The sales process in MNS is so long that we tend to let the business that got us where we are go basically unattended trying to compete in a field where we don’t have the expertise. In my opinion, if you fall in this category, stay with what you know — the copier/printer/imaging business — and do it well.

While the larger dealerships are concentrating on the MNS business, a lot of customers are not getting the attention they once did with these dealerships. This is your opportunity. Go and take back those customers by doing what you are good at — customer service.

Strategies: If you are going into the MNS arena, then you must do it one way. That is, to dive in and get the training on: (1) How to understand the needs the customer has in MNS; and (2) How to present these services. Be prepared to have a large budget to get started in this area. You should also, in my opinion, of course, hire two people to do this. Computer techs and salespeople are not very loyal in most cases and will leave your dealership for a better offer without hesitation. If you only have one tech and he (or she) leaves you, then you are in a scramble to hire another person to fill this spot. That can be very dangerous ground for you and your customers to be on.

Laverne Schultz, president Sandhills Office Systems, Rockingham, North Carolina

“Aggressively pursue net-new business. If you continue to ignore netnew, you wake up one day and your company is ... no longer growing, but is, in fact, shrinking.”

Opportunities: For our dealership, I believe it will be to get deeper and wider in all of our existing accounts, selling them not only MFPs, but also IT services and MPS. Strategies: Develop plans and monitor progress by doing account reviews for all of our customers, showing them the benefit of utilizing one vendor for all the above-mentioned services that we offer.

Steve Clapp, owner North American Office Solutions, Orlando, Florida Opportunities: The greatest opportunity is probably concentrating on our core business, of which the most profitable component is color output from MFPs. Our manufacturer is presenting more opportunities for us to grow our business with a larger portfolio of offerings. However, the focus is still on numbers of units. During the past few years, we’ve included production print, wide format and software solutions with limited success, albeit increasing as time goes on.

Strategies: We’ll be educating our entire team to better understand the solutions opportunities and become more skilled in presenting and implementing them, particularly in health care.

George Peckham, president Office Systems of Texas, Houston, Texas Opportunities: I believe the greatest opportunities for the dealer channel will be based on the size of the dealership. The mega dealerships will continue to push into the MNS area for more share of what is still a profitable business. I am sad to say the dealer channel is doing to this business the same thing it did to the imaging business. We tend to go in and sell solely on price instead of value. If this trend continues, no one in our business wins except customers and our vendors, which is what it seems we have done to ourselves on the imaging side. If you have a larger dealership or are on the manufacturer side of the business, this can be a great way to grow your bottom line.

However, on the flip side, if you have a $5 million or less dealership, you could possibly lose your business trying to

Opportunities: For us at ProCopy, we had one issue that we were tired of talking about and decided to do something about. The one thing we did is something every dealer could do: Aggressively pursue net-new business. If you continue to ignore net-new, you wake up one day and your company is not only no longer growing, but is, in fact, shrinking. The problem for us was that the traditional way to go after net-new was to pay more to the rep, which does not win you more business.

Strategies: What we did was come up with a comprehensive program for all parts of the business to help us win more net-new deals. What did we do? Net-new service pricing was discounted 20 percent for year one (at the same time, currentaccount pricing was raised by 5 percent); sales rep cost was decreased by 10 percent for net-new only; and we stopped paying a monthly bonus for upgrades and only paid a bonus on net-new if at net-new quota. Lease rates of 5 percent less (our leasing partners gave us special rates if an account was new to them), a special lease return rate and a lower delivery charge were implemented. The combined effort of all of these for a $10,000 transaction was around $85 less a month in payment. As a result, ProCopy’s net-new business went from 18 percent of all placements to 39 percent. Revenues grew by 22

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percent and profit grew by 20 percent.

Mike McGuirk, president ProCopy Office Solutions Inc. Tempe, Arizona

development of three (new to us) experienced sales reps. Each has industry experience and has experienced success. We have been very fortunate that we found each other at the right time.

Although we are entering our 30th year in business, we have always struggled to build a sustainable sales force. We now have a total of nine outside sales reps compared to the four legacy reps who have been with us for the past five years.

I have sales management responsibilities because we have not been able to successfully employ and develop a sales manager. 2016 has been our best revenue year in the past decade and we expect, with our increased sales team, that 2017 will build on this past year’s success.

Strategies: The issue is that I can’t really put a definitive answer on why this year [2016] has been so good, other than we have been able to leverage our reputation for extraordinary service with competitive pricing from our vendors — Konica Minolta, Xerox and Lexmark. However, we now have

“Stargel Office Solutions believes that managed IT services and managed print services are the areas of greatest opportunity for dealers in 2017.”

Opportunities: Stargel Office Solutions believes that managed IT services and managed print services are the areas of greatest opportunity for dealers in 2017. We also believe that the Houston, Texas, economy will improve due to the increase and stabilization of the price of oil in 2017.

Strategies: Stargel Office Solutions believes the best strategy for success will be an increase in our sales force to pursue managed services and office equipment opportunities.

Tyson Stargel, vice president Stargel Office Solutions – Star Managed Services Houston, Texas

Opportunities: As much as I would like to elaborate on the future of our business, I am extremely focused on the

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a very strong base of mid-size business Opportunities: I believe two growth “ ... Our industry is in a accounts that share an optimistic view offerings that are adjacent to our core of the future as a result of the recent MFP business are MNS and advanced growth mode ... We still presidential election. I will mention that scanning (electronic workflow) solusee a strong economy, third-party solutions such as Papercut tions. For The Swenson Group, these ofand we anticipate growth have been big contributors to many of ferings bring value and have helped us in our conventional our larger sales. The type of printing get into competitive MFP accounts and down-the-street imaging controls provided by cost-effective soludrag MFPs once we solve problems and tions have certainly contributed to the prove ourselves. and copier business.” overall presentation of our proposed Strategies: We teach our team memsystems. We expect this type of simbers to go into meetings without preple solution to become more commonplace in most larger conceived agendas. We want them to ask good, open-ended equipment installations. business questions that focus on time-robbers, redundant New Jersey is a very densely populated state with strong processes, bottlenecks, etc., that hinder a prospect’s ability pharmaceutical, health-care and educational institutions to accomplish his (or her) company’s initiatives. After we unat every stop of the New Jersey Turnpike. Our company has derstand these, we can focus the conversation around their made inroads within these industries over the past few years. hot-buttons — like cloud strategy or growing their business We’ve even seen an uptick in manufacturing. One of our cli- — while managing headcount. We don’t lead with MFPs, but ents manufactures replacement windows and sells them to certainly bring them up at the right time. both Home Depot and Lowe’s stores throughout the Eastern Dean Swenson, president Seaboard. Two years ago, their business was slumping. Now, The Swenson Group, Livermore, California they are manufacturing windows on three shifts. As a result of this type of activity, we expect our business to capitalize Opportunities: There is no doubt that our industry is in on continued economic growth into the foreseeable future. a growth mode for the coming year. The election is behind Lastly, I’m pleased that, despite our recent growth, we us and opportunities are in front of us. We still see a strong have not seen a decrease in equipment margins from the re- economy, and we anticipate growth in our conventional cent past. Obviously that’s a tribute to our sales representa- down-the-street imaging and copier business. And, I believe, tives being able to present value instead of being the lowest- the business community is eager to continue in a positive priced provider. I would expect that trend to continue as we direction. While we have stayed away from the managed enter the new year. services industry to focus on our core strength of imaging Art Schwartz, president & CEO technology, we are expanding our scanning-as-a-service Image Systems for Business, Somerset, New Jersey business, and have added document storage and destruction to our offerings. We have good expectations for this market.

Opportunities: The best opportunities in 2017 are in Strategies: I believe the best strategies for success will mergers/acquisitions or selling the business. The current be to do your homework on your current business plan and financial climate, along with the state of the industry, also look around for complementary businesses with which make it such that the office technology dealer is left with to grow one’s base. With the dealership playing ground contwo choices: (1) Sell the business while the market is paying tinuing to evolve with acquisitions and mergers, it should be good money for the business; or (2) Buy other dealerships on everyone’s radar to look at his (or her) local marketplace and invest in the new technologies. The latter requires the and begin thinking about acquiring local complementary dealer to have already started revamping the business by of- dealerships as, I believe, 2017 and beyond will still continue fering hardware and software solutions, and not just being to suggest an “acquire-or-get-acquired” mentality. a box pusher.

Jeff Jehn, president Strategies: The major challenges are finding good salesWaltz Business Solutions, Crestview Hills, Kentucky people and training them (six to nine months) with a thorough program and compensation. The package program Opportunities: I believe the industry is very strong, and has to be well thought out to keep a good percentage of the even though we hear talk of a modest decline in the copy/ hires with low, but expected, turnover. print business, there is still plenty of business out there to be Tony Pezeshkian, CEO very successful. Managed print still brings a great opportuSummit Business Systems Inc./Summit Mailing & Shipping nity to the dealer channel if managed and focused properly.

Systems Inc., Edmond, Oklahoma Strategies: There is no magic bullet; professional reps who 22 | ­w w w. o f f ic et ec hno lo g y m a g.c om | F e b r ua r y 2 0 1 7

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know the industry and provide great service and administrative support to back it up. Good old-fashioned strategies.

Dave Bishop, president & CEO Bishop Business, Omaha, Nebraska

customers address this pain by working closely with them and implementing custom-designed projects. Sometimes this may include solutions that are not yet offered in the dealer portfolio, such as ECM, IT services or BPM. Being properly positioned with a portfolio of solutions adhering to your market, and tracking the evolution of customers with offers that add value to their businesses, are key factors for your success.

Marcos Eland Silva, director Edocx, Brasilia, Nucleo Bandeirante, Brazil

“Dealers should identify the major ‘pain’ in their markets, understand this pain properly and be prepared to deal with helping customers address this pain ... “

Opportunities: In South America, especially in Brazil, 2017 will be a transformative year for dealers. The major manufacturers are now introducing A4 machines above 45 ppm for the business market. This provides an excellent opportunity to upgrade customer fleets and increase revenues with solutions. The dealers who integrate software based on the Android platform, and ECM in vertical markets like health care, education or legal, have a great market ahead.

Strategies: This starts with a complete portfolio definition. It is not possible for a traditional MPS dealer to work with all kinds of solutions and harvest all deals. Dealers should identify the major “pain” in their markets, understand this pain properly and be prepared to deal with helping

Opportunities: I believe the biggest areas of opportunity for dealers still revolve around print management and helping clients understand how to better manage their printer/copier fleets. There are still many companies that aren’t aware of the potential savings and productivity gains they can achieve.

Strategies: Learning how to use the software tools that help monitor and manage fleets, and developing a staff

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that can communicate benefits to Clevel executives.

Ray Belanger, president Bay Copy, Rockland, Massachusetts

some customers like the capability of a one-stop shop rather than having several companies service their accounts. With one organization responsible, there is no guessing what data is backed up or monitored on their networks. The software we use constantly searches for viruses/malware, ransomware and inconsistencies.

Strategies: We will continue to advertise these services in The Business Journal, addressing proactive data and network protection for companies that want the peace of mind that they are covered in case of a disaster.

Jeff Eaves, president Appalachia Business Communications of Kingsport Johnson City, Tennessee

“We are still seeing growth in managed print services, production and wide format. These three areas appear to present the best opportunities ... ”

Opportunities: There are several areas of opportunity depending on the dealer’s ability to participate. Clearly, selling color in general and A4 devices are two opportunities in which all dealers should be able to participate. Selling solutions (particularly around security), professional services and color production print involve more of an investment and may limit some dealers’ abilities to participate. MNS is not for everyone, but if you have the opportunity to partner or acquire, I believe there is long-term potential in these services. MPS is also an area where most can participate, but it has matured into an opportunity that requires you to bring in some or all of the previously mentioned initiatives to separate and add value to your offerings, as well as partners that can do the same.

Strategies: Understanding what your marketplace wants and what you have as resources is critical. If you need to add or redirect staff and/or partners to meet your clients’ and prospects’ needs, this is the critical part of any plan. In most cases, this will lead you to people and/or partners who have demonstrated skills as vertical or subject-matter experts and understand how to satisfy client needs. The days of geographic reps is coming to a close as the complexity of our offerings and the knowledge required make it impossible to understand and satisfy everyone in a geographic area.

Ray Fuentes, president Edwards Business Systems/Virginia Business Systems Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Opportunities: Manufacturers are under pressure to increase margins. Watch for them to pull back, taking chips off the table and creating a vacuum for needed services. This vacuum will create an opportunity for three to five years where customers either look internally for resources or seek to partner with local vendors.

Strategies: Focus on what you do best and partner to do the rest. Double down to steal share from competitors who are spread thin. Be nimble and quick to adapt by partnering with experts in each service area. This will optimize gross profit per employee and position your business for any change in the economy.

Ben Harris, CEO Harris Technologies Inc., St. Louis, Missouri Opportunities: I still think MSP and cloud storage are two opportunities that go in sync with the MFP industry;

Opportunities: We are still seeing growth in managed print services, production and wide format. These three areas appear to present the best opportunities for the independent dealer channel to grow in 2017.

Strategies: Our strategy has been to align specialists to work with each sales team to approach these three areas in a collaborative approach with the customer or prospect. The knowledge required in these three areas makes it difficult for a territory representative to be competent in each area.

We have found that if you have an overlap specialist who has thorough knowledge of the products and applications, your success rate is much higher and the customer gets the right product and solution.

Hunter McCarty, COO RJ Young Co., Nashville, Tennessee Opportunities: It appears to be a consensus that managed network services is the greatest growth opportunity for those of us in this space. I believe that cloud solutions, specifically, will generate the most functional solutions. We should give an equal amount of mindshare to document management, with a primary focus on archiving as a service.

Strategies: My advice is to understand that MNS is not a market-share business. You should grow one profitable customer at a time. Don’t take on a customer just to enter the space. The other area of focus is security. Without securing the customer, you have nothing. First things first, take care of customers and they will pay what you are worth. If not, you run the risk of letting them drive you unprofitably and they run the risk of putting their private data in the hands of the wrong person.

Dan Strull, CEO Copier Headquarters Inc., Woodland Hills, California

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for internally and in the community.

Opportunities: I see my greatest op“Doubt and uncertainty Gone is the day where we can be the best portunity in the wave of acquisitions company by simply having the best prodthat are taking place all over the indusare powerful influencers; uct and process; we must have the best try. Larger dealerships are consuming a new vendor people. Productivity will be increased smaller dealerships all the time and, as relationship imposed by exponentially in companies that recoga result, customers are left with vendors acquisition is ... a time nize this change and implement cultures they didn’t choose. They may ultimately when the customer may that support it. If we want our people to be very happy with their new vendors, run through walls for us, then they have but this is a perfect opportunity for each have some doubt ... ” to know we have already — and will conof us to get our foot in the door as the tinue to — run through walls for them. “winds of change” are blowing. Doubt Strategies: (1) Sales, sales, sales. In order to take advanand uncertainty are powerful influencers; a new vendor relationship imposed by acquisition is certainly a time when tage of this wave of acquisition, we have to focus on our sales the customer may have some doubt or uncertainty. Don’t teams like never before. If you are not satisfied with your sales worry about the market consolidation that is taking place department’s performance, then stop doing what you have — surge forward and take advantage of the opportunities always done and start looking for ways to influence change.

Inspire change by reorganizing your selling structure, increated as a result of it.

In today’s culture, more than ever before, employees are vest in training, and create programs that will encourage not just looking for a place to work. They are looking for a reps to look for the opportunities that result from the acplace to belong — a place where they find fulfillment; not just quisitions happening around you. So often we get frustratfulfillment in what they do, but in what the company stands ed when we hear excuses from underperforming sales reps

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about why they haven’t hit their numOpportunities: I believe the growth “We need to be careful bers. Are you doing the same thing? The of unstructured data products and market has changed dynamically and advanced capture are key technology that we are not allowing if you are still approaching it the same products for dealers. As we integrate the business to run way, you may be standing in the way of these products into our MFP lines, they our schedules and even greater success. lead to tighter integration with custompriorities, as this will (2) Developing a company culture er business processes. almost always be a that focuses on our people can often Strategies: Our best strategy is to intake a back seat to meeting the high declude or talk about these products any culture killer.” mands of our everyday business needs. time they are applicable to a customer We need to be careful that we are not environment. At the very minimum, we allowing the business to run our schedules and priorities, try to ask the questions of all potential customers to see if as this will almost always be a culture killer. We need to sit these advanced products are a good fit for them. We see that down with our executive teams and be intentional about when we have the opportunity to discuss these strategies, the changes that need to be made to ensure that our people our chances of winning the business dramatically improve. are finding the value they crave from our organizations. We Donny Mihalevich, owner & CEO must implement programs that ensure our employees know Paladin Managed Solutions, Spring field, Missouri that we are more interested in them than our bottom lines.

When we genuinely take care of our people, then our expecOpportunities: In my opinion, the greatest opportunities tations of them taking care of our customers will surely be for office technology dealers will be in services — managed met and our profitability will be ensured. print services, managed network services and/or solutions.

David Polimeni, CEO What I mean by “solutions” is electronic filing or electronic Rite Technology, Sarasota, Florida records management. We have all seen the downward pressure on equipment acquisition and the aftermarket. While Opportunities: For those dealerships that have addition- this is a problem with both the collective and individual real offerings such as MPS, IT services, cloud, etc., I believe lationship between the dealership and the manufacturer, the greatest opportunity for 2017 will be growing/expand- it is also a very big problem for the dealership itself. These ing our business within our existing customers. When we downward pressures absolutely hurt the top line of the dealline up our customer base and fill in the columns where we ership. This point is so obvious it is kind of embarrassing to have multiple lines of business secured in an account, the write down, but we all must know that these problems affect best we can typically get is two out of four categories where us all. the customer is buying or using our services. Back in the Strategies: The best strategy for success in any or all of early days, we said we “needed to own the account,” which, these areas will be to first determine what you have interearly on, meant we had their copiers, faxes and printers. We est in, as well as the aptitude and resources for, and commit need to strengthen our relationships in these accounts and yourself and your dealership to jump in with both feet. To secure all of our offerings. Great things will come when we dabble in any of these will be a costly exercise, charactercan successfully do this. ized by frustration and, in all likelihood, failure. If, on the Strategies: We all have subject-matter experts in each other hand, you determine what makes best sense for you of our business units, yet they don’t know all of the com- and your dealership, and you truly commit the necessary pany’s offerings, nor can we expect them to. However, our resources to its success, then you will be on the right path to plan is to strengthen our presence within each of our busi- close the top-line revenue gap described above and thereby ness units to have a team approach for capturing our cus- protect that all-important bottom line once the economies tomer’s spend. If they are going to be buying these services of scale are hit. As for that last little curveball, don’t be anyway, why not buy them from us? Ultimately, we have fooled. Just like anything you do, it will take work to get it to be good at the job they (the customer) are paying us for built up to where it is making you money. And remember, if currently before we can ask for additional business. So, our it were easy, we would all be doing it already. strategy will continue to be to deliver the best customer John Eckstrom, president & CEO experience and make it easy for the customer to do busiCarolina Business Equipment, Columbia, South Carolina ness with us.

Chris Albert, sales manager Opportunities: Using social media and electronic marMarco, Fenton, Missouri keting will offer a great opportunity for 2017 and beyond.

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beneficial business opportunity. Next, Many technology dealers are still mar“You can use social become an expert in the security reketing like they were in 1987, so the quirements of your customers and offer organizations that embrace new stratmedia to maintain your solutions that speak to security proacegies will see the biggest gains. In addicompany’s name in tively to enhance your customers’ trust tion, becoming an expert in security for the forefront of your and interest. important vertical markets — such as customer’s mind by Dawn Abbuhl, president health care and finance — will enhance providing useful Repeat Business Systems credibility and create more opportuniAlbany, New York ties. HP has been paying close attention information ... “ to this, as has Ricoh.

Opportunities: I think 2017 will Strategies: First, become an expert (hire someone native in social media) to capitalize on SEO, present an incredible growth opportunity for dealers who LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. I still believe our success is built can do things differently. We are fully invested in managed on customer relationships, but social media is another way network services. I am confident we have the selling platto begin and support these relationships. You can use social form, technical expertise, management, vision and billing media to maintain your company’s name in the forefront platform to not only leave behind the copier reps racing to of your customer’s mind by providing useful information, the bottom, but we will be able to move into VAR territory as well as building relationships from mutual associates where they don’t have robust sales teams and sales manageon LinkedIn. We developed a relationship with one large ment processes to penetrate the market.

Strategies: The best strategy to enable this new service account when I realized that I knew about 20 of the same people and that began a dialogue. This turned into a very will be to partner with the experts that already do this

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well. We have Continuum and Growth Achievement Partners (Mitch Morgan) to help us accelerate growth in our corner. I have found leveraging the resources they offer to be even more valuable than the actual service we are buying.

Brett Butler, president & CEO Excel Office Services Inc. Culver City, California

our own IT help desk and beginning to generate revenue for the necessary investments that you will need to make in the IT MNS business. A brief summary of the platform that we named “MillerNetGold” (MNG) is to differentiate what the MFP maintenance plan covers versus what MNG covers. Most dealers with an IT support person on staff (or a copier IT person) tend to give away billable services like downloading drivers, setting up new PCs to print or scan, reprogramming IP addresses, email or fax. The list goes on and on. We outlaid the program on any customer with less than five devices and run it as an opt-out-only program with 90 days of letters and notifications. Then it has a starting-year-only special of $9.95 for the first MFP and $4.95 for the next four per month.

We have a class in-house so everyone can explain what the program is, why it is needed and what will happen if a customer cancels. We had a few hundred calls the first month; once we explained to most of them how we are called out on service calls only to find out they are IT help-desk situations and what we would be billing for IT support, they decided to try it. All of the people who declined and ended up calling in the next three months to “talk to a technician” found out it was $37.50 for 15 minutes. We offered to get them in on the program and they were elated to pay $9.95 a month.

Our first month we billed $9,875 that was non-existent the previous month. MNG is sold on every machine out the door now, unless it is a major account or they have their own IT support staff. We are billing more than $15,000 a month with this program after 15 months under our belt and it grows every month. Plus, we bill out blocks of time and our partner allows us to sell computer hardware and provide “project work” like Office 365 migrations and other costly ventures that are very profitable.

Broaden your product offerings, if at all possible, as easily as possible, and push them into your current base. We now have office supplies (90,000 SKUs), office furniture, phones, cameras, PCs, servers, security doors and cameras, card access systems, cabling and wiring, MNS, MPS, printers, copiers, fax servers (this is very profitable and you don’t have to do any of the work), and by-the-seat pricing for complete vendor management. We have to be prepared that printer and copier outputs will continue to decline over the next 10 years. Get busy living or get busy dying.

Scott O. Miller, president Miller Document Solutions, Louisville, Kentucky

“ ... When you control their network and their input/output devices, you have a much greater chance of increasing your penetration with other goods and services ... ”

Opportunities: (Blended into the strategies listed below.)

Strategies: If you are not already doing so, start doing managed print services; there are simply too many good vendors that can have this program up and running in your dealership easily, and it is very profitable, as well as a backdoor entry into companies that may not be ready for a copier upgrade, but have printers everywhere. Compensate your sales force with the first month’s minimum each year as a payment and remind them they must visit each customer two to three times per year. Push sales to have a quota of some type of MPS sale on 50 percent of their sales. It could be a simple “buy the toner from us and get free service and a 15-percent discount on parts” to a full-blown, by-thepage platform. Keep your old upgraded printers around for loaners and fix them up for immediate needs. We now have several thousand print-only devices under contract and a warehouse full of low-mileage units to rent, loan or simply use on competitive bids.

Consider managed network services; when you control their network and their input/output devices, you have a much greater chance of increasing your penetration with other goods and services, and it becomes very difficult for anyone to take the customer away from you. We tried doing this with our existing “copier IT” guys and some major-branded Tier 2 and 3 support providers, and it was a disaster. After making it a priority success target area, our management team began searching for the right partner in our area. After two failed attempts, we found a company about a third of our total size that could provide IT support, Tier 2 and 3, phones, security cameras and doors, cabling, etc. We entered into a virtual partnership and took over all of its printer/copier customers and it supports all of our customers. We found out that companies of this size need to provide copier support, but really don’t want to deal with it themselves because they just don’t understand the industry, and their whole service and support system isn’t built the same as ours. We do the Tier 1 and help-desk support inhouse within a few hours and they handle the heavy work.

We went from $0 to several hundred thousand in 18 months.

The key to the previous MNS suggestion was setting up

Opportunities: Going to market with an understanding that the A4 arena is on an upward trend in a cycle where

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Strategies: Company role: Don’t fall A4 is now more accepted in pod printing “During the discovery into the pit of price; continue to invest environments and has increased fleet in your salespeople, regardless of their footprints as a result of the more comprocess, listen for the tenure and experience; and create the petitive cost per print being offered by pain points of each incentive to grow the dealership’s custhe manufacturers. customer, and ask tomer base and annual revenue.

Strategies: During the discovery proprobing questions about Matt Mawby, president cess, listen for the pain points of each workflow, security Professional Business Systems Inc. customer, and ask probing questions Bentonville, Arkansas about workflow, security concerns and concerns and cost.” cost. Couple the lower cost-per-print Opportunities: MPS and IT services offering with solution-ready products Strategies: Additional salespeople; add MPS clients; and to win over customers that struggle with content management, workflow, unstructured content and lack of rules- more IT product and service business into the mid-market.

Jim Loffler, president & CEO based print management.

Loffler Companies Inc., Bloomington, Minnesota David Varney, service director Millennium Business Systems, Cincinnati, Ohio Opportunities: I believe that the greatest opportunity Opportunities: Sales professionals: Professional sales for dealers in the near and distant future is the consolidadevelopment; eliminate box-movers in the industry; train tion and bundling of services (MFPs, MPS, IT services and reps to maintain and respect margin (value); and the com- help desk). We have seen our business grow as much as 35 percent over the last few years because of these offerings. pany must lead by example.

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Strategies: I believe the best strategies for success come in different ways.

First, we have hired a great management team to oversee our services strategy goals. Second, we offer creative comp plans to motivate our sales team. We also have dedicated sales reps to go after specific service offerings. Lastly, we hold our people accountable to make sure our customers are receiving the best service experience possible.

Brian H. McPherson, vice president CWS-Copier Word Processing Supply Inc. Parkersburg, West Virginia

“Whether it’s managed solutions, document and print management ... or other monitored or managed opportunities, this area ... continues to open profitability gates.”

Opportunities: Continuing to extend their reach within the managed services model will provide enough opportunity to either begin the engagement process with the C-level executive or continue to expand their managed service offerings to include a wider array of services.

Strategies: Start today. If you have not engaged in a managed services model, education/buy-in at the senior level of your dealership is critical. If you have started with your model, expand your knowledge set and go broader within your base to introduce expanded services.

Tom Minuti, general manager Copy Products (Copy Products Digital Office Solutions) Upper Darby, Pennsylvania Opportunities: I feel the greatest opportunity for office technology dealerships in 2017 will be selling packages that are focused on the company’s [customer’s] direction of growth. Each company that we approach has a different direction of growth. It is our job to find out what that is and tap into it.

Strategies: Start with the equipment they currently have and use, and what they will need for future growth. Expand into software solutions that can tie into their network to produce a more efficient office. Create a package that consists of equipment and software to improve the office’s workflow and profitability, capturing income from every aspect of the customer. Dealerships need to channel their resources, increase their offerings into all vertical markets, and invest in employees who can go into an office and see the whole picture.

This is a longer selling process, so I feel that dealers need to take the time and analyze where they are right now and implement into their offices what they are working to sell their customers. It is not enough to just talk about the software and hardware — you need to be able to implement these things in your office, if only just for demonstration purposes.

Build IT and sales departments that can work together with

customers to better grasp the end result the customer wants. Have a service team that can better support customers, and that understands not only the equipment, but also the software and networks customers will be surrounded by. Build an office team that can also help and support customer issues.

Daniel Castaneda, general manager International Copy Machine Center El Paso, Texas

Opportunities: The greatest opportunities for dealers in 2017 will still be providing expanded services to new and existing partners though managed solutions (print, network, etc.), as well as being able to offer a broad range of solutions and applications that provide needed control and management tools. We are now dealing with an intelligent, informed customer who will figure out that flipping leases for lower payments is not the appropriate path to get the most value out of the dealer partner he (or she) chooses.

Strategies: The dealership that becomes a true partner with the customer will provide a well-trained staff, and a breadth of products and services that will address issues on an ongoing basis and not just at the point of sale. I believe the opportunity will belong to dealers who remain open and flexible, are willing to customize their business models, and invest in people and resources to stay on the edge of these technologies. To address this challenge, Dean’s will select the products and services (including applications and software), commit and train our staff, and hire to fill in the gaps that we cannot fill from within. We will make continued investment in our infrastructure and build a model that we can demonstrate to our customers. We will also look to partner with dealerships and businesses that can help strengthen our presence and increase efficiencies in our organization.

Steve Cobb, president Dean’s Office Machines Inc., Greensboro, North Carolina Opportunities: Managed service offerings continue to be the largest growth opportunity for office technology dealers.

Whether it’s managed solutions, document and print management, managed IT services, or other monitored or managed opportunities, this area of our industry continues to open profitability gates. As everything continues to evolve to the digital world or web-based management, including phones, alarm systems, environmental controls, etc., this area of opportunity will continue to grow at an exponential rate. Focusing on VARs will be key for successful managed services. The more efficient customers can become in their

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(remote monitoring and management) day-to-day operations, the more value “It would be wise to in addition to existing ERP systems can they bring to their customers, as well as greatly improve the handling of this new their businesses. research and employ area of operations.

Strategies: As with anything, a the assistance of an Terri Byford change of mindset is a must for existestablished managed vice president of operations & finance ing office technology dealers when getnetwork services Cavin’s Business Solutions Inc. ting into managed services. This can company ... that can Fayetteville, North Carolina sometimes be difficult when using existing network staff, and it has been work ... with local staff.” especially difficult for smaller office Opportunities: Placement growth.

At the 2016 BTA Fall Colors Retreat, I technology dealerships. Pricing these services, as well as determining what types of services are learned that the number of independent dealers has decovered versus not covered under established rates, has creased by the hundreds nationally. Past reports (The Canbeen extremely difficult; not to mention trying to manage nata Report) and past experiences have proven that when the call load, billing, etc., in existing ERP systems that were large corporate copier companies grow through acquisition, designed and set up specifically for the CPC-type dealers. they are often unable to provide the same attention as local It would be wise to research and employ the assistance of entrepreneurs, which creates opportunity for the remaining an established managed network services company, at local independent dealerships. Oftentimes, the new compaleast for remote monitoring and remote services, that can ny’s sales reps are just as foreign to the customer as you are, work in conjunction with local staff. Use of automated so a “Why-not-me?” mentality can work well.

Strategies: It’s still difficult to beat feet on the street. In tools, such as an MSP (managed services provider) or RMM

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a world of email, automated phone atrepresent the biggest opportunities. As“Follow the tendants and varying decision makers suming that the house is in order, there from CEO, CFO, CIO, etc., face-to-face are a number of opportunities for office manufacturer’s lead(s) is still the way to go. What has changed technology dealers in 2017. ... Look at what they’re is our follow-up. It can no longer be just (1) Be better than the next guy and pushing to their direct the telephone/email channel. Social memaximize what we do well in our core customers and what the dia is here to stay, at least for the near business. It’s not news to anybody that senior management future. Learn to benefit from LinkedIn, printed pages and A3 are in decline (it Twitter, Facebook and Instagram as doesn’t mean they are dead, just in a talks about ... ” ways to work around gatekeepers and long, slow trend of decline). It’s a bruto appear to be working when your comtal truth of a declining market that the petition is not. Most professional people are going to have only way to grow is to take business from somebody else. profiles and will check them on a semi-regular basis. It may Successful office technology dealerships will grow — or at give you a shot at capturing that interest or even a response least not shrink — in the core MFP and A3 business. that a spammed email did not.

(2) Follow the manufacturer’s lead(s). We all have close Mitch Ware, president relationships with one or multiple manufacturers. Look at Copier Consultants Inc., North Canton, Ohio what they’re pushing to their direct customers and what the senior management talks about to investors and/or the meOpportunities: Document management software dia. Usually these talking points (i.e., products and services) Strategies: A strong demo process internally. We have are different than what they’re trying to get dealerships to fully implemented our document management system put in their warehouses. For instance, we are hearing many and use it internally. This is great because our entire team manufacturers talk about MPS at the enterprise level. Ex(sales/service/admin/scanning/IT) can sell it because we amine if that translates into opportunity at the individual use it. The most important aspects are well-trained sales dealership level. There are many areas of opportunity if we engineers and, more importantly, well-trained systems ar- listen to the manufacturers. The trick is choosing the right chitects. The biggest reason for failure, in my opinion, is one that fits the dealership, its market, culture, etc. dealerships don’t invest in training for their teams to imple(3) The chart below demonstrates what we all know. The ment solutions, leaving customers unhappy with the prod- irony here, of course, is that while data is growing, it takes uct and experience of document management. The financial data to generate printed pages. Accept that terrible paradox investment in our team has paid off. Implementation is also and seek out opportunities to leverage data growth in adjakey. Implementation failures diminish the positivity of your cent business line(s). team. We’ve found that implementing software by department allows us to not bite off more than we can chew or the customers will be overwhelmed with the process of implementation. It may be a longer sales cycle, but it’s a big deal for us to see the product grow with a customer rather than trying to hit a home run right off the bat. The returns are greater for us in annual maintenance programs (AMPs) and the customer’s experience leads to greater referrals. It’s a win/win, which is what we want as a dealership.

Kelly Martinez, president Albuquerque Image Products, Albuquerque, New Mexico Opportunities: To me this question is a moot point if the office technology dealer does not have his (or her) core business in order. Thus, what follows presumes that the foundation of MFP sales and service is firmly in place at the office technology dealership that is seeking adjacent opportunities. For those dealers who reflect on their operations and recognize that there is much room to improve MFP service delivery or sales execution, improving those areas

Strategies: Three words: Subject-matter expert(s). Trying to sell and deliver MPS, document management/workflow, MNS, consulting services, VOIP, etc., is different than selling and executing on MFPs. To be successful in pursuing tangential opportunities, dealers should be willing to invest in the people and processes that will make the dealership look like a real player in the chosen opportunity. Customers are becoming more and more sophisticated, and they have

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ever more choices. Don’t try to fool them with a half-baked notion — which will likely come back and bite you. Invest and/or partner to pursue the chosen opportunity the right way or your dealership will likely be back at square one within a short time.

Carter Hertzberg, CFO Nauticon Office Solutions Gaithersburg, Maryland

competitors. We certainly offer the same strategic advantages in MNS as we do in equipment sales and service — local service, local community support, local people, etc. Essentially, we can offer everything that the big guys do from a local platform, which is even more important to our customers when it comes to their network performance and security.

The “model” tells us that we lose money every time we sell a piece of equipment.

By the time we fight through the buying/bidding process, get the equipment installed and integrated, and pay the salesperson and the techs, we have lost money. The key is to maintain service margins, but that, too, is becoming more and more difficult. With MNS there is generally no equipment sale involved, but if there is, we can give them a take-it-or-leave-it price. After all, it is the contract that we are looking for, not the equipment sale. This is not possible with MFPs. We can’t go around writing contracts on equipment that we are not trained to service.

“But, in general, I think that we need to forge the right relationships with our MNS partners and I think that we need to continue to differentiate ourselves ... ”

Opportunities: I definitely believe that for myself and for most other BTA dealers, our greatest opportunity in 2017 will be MNS. I know this has been stated before over the years, but I honestly believe, at least from my perspective, that we “equipment” dealers are finally positioned to exploit this area.

Strategies: As far as strategies are concerned, I believe that they may be as varied as the territories in which we all work. But, in general, I think that we need to forge the right relationships with our MNS partners and I think that we need to continue to differentiate ourselves from the larger

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I am convinced that MNS will be a very large part of our growth over the next several years. I also believe that, eventually, we can leverage those MNS contracts to sell MFPs and printing services.

Edward W. Jones, CEO Advanced Business Systems Watertown, New York

printing on colored paper stock, clear overlay, etc., seem to me to be the best source of increased revenue. It is also easier to hold margin with these products, since there is typically less competition.

Strategies: So, our strategy is threefold. Increase down-the-street copier sales by adding more salespeople; increase MNS through increased marketing efforts, advertising and business reviews; and add specialty devices with dedicated reps to take advantage of new, incremental revenue opportunities.

Mike Brandon, president & CEO ABC Office Equipment Co., Spokane, Washington

“With so many hardware vendors ... moving toward app features on their MFPs, there can be no denying the overwhelming push to go digital.”

Opportunities: I still believe the best profit opportunity for the dealer is in managed network services (MNS). After completing our fourth year, it would appear that each monthly contract generates about 20 percent annually in hardware revenue. This hardware revenue is at a relatively low profit (5 to 15 percent).

Consequently, it would be very difficult to increase the revenue of the company with only an MNS strategy.

Most people seem to agree that the traditional copier business is threatened, either by HP/Samsung, or by declining page volumes and rates. So, specialty types of printing, like label makers, five-color devices that allow full-color

Opportunities: 3​D printing supplies are about to explode; this is similar to our normal model of supplying supplies to those with 3D printers. A large number of these are our own customer base of education, machine shops and engineering firms. Right now, a lot of these are being sold on the internet, with mechanical engineers and IT buying, without going through purchasing. Margins are great; purchases at $10 sell at $25.​This is a normal model that doesn’t require a lot of training or as long of a sales cycle as software.

Strategies: ​Let your customers in these markets know you carry these items. You can use your personal contact with these customers to move them into your MFP machines.

Right now, there is no personal contact with these people.

Bob Schoon, president Schoon Corp., San Leandro, California Opportunities: With so many hardware vendors that are seemingly moving toward app features on their MFPs, there can be no denying the overwhelming push to go digital. That being said, digitizing hardcopy documents and automating manual workflow processes are the opportunities I am seeing out there. Companies that used to shy away from document management are now much more interested in process improvement.

Strategies: Consultants, not sales reps. No offense to sales reps — they have their place — however, it will be the experienced, knowledgeable, process-driven consultants who will lead the pack in this area.

Don Risser, president Advanced Laser Printer Service & Supplies Inc. Emigsville, Pennsylvania n Brent Hoskins, executive director of the Business Technology Association, is editor of Office Technology magazine. He can be reached at brent@bta.org or (816) 303-4040.

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Dealership Events Maximizing attendance & impact using social media by: Jon Mitchell, Dealer Marketing

D

ealerships can generate sales opportunities with events such as lunch and learns, open houses, technology shows and webinars. While putting an event on the calendar is easy, the hard work begins when it comes to getting people in the seats. Hosting events can be a great way to create new relationships, educate prospects on your products, generate quality leads, grow your pipeline and, ultimately, close more sales. In this article, you will discover new social media strategies to maximize both the attendance and the impact of your next event.

There are a variety of events that can be great for accomplishing all of the things mentioned above, but taking an event from idea to sellout is no easy feat. There are some simple, but powerful, strategies that you can use to drive attendance, create chatter during the event and continue conversations after the event. In the past, event promoters may have used things like email, sales rep handouts, direct mailers, radio, TV or billboards to promote an upcoming event.

Although each of these can be useful, social media has the potential to give you a greater ROI. Social media gives us a powerful, far-reaching and mostly free way to reach a desired audience. Compared to most traditional methods of promotion and advertisement where promoting outside of your region could become cost prohibitive, social media allows you to easily reach all corners of the globe for a relatively low cost, or get extremely fine-tuned if you are wanting to reach a very specific demographic in a particular area of your city.

A recent study by Buffer, a social media optimization platform, looked at 25 million social media posts sent by organizers and attendees of 50 of the most popular events over a full calendar year. They discovered some surprising trends: (1) Almost as many people are talking about an event before the event as they are during; (2) The largest amount of social media updates were quotes and multimedia posts shared during the event; and (3) Some of the top strategies included: sharing teasers of the speaker or announcement lineup, providing a photo booth and creating quotes as multimedia.

When it comes to your next event, you definitely want to use social media to get the word out before the event. However, you should also consider how you use social media during and after the event to maximize your impact.

Before Your Event (1) Build anticipation. You would think that most event attendees would talk about, tweet and post to LinkedIn or Facebook during an event, right? Obviously, some do that, but studies have found that almost an equal number talk about an event in the days and weeks prior.

According to the data, about 40 percent of people post about an event in the time leading up to the event as compared to 42 percent of people who post during the event itself. Most of this is due to anticipation of the upcoming event, as well as fear of missing out (FOMO). All of this chatter before your event is great promotion for you.

Build anticipation for your event by considering what could make the event attractive. While a giveaway of an iPad or TV are great, there are other aspects of your event that potential attendees may find interesting, like the speaker lineup or the venue. One often-overlooked benefit

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for an attendee is the ability to network papers or infographics from your techGet a seat near the front with other local executives. Brainstorm nology partners. When you share these a list of all the benefits of coming to your on your social media channels, end each of the room, set up event. Use this list as the basis for your post with an invitation to learn more your smartphone on social media posts. at your upcoming event and link to the a tabletop tripod ...

(2) Create a Facebook event and event sign-up page. and go live right from an Eventbrite page. A practical way to your dealership’s promote your event is to put it on FaceDuring Your Event book and Eventbrite. First, create your Most dealers are good at using social Facebook page. event on Eventbrite. Use of this platform media to promote their events, but I is free if you are not charging for your want to challenge you to find ways to get event. (They make their money as an add-on fee for tickets attendees talking about your event during the event. This purchased online.) Set up a landing page that explains all of is great promotion for whatever message you are wanting the benefits of your event. Clearly explain the event details, to get out there from your event, and it builds the potential such as the date, time and location. Then, create a form to for your next event or promotion. You want to make it easy gather information on your attendees. You will be able to for your attendees to share things they see, hear and expeuse Eventbrite to send reminder emails before the event, as rience. Following are some creative suggestions on how to well as follow-up emails afterward. accomplish this.

Once your Eventbrite page is set up, you can link it to your (1) Share speaker content in advance. A great way to company Facebook page. With Facebook, you have a cen- get people sharing things during your event is to give them tral platform to communicate about the event. You can also some great shareable content from the presenters. If you gauge interest and estimate possible attendance. Having know what the speakers will be talking about ahead of time your Facebook event tied to an Eventbrite landing page with and can curate some great quotes or multimedia content a sign-up form makes it easy for people to reserve tickets. that you show/post during your event, then you make it easy Your volunteers or staff members who are helping you put for attendees to share that content. People love to share on the event will appreciate being able to plan accordingly great quotes or other easy-to-post information. for a certain-size crowd.

(2) Assign a hashtag to your event and interact. Cre(3) Show behind-the-scenes pictures before the event ating a hashtag for your event can make it easy for attendstarts. People love to feel special by getting to see “behind ees to quickly see what you and others are saying about the the curtain” at an event. This also makes them feel more event. Hashtags can also be a great way for your team to engaged in the process and gives them an increased desire interact with the audience using questions and polls. Ask to attend because they almost feel like they are part of the them what features of the products you demonstrated they preparation leading up to the event. A practical way to do liked the most, which speaker they enjoyed the most, or if this is by posting pictures on your dealership’s Facebook they took any pictures at the event they want to share. You page, tweeting out a photo or video showing the team get- can also create a Twitter poll, which is a great way to gauge ting ready, or even doing a quick Facebook Live broadcast attendee opinion on certain topics. where you show potential attendees around and give some (3) Go live. One of the hottest new trends in social media event teasers. The important thing is to make it fun and is Facebook Live. Get a seat near the front of the room, set up something others want to be part of. your smartphone on a tabletop tripod to hold it steady and (4) Post often about early-bird deadlines and regis- go live right from your dealership’s Facebook page. People tration windows. Once they have committed to attend an who follow your dealership will get notifications in their event, most attendees want to convince their peers to join Facebook streams. They can also go back later and watch them. A popular way to do this is by sharing their tickets the video. In addition to going live during the event, you or plans to attend on social media. Studies have found that might want to do an interview with your speaker before or nearly one in 10 social media posts about an event have to after his (or her) presentation. You might also want to have do with ticket sales or attendee passes. the dealership principal do a tour of the new technologies (5) Share relevant content before the event. Find con- you are showcasing. tent related to your event topic that you can share before the (4) Have a photo booth. Now, we know you may have to event. For example, if you are hosting an event on produc- reread this suggestion a couple of times, but having a photo tion print, you could write some blog articles on topics that booth at your event makes the event fun, and gives attendwill be covered during the event. You could also find white ees something creative and unique to share with others. www.offi cetechnol ogymag.co m | F e b ru a ry 2017 | 37

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This will make your event look exciting wide event that you sponsored, or a giveThis is a great to those who were not able — or passed back type of event, you may get great up the opportunity — to attend and press coverage. Therefore, you will have opportunity to initiate might drive attendance to your next even more content to share from orgadialogue, which can event. Attendees could also print picnizations that had positive things to say provide positive and tures on your newest color device and about your event and company — which negative feedback, or have something to leave the event with. we all know is like gold. possible leads ... that You may be surprised how many people If you want to get coverage after your will want to post these pictures and talk event, it might be a good idea to reach could result in sales. about your event on Instagram. out to some local journalists and influ(4) Offer prizes/giveaway items for encers in your industry and invite them check-ins. It would be great if your attendees checked in to to the event in order to experience it for themselves. your event on Facebook, which will allow their friends to see (3) Ask for feedback. This is a great opportunity to initithe event and your dealership. To encourage this, you might ate dialogue, which can provide positive and negative feedput a sign at the front of the room that says something like, back, or possible leads to meetings that could result in sales.

“Check in at ABC Dealership on Facebook and get a free Yeti I would suggest sharing and enjoying the positive feedback, coffee cup.” Use some of your premium giveaway items to but be absolutely sure not to ignore the negative feedback. reward attendees who give you a shoutout on social media. The best way to handle negative feedback from an event is to thank the critic for his thoughts, and then take that feedAfter Your Event back into consideration when planning your next event.

The interactions following an event are where the real You may even create a Facebook or Twitter poll to get magic might happen — at least those of us in sales-focused some post-event thoughts from your attendees and find out roles hope so, right? Although the highest percentages of how to make your next event better. This is a great opporposts from attendees and your sales and marketing team tunity to make your followers and attendees feel even more may come before and during an event, the social media involved in the process and make them more eager to attend sharing after an event could potentially be the most profit- your next event. You could also encourage attendees to join able. Studies have shown that two main reasons people talk a LinkedIn group that you set up to build on the content you about events afterward are press coverage and feedback. shared at the event.

(1) Share the content. At the end of the day, only so many people will actually come to your event. For every person In Conclusion who shows up, there are many more who may be interested I hope that this article has given you some ideas and some in the content you share. Use social media to share the con- real-world, practical tips on how to prepare for, execute and tent in the weeks following the event. put the final “wrap” on your next event. As with any other Find a way to record the event. If you are doing a webinar, skill, the more you practice these suggestions, the better you do not forget to click “record” when you start the meeting. If will get and the better results you will experience. I would you are doing a live event, put a wireless mic on your speak- love to hear your feedback and thoughts on any of the suger and use a screen capture software package like Camtasia gestions I have given here. Have you used any of these with or QuickTime to record the event. Put this on your YouTube your previous events? How were the results? What suggespage. Share the video on your website and social channels. tions do you have and what have you seen work well when You can also put your slides on Slideshare, LinkedIn’s promoting an event? n presentation sharing platform. You can also attach your Jon Mitchell is the client marketing director at Dealer YouTube video to Slideshare.

Marketing, a managed marketing services firm dedicated In addition to the video, take screenshots of interesting to helping dealers win net-new business and protect current slides and drip these out on your social media channels over accounts. He helps clients implement digital marketing plans the coming weeks. Tools like Buffer or Hootsuite allow you and has a special passion for helping to preschedule these posts. businesses use social media to create (2) Promoting press coverage. Post-event media coverconversations, drive traffic and generate age is your chance to celebrate all that you accomplished, sales leads. He can be reached at so it is OK to brag a little bit by sharing (e.g., retweeting, likwww.linkedin.com/in/jonathanmmitchell ing/sharing on Facebook, etc.) any good press coverage you or jmitchell@dealermarketing.net. have found. For instance, if your event was a communityVisit www.dealermarketing.net.

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Mitchell Feb 17.indd 3

1/27/17 8:40 AM

COURTS & CAPITOLS

The Employee Manual Has yours been reviewed lately? by: Robert C. Goldberg, general counsel for the Business Technology Association

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any states have numerous laws and regulations that took effect on January 1. In some cases, such as minimum wage laws, even cities have instituted new requirements. One thing that is often forgotten in the new year (but should definitely be looked into) is the effect these changes have on your existing employee policy and procedure manual. As their businesses grow, many dealers have employees in more than one state and, thus, rules will vary based on each individual’s location. A manual that does not distinguish among states can be problematic.

Federal law requires that employers refrain from discrimination based on an individual’s race, color, religion, sex, national origin or age. Many states have gone beyond the federal requirements and prohibit discrimination based on political affiliation, sexual orientation, or even attending a political or religious meeting. In the past year, there was considerable discussion of the new overtime rules that have been enjoined by a Texas court. If your dealership operates in California and an additional state, it is important to distinguish California’s rule that requires overtime after eight hours in a day rather than 40 hours in a week. A Nevada employee can sue based on an employee manual statement that overtime is paid after eight hours, even if the Nevada law requires 40 hours.

In many instances, employee manuals are too inclusive. A well-prepared manual should clearly indicate that it is not a contract of employment and may be modified at any time. A provision in one manual setting forth a confidentiality provision was found not to be enforceable, as it was not binding in that it could be changed at the employer’s will. Thus, important employment requirements should be contained in separate documents to ensure enforceability. The Business Technology Association (BTA) website has examples of standalone confidentiality, non-solicitation and non-competition agreements.

It is important that every employee’s personnel file have a signed acknowledgment that he (or she) has received, reviewed, understands and agrees to comply with the policies and procedures in the employee manual. This should be an item on your new employee checklist. Also, do not insist on receiving the acknowledgment on the first day of employment.

Give the individual a few days to review the document before signing. Review your current employee files to verify each has a signed acknowledgment. Agreement to the manual can come at any time during employment.

A frequent question to the BTA Legal Hotline is whether

policies must be enforced uniformly. Exceptions should be rare and documented with a valid basis. A note in the employee’s personnel file justifying an exception will be beneficial if a future claim is made regarding favoritism. Failure to uniformly enforce employment policies may lead to a charge of discrimination or a ruling that it is invalid.

With the recent election, there are sure to be a number of changes in employment laws and regulations. Newly elected officials will seek to implement the promises they made to voters during the campaign. Failure to reflect these changes in your employee manual can lead to problems.

It is best to regularly review your manual to ensure compliance. Many dealers assign an administrative individual to be responsible for the gathering of acknowledgments, monitoring state and federal laws for changes, and providing proper notification of changes in policy.

Of course, BTA updates the templates available to its members and is always available to answer your questions. The BTA Legal Hotline is always here to help as well. Employment issues are the number-one topic of the calls I receive. n Robert C. Goldberg is general counsel for the Business Technology Association.

He can be reached at robert.goldberg@sfnr.com. www.offi cetechnol ogymag.com | F e b ru a ry 2017 | 39

Goldberg Feb 17.indd 1

1/26/17 10:39 AM

SELLING SOLUTIONS

True GRIT Do your sales reps have what it takes? by: Melissa D. Whitaker, Melissa Whitaker International LLC

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o your sales professionals have what it takes? Do they have guts, resilience, initiative and tenacity (GRIT)?

As I travel the globe, I am reminded that we should be asking these questions more often.

Guts Meaning: Personal courage and determination; toughness of character. Our reps have to be brave and courageous to attack each day with the right mindsets and the ability to be bold.

As I worked with a sales team with major and named account reps recently, I was again reminded that no matter what level they are at (new or tenured), reps have to make this conscious choice every day. They will continue to battle frustrations from within your organization, as well as reaching the right decision makers and influencers.

Your reps have to be creative and constantly evolving in these changing times. Just because it is uncomfortable, or your reps have always done it another way, does not mean they do not have it in them to stretch and see the magic outside of their comfort zones. I imagine that some of you are thinking: “We ask our prospects and clients to make changes with us every day. Why are our reps so unwilling to change and evolve?” With that in mind, we have to ask: Do they have the guts to strive on?

Do they have the determination to be bold in their approaches?

Resilience Meaning: The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. Sometimes your reps feel like they are being knocked down day after day. They may be asking themselves: “Is this all worth it?” Those of us who know our purpose and passion know that the answer is “yes.” That does not take away the frustration or the fact that sometimes we — and our reps — are tired. However, those of us who accept the challenge to be “business advancers” truly believe that we are making a difference. What does not break us makes us stronger.

Initiative Meaning: The power or opportunity to act or take charge before others do; to be independent. Have you (or your reps) lost your initiative? Do you remember when you started in sales or as a business owner? You were probably full of energy, excitement and determination. You likely took the initiative in

solving problems for clients and your company. The challenge is that, over time, people stop fighting for what needs to be done and start feeling so defeated that, no matter what they do, they cannot accomplish what they want.

Today may be a great day to reset your mindset and recharge your reps’ mindsets on the possibilities of what can be. Start creating workarounds to achieve the outcomes you want, even with the limitations set on you. If you are tired of the results you are getting, start taking the initiative again.

Take back control of your destiny.

Tenacity Meaning: Determination. You can do anything you set your mind to. So, my questions are: How bad do you want it? What price will you pay to get it? Sales and business ownership takes constant persistence and determination to build the funnel.

Here are the top two challenges I see that create inconsistent results: (1) Allowing frustration from the lack of quick results to stop us; and (2) Our activity creates great opportunities and deals, but we are so busy we stop prospecting, which creates peaks and valleys in our overall results. I challenge you to go after what you want with gusto. Start dreaming again, but create a system that allows you to achieve constant growth and success.

I encourage you to have round-table discussions on regaining clarity, learning to be bold again, bouncing back from setbacks, regaining control by taking the initiative, and being determined to reach personal and professional goals no matter what. Going into 2017, set your team up for success. The changes in our industry are creating exciting times and, when prepared, we can create opportunity from these changes. n Melissa D. Whitaker, a sales and management expert, business consultant, speaker and coach, is the co-author of “Pushing to the Front” and “Beat the Curve.” She is founder and CEO of Melissa Whitaker International (MWI). Prior to MWI, Whitaker had years of proven sales and management results with leading organizations such as Impact Networking, Toshiba America Business Solutions and Chicago Office Technology Group.

She can be reached at (847) 845-4922 or melissa@melissawhitakerintl.com.

Visit www.melissawhiakerintl.com.

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Whitaker Feb 17.indd 1

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EDUCATION CALENDAR February 21

Building My Business Webinar: “Cloud Communications as an Adjacent Revenue Opportunity” During this webinar, Jim DeBald of CoreDial and Mitch Morgan of Growth Achievement Partners (GAP) will discuss the cloud communications business model and how it stacks up against other adjacent revenue streams. Visit www.bta.org/BuildingMyBusiness to register.

March

8-10 BTA Sales Management Workshop

Dallas, Texas The BTA Sales Management Workshop, taught by Kim Ward of Learning Outsource Group (LOG), focuses entirely on the “how-to” skills that will help attendees reach their full potential as great sales leaders and coaches, as well as best practices to build and sustain elite, high-performance sales teams. Visit www.bta.org/SalesManagement to register.

14

Building My Business Webinar: “Is Your Sales Rulebook Broken?”

In this webinar, Lindsay Kelley and John Pulley of Prospect Builder will discuss the new sales playbook for reaching today’s buyers and why many of your reps are failing in their attempts to make a connection. Visit www.bta.org/BuildingMyBusiness to register.

22-23 ProFinance 2.0 Orlando, Florida The principles of ProFinance have dramatically improved the performance of hundreds of dealerships. Now, the business has changed — and ProFinance has changed with it. Taught by John Hey and Todd Johnson of Strategic Business Associates, ProFinance 2.0 incorporates these changes into the industry model. ProFinance attendees will receive free registration to BTA’s March 24-25 Spring Break event. Visit www.bta.org/ProFinance to register.

24-25 Spring Break - Hosted by BTA Southeast

Orlando, Florida Planned and hosted by the dealer volunteer leadership team of BTA Southeast, the 2017 Spring Break event is open to dealers from across the country. The event will feature: a special keynote address presented by a surprise guest speaker to be announced on-site; seven additional educational sessions led by industry leaders; time to network with peers and 40 exhibiting sponsors, including a welcoming reception; and an afternoon/evening visit to the Disney theme park of your choice: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom. Visit www.bta. org/BTAOrlando to register.

For more information, visit www.bta.org/Education or call (800) 843-5059.

www.offi cetechnol ogymag.co m | F e b ru a ry 2017 | 41

Calendar Feb 17.indd 1

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BTA HIGHLIGHTS BTA would like to welcome the following new members to the association:

Dealer Members Alltech Business Solutions, Kenilworth, NJ The Data House, Columbus, OH DPSI, Madison, AL Future Business Solutions, Mesa, AZ Service Associate Member NPRN — National Printer Repair Network, Whitinsville, MA Vendor Associate Member EpartsRoom, Houston, Texas For full contact information of these new members, visit www.bta.org.

Credit Card Processing

For the benefit of its dealer members, each month BTA features two of its Vendor or Service Associate members in this space.

BTA Vendor Associate member Canon U.S.A. Inc., headquartered in Mellville, New York and established in 1965, is a provider of consumer, business-to-business and industrial digital imaging solutions to the United States, Latin American and Caribbean (excluding Mexico) markets. With approximately $31 billion in global revenue, its parent company, Canon Inc., ranks third overall in U.S. patents granted in 2016. Canon U.S.A. is committed to the highest level of customer satisfaction and loyalty, providing 100-percent U.S.-based consumer service and support for all of the products it distributes. www.usa.canon.com

BTA has partnered with payment processing company Cayan. Cayan’s free statement analysis provides a clear picture of what you are paying and what you can save. It evaluates whether your account is set up to maximize your bottom line; looks at your pricing structure to make sure you are not paying more than necessary; details the industry-required monthly fees and separates the bogus fees that go to your processor; and provides a detailed comparison that rolls all of your fees up and compares it to what Cayan can save you. BTA members receive a $100 dues credit when they sign up with Cayan.

Visit www.bta.org/CCProcessing for more information.

BTA Service Associate member Keypoint Intelligence is a brand built on two great companies: Buyers Lab (BLI) and InfoTrends.

It is a collective force of capabilities trusted worldwide to provide end-to-end solutions and services that include in-depth product information, insights and responsive web tools that drive business growth. Keypoint Intelligence is a one-stop shop for the digital imaging industry. With its unparalleled tools and unmatched depth of knowledge, it cuts through the noise of data to offer clients the unbiased insights and responsive tools they need to define their products and empower their sales. www.keypointintelligence.com

For information on BTA member benefits, visit www.bta.org/MemberBenefits.

A full list of BTA Vendor and Service Associate members can be found online at www.bta.org.

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Highlights Feb 17.indd 1

1/26/17 1:17 PM

PRINCIPAL ISSUES

Are You Impeding Growth?

Train & empower your management team by: Ken Edmonds, Service Management Coach

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ne thing is almost universal: Dealership principals want their companies to grow. Yet, in many cases, they are the roadblocks to growth. It is never intentional, but it happens. In this article, I will address why this happens and how to solve it.

In many dealerships, the principal started the company. He (or she) has overseen its growth and direction from day one. Because of that experience, he may find it difficult to release control over different functions. This can be a problem.

Any individual has a limit to how much he can successfully manage. As he approaches that limit, he loses the ability to focus on growth and big-picture items.

Another challenge is tunnel vision, where we have the tendency to avoid change because we are used to the status quo.

A management team that functions well will broaden the company’s horizons, may find new opportunities for growth and improve current procedures.

The Management Team The solution to this issue is developing a management team.

In many organizations, there are individuals with the “manager” title who may manage day-to-day activities, but their training in management is likely limited. In reality, a better title for these people might be “supervisor.”

As the company grows, these people need to become fully functional managers and part of the management team. Let’s discuss how to develop a management team and how to fully benefit from your management team members.

Developing the Team To fully benefit from your managers and to create a management team with them, they will need training. This training needs to cover many different subjects and will probably include some formal training and self-learning. It will also require the dealership principal to provide mentoring to the managers.

Formal Training When a new manager is promoted, one of the things he needs is formal training for his role. For both the service manager and sales manager, there is industry-specific training available. The Business Technology Association (BTA) has

training available. There are also several different training and consulting companies. Most of these classes will only focus on specific areas of the manager’s role.

Most community colleges have management classes available without having to enroll for a degree. Additionally, there are a variety of online schools providing management training for new managers.

Self-Learning In addition to formal training, self-learning will need to be an ongoing process. One suggestion would be for management team members to be assigned specific books to read and then discuss them as a team. The goal is to continually improve the team’s skills.

Mentoring Wikipedia says: “Mentorship is a relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps to guide a less experienced or less knowledgeable person.” For example, a manager may come in and suggest a course of action. To evaluate that course of action, several questions need consideration: What will it cost? What is the benefit? What are the potential issues? What is the ROI? In the past, you may have worked through these questions yourself, but a mentor will use this opportunity to provide mentoring to a manager. By asking your manager to provide answers to these questions, you are helping him see the recommendation through your eyes. When you begin this process, your manager may need you to break the task down into small sections and help him through each of them.

Initially, it will seem that you can do this more easily and quickly by doing it yourself — and that is probably true on any one issue. But by helping your manager learn to provide the information you need to make a decision, you will save yourself countless hours in the future.

Creating the Team As you mentor your various managers, the next step is to start building them into a management team. The goal is to create a group that can function successfully in your absence.

By creating a team that can do this, your time is freed up to focus on the big picture and future growth of the company. w w w. o f f i c e t e c h n o l o g y m a g . c o m | F e b r u a r y 2 0 17 | 43

Edmonds Feb 17.indd 1

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Staffing is one area that can and should At a minimum, you will want to include be delegated to your managers. Training is the service manager, the sales manager and Within the management also something that should be delegated to the admin manager on your team. Dependteam, you want to make individual managers. Budgeting is another ing on your company, you may have other sure that all of the team area they can be trained to accomplish. managers who need to be included. Initially, members know that As you shift these responsibilities to your each team member may focus only on issues their input is valuable ... managers, help them understand how to that affect his department, but with trainlook at the big picture and into the future. ing and patience, you can help him focus on everyone’s input needs what is best for the company. to be considered.

One challenge for many dealerships is a Management Retreats It is important for the management team bias toward sales. Within the management team, you want to make sure that all of the team members to get out of the office and work together on the company. This know that their input is valuable. When addressing issues and is not the same as a weekly staff meeting. This is a chance to making future plans, everyone’s input needs to be considered. look at issues that currently impact the growth and profitability of the company, and to identify solutions that reduce these issues.

Using the Team Getting away from the office is important because, in the Having a management team does not accomplish anything until you, as the principal, empower your team members. You office, interruptions and daily pressures make focusing difwill want to identify areas that you have handled in the past ficult. By conducting these meetings out of the office or on and then look for tasks that can be delegated to the manage- non-work days, these factors are minimized and management team members can focus fully on the issues. ment team.

An agenda will keep the meeting on task. Each team member needs to prepare ahead of time to present issues that he faces and be open to input from other managers. This is also an opportunity for the dealership principal to outline his goals for the company and get input from managers on how they plan to help.

Harness & Get Onboard Just like someone who travels via dog sled, you need to train your team and then get onboard for the ride. By training and empowering your managers, you will free up your time to plan for the future, while continuing to provide the vision and leadership they need to succeed. n Ken Edmonds is currently employed as a district service manager for a major copier/MFP manufacturer.

He has an extensive background in the imaging business, having owned a successful dealership, served as service manager for multiple dealerships and as a document solutions specialist for Sharp Electronics.

Additionally, Edmonds has more than 40 years of experience in the electronics and computer fields.

He has attended BTA’s FIX: Cost Management for Service workshop, Pros Elite service manager training and the Service Managers Achieve Results training conducted by Strategic Business Associates for Sharp Electronics. Edmonds also completed the University of Wisconsin training program for technical trainers.

He can be reached at ken.edmonds@CKE-Enterprises.biz.

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Edmonds Feb 17.indd 2

1/26/17 10:49 AM

PRINCIPAL ISSUES

Due Diligence Make sure you know the person you are hiring by: Troy Harrison, Troy Harrison & Associates

I

n the January issue of Office Technology, I addressed conducting a winning first interview. A big part of the objective of the first interview is to break down the résumé through detailed questions, making sure that the person in front of you is who he (or she) says he is. Even after your candidate clears the first interview, you are still not done with the verification process. Next comes the phase I call “due diligence” — using readily available information to verify your candidate’s credentials again. Due diligence comes in several parts, which I will address in this article.

Criminal Background Check You should always perform a criminal background check on each final candidate. It is both human and natural to assume that someone who is an applicant for a professional job will have a clean background. It is also an incorrect assumption more often than most of us would care to know. I once had a five-year stretch of nothing but clean background checks on job applicants and then had top candidates in three searches come up with felonies. What is worse is that, even if their explanations were 100-percent true, they showed such bad judgment that I could not possibly consider hiring them.

Without a background check, if you hire someone with a felony and he commits an additional crime while working for you, you can be liable in a court of law. For instance, you hire someone with a burglary conviction and he steals from one of your clients.

Please note that I am not instructing you to not hire someone with a past felony — there are numerous factors including age, situation, etc., that can be mitigating — but make sure you make a hiring decision based on full information.

Some jurisdictions have implemented “ban-the-box” legislation that bans asking a prospective employee if he has a felony prior to hiring. Check with your lawyer on this one, but my understanding is that it is still legal to make a job offer contingent on passing a background check pretty much everywhere.

You should also do a sex-offender check for obvious reasons.

There are numerous companies out there that will do this reasonably. My favorite is Validity Screening.

Reference Check “Aw, Troy, it’s useless to check references. They’ll just put

down people who will say good things about them.” Yes, you would think so, wouldn’t you?

Again, you would be wrong. I always checked references in my searches. I called dead people. I called people who did not have good things to say. In fact, I called one person who said: “I have no idea why you’re calling me. I hate the guy and I’d punch him in the mouth if he was in front of me.” He was serious.

Here is where it is helpful to understand numbers. Forty percent of all hires are made without checking references, even when they are requested. So, if a candidate cannot find someone to say nice things about him, he can still put down three names and have a 40-percent shot at the job — these are not bad odds if he is wildly unsuccessful. Do not be this person’s victim.

Request business references. Former bosses are the gold standard. Former co-workers and customers are second.

There is no third. Once you have these references, call them.

Ask good, detailed questions about the person and his performance on the job. From time to time you may not be able to get in touch with a reference, but you want your candidate to have no negative references and at least two positives.

I am also asked a lot about the “name, rank and serial number” reference. This is a reference where you only get the person’s title and dates of employment. Two things apply here.

First, this is normally a response you get from HR, not from a supervising manager. No one gets into legal trouble for bragging about a past employee. Do not use HR references.

Second, if you get this type of a response from a past supervisor, it is a signal that something is wrong. Ask one follow-up question: “Would this person be eligible for rehire?”

If the answer is “no” or if there is any hesitation, you have a problem. Remember, you need your applicant to have at least a 2-0 record in references, if not a 3-0 record. If you do not get that, pass.

Employment History Again, companies like Validity will call and verify employment history (this is where you call HR) or you can do it yourself. You will probably find out that it is cheaper to outsource it. Unlike reference-checking, all you want to do here is to make sure that the résumé is a reflection of the applicant’s actual work history. www.offi cetechnol ogymag.com | F e b ru a ry 2017 | 45

Harrison Feb 17.indd 1

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Other Information Education Credentials One of the most Check driving records if you provide a Here is where it gets a little sticky. You car or car reimbursement. I would also admight be tempted to disregard the educacommon areas for vise doing drug testing. tion section on the résumé if your job does candidates to falsify If you are thinking that this is a lot of not require a degree, but do not. Rememis education; they might information to gather, you are right — and ber, one of the major red flags in any hiring claim degrees they we have not even talked about social meprocess is a lack of truthfulness. One of the do not have ... dia yet. However, the right candidate will most common areas for candidates to falpass all of these checks. Do not take shortsify is education; they might claim degrees Do not neglect this. cuts and you will not have anything to rethey do not have or school attendance that gret later. n did not happen. You can usually check Troy Harrison is the author of “Sell Like You Mean It!” and these credentials through the registrar’s office or, again, you “The Pocket Sales Manager.” He is a speaker, consultant and can have an outside firm check them. Do not neglect this. sales navigator who helps companies build more profitable and productive sales forces with his cutting-edge Credit Check sales training and methodologies.

First of all, legally speaking, credit checks only have validFor information on booking speaking/training ity when dealing with a position such as a CFO or controller, engagements, consulting or to sign up for where an employee is dealing directly with the company’s fiHarrison’s weekly e-zine, call (913) 645-3603 or nances. Second, credit reports tend to be wildly inaccurate email troy@troyharrison.com. and denial of employment based on them is a quick path to a Visit www.troyharrison.com. lawsuit. I do not check credit and I advise you not to.

ADVERTISER INDEX 44 • Ask the Analyst

7 • ECi Software Solutions

17 • Muratec America Inc.

(800) 843-5059 / www.bta.org/AsktheAnalyst

(866) 342-8392 / www.ecisolutions.com

(469) 429-3300 / www.muratec.com

47 • BPO Media

35 • ENX Magazine

31 • PrintFleet

www.workflowotg.com / www.theimagingchannel.com

www.enxmag.com

(866) 382-8320 / www.printfleet.com

35 • BTA Sales Management Workshop

29 • ESHA Corp.

47 • ProFinance 2.0

(800) 843-5059 / www.bta.org/SalesManagement

(800) 551-3742 / www.eshacorp.com

(800) 843-5059 / www.bta.org/ProFinance

2-3 • BTA’s Spring Break

21 • Fujifilm Service

12 • Q2

(800) 843-5059 / www.bta.org/BTAOrlando

(844) 289-6537 / www.fujifilmservice.com

(888) 826-2576 / www.q2products.com

34 • Building My Business Webinar Series

48 • GreatAmerica Financial Services

25 • Scan-Optics

(800) 843-5059 / www.bta.org/BuildingMyBusiness

(800) 234-8787 / www.greatamerica.com

(800) 745-6001 / www.scanoptics.com

5 • Clover Imaging Group

13 • Hytec

11 • Supplies Network

(800) 624-6991 / www.cloverimaging.com/greensweep

(800) 883-1001 / www.hytecrepair.com

(800) 729-9300 / www.suppliesnetwork.com

23 • CoreDial

9 • IBPI

15 • Supplies Wholesalers

www.coredial.com

(480) 393-1694 / www.ibpi.net

(866) 817-8795 / www.supplieswholesalers.com

27 • DocuWare

33 • Laserfiche

19 • Toshiba America Business Solutions

(888) 565-5907, ext. 221 / www.docuware.com

www.laserfiche.com/var

(949) 462-6201 / www.business.toshiba.com/recruitment

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Harrison Feb 17.indd 2

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