Inside Indoff - Q2 Newsletter

QUARTER II - 2022

Celebrating

inside

Indoff CORPORATE NEWSLETTER

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NEWSLETTER

Indoff

WHERE SOLUTIONS TAKE SHAPE

CEO Message

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3D Pop Up Cards

9

Indoff ’s Newest Partners

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Keeping Indoff Top of Mind

10

Web Solutions

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SEO

12

Tech Talk

7

Partner Success Stor y

13

Partner Referral Program

8

Get to Know Your Corporate Staff

14

Sales Partners of the Month

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JULY 2022

CEO

Message Jim Malkus

Chief Executive Officer

S

o, you’re saying there’s things to worry about in the economy…

We’re inundated every day with headlines that scream of impending doom – apocalyptic threats, doomsday scenarios, existential crises…it’s exhausting. Lately, from an economic perspective, the focus has been on recession – is it coming, when will it arrive, how bad will it be? The honest truth is nobody knows for sure, but here are some underlying causes for optimism: Jobs – this is the primary driver in the camp of economic optimism. The US economy continues to add jobs; a recession has never occurred during a period of job growth. This growth is largely the result of recouping jobs that disappeared during the pandemic, but it is growth nonetheless.

While technically possible to have a recession while jobs are growing, it is unlikely.

Some of the underlying factors driving the inflationary surge – primarily, energy prices – have flattened and stabilized. This “good news” is the most precarious of the reasons for optimism – inflationary expectations can become a self-fulfilling prophecy – but there is hope that the worst is about to be behind us.

The Federal Reserve does seem to be taking their duty to curb inflation seriously as evidenced by their last several rate hikes. While it’s not clear that our legislators understand how the economy works (more money equals higher prices – Econ 101), the Fed is the first line of defense/attack on an inflationary spike such as we are experiencing.

I offer the above as comments from people much smarter than me. I think the fact that our customers spent money with us at a record pace in the first six months of the year speaks to their optimism about the future. Generally, our customers are investing in their people, their systems and their businesses because they believe in their own futures; this is a powerful indicator of economic growth at a very localized level.

My hoped-for takeaway from this – don’t fret over predictions of doom and gloom. Get out and be present for your customers and help them take care of their business challenges and needs.

Stay safe, stay well and thank you all for all you do for Indoff!

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NEWSLETTER

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JULY 2022

Indoff’s

Newest Partners MATERIAL HANDLING

COMMERCIAL INTERIORS

Stacy Corn Tom Bouton Ulises Castillo Don Shephard Doug Marcum Matt Zahn

Megan Bowman Shelly Rose Amy Rogers John Phillips Laura Caswell Toni Green Erik Keenan

Indoff’s

Newest Corporate Employees Keija Atkins

Latia Jackson

Desshell Simpson

Stefani Rudigier

Order Management for Allied Sales A/R Payment Coordinator

Sunny Calvin

Partner Support Specialist

LaChelle Pearson Credit Coordinator

Jason Terry

Allied Inside Sales Partner

Accounting Specialist Accounts Payable

Youlanda Snider Accounts Payable

Christine Hollister

Gov. Sales Specialist for Absocold

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NEWSLETTER

Web Solutions

New offering for Sales Partners

T

Maureen Maxwell Partner Support Specialist

he purpose of our Web Solutions Project is to Help Sales Partner grow their revenue awareness via internet. This includes building content sites and e-commerce sites for Indoff Sales Partners. These efforts should increase Partner revenue by: • Saving Partner’s time (so more effort can be focused on new sales efforts), • Increasing the Partner’s customer support • Means to achieve a source of new leads (web presence – content, etc.)

• Means to achieve a new revenue stream (e-commerce) We will offer two types of sites: e-Commerce & Content 1. e-Commerce sites (Company Store or Customer Catalog) Customer Catalog: This is typically a website that acts as a platform whereby procurement can be managed online. We’ve built a site that also provides order tracking, such that the orders (and respective deliveries, installations, etc.) can be tracked via this customer catalog / portal, etc. These sites offer a catalog of standards or specific products that the customer orders on a regular basis. Customers can purchase products directly on the site and the order connects directly to Confluence to be released by the Partner.

Company Stores: This is a store that would serve as a full catalog of niche products offered to all customers by a specific Partner. The sites can also include the new Confluence feature, Advanced Tracking, which allows a Partner to include tracking information for products including estimated shipping dates, delivery dates and carrier information. This information, if activated on the site, can be seen by an end user.

Indoff is offering eCommerce sites for our Partner’s major customers for 2 reasons: Revenue - Providing our Partner with a small, incremental revenue stream requiring little time and effort for the Partner.

Awareness - We want to stay top of mind to our customers. Many of our customers have a competitor’s vendor website bookmarked for the acquisition of products we also offer. Many clients feel that it is easier to just go to a website and order rather than speak with a salesperson. That said, when your customer does have an issue – we want them to think of us. The less our customers are aware of Indoff and all we offer, the harder it will be to grow.

2. Partner Content sites These sites are intended for for Partners to showcase their products and specialized offerings, catalogs, client testimonials, past projects, value, etc. This can act as a replacement for the Partner Profile page on indoff.com.

Today, buyers begin a sales cycle with a google search. As such, success of these sites will be dependent upon the Partner’s ability to drive traffic to these sites, so that they are found by the buyer and then considered as a vendor.

This requires, web presence, per Partner, and this is a starting point to organically grow. A Standard Template would include items such as, Home, About Us/Experience, Products/Services, Contact Us, Gallery of work.

To learn more about Web Solutions, please contact Maureen Maxwell - 800.486.7867 - x1275

JULY 2022

Tech Talk

Keeping your PC up to date Shawn Faulkingham

I

CIO

know, I email about it all the time. Keep your PC up to date. Keep your antivirus software up to date. Make sure your Windows firewall is turned on. Be diligent with spotting scam emails. Google Workspace gmail is pretty good at capturing most of them. Our enterprise level Trend Micro AV software is also integrated with Google Workspace and is good at labeling/catching bad emails and documents. But they don’t get them all.

As a reminder, password managers are becoming a must in your security arsenal. We recommend 1password. com as it is available in your browser as well as your phones and tablets. To learn more and see pricing head over to: www.1password.com Please use 2-step or 2-factor authentication for any site or app that has it available to you. It is another block to keep out anyone trying to access your accounts with it. Once we implemented it on Google Workspace, we’ve had little to no issues with Sales Partners email accounts being hacked.

Authy is our top recommendation, but Microsoft Authenticator or Google Authenticator will work just fine.

Stay safe out there! Use some common sense when opening email, especially with attachments. And as always, feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Thanks for all you do!

Shawn Faulkingham CIO shawn.faulkingham@indoff.com

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NEWSLETTER

Refer

and you shall receive Angela Suntrup

T

Vice President, Recruiting

he Recruiting Department needs your help! We are seeking qualified sales reps that we can contact to talk about the Indoff Partner Program. Adding quality Partners to our group benefits us all!

Beginning August 1, the Recruiting department is running a Partner referral contest. Now through September 6th, for every qualified* name you submit to the Recruiting Department, you will: 1. Receive a $10 Visa Gift Card for each qualified name (no lists).

2. Be entered into a Grand prize drawing that will take place on September 6th.

If you provide 10 qualified leads, you would receive a gift card for $100 and you would have 10 entries for one (and only one) of the grand drawing. There will be 4 grand prizes. The first drawn will get first pick (and if that Partner is drawn again, they will not get another pick). The second (unique Partner) drawn, will get second pick, etc.

Cuisinart Air Fryer Toaster Oven

GRAND PRIZES

Ring Video Doorbell 3

K-Duo® Special Edition Single Serve & Carafe Coffee Maker

HP Pavilion Laptop

If you know a sales professional or an owner who would make a good Partner, please email me Angela.Suntrup@indoff.com!

This contest is in ADDITION to our other current programs. You can still earn a $1,000 referral fee and new hires can earn a $1,000 sign on bonus. *A qualified prospect must show at least $300K in sales the year prior and must be with Indoff for 30 days actively working to receive the bonus.

Qualifications: • Must have 3 to 5 years of outside sales experience in one of our divisions • Must have a transferable customer base • Yearly sales of at least $350k ($200k for Promotional Products) • Ability to work independently

If you have been thinking about someone who would do well with Indoff, now is the time to let us know!

Want more information on this feature?

Call the Partner Support Help Desk at 866-587-4648 or email partnersupport@indoff.com

JULY 2022

Impress and Surprise with 3D Pop Up Cards

A

T.J. Panula

Marketing Coordinator

re you finding it harder and harder to capture the hearts and minds of the people who are critical to your success? What about getting your message heard?

Awesome 3D Cards works with businesses of all kinds to provide them with a unique, highROI tool for building relationships with the people that matter the most to their success, and in a memorable way sure to be shared.

After learning about Awesome 3D Cards from Indoff Partner LeAnn Pashina, Jeff Ross decided to reach out to owner Harlow Russel about a possible relationship between Indoff and Awesome 3D Cards. We are happy to announce that we will be offering two initial designs for CI and MH with other possible designs coming online in the future. These will be available on the Indoff Store for Partners to purchase once the initial design is approved..

Due to the moment of surprise and delight they create, and especially when personalized, Awesome 3D Cards cater to the emotion/relationship-driven side of sales and work as an “emotional cement” between you and your customer. If you’re looking for clever way to stay top of mind with your customer and establish a personal connection that creates an emotional reaction, this is the way to go.

High-value, effective uses of Awesome 3D Cards include: New-business prospects Existing clients/customers Sales prospecting Special offers or promotions Sending a tangible symbol/keepsake is a great way to spur excitement. Additionally, a handwritten note on each card shows your clients that they can expect your personal time & attention.

To our PP Partners: We have also completed a relationship with Awesome 3D Cards such that we have distributor pricing (25% discount). Please be promoting these cards to your customers. For more information, you can reach out to Harlow Russel at 512-571-1615.

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NEWSLETTER

Keeping Indoff

top of mind with customers

A

Don Compton

Material Handling Sales Partner

few months back there was an article in my local business journal about a beverage company moving into an existing building in my area. (I’m big on subscribing to the local business journals. I pay $55.00 per year for the subscription and the payback has been high over the years). I put them on my calendar to stop by the next week when I was in the area.

The following week I stopped by the building. There was only one pickup truck parked in front of the building. The front door was open so I walked in and introduced myself to the only guy there who happened to be the new operations manager for the company, Michael Barden.

He said that they already have vendors set up that they use for material handling needs. I told him to keep my catalog and use me as a backup contact.

I took his business card and entered it into my database and also added him to our company marketing email list. A few weeks go by and he calls me one day to let me know he received an email from me and wanted to know if I could quote him on installing some existing rack he had. I was thinking to myself that I didn’t send him an email but realized it was the company email that he received from our marketing department. I told him yes and went by the following day to survey what he had. I quoted him the rack install the same day.

Since we had not done business with them in the past, we had to fill out all these forms to get set up with them. I forwarded all the forms too Pam Hitpas and she did a wonderful job getting them filled out and back to them the next day. The following day we received a PO to install the rack. I found out while installing the rack that the company he normally used could not install the rack until 3-weeks later. We could install it right away.

After the rack was installed I let him know that OSHA had given warnings to some of my other customers for not having weight capacity stickers on their racking. He asks me to order capacity stickers and install them on the rack.

About 10 days later I went back to install the capacity stickers and also took him to lunch. I learned a lot about him while having lunch and I was also trying to build up a partnership with him. When we got back to his office he ask me if I could supply and install bug screen doors. Of course, I said yes and he pulled up a quote from his normal supplier and told me what they quoted and even told me how much they quoted.

I have experience with these bug doors and my competitor had quoted him manual bug screen doors.

I explain to him that from my past experience the manual doors don’t work so well after a year or two of use. I had him pull up the vendor, Goff’s website, and showed him a YouTube video of the in-tube motor door and he really liked it a lot. He already had 110-volt power at the doors so there was no

JULY 2022

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electrical wiring cost involved. I told him they were only about $250.00 more per door and they were a much better product. He asks me to quote him 10 units.

I quoted him the bug doors and the next day I had the order. The doors have a 3-week delivery and I’m sure he will order more doors as they get situated in their building. They have a total of 75 dock doors in the building.

I expect that the bug screens is just my foot in the door. We have also discussed his possible need for HVLS Fans, pallet racking, and a dock door management software program that would help him get better control of his dock doors. Also, the building he is in now has truck restraints but he needs a better way to manage his docks. I’m working with our vendor McGuire to see if we can put together a package for him.

Beverage companies fall under the same guidelines as food companies. They cannot leave the dock doors open without a bug screen door. All our Partners have food or beverage companies in their territories. This is a great product to promote and delivery times are good which means the world to me being a straight commission salesperson.

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NEWSLETTER

SEO

What is it and why is it important?

Michael Dormagen

D

Director of Marketing

id you know that Google estimates that there are 63,000 searches conducted every second on their search engine? That equates to 5.6 BILLION searches per day. Additionally, only 4% of people ever go to the second page of results. If you aren’t on the first page of results the chances of being seen are slim to none. So how do you get to the first page? That’s where SEO comes into play.

SEO, which stands for Search Engine Optimization, is the practice of optimizing your website and aligning it with the intent of the user’s search as closely as possible. This is done by considering each and every one of Google’s 200+ ranking factors. This includes things such as optimizing images with code to help describe them for the visually impaired, optimizing your “meta description” which is a brief description of the page housed in the code, and organizing your thoughts in a clear and concise manner to make it easy to digest for readers.

Additionally, some factors are out of your control and rely on other companies sharing your content which helps boost its credibility. In fact, those are often more important than the things you have direct control over.

With all of this in mind, Indoff has had a focus on SEO as it can produce lasting organic results far into the future. More so than paid ads which are immediate and expire when your budget does. We’ve been steadily climbing the ranks for specifically targeted search terms (which have been chosen via research) to ensure that we can hit that first page of results and drive brand awareness, additional traffic, and hopefully leads to our Partners. We have real measurable results and while we may not rank for keywords with the most traffic such as “Buy Office Chairs” we do rank for search terms such as: jan san, commercial interior design trends, wire mesh quotes, commercial interior furniture, and dozens of others. And those are just the first page results as thousands of other terms are climbing the ranks.

In conclusion, I’ll leave you with an exaggerated analogy of sorts. The universe to the untrained eye may seem chaotic in nature with wild orbits and a wide variety of insane chemical reactions, but the reality is there are natural universal laws in play that must be followed to maintain order.

SEO may be man made, but there’s more to it than simply writing a few paragraphs of content and hoping it works. There is research that is completed, code that is optimized, content that is written, imagery that is chosen, and target promotion towards specific groups and individuals.

This is also just ONE focus of many within the Indoff Marketing department. We hope that you all are utilizing the case studies, idea books, videos, and fliers to the fullest extent to help drive additional sales.

JULY 2022

See Opportunities where others see problems Jon Rakes Sales Partner

J

on Rakes joined Indoff at the perfect time: May of 2020. It was the following month that Colorado basically shut down due to COVID. Needless to say, his start was not easy. Jon hung in there, maintained the relationships that he had and did what he could rather than focus on what he couldn’t change. Even without COVID, Jon always maintained relationships with his customers even when they were not in buy mode. He knew that when the time came for them to buy, he would get the call because he was top of mind (probably only vendor in mind). He is persistent without being a pest.

He has sold a fair amount of preowned furniture lately. The manufacturers were having problems with lead times. “Customers that frankly fail to plan (on furniture lead time) are excellent prospects for Pre-Owned – IF – you have a reliable source for used. Ready to go furniture is easy and provides a good gross profit. A new avenue that Jon pursued was real estate owners and developers. Jon used this marketing piece (Indoff Commercial Real Estate Office) and invested time to win the trust of real estate owners.

He has done some work with a developer called DPC. Using Friant and OFS, he provided furniture for spec suites. Real Estate people talk in terms of cost per square foot, so Jon developed a set of furniture that the developer could offer for $13.50 per square foot (everything included - product, install and design). The building owner became the furniture customer, and they rolled the price of the furniture into the overall lease rate. Jon shared “They just want the space to look good, and it is cheaper to offer a ready to move in space than to offer 6 months free rent.”

The owner promotes this as giving tenants the ability to move in and work on day one.

Jon’s attitude is such that he sees opportunities where most others see problems. When asked about a $200,000 order he received from Autopay – “it is all about building the relationship. Being there for them when they need small things and also when they need nothing at all”. Jon was there for them for a long time before they had substantial business. Patience plus perseverance was the recipe.

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GET TO KNOW

NEWSLETTER

Your Corporate Staff My background is in the manufacturing business. I have been working with my hands doing labor jobs in the material handling sector for different companies all my life. Needing a change of pace, I started with Indoff in April of 2001, in their Admin Dept. as a mail sorter, while also working in the warehouse unloading trucks and shipping catalogs to the Indoff family. In 2021 I transferred to the AR Collection Department. I was terrified because never in my wildest dreams would I have given any thought of collecting funds. However, Jim Malkus told me he truly believed in me and I had what it takes to be successful. I had my doubts, but I said OK. Cherrie Bledsoe assured me she could teach me everything I needed to know to be successful. I still had my doubts, so I truly prayed about it and my heart said go for it. I am proud of my ability to learn new things and be successful. I like my new position. I’m not a one-trick pony. LOL! Thanks for believing in me, Indoff!

Curtis Bradley

FUN FACTS

A married man of 28 years.

Father of two children, & five grandsons. My daughter has two boys and my son has 3 sons. Their ages are 18, 10, 6, 5, 1yr. No granddaughter yet.

Katie is an all-American girl who loves Cardinal baseball, hot dogs, and Chevrolet. She has worked for Indoff since 2015. With no knowledge in the field, she has embraced the challenges and recognized the opportunity of working with some of the best people from the Mailroom up the corporate ladder. “I truly love what I do.”

FUN FACTS I enjoy bird watching, cooking, and the occasional game of candy crush.

Katie Cullen

David joined Indoff as a Temp in March of 2006 in the MIS/IT Dept as a Jr. Programmer / Support Analyst, then was officially hired in Sept. 2006.

David is the middle of 3 brothers and has lived in Missouri all his life. He has worked in/on computers since the 1980s, back when PCs were either IBM, Tandy, or Commodore. He currently works as a System Support & Helpdesk Analyst in the Partner Support & Helpdesk department under Courtney Brazell. David is a jack of all trades; databases, computer set-ups, Confluence Orders, contracts, catalogs, as well as, all manner of errors on Partner & Corporate Staff computers, devices, printers, etc.

FUN FACTS

David Eberbach

David spends time mostly with family, friends, and pets He has a little brother who grew out of Epilepsy and is part of activity clubs/ camps of TASK Slarc, & Sunnyhill Likes figuring out ways to explain topics to folks, though not every example is a good one (yes, he knows)

Indoff’s

JULY 2022

15

Sales Partners of the Month MARCH 2022 Victoria Bloom Marsha Olinghouse Nicole Stinson John Hollern, TAS Bob Barroll Chris Koeneman

$707,936 $617,976 $143,327 $179,641 $41,664 $455,318

Victoria Bloom Stacy Bernhardt Jim Riley Keith Harris, TAS Bob Barroll Chris Koeneman

SALES PARTNERS

Indoff’s Anniversaries

$449,144 $772,900 $272,341 $71,010 $96,883 $698,218

MH CI BP PP ES Allied

15 YEARS

Steve Reinhold June 7

Brad Anderson May 14

25 YEARS

10 YEARS June 23

20 YEARS Dennis Brubaker Bruce Morton John Kaiser Mike Hollern Sarah Brooks Scott Mueller, TAS

$ 2,977,881 $597,129 $102,365 $48,296 $22,926 $620,435

May 1 May 10 June 1 July 1 August 1 August 12

Darren Lawson Georgine Golitko Julie Thompson John Hollern, TAS Brad Anderson Chris Koeneman

$515,863 $644,706 $124,778 $143,500 $180,334 $673,355

Congratulations to the following Partners & Corporate employees who are celebrating their Employment Anniversaries with us in the month of January, February, March, and April of 2022

40 YEARS

Mark Snider

Staci Deaton Ronni Hillard Nicole Stinson Gary Blackwell Chris Drowne Chris Koeneman

JUNE 2022

MAY 2022 MH CI BP PP ES Allied

MH CI BP PP ES Allied

Paul Hagerty Paul D’Ambra Darrin Wicks

May 29 June 7 August 22

CORPORATE/CSR

MH CI BP PP ES Allied

APRIL 2022

10 YEARS Holly Wnek

June 1

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NEWSLETTER

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