Indoff's Q4 Newsletter - Ready for 2022

DECEMBER 2021

Celebrating

inside

Indoff CORPORATE NEWSLETTER

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NEWSLETTER

Indoff

WHERE SOLUTIONS TAKE SHAPE

CEO Message

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Working with Commercial Realtors

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Indoff ’s Newest Partners

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MH Supplies eCommerce

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Promotional Products for Ever yone

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Partner Success Stor y

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Confluence Lead Type Field

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Get to Know Your Corporate Staff

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Marketing Efforts

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Sales Partners of the Month

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DECEMBER 2021

CEO

Message Jim Malkus

Chief Executive Officer

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easons’ Greetings to All! I hope you can be with family and friends during this busy time of the year, and I wish everyone peace and joy in this holiday season.

Last December, we were very much in the throes of a frightening Covid surge, and we were wrapping up a year where our sales volume was off 20%. Sadly, as 2021 wraps up, we are still fighting Covid and trying to understand how to live with it; remarkably, though, we are finishing a year where our volume has completely recovered from 2020’s decline and we will post our second-best year in the 50-year history of our company.

How did we achieve this? I could offer countless theories, but here are three top reasons: • Our people – our Partners have tremendous ingenuity and pivoted quickly and easily to new markets, new suppliers and new opportunities. Our Corporate Staff are dedicated and committed to getting the job done.

• Our remarkable diversity – industry-wise, geographically, customer base. We sell across all industries, and as one may slow down – corporate furnishings, for example – others pick up – health care. While some competitors were fully stymied by supply chain issues, we are able to pivot to alternative sources thanks to our broad vendor base.

• Our financial stability – despite challenges, we remain financially sound. Vendors know they will be paid on an Indoff purchase order; this is not always true with our competitors.

The year brought a few noticeable changes. One very encouraging trend was an increase in Partners working together both across territorial boundaries and across divisions. We have a remarkable talent base with our Partners, and there are almost no business challenges we can’t help a customer solve.

Being willing to work with another Indoff Partner can increase your own sales and earnings while simultaneously strengthening your relationship with your customer. Don’t be afraid to bring in Indoff Partner expertise when you have an opportunity.

I’ll share some specifics on 2021 after we close the year out; I am impressed by what we have achieved and confident that 2022 will be even better. I wish you a very blessed and joyous holiday season and a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year! Thank you all for all you do for Indoff.

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NEWSLETTER

A unique solution for rack storage of furniture in a sprinklered warehouse environment Punch Deck® Plus from DACS is open area flat cap over open area Punch Deck®.

• Ideal for storage of items with legs or point loads (furniture, equipment with wheels, etc.)

• Easy to install in either pallet rack or cantilever rack • Galvanized finish is bright and maintenance free • Offered in a wide range of shelf sizes and load capacities

NEED COPY

Learn more about all the solutions from DACS on the Indoff Vendor Portal!

DACS inc.

800-909-4937 dacsinc.com / dswanson@dacsinc.com

Proven Solutions - One Source

DECEMBER 2021

Indoff’s

Newest Partners MATERIAL HANDLING

COMMERCIAL INTERIORS

BUSINESS PRODUCTS

Steve Dunlap James Conner

Jerry Betts Jinnie Forsythe Brown Cheryl Cook Kelly Thompson Jimmy Lopez Joe Zisler Don Isaacs Ronni Hillard Jim Bracken Linda Sheppard Janel Kapsy Anuma Marr

Karen Lauridsen

Indoff’s

Newest Corporate Employees Doris Dennis

A/R Payment Coordinator

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NEWSLETTER

PROMOTIONAL

Products for Everyone

Jeff Ross

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President

s we look to 2022, we’re planning to expand our efforts in promotional products on many fronts.

Not only are we making a push to recruit more Promo Partners, we are also working to grow our brand by encouraging all Partners to sell promotional products. Our first step in this process was to bring on a seasoned professional in the promotional industry, and we found that with Margaret Wiggemansen. Margaret, who previously worked as an account manager for a large promotion firm, will join Indoff as a full-time CSR starting in January. Her talents, combined with T.J. Panula’s in-house design experience, will make it possible for ANY Indoff Partner to sell promotional products to their customers!

Indoff has always honored the Partner’s freedom to manage their own customer relationships as they see fit and we don’t intend to change that. Not now, not ever. If you choose, we can leverage your relationships to make Indoff top of mind when it comes to products outside your division, particularly promotional products. Using an outside marketing automation program called Outbound Engine, we can market promotional products directly to your pre-qualified contacts. Our in-house team will handle the full sales cycle including customer support, product sourcing, order entry and tracking. The Sales Partner receives 40% of the gross profit.

Again, the Promo for Everyone program is completely voluntary. If you are currently lead sharing with a PP Partner we encourage you to continue such. If you wish to participate in this new program, we will send out more information on how to add your contacts to our database and answer any questions you might have. For further information contact Courtney Brazell.

DECEMBER 2021

CONFLUENCE Lead Type Field Cortney Brazell

Manager, Partner Support & IT Help-desk

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ver the summer, we made changes to the Lead Type field in Confluence. Beginning January 1 of 2022 this will be a required field. We expect this change to provide our Indoff Partners and our Corporate Marketing Team a better understanding of where your business is coming from at a granular level.

There are three main categories of lead types: • “Corporate” for Corporate efforts, • Partner efforts - those starting with “My Referrals” • “Existing Customer” We fully expect “Existing Customer” to make up the vast majority of lead types, however, knowing the detail of how customers are learning of us is crucial to future success.

Please ask each customer/prospect how they heard about you or why they have decided to call you for the particular solution you quoted. Even if they are an existing customer, please do not assume that they just thought of you. Was it an email they received? (and if so, was it an email from you or corporate?) Did they visit the website? Did a friend in the industry recommend you? etc.

What will this data allow us to do? To understand how revenue is achieved (by lead source), and thereby know where and how to invest in marketing spends. The bottom line is that we want to help each Partner increase their revenue and understanding the lead source will be needed.

If you have questions, feel free to contact the Partner Support Help Desk.

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NEWSLETTER

DECEMBER 2021

MARKETING Efforts Michael Dormagen Marketing Director

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The Indoff.com Experiment - A Study of Digital Evolution

arketing is a fast-paced world of new trends, technology, and data which is constantly evolving.

I often feel a bit like a mad scientist as I am constantly attempting to tap into the human psyche by running tests that aren’t always seen or known by my subjects. I operate in a world of digital evolution where I control the puppet strings and I modify our tools so they can best accomplish their goals.

When we change something and it works, we keep it. If it fails then the change is reverted, and a new experiment begins. As Charles Darwin once said, “This preservation of favorable variations and the rejection of injurious variations, I call natural selection or the survival of the fittest.”

In the coming months our website will be evolving in some major ways in attempts to increase our conversion rate as well as capture additional traffic across the web. We have recently implemented Google Optimize which allows us to run tests in real time on our visitors so we can see which colors, verbiage, images, and layouts have the most impact. For example, we are currently testing the layout of the homepage by serving 50% of our visitors with a different variation for the month of December. Once the experiment has ended, we will be given stats and algorithm-assisted predictions regarding how much better or worse this new layout has performed. At that time, we’ll begin another test for a different portion of the site and so on and so forth until the end of time… or until Artificial Intelligence can do it and I’m replaced.

In addition to Google Optimize we have also added a tool that allows us to, literally, watch visitors on our website by giving us actual videos of their interactions. These videos are anonymous, but they allow us to see their mouse movements, clicks, loading times, and where they drop off. By reviewing these videos, we can make decisions such as adding additional buttons, converting certain words into links, adjusting the content, or changing the layout. It also produces heatmaps that show us on a larger scale what the trends are regarding scroll distance, button clicks, and mouse movement so that we don’t have to watch thousands of individual videos.

These are just two of the MANY examples of how we are working on our website to bring you more leads and sales. We are truly a unique company and as such we don’t have many others to learn from so, in a way, we are our own pioneers. We offer products and services that are as broad and unique as the Partners themselves which can be difficult to communicate in a hyper-specific, e-commerce driven, isolated world. It’s a never-ending job and we are constantly learning new things, but we’re excited for the future, and we hope you all are as well. On that note, it’s time for me to head back into the lab and observe the mice as they play.

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NEWSLETTER

PARTNER

Success Story:

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Consistent Success With Commercial Office Brokers

Bill Jacobson Sales Partner

John Rakes Sales Partner

on Rakes, an Indoff Sales Partner (OI) in the Denver, Colorado, area is a prime example of how dedicated our Partners are to maintaining successful, long-term relationships with their customers. For several years now, Jon has found furniture sales opportunities by working with commercial real estate landlords. Jon describes the origin of this strategy with, “I was trying to form a relationship with landlords in case they didn’t have a furniture supplier. I was just prospecting for relationships.” Jon has worked with them for about five years, and now renovates several suites with them ever year. These suites are in “B buildings” as opposed to “A buildings.” The designation of “A buildings” generally means that they are newer, have more amenities, and command a higher lease rate. Meanwhile, “B buildings” are in greater need of renovation, which gives Jon another opportunity for furniture sales. “If they’re having trouble leasing units within a certain space, there is motivation for new furniture.” Jon’s work has given a serious facelift to “B buildings” in his market, which has driven his success with local commercial realtors.

“The idea is to get some enticement for tenants to come into their buildings,” Jon comments.

Jon makes it a priority to maintain contact with his customers, even when they are not necessarily looking to make a purchase.

Jon remarks, “I keep in touch with these people for several years. I ping into them, ask them if they want work done on a spec sheet. They kinda know whether they have one that needs work or not. It all depends on how quickly things are leasing.” This approach has brought substantial value to both Jon and his clients. He says, “It’s brought me new furniture projects, and it has helped the landlord secure tenants.” Ultimately, this is a win-win scenario for both Indoff and our valued customers. Jon wholeheartedly recommends that other Indoff Sales Partners explore this kind of opportunity in their markets, though only if their customer base includes residential landlords. Jon says, “I think it’s worth a conversation with landlord. Not so much with brokers, or other customers, since the landlords are the ones with the product that ultimately needs to be leased.” Jon’s tireless efforts on behalf of his customers, and how he represents Indoff’s values, are truly admirable.

Another Sales Partner, Bill Jacobson (ES/MH), in Reno, Nevada, has also had success with commercial landlords. For decades, Bill has worked exclusively with one, saying, “I’ve only maintained a relationship and shared leads with one broker here in Reno for over 20 years and the reason is simple, these guys trust no one and if they lose a deal because someone found out what they were working on, it would not be uncommon for them to lose a $300K commission check.” Recently, Bill has been working on a long-term racking development that started because of this relationship. Bill says, “We’re doing an extension of a project we did in 2019. A customer found the broker online, and as he engaged this potential client, from Canada. It was a straight pallet rack project.” According to Bill, he never would have gotten this project if he was not so diligent about fostering his relationship with the broker for decades. The broker was aware of Bill’s expertise in racking and recommended him to the client personally. Bill comments on the success of this undertaking with, “We did a very nice, probably six figure project for them. After doing a good job with them, they just naturally called me back and it grew from there. This extension is about$ 80k.”

Additionally, Bill does not want to give the impression that he was, in his words, “lead shopping” if he attempted to court several brokers. “If they knew that, I’d never see another lead ever,” Bill said. This gentleman is part of Bill’s lead generation group, which he has relied upon for much of his career. Bill’s loyalty, transparency, and honesty with them has fostered a successful professional relationship which has spanned decades. Bill says, “We share a very small lead group, and our confidentiality is what has held us together all these years. It’s funny though, we used to see “6-month `free rent” on various industrial spaces but those days have been gone for quite some time.” Bill consistently cites that maintaining this confidentiality is the key to his continued to his success. As a result of these efforts, Bill’s real estate market residential and commercial has been white hot for several years now. Bill’s success provides an example for Sales Partners who might consider branching out from working with strictly industrial properties to find new opportunities. On behalf of all of us at Indoff, thank you to Jon and Bill for all your hard work!

DECEMBER 2021

MH SUPPLIES eCommerce Tom Vanhoozer

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Sales Partner

et me take you back to a day that I remember well. It was August 6, 1991, my 21st birthday. I celebrated it in a not so typical way of what one may think. My mother was in the hospital with double pneumonia, and I worked for Pizza Hut. It was also the first day of a new promotion that I received with Pizza Hut to become a General Manager of a location in Thomaston, Georgia, about 60 miles south of Atlanta. It was so awesome entering into what I thought would be a complete career field for life in being a “Grown Up” …… It only took me a little over a year to figure out restaurant management was not fun for a young married guy.

If someone did know why August 6, 1991, is a milestone in history, it would not be because of my personal events. What occurred on that day has evolved into what drives just about everything we do in our daily lives. A Brit by the name of Tim Berner-Lee launched what we know today as the World Wide Web. Yes, that is what the 3 little acronym “www” stands for, just in case anyone was not aware or sometimes forget things, like me. Berner-Lee is a British computer scientist who just wanted to make his work life a little bit easier by developing a platform that would allow systems to share information between each other. He didn’t just suddenly invent the World Wide Web. His journey started in 1989 as an idea, and then developed and came to fruition in 1991. And for those of you who remember a certain Vice President during the 90’s who declared that he in fact invented the internet – well, this claim is definitely disputed and corrected by the facts of the 1991 launch.

Fast forward to Summer of 2019, to the offices of Indoff. An idea of providing an E-commerce site for the Material Handling division began. But just as those pioneers in the Mercury Program in the late 1950 and early 60’s found out, building and developing a system for all is not as easy as one would think. Our biggest issue in the early development was not having the right vendors on board that would allow us to get exactly what some of our clients were looking for.

In 2021, just as when the Mercury Program Engineers finally got a system that worked for many, so has Indoff been able to successfully launch a system to assist our MH Partners to enter a consumable products category with the launch of www. indoffmhsupplies.com . We introduced this concept to the Partners in attendance at the NSM in November. Its primary function is Two-Fold: to give our clients an option to traditional hardware and supply stores and eCommerce companies such as Home Depot, HD Supply, Grainger, Zoro, Uline, Global, many others and even local hardware; and to give our MH Partners a revenue stream that is ongoing in between large projects.

For us to launch such a large website with such an abundance of items, we had to partner with a large enough wholesaler that could handle those types of items. True Value Wholesale is our key partner in the development of our website content, and we are partnering with others such as Quantum Storage, Essendant, and Adrian’s Safety Supply as well with some of their content. Unlike, the shopping carts in the Business Products division, this cart has 3x as many items available on it, with over 75,000 items distributed from over 13 locations in the US. We have used the term “evolve” quite frequently on this launch, because it is an evolving project that will continue every day as our Partners and customers start using it. The great benefits to the cart are that it gives us an opportunity to sell into markets that we were not able to do before. Offering items from Automotive, Building Materials, Outdoor Living & Power Equipment, Hardware and Tools, Clothing, Footwear and Safety Gear, Cleaning and Janitorial Supplies & Equipment, Electrical, and Plumbing and HVAC. Our clients can get on the cart and create their own account or can be set up through the Partners and are able to customize their own preferences on their profile for ease of ordering for themselves. A fully integrated shopping experience that works with Confluence, this is probably the best-selling tool that Partners in MH have had since the invention of CAD programs became available…I wouldn’t even make you guess when the first Computer Aided Design Software was invented, but since you asked…1957 by Dr Patrick J Hanratty.

The launch of this new website provides the Indoff MH division a breath of new life for Partners to be able to have residual income coming in while being able to assist their clients on other areas as well. If you are interested in learning more about the cart or want to be able to provide it to your clients, please reach out to myself (Tom VanHoozer) and we will get you set up on the cart. When you get a chance, I would encourage you to visit the cart at www.indoffmhsupplies.com

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NEWSLETTER

1/2PgEMH Indoff6-21.qxp_Indoff Newsletter 5/5/21 6:22 PM Page 1

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DECEMBER 2021

PARTNER

Success Story: Scott Mueller

PP Sales Partner, MAS

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Promotional Products Partner Discusses an Impactful Rebranding Project

arrum Health launched a new brand and logo in November. To support the launch, the marketing team wanted to gift all their employees with a branded box of promo products. They decided on a welcome note, a long sleeve T-shirt, a beanie, an insulated tumbler, and stickers—all inside a custom shipping box branded with the new logo.

These items were sourced from eight different vendors, and we used a ninth vendor (Nova Marketing in St. Louis) to kit everything together and drop ship.

I was given a budget of $13,000—and that had to include all of the drop shipping costs, and the delivery costs of all the components shipping to Nova.

Drop ship addresses were entered by my client on a Google Sheet that I created. I then gave Nova access to the Google Sheet. They assembled the kits, sealed them up, and mailed them to the employees’ homes as a surprise.

Given that over a third of the recipients were in multi-unit housing, I advised them to ship via USPS Priority Mail instead of UPS to ensure inside delivery.

We also avoided residential surcharges in not using UPS, so that kept costs lower.

Quickly after delivery, employees quickly started posting pictures on Carrum’s Slack channels of themselves wearing their new apparel. Even more fun (and TOTALLY unexpected) were the pictures of pets perched in the Carrum boxes. Like many companies whose workforce all work from home, this was an easy and exciting way to foster camaraderie amongst employees and pay tribute to the honorary furry Carrum employees who are always determined to make their presence known on video calls. The pet photos would NOT have happened had we shipped in a plain kraft box.

They ordered 125 kits, and 25 were put into storage at Nova. Nova put a sticker on the outside of each kit listing the size of the T-shirt inside.

Since the initial drop ship, Nova has pulled nine kits from inventory and shipped to new hires. I set up a new Google Sheet for the drop ship addresses and gave editing privileges to both my client and Nova. My client requests a pull, I add a Confluence line item to account for the pull request, and Nova ships and adds the tracking number to the Sheet. Nova sends me an invoice at the end of the month for a monthly storage fee, plus a handling charge for each pull and actual shipping costs, and then we bill.

Even weeks later, there’s still buzz about this campaign. It was a great way to launch their new branding with their most valuable asset—their employees (even the furry ones) and create a sense of community in this work-fromhome environment.

Again, it took eight vendors plus Nova for fulfillment and close to two months to make this happen. It was not the easiest endeavor with all the inventory shortages across the industry, but I would do a project like this again in a heartbeat. I encourage you to talk to your clients about kitting and delivering lasting impressions on the minds, bodies and hearts of their employees and customers.

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GET TO KNOW

NEWSLETTER

Your Corporate Staff JoAnne has been a member of the Partner Support Helpdesk group since July 2020. In addition to taking on support calls and emails, she specializes in creating Customer Engagement Sites, processing company store orders and will soon take on the New Partner onboarding duties.

FUN FACTS

Jo Anne Gipson

She owned a family style restaurant for 25 years She loves to hunt and fish

Veronica joined the Finance group in September 2020 in lieu of Jeff Spahn’s retirement. She previously worked for Indoff from 1994-1997 before departing to raise her children. Veronica assists with all things Partner-accounting related, including commissions, expense reports, and marketing budgets.

FUN FACTS

She has two shih tzu dogs named after the Greek gods Apollo and Ares She is excited for the holidays so she can display her collection of nutcrackers

Veronica Hill

Adam has been with Indoff since 2004, starting as a Recruiter, transitioning to Marketing Manager and now Vendor Relations Manager. He is the main point of contact for all Indoff vendors with the end goal of helping the vendors and Indoff Partners work together more closely. He also spends a portion of his day recruiting and trying to generate new hires from vendor referrals.

Adam organizes and runs the vendor portion of the National Sales Meeting.

Adam Heck

FUN FACTS

He has twin 5 year old daughters named Caroline and Allison Adam is a diehard fan of St. Louis area sports teams including the Cardinals, Blues and Mizzou and SLU

Indoff’s

DECEMBER 2021

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Sales Partners of the Month JULY 2021 MH CI BP PP ES Allied

AUGUST 2021

Darrin Wicks Marsha Olinghouse Rob Dean John Hollern John Vasquez Chris Koeneman

$578,200 $483,060 $237,213 $291,312 $113,706 $486,538

Jonathan Hernandez Susan Da Fonseca Nicole Stinson John Hollern Brad Anderson Chris Koeneman

Bill Jacobson Georgine Golitko Bill Hamilton Keith Harris Bob Barroll Chris Koeneman

$2,465,373 $777,836 $145,795 $119,528 $35,315 $427,982

OCTOBER 2021

SEPTEMBER 2021 MH CI BP PP ES Allied

MH CI BP PP ES Allied

$748,337 $409,203 $82,367 $116,858 $277,031 $370,758

MH CI BP PP ES Allied

Ryan Goede Doug Fletcher Rob Dean John Hollern Bob Barroll Chris Koeneman

$142,883 $492,921 $308,943 $55,822 $372,755 $390,661

NOVEMBER 2021 Eddy Johnston Bruce Lang Jim Riley John Hollern Bob Barroll Chris Koeneman

SALES PARTNERS

Indoff’s Anniversaries 25 YEARS Bob Barroll Chris Hamm

Congratulations to the following Partners & Corporate employees who are celebrating their Employment Anniversaries with us in the month of August, September, October, November and December 2021

10 YEARS August 15 September 1

20 YEARS Al LaPrise Betty Long

$255,545 $222,393 $196,091 $461,824 $46,518 $271,081

August 15 December 1

15 YEARS John Fincher November 1 Gary Cameron August 15

CORPORATE/CSR

MH CI BP PP ES Allied

Dave Morrow Terry Busing Kimberly Pope Donna Sutton Emma Plank Amy Lefevre Jerry Spaziani Vicky Pape

September 6 October 1 October 3 October 11 October 7 November 14 November 14 December 12

25 YEARS Julie Frank Pam Hitpas

October 1 December 9

20 YEARS Mike Jensen

August 1

15 YEARS Becky Cameron August 15

10 YEARS Shelby Peterson October 1

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NEWSLETTER

2022

Indoff

April 23 - 27 based on your billed gross profits for 2021 gross profit > $110,000 = 1 trip to the meeting gross profit > $220,000 = 1 trip to the meeting, a private room & chairman’s outing