Keith Justus
Keith Justus founded Business Copier Solutions, a Toshiba, Konica Minolta, and Muratec dealership 13 years ago. Not the best time to launch a new business venture. As luck would have it, that business venture has navigated all sorts of economic perils and continues to grow, most significantly experiencing 200 percent year over year growth during the most recent fiscal year. That’s not bad for a small dealership with big aspirations.
The dealership has been recognized by Pros Elite Group and Konica Minolta for its service excellence and is a member of the Muratec Imagemakers Club. Clearly, Justus and company are doing something right. To get a better idea of just exactly what Business Copier Solutions is doing right, I interviewed Justus about his dealership, his background in the industry, the reasons for the company’s recent growth spurt, and what segments of the business are doing well for the dealership these days and why.
How’s business?
Justus: We’re having a great year and we expect to break our records this year over past years.
What segments of the business are doing well for you?
Justus: We’re doing well with up and down the street and major accounts. IT Services has grown a tremendous amount for us this year also.
Why do you think that is?
Justus: We’ve expanded services and remained true to our core. Some of our major accounts have allowed BCS to take over their entire IT department and place BCS employees on site enabling BCS to grow and the customer to save money.
What are you specifically doing in the IT Services realm?
Justus: We’re doing a total solution customized for the customer’s needs.
How long ago did you get into IT Services?
Justus: We’ve been in it for about three years now.
What would you say is the biggest challenge of offering Managed IT Services?
Justus: Overcoming clients’ fear of change and allowing us to come in and do the job for them.
Was there any fear of change internally when you decided to get into Managed IT?
Justus: No, we knew we had to do it. Even though we’ve been doing it for three short years, we knew that we had to aggressively seek experienced candidates in order to compete in this emerging market. There was no fear internally, it was let’s get the right people and be aggressive.
Where did your dealership acquire the expertise to do this?
Justus: Prior to us having our own IT department we purchased an IT company and continue to use many reputable sources in our industry.
What segments of the business would you like to see doing better?
Justus: Overall all segments of our business are doing well; however, I think MPS is a focus area that we can improve upon.
How do you think you’ll do that?
Justus: We have all the tools needed with our main manufacturers. We can do a better job with going deeper and wider with our MPS program.
What’s the one thing you know now about Managed Services that you wish you knew from the outset?
Justus: The assessments are important and we could have done a better job with the assessment and defining the scope of work. We found we were doing a lot of work we didn’t need to do on the project. Basically, the assessment going into the account and the way we were doing it.
How long did it take to figure that out and fix it?
Justus: About six or seven months, and a year until it was perfect and we knew what we were doing.
Who do you find yourself competing against?
Justus: We’re the largest independent in San Diego. In this marketplace, the Ricoh and Konica Minolta branches are strong players along with the global Xerox organization.
I understand the company is environmentally friendly, what does that mean and how do you leverage that with customers?
Justus: In our own BCS office, we are very environmentally conscious. With our customers, we have a free recycling program where we provide recycling boxes along with each copier. We provide our customer with an eco-tool that allows them to view their carbon footprint. Toshiba has the first erasable copier that we donated to nonprofit organizations that are environmentally conscious.
I understand you actively recruit college students for sales positions. How do you make this industry sound attractive to these young people and how successful have your efforts been in retaining them once you have them on board?
Justus: BCS offers internships for high school graduates preparing to enter college. We put them in entry level sales positions, mainly cold calling. Our senior reps and management help them close the deals and they get to keep all commissions toward their college tuition. Some of our interns attended LMU LA, San Jose State, and USD and received up to $8,000 towards their freshman year tuition. These interns are qualified to come back each summer to raise money for the following year’s tuition.
As far as college recruitment, San Diego has many universities. We attend their open houses and job fairs and provide training to recent college grads at no expense.
Let’s talk a little bit about you, how’d you get into this business?
Justus: I started as a sales rep with Pitney Bowes in the copier division. I was later promoted to various manager positions within the company, leaving as District Director of Southern California.
How long ago was that?
Justus: I have been in this industry for 21 years
What’s the best thing about doing what you do?
Justus: I love what I do and some of my best friends are some of my largest customers. I have met many people from organizations doing great things and I have been able to contribute to those organizations by helping them continue their growth and able to give back to the community.
What’s your least favorite activity that you find yourself doing weekly or daily?
Justus: Finding the right people that fit our model. Our company employees, we treat like family. I would think most dealers would agree trying to find the right people is a challenge. Personally, trying to find the right employee to fit the BCS model is my biggest challenge.
What do you do when you’re not working?
Justus: Family and friends are very important to me. I spend a lot of time with my grandchildren. BCS and the San Diego Padres are partners and we have a BCS suite at Petco Park for the entire season which allows me to spend quality time with family, friends and valued customers.
How’s the rest of the year look for Business Copier Solutions?
Justus: It’s looking strong. We are on track for another record breaking year.
