FLEXPRINT, INC.
Mesa, AZ
President/Owner: Frank Gaspari
Year founded: 2005
Number of employees: 150
Primary hardware vendors: Ricoh/Lanier, Sharp, HP, Lexmark, Xerox, Kyocera
Primary solutions and services offerings: Nationwide MPS
Approximate/Average yearly revenues: $30.4 million
Biggest sale/win of the past year: A Fortune 100 customer.
Frank Gaspari
Even though at first glance FlexPrint looks like you’re traditional office technology dealership that represents a broad range of product lines, don’t let that fool you. They possess a rapidly growing managed print solutions offering that’s offered on a national, coast to coast basis, something that sets them apart from the average office technology dealership. This area alone experienced a 22 percent increase in revenue over the previous year, making it the fastest growing segment of FlexPrint’s business.
That shouldn’t come as any surprise to anyone who has been following the dealership since its founding in 2005. After all, managed print has been the foundation of the company ever since the beginning.
Its motto, ‘Brilliance in the basics,’ is why customers pick FlexPrint and what each individual in the organization works by. “Our customers place high value on the peace of mind they receive in partnering with us, the transparency we provide, and process improvements we put in place to better their business,” notes the company’s founder Frank Gaspari.
Another reason for loyal customers is the passion that FlexPrint exemplifies. “’People with passion win!’ That’s a statement we’ve heard from several of our customers in the reason they like doing business with us,” observes Gaspari. “We make a large investment in the promotion of our people with very unusual company perks that keep all of our co-workers enthusiastic about serving the customer, and it shows.” That aforementioned national footprint and the ability to be a customer’s single source that separate FlexPrint from the pack is another competitive advantage that makes a difference to customers. One invoice, one call, one Web-interaction simplifies the process for its national customers. We as well as FlexPrint’s clients like the company’s top down management structure. “ Business continuity is an important topic for most of our clients, and they like how our executives are involved with every customer, which provides trust that leads to long term relationships,” states Gaspari.
Short video testimonials and video information that FlexPrint creates for its customers go a long way toward establishing the dealership’s credibility builder. No doubt it’s the wave of the future, and based on customer feedback is easier to preview than reading long white papers.
An Elite Dealer doesn’t exist in a bubble and FlexPrint has strategically aligned itself with key industry trade groups, and made an investment to get involved with their conferences, which has led to building brand awareness and is an excellent source for referrals from existing customers.
Gaspari has also created a vibrant work culture at FlexPrint with great benefits, creative incentive programs (this year 70 employees will be rewarded for going above and beyond – based on peer nominations, and a management style grounded in autonomy.
Meanwhile, FlexPrint continues to grow, which does create some challenges. “Our Chicago office is growing like crazy, and we’ve run out of room to add people,” acknowledges Gaspari. “We’ve decided to make an investment in bigger space come fourth quarter 2013/1st quarter 2014.”
As FlexPrint continues to grow organically it’s been able to support bigger/larger clients because of its national business model and infrastructure. That continues to impress us and positions FlexPrint well for the future.
“Providing a single national source for managed print solutions, utilizing technology to provide transparent data, and employing people with passion has been the core of our success, and will continue to be the source of our future success,” concludes Gaspari.
Jeff Elkin
ADVANCE – THE DOCUMENT SPECIALISTS
Cockeysville, MD
President: Jeff Elkin
Year founded: 1964
Number of employees: 165
Primary hardware vendors: Ricoh, Savin, Canon, KIP, Kyocera, Panasonic
Primary solutions and services offerings: DocuWare, eCopy, LincWare, Objectif Lune
Approximate/Average yearly revenues: $35-$40 million
Biggest sale/win of the past year: A local hospital chose Advance after a rigorous RFP process. While Advance had been the hospital’s primary provider for the past seven years, it was up against some heavy competition, including the parent organization’s current solutions provider. In spite of that relationship, the hospital selected Advance. From the diligence of Advance’s contracts and billing teams, to the hard work of purchasing, warehouse, and setup crews, to the ongoing support and professionalism of service technicians, network services, and training teams—each one played an important part in fostering this unique relationship which, ultimately, was the primary reason for the award.
Despite challenging economic conditions, Advance remains strong in both its core business and emerging technologies while areas that are growing the fastest include remote support, mobile workflow solutions, and managed IT services.
We’re a big fan of Advance’s Onsite and Online initiative. Initially launched at the end of 2009, with Onsite and Online, equipment can be delivered fully configured and ready to plug into the customer’s network from the moment it arrives. Prior to delivery, an Advance Network Services technician performs a remote session with the customer’s IT representative. Last year, the program saw a significant increase in participation resulting in 73 percent of all Advance network installations completed prior to delivery using remote network tools.
In June of this year, the dealership’s sales team began exploring potential prospects for its new managed IT services offering, with the goal of serving a small number of managed IT clients in an initial pilot program beginning July 1. Not only did Advance meet its goal, but are on track to exceed initial expectations. “Our entry into managed IT services represents a truly transformational time in the history of Advance,” states Jeff Elkin, president. “It is a tremendous opportunity for us to greatly expand the many relationships that our people have shaped with our customers. It also means shifting Advance’s relationship with our customers from that of an equipment provider to a trusted business and technology advisor and partner.”
There’s no secret as to why customers choose Advance. As Elkin says, “The answer is pure and simple—our people are the reason that customers like doing business with us.”
Employees have a reputation for being genuinely passionate about solving customers’ problems—big or small, and Advance’s customers know that. “This year in particular, we have taken extra steps to execute this commitment even further to be a company that truly leans in and listens,” says Elkin. “We all know companies like this—Walt Disney World, Nordstrom, Chick-fil-A, to name a few, that leave you with an extraordinary feeling every time you engage with them. They are genuine, sincere, and take action. That passion is congruent with who we are here at Advance and who we strive to be every day.”
We’re also impressed by the new, consistent way Advance closes all customer conversations from service and sales, to contracts and billing that was introduced this summer. The simple phrase, “Is there anything else I can do for you today?” said by each and every employee before they end a call, not only exhibits the company’s passion for service, but also creates a unified voice regardless of the department that customers are engaging with.
“This has already had a tremendous impact on the way our customers feel about us, and has provided additional opportunities to serve them that we may not have otherwise known about if we didn’t ask,” reports Elkin.
As one of the largest independently owned and operated dealers in Maryland, Advance possesses deep roots within the communities it serves. One strategy has been to partner with many of the region’s premiere organizations, such as the Baltimore Ravens, Maryland Athletics, National Aquarium in Baltimore, and the Maryland Zoo, to not only support their office efficiencies, but to collaborate on philanthropic efforts. All of the organizations Advance has partnered with have charitable entities in which the dealership is actively involved.
“One way that we are currently promoting these relationships is through our newest television and Web campaign, ‘Smart Choices,’” explains Elkin.
The primary objective of the new campaign is to differentiate Advance by promoting these relationships and further showing its commitment to the local community. Each spot features a creature related to the organization and culminates with the statement that “[the name of the partner]…chose Advance as their official document solutions provider.” followed by the creature affirming, “Smart Choice. They’re good people.”
“In just over a week since their release we have already received positive feedback from our customers on the campaign,” beams Elkin. “The campaign will run throughout the football season and into early next year as we switch gears for our 50th anniversary in July. All of the spots can be viewed on our YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/advanceTDS.”
Advance’s most significant accomplishment this year has been the decision to launch a new service offering, Managed IT Services. Earlier this year, the dealership assembled a working group of key employees across the company. The team was tasked with developing a business plan and go-to-market strategy, with the goal of serving a small number of managed IT clients in an initial pilot program beginning July 1. “We are excited to say that we have met all of our deadlines, and are well ahead of our initial expectations in this new space,” reports Elkin.
Entering into Managed IT Services is one of Advance’s most important new initiatives in many years. Traditionally, IT support has been reactive—organizations wait for problems to occur. The Advance Managed IT Services model is quite the opposite. Similar to the way that the dealership performs regular preventative maintenance on its multifunctional equipment in the field, managed IT services takes a proactive approach with customers’ networks by continually monitoring network components, such as servers and PCs, for potential problems, and when the need arises, resolves them. Managed IT also provides help desk support, virus protection, software updates and patches, and data backup to keep customers’ data safe and secure.
There are many reasons why Advance is a great place to work, but most importantly Elkin says it is the people that make up our Advance family who are the reason why we have such an exceptional, positive culture. Everyone who works at Advance exhibits much of the same commitment and passion that its founders do, which is a key component to the company’s ongoing success. Not only do all new candidates go through a rigorous interview process to ensure a good fit, but once on board, Advance is committed to developing each and every one of its employees.
“We always look to promote from within and have a dedicated management development program for individuals looking for growth opportunity,” says Elkin.
New for this year, the company has instituted quarterly meetings at its Cockeysville headquarters with the entire company. Previously the company only gathered as a whole once a year at its annual meeting in January. Now with quarterly meetings it is able to keep the communication and energy going throughout the year by sharing departmental updates and celebrating the achievements of superior service through employee recognition awards. It has been a positive change that has been extremely well-received. In addition, Advance was recently named as a finalist in the 2013 Baltimore Business Journal’s Best Places to Work honors.
This July Advance will began its 50th year in business—a huge accomplishment for an office technology dealership. “While this may be a fairly unusual accomplishment in the corporate world, our entry into managed services is our commitment to making sure that we’ve only just begun,” concludes Elkin.
That may be how Elkin and his employees see it, but what we see is a dealership that continues to reinvent itself to ensure it remains a major force in the markets it serves.
BUDGET DOCUMENT TECHNOLOGY
Lewiston, ME
President/Owner: Tom Ouellette
Year founded: 1989
Number of employees: 25
Primary hardware vendors: Konica Minolta, Kyocera, Lexmark, FP Mailing Solutions
Primary solutions and services offerings: Square9 SmartSearch, Equitrac & PaperCut
Approximate/Average yearly revenues: $5+ million
Biggest sale/win of the past year: Landing a college for two print production units along with their fleet of 20 MFP units.
Let’s give a big hand to Budget Document Technology, a dealership that is on pace to break $5 million in annual revenues for the first time in its history. In 2012 Budget enjoyed an uptick in interest from clients for imaging software and continues to see that interest while working many more active leads for this type of solution. This year it has seen an increased demand for MFPs. In a business where many dealers are finding MFP sales flattening out, this is another formidable accomplishment for Budget Document Technology. Looking at the dealership’s growth by the numbers, from 2011 to 2013 total revenues are up 21 percent and MFP hardware sales have been up 27 percent for that same period.
Clients choose Budget Document Technology because it is continually adding to its product, solutions, and services orderings while making it easier for customers to do business with them. Whether it’s online ordering, automatic supply replenishment, preparing custom spreadsheets for client billing needs, and adding new products or services, Budget has its customer’s best interests in mind from the start.
Another example of the company’s growth has been a new 5,000-square foot addition that it moved into in November of 2012, followed by the renovation of its old space for warehousing needs. Its total space has now grown to 9,500 square feet. “This has meant that we have been able to host regular lunch & learn sessions,” notes President Tom Ouellette .
Budget is now hosting open houses as well and this past May hosted an open house that attracted 117 clients and prospects. Budget Document Technology certainly isn’t shy about pursuing new opportunities and in March of 2013 entered the postage and mailing business by becoming an FP Mailing Solutions dealership. The following month it strengthened its offerings in this segment with the acquisition of a postage/mailing dealership with a client base in Maine and New Hampshire.
Looking at Budget’s growth in 2013, besides adding the mailing piece to its business, this year seems to be the year of client referral. “Many of our leads are coming in by referrals from client or contacts who have moved on to new positions,” says Ouellette. “That in itself speaks a lot of how clients must perceive what we are doing for them.”
Budget continues to look for new products and services to offer to clients, which then in turn leads to new challenges for employees. “We also carry this philosophy over to our inventiveness for employees,” adds Ouellette.
In 2012 a new bonus program was introduced to service staff providing rewards not only for service metrics, but additional training incentives. For sales, the dealership introduced a “marketing bucket” for each rep. “That is each rep has a dollar amount that when they are asked by an account or prospect to provide sponsorship or support, they can make a decision without seeking management approval,” explains Ouellette. “Another way the rep is empowered.”
Plus in 2013 Budget revamped its benefits program, increasing company contributions and inclusiveness of benefits so that all eligible employees are able to receive some form of benefit contribution.
We also applaud the dealership for recognizing the importance of the Business Technology Association and attending its events to gain knowledge.”This past year we have also joined a peer group in which we meet twice a year, compare financial results and exchange ideas that we can then go back and use within our dealership,” reports Ouellette. “Currently we are restructuring our management approach. Having had success with acquisition we plan on continuing this option to keep growing.”
As we celebrate Budget Document Technology as an Elite Dealer, we can’t help but acknowledge that even some of the smallest independent dealers possess the leadership, the foresight, and the creativity to compete and compete successfully no matter what the size of the market.
IMAGE MATTERS
Knoxville, TN
President/Owners: JD Sullivan, Bob Lovelace
Year founded: 1999
Number of employees: 32
Primary hardware vendors: Xerox, Konica Minolta, Muratec
Primary solutions and services offerings: MPS, Commercial Print, Copy Retail Services
Approximate/Average yearly revenues: $5-$10 million
Biggest sale/win of the past year: The Xerox partnership has allowed Image Matters to easily install several nationwide placements. It has two national client installs numbering 500+ units in process.
You know what we like about Image Matters, other than its creative name, Imagelink, its branded managed print services program. We’re assuming the staff of Image Matters like it too, especially since it’s had a four-year average growth rate of 400 percent per year. That’s a key growth area as is major accounts, which has enjoyed a significant increase as a result of the dealership’s partnership with Xerox and its ability to provide consistent nationwide support.
Customers seem to like what Image Matters is doing as well as how they do it. “We put the client first,” states co-owner JD Sullivan. “Everyone in the Image Matters family knows our success is only as good as our reputation. Service is paramount, but at the end of the day, our clients expect to have a voice in the relationship. Our clients like the fact that we are approachable and accessible. No one wants an endless directory of extensions and voicemails—they want a voice, and we cater to that need.”
With so many ways to raise awareness in the digital and social media age, and so many ways to get lost in the shuffle of social media, Image Matters has found that good old-fashioned marketing still makes a difference. Thanks to advertising on drive-time radio, sports radio and Image Matters is synonymous in the Knoxville market. “And in Knoxville, TN, sports radio is above all else,” notes Sullivan.
Image Matters has also partnered with a marketing agency to streamline all media, including a refresh of the traditional Image Matters logo. All media is now standardized across all of its advertising strategies for a single consistent message.
The most significant accomplishment of the past year was transitioning Image Matters’ primary product line to Xerox. “They are a completely different organization compared to our Japanese manufacturers, so we both have learned to support each other at the dealer level,” notes Sullivan. “Their product line has essentially everything in all segments.”
Image Matters does a commendable job of supporting the community where it does business. Donations raised for casual Friday help fund Christmas for entire families who must spend the holiday in the hospital. Co-owner Bob Lovelace is an active board member for The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation while Sullivan is an active board member of The Compassion Coalition. This is a dealership that cares about others and that’s illustrated as well by its focus and support on local community and school growth.
What’s next for Image Matters in an ever-evolving industry? “Our success has always been in the relationship-based account approach,” states Sullivan. “We have to continue to train, teach, and enable our team to build those relationships built on honesty and integrity, not price and misleading information, which has become a standard practice by many in our industry.”
That’s a lofty ambition, but we’re confident this 2013 Elite Dealer has the tools to make that happen.
WITT COMPANY
San Diego, CA
President/Owner: Bill Witt
Year founded: 1963
Number of employees: 100
Primary hardware vendors: Kyocera, Xerox
Primary solutions and services offerings: MPS, Document Management, IT Services
Approximate/Average yearly revenues: $18 million
Biggest sale/win of the past year: 1-million win of a large worldwide cruise line.
This isn’t the same Witt Company that was doing business five years ago. Back then it was a successful hardware specific provider, today, Witt Company is a total solution provider. Making that transition took some time and effort, and three big steps.
The first step was clearly defining what it sells to both its staff and clients. “It’s easy to get caught up in all the offerings that we sell and support today,” explains COO Eric Stavola.
“Don’t let your dealership get carried away by mere rhetoric of solutions, workflow, or optimization. By clearly defining what you sell will make it much more real and realistic to handle and teach your staff to adapt. It’s clear to me that the copier dealer today must prepare their dealership to sell 5 core products or offerings—hardware, MPS, applications/software, document management, managed services.”
The second step was remembering what goes around comes around.
“One of the hardest things I have had to do is get successful hardware reps to buy into selling a value ad solution or service offerings,” acknowledges Stavola. “Too often I would get the common excuse of ‘it will simply prolong the deal’ or ‘there’s no money in that deal.’ I finally started making ground with the concept of ‘What goes around will eventually come around’ where we agreed to the following: • If you’re in a deal with No competition – Simply Sell Hardware • If you’re in a deal with Competition – Sell a Solution (HW + Software)(DM) • If you call on a customer where there’s no Hardware opportunity – Sell a Service (MPS,MS) because by selling that service hopefully it will come around to a HW opportunity • No Competition – Sell Hardware (Keeping Margins)” The third and final step was teaching the staff to be a team.
“Too often than not I see a lot of companies struggle due to the ‘ego complex’ of their staff,” states Stavola. “The days of dealing with that ‘500 lb. gorilla’ sales staff are no more; don’t tolerate anyone who won’t buy into the team concept. The companies I see that are thriving in today’s marketplace are the ones who have created a team selling environment.”
He adds that those companies have invested in critical support personal who understand the technical talk track to engage and establish IT needs and paired them with the account manager who has mastered the relational sale.
Now that we’ve established how Witt Company became a total solutions provider, that’s a good reason why customers continue to do business with them. But wait, there’s more, Witt’s people.
“Our people who plan, provide, and implement solutions for businesses are some of the most creative and knowledgeable within our industry today,” says Stavola. “Our technical staff has an average tenure of more than 17 years and are manufacturer trained on all aspects of hardware, software, and network applications.”
Indeed, Witt Company delivers a full menu of Professional Services that enable its customer’s operations to run more cost effectively as their business needs and systems infrastructure evolve. Those services include MPS, workflow analysis/assessment, solution implementation, solution integration, workflow management, color management, application development, forms creation and conversion, systems and network consulting, and document imaging. Last year was a terrific year for the dealership and one of its most significant accomplishments was winning three major accounts totaling $2.5 million in additional revenues.
Customers continue to look for Witt to have the answer for all their problems, and that’s a sign of an Elite Dealer. “After all aren’t we their ‘Solution’ provider?” asks Stavola. “As technology keeps becoming more and more prevalent, we need to clearly realize how to set up not only ourselves, but sales and technical staff to succeed.”
Seems to us that they’re succeeding just fine and why we are pleased to honor Witt Company as a 2013 Elite Dealer.
Jeff Gau
MARCO, INC.
St. Cloud, MN
CEO: Jeff Gau
Year founded: 1973
Number of employees: 705
Primary hardware vendors: Konica Minolta, Sharp, HP, Canon, M-Files, Microsoft, Cisco, IBM, Citrix, VMware, Mitel
Primary solutions and services offerings: Data networking and security, converged voice applications, print and document management, managed services, audio/video systems, digital signage, and video surveillance.
Approximate/Average yearly revenues: $150 million
Biggest sale/win of the past year: A $2.4 million Cisco voice project with Blue Cross Blue Shield in Fargo, ND. This sale also included a significant Managed Services agreement with additional recurring revenue.
There are dealers who grow and then there are dealers who GROW! That’s Marco, Inc., a dealership that has seen its revenues rise to $150 million from $111.5 million in just one year. You read that right. A nearly $40 million jump in one year.
Some of that growth has been spurred by a focus on acquiring companies that Marco can overlay with Managed Services. In 18 months, its market expanded from Minnesota-centric to becoming a leading player in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Iowa, with a strong presence in Wisconsin too. It also developed Managed Print from the ground up, growing it from $600,000 to $12 million in 5 years.
Marco is a model of excellence for other companies looking to replicate its Managed IT program. In five years, Marco’s Managed IT services’ revenue grew from $2.4 million in 2008 to nearly $13 million today.
Customers choose Marco for many reasons, including the many services and solutions they sell, but most of all it’s because it’s focused on giving customers unexpected attention. The dealership even has a full-time employee dedicated to measuring customer satisfaction and identifying opportunities. In the last year, the company provided a Marco staffed 24/7/365 Managed IT support desk, added an operations coordinator and business analyst for Managed Print and Managed IT services and grew to over 20 IT staff augmentation professionals at customer sites to satisfy the needs of its customers. Also innovative is the use of software, designed by Marco, to anticipate customer needs, including proactively replacing toner, fixing devices before customers call, and providing detailed analytic reports on utilization that provide additional sales opportunities. Customers also like Marco’s customer rebate program which donates 1.5 percent of what a customer spends annually with Marco to their foundation. One of Marco’s largest customers received $100,000 last year.
“We support causes that matter to our customers,” says CEO Jeff Gau. “Our involvement in the annual fundraiser for our largest managed services client is a testament to that. We donate at least $50,000 and provide a team of employees to plan, set up and ensure the event is successful.”
Marco also stands out by the way it sets an expectation that it not only fosters new ideas every year, but also hold itself accountable to implementing the ones that really matter. “We’re now focused on offering Managed Services across all products and new markets,” reports Gau. “It challenges us to think differently and create new processes.” This approach has resulted in an average of $51,000 in new contract sales each month.
An example of Marco’s innovation is a first-of-its-kind showroom and client services center that was created at its headquarters last summer for customers to see the inner workings of Managed Services. “Our growth led us to accelerate a building expansion by three years and add 6,000 square feet for Managed Services in 2013,” notes Gau. The dealership’s biggest accomplishment the past year was its intentional effort to build its recurring revenue stream to make the dealership more resilient. Revenue grew from $12.3 million in 2012 to a forecasted $25 million in Managed Services this year. “Overall, our business grew over 30 percent again this year top and bottom line to $150 million,” adds Gau. “Fifty percent of that growth was through acquisitions and 50 percent was organic growth.” Marco has positioned itself as an IT company in the copier business; rather than a copier business trying to get in the IT business. Its revenue distribution is approximately 50 percent IT business and 50 percent copier business.
This is a dealership that is a great place to work. Marco’s 700 employees now span 5 states. In 2012 and 2013, it integrated six companies, added over 300 employees, and had its highest employee satisfaction score since the company started tracking it in 1988. Management routinely engages employees in decisions, pays them above the industry average, pays them to volunteer, supports their charities, gets their input in a 100-question annual survey, and offers benefits that other employers don’t – such as an ESOP that allowed employee owners to receive $2 million in stock last year. This has led to Marco receiving a series of statewide and nationally recognized Best Place to Work awards, corporate citizenship awards and leadership awards for its CIO, CFO, sales director and others. In the last year alone, Marco received the state’s top workplace awards and its highest employee satisfaction score in the wave of its largest employee growth in the company’s history.
Marco was named one of the Top 100 Workplaces in Minnesota by the Star Tribune and Minnesota Business this summer and also received the 2013 Best Place to Work by the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal. The company continues to make all the right moves as it has grown and continues to grow. For instance, Marco executed a plan to increase Marco’s bottom line while reducing costs to customers. This allowed Marco to improve profitability by 188 percent in five years and 40 percent in 2012 alone.
“There are a lot of moving parts required to make this equation work,” explains Gau. “To name a few, Marco developed a Lean continuous improvement process to streamline operations, brought in third party consultants to challenge our performance paradigms (i.e. service margins, sales expense, etc.) and focused on expanding the most profitable parts of our business.” Over the past five years, the company has divested some business units, such as cabling and office furniture, to re-define its business model and strategically invest in others, namely Managed Services and geographic expansion through acquisitions.
As Marco winds down the year and heads into another, it remains focused on continued growth through additional acquisitions and an emphasis on Managed Services and recurring revenue.
The numbers, its business strategy, and its reputation with customers, employees, the community, and its peers in the industry, are all testaments as to why we consider Marco a 2013 Elite Dealer.
Dennis Aaenenson
A&B BUSINESS
Sioux Falls, SD
President/Owner: Dennis Aanenson
Year founded: 1993
Number of employees: 170
Primary hardware vendors: Ricoh, Toshiba, Samsung, HP
Primary solutions and services offerings: MPS, Document Management, Managed IT Services
Approximate/Average yearly revenues: $20 million
Biggest sale/win of the past year: A $500,000 production print deal.
How can one not appreciate a dealership that is a community based organization that gives back to hundreds of local organizations in the regions they serve? These donations of time are done via non-profit events such as bowlathons and walks, donations and sponsorships to worthy organizations, and donations of talents through Junior Achievement.
Those initiatives certainly count a lot from a community involvement perspective, but being a local dealership has allowed A&B Business to better understand the needs of its local customers and be more responsive than your average national organization.
During the past year A&B Business has enjoyed solid growth in MPS, Managed IT Services, and document management solutions.
This is also a dealership that has made some significant strides in its marketing efforts, most notably with Act-On, cloud-based marketing automation software that allows the dealership to streamline and integrate its online marketing.
“This platform helps us manage our customer experience across all online channels, including e-mail marketing, social marketing, Website visitor tracking, automated programs, lead scoring, Web forms, landing pages, and Web event integration,” states Dennis Aannenson, president. “With all of these technology channels managed in one place, we can better organize our online marketing efforts, generate high-quality leads, turn leads into sales, and measure the results.” A&B recently presented its first of what it expects will be an ongoing series of in-house informational seminars. The initial seminar on the subject of going green included a free lunch and two speakers who discussed easy and cost-saving ways for businesses to become green.
“No sale pitch attached, just offering our clients and general public information on hot topics at no-charge,” explains Aannenson. We like the way A&B’s MPS campaigns blend video, postcards and e-blasts created by Evolved Office.
“The marketing pieces are well done and we are able to use them to communicate effectively with our current and potential clients through these different channels,” says Aanenson. “We are also creating vertical and horizontal marketing campaigns with the use of this product.”
The most significant accomplishment of the past few years was building the infrastructure to take A&B into the next 10 years. This included updating its network, updating all internal applications to the latest and greatest along with encouraging employees to become certified in key technology and service areas.
A&B Business continues to automate wherever possible, add specialists in key vertical market areas to assist their sales group, ensuring that its reps are viewed as technology consultants rather than down-the-street general sales reps. The goal is to be the best at what they do and in our estimation A&B earns an A for effort and execution as well as acknowledgement as a 2013 Elite Dealer.
The Martin Group team.
MARTIN GROUP
Lake Geneva, WI
President: John Stensland
Year founded: 1980
Number of employees: 20
Primary hardware vendors: Konica Miinolta, Muratec, HP, Martin Yale
Primary solutions and services offerings: MPS (OneSource Program); Objectif Lune, Nuance and Prism document software solutions; EasyLink efax service
Approximate/Average yearly revenues: $5 million
Biggest sale/win of the past year: Losing a local bank that it had a 20-year relationship with after it was acquired by a larger financial institution and went with another vendor. When that vendor couldn’t meet that financial organization’s needs, Martin Group was brought back and by the end of this year it will have placed approximately 75 new MFPs with the potential to double that next year as well as offer the institution an MPS program.
For a smaller dealership, Martin Group sure acts big and one of the prime examples of that is its OneSource managed print services solution. That portion of Martin Group’s business has increased 800 percent since 2009.
We’ve long lauded the OneSource program, which differentiates Martin Group from its competitors by offering clients flexible choices backed by what they call exceptional service and their own remanufactured cartridges from Cheese Head Toner. Clients can select the OneSource program that’s suitable for their specific office needs:
- OneSource Silver – For smaller offices with only a few printers, Martin Group provides a quotation on laser printer cartridges. If the client buys from them, the program provides free repair, parts and labor should any of the client’s printers need service. There are no contracts to sign, no analysis of usage, just immediate savings on current toner costs and future repair costs.
- OneSource Gold – Martin Group analyzes the client’s fleet of printers and, based on volume and types of printers, and then offers a cost-per-copy program that provides free repair, parts, supplies (cartridges), and labor should any of your printers need service. The program can be from one year to five years in duration.
- OneSource Platinum – This is the same program as Gold except Martin Group purchases the client’s fleet of printers from them so that keeping the fleet current with technology and performance is Martin Group’s responsibility, not the client’s.
“We guarantee our clients that OneSource will save them a minimum of 10 percent of their current printing expenditures,” says President John Stensland.
Customers like doing business with the company because they do a terrific job of building relationships. “We don’t like to use the term ‘customer,’ which implies a temporary transaction,” states Stensland. “We believe in ‘clients, and the responsibility that term conveys to establish and nurture long-term partnerships that have each client’s best interests at heart.”
That approach seems to be working just fine with some clients in the fold for the dealership’s entire 31-year history. “Our clients tell us that they value the honesty, integrity and professionalism with which we treat them,” adds Stensland.
Exceptional service is a given and that remains Martin Group’s top priority daily. “Our effective and efficient service department sets a standard for excellence,” notes Stensland. “All dealers say that they have great service. We follow through with actions that prove we mean what we say.”
What he means is that Martin Group continues to invest in training. One of Martin Group’s service technicians recently won his second Konica Minolta Gold Seal training award, an honor reserved for the top 5 percent of technical training students throughout the country. The dealership has also been honored with the Konica Minolta Pro-Tech service certification award for the seventh year in a row.
“We have won certification every year that we have participated in the program,” reports Stensland.
While we’re on the topic of service, Martin Group’s first-call effectiveness is 68 percent year to date for 2013, up from 63 percent in 2012. That shouldn’t come as a surprise since its service technicians now average 19.6 years in the industry. Meanwhile, its initial call response time continues to drop, with a current average of 1.62 hours (down from 1.98 hours in 2012).
We admire the way that Martin Group is committed to its Performance Promises, which documents exactly what it will do – and won’t do- to provide clients with the best service anywhere.
“We provide definable, quantifiable promises that we can demonstratively live up to,” says Stensland. “We first unveiled this expectations statement in 2009, and it continues to be the centerpiece of our service dedication. And, now we put it right out there for clients, prospects and even competitors to see (www.martingroup.com/support_center).”
We also applaud Martin Group for its monthly newsletter that is sent to all clients. Every newsletter will feature a product or service offering to keep clients up to date on all that Martin Group has to offer. Each month’s newsletter also includes a client testimonial or success story, and a technician’s tip.
Perhaps the biggest accomplishment at Martin Group this year was the restructuring of its team. “Martin Group has an amazing team of people who understand that we are in an ever-evolving industry that will require our business and our team members to evolve right with it,” says Stensland.
An Elite Dealer has a strong team at all levels of the organization and Martin Group is no exception. That’s why when looking at the Martin Group logo, underneath its name sits the phrase “driven by people.”
“Why driven by people?” asks Stensland. “It represents both the reason why we do what we do – our family of clients – and the reason why we excel at what we do – our exceptional staff. When developing strategies to ensure our long-term growth and profitability, we always come back to our key driver – people.
As Martin Group builds for the future expect them to continue to invest in training. It recently sent its entire administrative team to Utah for week long re-fresher training on its software and it will be using the next year to regularly present cross trainings to the rest of the team to share all that they learned. Additionally, the company is enrolling two of its new managers in a professional seminar series to help prepare them for their new roles within the company.
Investing in the future also means investing in technology such as Remote Tech to enhance its service team efficiency and service to our clients. Additionally, with the great success that Martin Group has seen in its MPS program, management understands that it is only the start of Martin Group’s solutions for its family of clients.
“We have plans to pursue Konica’s All Covered program to add additional IT support to our family of clients,” reveals Stensland. “We also have plans to dramatically expand our IT staff and services in the coming year.”
Who could expect less from an Elite Dealer?
MODERN OFFICE METHODS (MOM)
Cincinnatti, OH
President & CEO: Kevin McCarthy
Year founded: 1957
Primary hardware vendors: Canon, Lanier/Ricoh, Samsung, HP
Primary solutions and services offerings: MPS, Document Management, Mobile Workforce and Cloud Printing, Production Print Solutions, Document Capture, Cost Recovery & Security Software, Electronic Form Solutions
Approximate/Average yearly revenues: $40 million
Biggest sale/win of the past year: In the past year MOM was able to win about 3/4ths of the categories on the State CPC contract.
Meet an exceptional dealership with an aggressive growth strategy and innovative programs that enhance its work environment.
MOM’s most aggressive growth strategy has been through the acquisition of two separate document solutions companies, both former Xerox office equipment dealers. “Both companies brought different strengths to the table from production print to rural market relationships,” explains Julie Italiano, marketing manager. “These acquisitions take MOM into an industry sector on which we did not typically set our sights. The company’s deep relationships and distinct expertise have allowed us to explore opportunities in areas we have not been as successful at in the past.”
A key driver of MOM’s future growth is its FleetCare MPS program. “Our dedication to the program starts at the top with our president & CEO, Kevin McCarthy, who has been on the advisory board for PrintFleet,” notes Italiano. “The strategy and focus on the MPS program has really paid off, and we grew this area of the business by 145 percent in 2012. Devices under contract grew by over 110 percent in 2011 vs. 2010 and annual clicks under contract grew by over 130 percent. Becoming an expert and industry leader in MPS has proven to be a great opportunity to grow our business.”
MOM stands out as well because of its innovative marketing programs such as Jump START Your Nonprofit, which is not only its largest marketing campaign of the year, but also its largest community involvement program. Jump START is a contest in which area nonprofits in Cincinnati, Columbus, and Dayton, OH apply for a chance to win one of three office technology makeovers worth up to $20,000. Marketing for this event include a three-market media buy for radio, 70,000 person e-mail blasts, the MOM sales teams are equipped with multiple flyers explaining the contest, and finally a huge push on all of our social media channels.
“We partner with 7 radio stations in our three markets and they all promote the contest on their own contest pages and send out e-mail and Facebook posts to all of their followers,” notes Italiano. “All traffic for registration and voting is on our Website (www.momnet.com). Traffic throughout this contest spikes to thousands of visits a day.”
Exposure for this contest is not limited to the area nonprofits, but also includes all of their followers, volunteers, and area board members that are generally high ranking officials for large organizations. When the applicants are narrowed down to the 30 nonprofit finalists, they essentially market MOM and the contest for the dealership.
“Jump START has impacted our business in such a positive way and we are now seen as a community involvement leader in our communities,” beams Italiano. “We have been lucky enough to be recognized for our efforts by the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce as the winner in the Community Involvement category in both 2012 and 2013.”
At the beginning of the 2012 school year, MOM partnered with Warm98 and WLWT Channel 5 TV to sponsor Teacher of the Week. All contest advertising was done in conjunction with Warm 98, the Cincinnati leader for in office listening. The campaign lasted for the 30 weeks of the school year and every Thursday, MOM Team Representatives would surprise the Teacher of the Week in their classrooms along with radio personality, Bob Goen from Warm98 and TV reporter, Todd Dykes from WLWT. MOM also provided t-shirts for all the students that said “I MOM” and on the back they said “My Teacher was the Warm98 Teacher of the Week.”
“This was such a great campaign for MOM because education is such a large vertical for our company,” says Italiano. “We were able to visit schools that current MOM clients as well as those that we are trying to do business with.”
The campaign was so successful that MOM is doing it again in the 2013 school year.
Client events are always a part of MOM’s marketing strategy. In May of 2013, MOM hosted two Mobile Solutions Open Houses, one in Cincinnati at the Corporate Headquarters and the other at the Columbus Museum of Art. The dealership brought in industry experts from its partners to do small group presentations. Vendors participating included Samsung, Content Central, Natural Forms, Panasonic, NSI Mobile, and EFI. Topics included how to use MOM’s mobile solutions to capture documents, photos and data, access files and secure print from anywhere and anytime on a mobile device. Electronic forms on tablets, document workflow, and Wi-Fi printing were also hot topics at these events.
Social media is all the rage and it’s been a part of MOM’s marketing and branding effort since early 2008 when the dealership joined Facebook. During the past five years it has added Twitter, LinkedIN, YouTube, Google+, Pinterest, and a company blog on Blogger. “Social media may not be the smoking gun for marketing in our industry, but we believe it is an important aspect of what we do here at MOM and a way to keep our brand in front of people,” contends Italiano.
As much as we take pride in recognizing special dealerships, we admire dealerships that have been recognized by others as well. Over the past year, MOM has been recognized for its efforts in service and community involvement. For the second time in four years, MOM was named the 2013 imageSource Magazine Outstanding Service Program. MOM also was the back-to-back winner in 2012 and 2013 for Community Involvement from the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce. Through its efforts with the Jump START Your Nonprofit contest and MOM Live Well – Work Well Wellness Team, MOM has become a leader in Community Involvement in its markets.
MOM is a great place to work because of its family-owned feel and sense of camaraderie among all employees, not just with the sales people. MOM has developed this culture through years of Casual/Fun Fridays, Carnival Days, community involvement projects, corporate days at Kings Island or Reds games, and close-out cookouts.
“At MOM, we believe in working hard and playing hard,” says Italiano. “More recently to make our offices a more enjoyable place to work, we developed the Live Well – Work Well wellness committee. The committee has already been responsible for the 2012 Holiday Season “Maintain, Don’t Gain” contest, the “Thin It to Win It” contest, and the “Jump START Your Walking” contest that will coincide with MOM’s Jump START Your Nonprofit contest.”
The wellness committee has also opened MOM Fresh Markets in all of the dealership’s branches. Committee members stock the Fresh Market with healthy and affordable snacks instead of having employees dumping change into a vending machine that often doesn’t have the healthiest of choices.
As the dealership sets its sights on the future, expect it to employ many of the same strategies that have made it successful in the past while adding new initiatives to the mix.
“At MOM we have a strategy about being 100% sold,” explains Italiano. “We don’t just want to be a provider to our clients we want to be their business partners. We communicate with our clients and strive to understand what makes their business successful and what challenges they are currently facing. By becoming a business partner we have a mutual interest in each other’s business.”
She adds, “It is important for our clients to be profitable and for them to make a fair profit, in return they see MOM as a business partner and they appreciate the value they receive from us for the services and products we provide. We don’t want to sell people, we want them to buy from us and there is a big difference. This industry has become commoditized and the successful businesses will be the ones who can demonstrate why they should become the provider of choice.”
There’s plenty of more reasons why MOM’s clients consider it the business partner of choice, many of which we’ve outlined already. And those reasons also exemplify why we consider MOM a 2013 Elite Dealer.
John Lowery
APPLIED IMAGING
Grand Rapids, MI
President/Owner: John Lowery
Year founded: 1987
Number of employees: 180
Primary hardware vendors: Ricoh, Canon, Océ, Kyocera, Lexmark
Primary solutions and services offerings: PrintSmart (Managed Print Services), DocSmart (Document Management), NetSmart (Managed IT Network Services), ProTeam (High Production Printing), BizSmart (Outsourced Enterprise Printing)
Approximate/Average yearly revenues: $42 million
Biggest sale/win of the past year: Baker College, the largest independent college in the state of Michigan. They ordered a total of 720 machines, including 500 Kyocera machines and 220 Ricoh machines.
It’s safe to say that we’re not going out on a limb in recognizing Applied Imaging as a 2013 Elite Dealer. This is a dealership that possesses top-notch leadership, is growing, and offers an array of programs, including their own branded services. That branding gives Applied Imaging a distinct edge. Whether it’s PrintSmart (managed print services), DocSmart (document management), NetSmart (managed IT network services), or BizSmart (Outsourced Enterprise Printing), it’s not about specific vendors, but services offered by Applied Imaging.
“By utilizing ‘Smart, in connection with our managed services, it creates the perception that Applied Imaging is the smart choice for businesses,” explains John Lowery, president. “In addition, the Applied Imaging color scheme is incorporated into the logos to tie these four solutions into the overall Applied Imaging brand.”
Creative marketing has helped solidify existing client relationships. For instance, Applied Imaging hosts an annual Tailgate Bash. The Friday before the University of Michigan/Michigan State University football game, the dealership decorates its Grand Rapids and Novi offices and brings in clients for food, gifts, and ‘trash talk’. It also brings in special guests like the Michigan State University Cheerleading Team, the University of Michigan Dance Team, and local sports talk radio personalities to add excitement to the event.
“The Tailgate Bash allows our clients to get to know the company beyond the sales representatives and service technicians they talk to regularly, which builds brand recognition and brand loyalty and encourages additional managed solution sales,” notes Lowery. Creating awareness for the various solutions offered by Applied Imaging is done through various workshops throughout the year that highlight specific solutions. Two workshops were planned for the fall of 2013, including Color Management and Lights Out Automation. Color Management will focus on how to be more efficient when working with color and how to make color printing more predictable. Lights Out Automation will showcase live centralized production printing solutions.
“These workshops are unique because they will be centered around actual demonstrations; unlike most workshops where attendees listen to a lecture and watch a PowerPoint presentation about the topic, the attendees of Applied Imaging’s workshops will experience the machines in action while the discussion is going on,” says Lowery.
When it comes to growth, two programs have grown significantly—ProTeam, high production printing, is up 56 percent in three years and Print Smart, managed print services, is up 41 percent in three years. We also like Applied Imaging’s approach to service. The Net Promoter Score system allows it to capture feedback after every service call. After a service call is completed, the clients are asked questions focusing on how likely they are, on a scale of 0 to 10, to recommend Applied Imaging to a colleague or friend. Anyone who answers between 0 and 6 is considered a “detractor,” and anyone who answers a 9 or a 10 is considered a “promoter.” Those who answer a 7 or an 8 are considered “passives.” To calculate the Net Promoter Score, the number of detractors is subtracted from the number of promoters, and the difference is divided by the total number of survey respondents. The average North American company has a Net Promoter Score of 10. Some well-loved companies reach scores into the 70s and 80s. From January through July of 2013, the survey was sent to 6,012 Applied Imaging clients, and 1,098 clients responded.
“This response rate of 18.3 percent is exceptionally high, which shows that our unhappy clients want to help us improve, and our happy clients want to let us know that we are doing well,” says Lowery.
During this time period, Applied Imaging had a Net Promoter Score of 77.4, which put it in the range of some of the nation’s most well loved companies, like Trader Joe’s (82) and Apple (72). “When looking at the survey in more detail, we can also decipher the areas where Applied Imaging excels,” adds Lowery. “We are able to compile data from June of 2010 through August of 2013 and examine the responses. Three different areas scored an average of 9.4 out of 10: ‘the technician left the equipment repaired to your satisfaction,’ ‘ease of placing a service call,’ and the technician overall. Therefore, we know we excel in these areas.” However, Applied Imaging does not stop there. In order to maintain a high score and keep its clients happy, it also takes action with the detractors. Field Service Managers follow up with the detractors to find out what went wrong and how the dealership can improve.
“By acknowledging those clients and working to improve their experience with Applied Imaging, we are encouraging them to do business with us again,” emphasizes Lowery.
One of the most significant accomplishments of the year took place in the spring of 2013 when Applied Imaging entered into a strategic agreement with Ricoh to acquire various Ricoh accounts in Traverse City, MI and Northern Michigan (Alpena to Mackinaw City). This agreement is significant for the following reasons:
1. It represents a meaningful example of a manufacturer (Ricoh) recognizing the need to collaborate with a local independent dealer (in this case Applied Imaging) in order to ensure that the end user receives the level of ongoing service and support that is deserved.
2. It allowed Applied Imaging to further expand geographic coverage, which aligns with Applied Imaging’s “Keep It In The Mitt” spirit and furthers the positive impact on the local Michigan economy.
3. The acquired accounts significantly expanded Applied Imaging’s market share.
4. It strengthened Applied Imaging’s ability to provide local Michigan business access to a wider range of advanced document imaging technology to improve their productivity and profitability.
5. It dramatically solidified the partnership with Ricoh, ensuring the continuity and value of the relationship for many years into the future.
We also admire the company culture that runs through all of Applied Imaging’s offices. It invests a great deal of time and effort developing a culture of service, client focus, communication, respect, family, learning, improvement, and teamwork. When an employee is first hired, his or her supervisor guides him or her through a Personal System for Success in several one-on-one meetings. This system includes an extensive history of the company, an overview of the Applied Imaging Communications Process and how to apply it, and one-on-one key person interviews with staff members throughout the company.
The Personal System for Success allows each new employee to meet a wide range of individuals and get to know the company in an easy and efficient way, while fostering a lasting relationship between employee and supervisor. Once the employees have become acclimated to the work environment, the company continues to foster discussion and friendly competition. To do this, the dealership has quarterly competitions among teams made up of sales, service, and administration centered on hitting its targets, building team unity and having fun. It rewards the top teams with trips to the Detroit Tigers, concerts, special dinners, and sometimes cash. In addition, the dealership has a theme every year based on the targets it looks to achieve. In 2013, the theme was “Dream,” and focused on not only achieving its dreams as a company, but also helping each team member achieve his or her personal dreams.
In order to prepare for the future and ensure Applied Imaging’s long-term growth and profitability, the dealership is looking at expanding the company to incorporate anything one would find in an office except the furniture. “Growing the company to include all things technology, like managed network services, data storage, IT services, hardware as a service, software as a service, and telephony, will ensure that Applied Imaging will be relevant not only today, but in the future as well,” states Lowery.
Applied Imaging has been strategically acquiring document imaging and IT service companies throughout Michigan, and will continue to do so in the future.
“This allows us to expand the company while maintaining existing relationships. We hire the existing staff members who already know and have relationships in the area, allowing us to know the community we serve on a more personal level,” concludes Lowery.
Now that’s what we call an Elite Dealer!
