Introducing the 2015 Elite Dealers
What a blast it’s been putting together the profiles of the 2015 Elite Dealers. What you’ll find among the 70+ dealers profiled are plenty of familiar names and dealerships along with a number of companies that are making their first appearance among the Elite.
We’re honored to celebrate the document imaging dealerships across the nation that make this industry so special. There’s much common ground among those we’re honoring and some uncommon ground, too. We celebrate entrepreneurship, and that’s consistent whether the dealership is doing more than $150 million in business or $1 million or less a year. We’re also recognizing innovative marketing and sales initiatives as well as company culture, corporate citizenship, and community involvement. Another consistent theme among our Elite Dealers is that many are thought of highly by their vendors and their communities and have been honored by them as well. Also common among all of the Elite is that “something different” that each dealership brings to the table.
Now let’s meet the 2015 Elite Dealers.
Larry Weiss, President
Atlantic Tomorrow’s Office
New York, NY
Year Founded: 1959
Owner/CEO: Larry Weiss
Number of Employees: 360
Primary Vendors: Ricoh/Savin, Konica Minolta, Toshiba, Kyocera, HP
Primary Solutions Offerings: Docuware, PaperCut, Drivve, NSI Autostore, Equitrac, Fiery
Primary Supplies Vendors: Supplies Network, LMI, Polek & Polek
Primary Leasing Partners: DLL, Wells Fargo, GE Capital
Approximate Yearly Revenues: $105 million
Fastest Growing Segments of Atlantic’s Business: Managed IT Services (25%), MPS (20%), Production Print (20%), Document Management (15%)
Biggest Accomplishment of the Past Year: Atlantic’s Product Expo, May 14, 2015, a one-day event that starts at 8:30 a.m. and concludes at 7 p.m. This year’s event was the biggest and best event to date with 1,200 people and 650 unique companies in attendance.
Why We Consider Atlantic Elite:
- It has a track record of being easy to do business with and providing fast resolutions as well as a knack for bringing the right people to the first client meeting so as not to waste the client’s time.
- The aforementioned Atlantic Tech Expo in May, which it holds every other year. The Atlantic team was able to put all the pieces in place for this year’s event in 75 days vs. the 120 days it traditionally takes, a significant accomplishment.
- Its annual December sales blitz. Last December’s blitz generated $6,696,000 and 527 machines placed.
- Employees who appreciate working for a fast-paced and growing company that provides opportunities for personal growth and a chance to make a better life for them and their families. Employees also appreciate the collaborative team- and family-oriented environment.
- Its charitable efforts (Atlantic budgets $800,000 a year in donations supporting such organizations as Make a Wish, National Kidney Foundation, Jewish Home and Hospital, St Christopher’s Inc., and the Jillian Fund, to mention a few). During last year’s Atlantic 2014 Toshiba/Kyocera Blitz it raised in excess of $5,000 for the Ascent School for Autistic Children.
DEX Imaging, Inc.
Tampa, FL
Year Founded: 2002
Owner/CEO: Dan Doyle, Jr.
Number of Employees: 800+
Primary Vendors: Konica Minolta, Canon, Kyocera, HP
Primary Solutions Offerings: DEX’s Internal Software Development Company, e-merge DEX’s Proprietary Software: PrintCounts (Managed Print Software), INDEX (Document Management Software), Canon Uniflow, Konica Minolta Dispatcher Phoenix, Prism Minolta ScanPath, Konica Minolta Page Scope Enterprise Suites, PaperCut MF, eCopy ShareScan, eCopy PDF Pro Office, Unity Suite, Kyocera AccuSender, Kyocera PinPoint Scan
Primary Supplies Vendors: Konica Minolta, Canon, Kyocera, HP
Primary Leasing Partners: GreatAmerica, CIT, DEX Imaging
Approximate Yearly Revenues: $150+ million
Fastest Growing Segments of DEX Imaging’s Business: Managed Print
Biggest Accomplishment of the Past Year: DEX has dramatically expanded the campus of its corporate headquarters in Tampa by building a new IT and managed print services facility. Its e-merge division (developers of its proprietary imaging software) will be housed in this facility along with the dealership’s managed print division, PrintCounts and Total Print. The dealership is also growing its branch operations footprint rapidly through acquisition.
Why We Consider DEX Imaging Elite:
- DEX Imaging was founded on the concept of giving one third of its profits to charities and educational programs within the markets it serves. This is something customers appreciate because when they buy from DEX, they too are contributing to the betterment of their community.
- The ability of the Doyle family to create loyalty within their organization as evidenced by DEX’s high employee retention rate.
- A new customer promotion for the current NFL Season called DEX BIZ FIT, where DEX challenges customers to get their business in better shape from an imaging standpoint. This is a custom-crafted promotion that is helping DEX customers understand how much printing is actually impacting their bottom line.
- The dealership has been honored by Kyocera as a Diamond Premier Dealer for 10 consecutive years.
- Its innovative use of technology; for example, a customized tablet app with Microsoft Surface that integrates all departments electronically so ordering and product distribution is streamlined.
Gordon Flesch Company
Madison, WI
Year Founded: 1956
Owners: Tom Flesch, John Flesch, Bill Flesch
Number of Employees: 578
Primary Vendors: Canon, Lexmark, Sharp, Kyocera, Océ
Primary Solutions Offerings: ECM, BPO, Managed IT Services
Primary Supplies Vendors: Supplies Network, Katun
Primary Leasing Partners: GFC Leasing
Approximate Yearly Revenues: $155 million
Fastest Growing Segments of Gordon Flesch Company’s Business: Over the past few years, the Gordon Flesch Company has experienced significant growth in new branch development and Professional Services. Both of its newest branches, Indianapolis and Appleton, have experienced strong growth of 12 percent in the last year. The Professional Services side of its business, including ECM, Managed Print Solutions and IT Services and Consulting Services has grown 7 percent.
Biggest Accomplishment of the Past Year: Its new branch’s sales success and the success of its newer IT Services business.
Why We Consider Gordon Flesch Company Elite:
- Starting more than a decade ago, it began differentiating its brand based on customer satisfaction results, equipment uptime, and service response times. Today, it provides business analysts to work with customers uncovering a wide variety of needs from technology to business process improvement to hardware and software.
- It is brand agnostic, which helps the dealership provide the best results for its customers and truly develop strategic partnerships.
- The Gordon Flesch Company Charitable Foundation donates $125,000 annually to nonprofits located in the communities where its customers live, work, and play. In all, donations have exceeded more than $1.5 million since the Foundation’s inception in 2002. Unlike most corporate giving programs, the Gordon Flesch Company Charitable Foundation is managed entirely by company associates.
- It is now engaged in the social media platforms that its customers (through third party research) say they use most. Gordon Flesch develops its own content as well as leverages partnerships with channel partners, industry analysts, technology consultants, and non-profit organizations. In six months, the dealership has organically amassed an audience of more than 1,500 across all platforms and gained more than 115,000 impressions.
- This year Gordon Flesch transformed its Product/Solution events into Technology Summits, a more conference-like experience. These are organized just like any other industry conference and offer online registration/confirmation, keynote speakers that are considered industry experts, breakout sessions hosted by experts in their respective fields, networking, and new this year, live Twitter streams throughout the day-long events. Its efforts on Twitter have resulted in more than 160,000 impressions, reaching nearly 10,000 unique users.
ImageNet’s headquarters, remodeling by the project’s architect, Elliott + Associates. Photo by Scott McDonald, Gray City Studios.
ImageNet Consulting, LLC
Oklahoma City, OK
Year Founded: 1956
CEO: Pat Russell/Thomas Russell, Chairman
Number of Employees: 415
Primary Vendors: Canon, HP, Konica Minolta, Ricoh, Samsung, Toshiba, Sharp
Primary Solutions Offerings: Laserfiche, Uniflow, PaperCut, Drivve, eCopy
Primary Supplies Vendors: Supplies Network, Canon, Ricoh, Samsung, Katun, Synnex
Approximate Yearly Revenues: $111-$125 million
Fastest Growing Segments of ImageNet’s Business: Hardware (24%), Service and Supplies (13%), Software (16%)
Biggest Accomplishment of the Past Year: Completing four acquisitions and successfully integrating them into its culture.
Why We Consider ImageNet Elite:
- Its consulting services strategy, which covers the entire lifecycle of the document. These services deliver incredible value by improving employee productivity while reducing costs.
- Its emphasis on honesty and integrity throughout the organization as well as its flexibility to allow associates the freedom to be creative without corporate interference.
- Its “Green” marketing strategy that is the foundation of its MPS program along with its Electronic Document Management program, both of which are cleverly marketed to customers and prospects via educational and informative flyers and brochures.
- Vendor recognition, including being twice named an HP Partner of the Year, being named Samsung Partner of the Year, and acknowledgement as a 10-Time Top Canon Volume Dealer.
- Its community and charitable efforts, ranging from sponsorship of the Oklahoma City Arts Council, involvement in blood drives, and the many fund raising activities its associates are involved in within their local communities.
Marco, Inc.
St. Cloud, MN
Year Founded: 1973
Owner/CEO: Jeff Gau
Number of Employees: 910
Primary Vendors: Microsoft, Mitel, Sharp, HP, Konica Minolta, M-Files, March, Canon, Cisco, Crestron, Tech Data, Samsung, vmware, X2O Media
Primary Solutions Offerings: IT Services, Hosted/Cloud services, Managed Services, Telecom Carrier Consulting Services, Phone Systems, Document Management, Audio/Video Systems
Primary Supplies Vendors: West Point Products, LMI
Primary Leasing Partners: GreatAmerica, U.S. Bank
Approximate Yearly Revenues: $212 million
Fastest Growing Segments of Marco’s Business: Managed IT and cloud services.
Biggest Accomplishment of the Past Year: Managed Services offerings (Managed IT Services, Managed Print Services, Cloud Services, and Carrier Services) grew from $8 million in 2011 to $25 million in 2014. These offerings are projected to reach $32 million in 2015. It also acquired and integrated six companies in 2014, expanding its geography to include the state of Illinois.
Why We Consider Marco Elite:
- A focus on acquiring companies that it can overlay with Managed Services. These solutions have been designed to be portable to cover its broad geographic regions and national accounts.
- Amazing growth. Marco currently has over 25,000 customers, up from 9,000 just five years ago as well as 42 offices in seven states.
- Creation of a process for conducting semi-annual client business reviews, which incorporates customer facing metrics for all services Marco provides. This helps Marco define the value it provides to customers and creates an opportunity to discuss their key focus areas for the upcoming year. Customers are provided with a comprehensive report of their activity by product/service. Last year, Marco engaged roughly 250 Managed IT clients in the semi-annual client business review.
- Development of an internal/external marketing communication plan to position its hosted/cloud and managed offerings. This includes two videos to outline the three types of cloud offerings available from Marco. It also created a downloadable cloud e-book and cloud infographics that are promoted through Marco’s blogs, website, and its sales reps.
- Establishment of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) to create a premier group of employees committed to doing what’s best for the company and giving back to the community.
RJ Young CEO Chip Crunk
RJ Young
Nashville, TN
Year Founded: 1955
Owner/CEO: Chip Crunk
Number of Employees: 497
Primary Vendors: Canon, HP, Lexmark, Ricoh, Mimaki, Samsung, 3D Systems
Primary Solutions Offerings: PSigen, iDatix, Square 9, SmartSearch, PaperCut, UniFlow
Primary Supplies Vendors: Ricoh, Canon, HP, Lexmark, Samsung, Katun, Q2
Primary Leasing Partners: Offers its own in-house leasing program
Approximate Yearly Revenues: $100+ million
Fastest Growing Segments of RJ Young’s Business: Production Printing (+215% from 2012-2014), Software Solutions (+51% from 2012-2014), Managed Print Services (+40% from 2012-2014)
Biggest Accomplishment of the Past Year: Growth in Production Printing, fueled by market demand and manufacturer product launches.
Why We Consider RJ Young Elite:
- Its focus on helping customers’ businesses become productive and successful via its ability to be product independent while providing a complete solution.
- The “Make It Right” guarantee, which is the foundation of all involvement with the customer.
- Its team of specialists that design custom solutions, using a portfolio of integrated solutions, including equipment, software, network support services, and outsourced printing services. This allows RJ Young to be a true partner for its customers and their businesses.
- Its culture constantly encourages employees to go beyond in effort, but also rewards the employee for their performance. The dealership has high standards and expectations, but also provides opportunities for development and encourages managers and their teams to have fun.
- Its support of the local community. Sales managers have annual donation budgets that total approximately $100,000 at their discretion in support for local organizations. In addition, the annual John T. Crunk scholarship program distributes four $4,000 scholarships annually to children of RJ Young employees.
