Another year has come and gone, and the face of the office technology dealership community continues to grow and evolve.
In another sense, it’s contracting as well. A kind estimate would peg the volume of acquisitions at more than 100 during the past two years, and that doesn’t take into account the small tuck-ins of mom-and-pop/lifestyle operations that are consumed by regional consolidators, and never make the news wire. Even as we were putting the December issue to bed, there were about five or six deals that went down, including a pair by UBEO Business Services a week apart.
But a funny thing happened on the way to our Elite Dealer list shrinking as a result…it never happened. For every company that fell off the list due to contraction, it seems that two more were added. Our ranks swelled to 137 dealers this year, which represents a 58 percent growth during the past three years alone. Not bad for a consolidating industry. We find it encouraging that more and more dealers are seeing the value and cache that comes with being on the list (and perhaps the new listings add more candidates to M&A pipelines).
So what makes a dealer Elite? Good question…there are no hard and fast benchmarks from which we measure excellence. We attempt to highlight a range of qualities that has enabled these companies to flourish in an environment that is not without challenges. Here are a few of the characteristics that are prevalent among the industry’s finest.
Biggest business win of the year. This is a personal favorite. In the past, profiles have included extolling a company’s desire to provide quality products and services at a competitive price. This seems a little too obvious and speaks to every business across all industries. But we like to hear about the top takedown; accounts won after years of calling on a prospect, or won despite a higher price tag because the client valued service. This is particularly true for time-sensitive clients such as the education space, which have quick turn times as to not interfere with the academic calendar. This is the dealer’s time to shine, to truly exhibit responsiveness. Especially impressive are the multi-tiered offerings that bring in software and ancillary solutions. It only takes a really good (or bad) experience within a given vertical to establish a reputation. After all, these clients talk to one another.
The growing move toward inbound marketing. Hey, we have no problem with dealers who pound the pavement and knock on doors. But dealers can really flex their creative muscle by devising multi-touch marketing campaigns that call upon various social media platforms and expert-driven blogs that help establish dealers as thought leaders on a given array of subjects. Some dealers have become highly adept at hosting lunch-and-learns and educational seminars for clients and prospects—particularly in areas such as cybersecurity, where much of the information is fluid and can be vexing for the SMB crowd. Throw in website optimization and the ability to use one’s site as more of an ecommerce tool, and dealers have a true path to differentiation.
Corporate citizenship and the community. Your dealership should be more than a ratable for community tax income. Cutting a check for $250 as a donation is helpful, but not as much as organizing a charity golf event, or participating as a group in a 5K run to combat childhood illness. It’s about creating a foundation that speaks to the needs of many organizations. It is executives and employees alike working shoulder to shoulder, creating school backpacks for the underprivileged, cooking meals for the hungry, helping to make the holidays a little less depressing for children facing life-threatening illnesses. Some of our dealers have created causes that honor employees and family members who have passed away. It reinforces your company in the minds of the local community, and makes them want to include you in their circle of vendors. That’s a happy offshoot of corporate giving, but certainly not the main thrust.
If any of these characteristics are shared by your dealership, we invite you to submit your company for consideration in next year’s competition. For now, sit back, relax and enjoy this presentation of our 2019 Elite Dealers.
