For business technology resellers, success in 2020 mostly came down to two types of companies: those who diversified and those who were “lucky.”
Resellers who got “lucky” might have found themselves:
- Selling and servicing a product category that was unaffected by companies’ move to remote work
- Heavily invested in specific vertical markets that grew or were unaffected
- Offering a product that was in the right place at the right time
However, companies with diversified offerings were the ones that felt the pain less in 2020, and may have even prospered. While some of their products and product lines had dismal figures compared to prior years, others brought growth that help companies succeed. Hopefully, your dealership wasn’t too focused on a single market or product.
Now as we move forward and adapt, how can we best prepare for what’s next?
The Case for Mailing Systems
There’s a compelling rationale behind why dealers should consider mailing systems as an ancillary offering to bolster profits. They can:
- Fit into your current customer base and be sold to prospects with whom you have a rapport
- Offer profitable service contract margins
- Mesh well with the service capabilities of your dealership
- Leverage your existing sales teams
- Provide revenues that are unrelated to usage, safeguarding against changing usage patterns
- Offer controlled product with limited distribution
- Leverage favorable industry margins
The ideal product for diversification and offering expansion is one that adds to the bottom line, increases sales opportunities and fits into a dealer’s current scope of abilities. Mailing systems check off all the boxes.
Covering All Volume Bases
When deciding if this is where you want to go, the mailing volume of a client must be taken into consideration. End-users might run their own mail daily or weekly and dread heading to the post office for stamps. Firms and office parks may be consolidating mail for different departments or just running high volumes for invoicing and marketing. Then there are mailing services meant to run high volumes and make profit from reducing their postal costs.
Although you’ll find some product lines carry machines only focused on SMBs, there are others that consider all three levels of mailer. When looking at a mailing vendor, review its product line and go-to-market strategy. Does your current account base consist of a diverse group of commercial, production and SMB? You should seek out a product line that reflects your client portfolio.
Periodic Downturns
From 9/11 to the Great Recession and now during the pandemic, it seems that every 10 years or so, there’s an unexpected economic hill to climb. By diversifying your products and not putting all your stock into a narrow product scope, your dealership will be better positioned to handle the unforeseen financial ups and downs.
Claiming to know what’s coming next in this industry is only a fool’s best guess. Preparing yourself by diversifying your offerings and your reach can help you weather the unexpected—whenever it occurs.
