Relationship-Building: Vertical Strategies Enable Office Dealers to Dominate Market Niches

This month’s State of the Industry report takes on the issue of vertical markets and how dealers are able to leverage their segment knowledge, technology proficiency, software and manufacturer expertise to craft a product and solution package that can best serve the particular needs of a given sector, such as health care, legal, education, government and finance. In the end, however, what are we really talking about?

The answer, of course, is relationships, the “who you know” end of the business proposition. That seems simple enough in theory, but what about in practice? Accounts are lost primarily through the breakdown of a relationship. They falter through neglect or when there’s turnover either with the vendor or the client. Sure, you can blame the Great Resignation, the pandemic or any number of other factors that caused a disconnect in the relationship. But when a dealer is unable, unwilling or inattentive to delivering on the promises that were once the bedrock of a contractual agreement, the blame lies with one party and one party alone.

As you’ll see from this month’s panel of dealers who have successfully served the needs of a particular vertical, the key to solidifying relationships lies in entrenchment. It’s not so much how deals are won, but how relationships are maintained, cultivated, grown and enriched. How far will you go beyond your service-level agreements (SLAs) to ensure the long-term viability of your relationships? How do you expand upon promises? What would a client say about their experiences with your dealership that would encourage another business to consider you as a provider?

Rules of Engagement

Swimming against the tide seems to be the M.O. for United Business Technologies (UBT) of Gaithersburg, Maryland. During a time when large-scale MFP placements were problematic at best, the dealer enjoyed record-setting hardware sales volume, predominantly serving enterprise accounts. From a vertical perspective, UBT counts education, legal and entertainment among its top market sectors—all of which are difficult segments to dominate. Perhaps none more so than a fourth, critical domain UBT has enjoyed much success in serving: state, local and federal government.

UBT employs a dedicated federal government representative who’s helped the dealership become firmly entrenched in a number of entities. In working with the Joint Service Provider (JSP), UBT won a bid that sees more than 2,500 Canon and HP devices placed within the Pentagon. The dealer also captured a 10-year, multimillion-dollar pact with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), noted Stu Wise, president and COO of UBT.

The federal space is hotly contested; many jobs go out to bid, and oral presentations are required in addition to finely crafted RFPs. With OEMs including Xerox and Canon vying for bids, UBT uses discretion in the opportunities it pursues, and it ensures the contracts aren’t solely driven by price.

Having that dedicated person who understands the contract vehicles and the connections between who the government can and cannot buy from is important. Otherwise, we could end up wasting a lot of time in that space.

– Stu Wise, United Business Technlogies

“We’re very effective in that space when we’re able to talk about our value proposition,” Wise noted. “We’re not taking a stab at every RFP out there; we need to have some sort of relationship, know the contract vehicle and have the ability to do an oral presentation. The differentiation is based off our value proposition—the white-glove service and account management that we provide.”

RFPs are exacting; the information must speak specifically to the questions, and extraneous information can lead to exclusion. UBT’s rep not only has an extensive background in consulting, he’s also a highly effective writer who understands the interpretation of the questions. The dealer has also partnered with 8(a) organizations that have access to direct contract vehicles, enabling UBT to widen its scope.

“Having that dedicated person who understands the contract vehicles and the connections between who the government can and cannot buy from is important,” he added. “Otherwise, we could end up wasting a lot of time in that space.”

Service expectations are quite demanding and often require accessibility on weekends. Security clearances are required for technicians. In the case of the SEC pact, which spans no fewer than 16 states, UBT needed the ability to sell and service with the same SLAs across the country. That’s where the dealer’s enterprise references—a laundry list of national clients including Paramount, CBS, Discovery Channel and Marriott—paid dividends. Its relationships with Canon and HP also address the need for high-quality products the government seeks.

UBT relies on third-party software and solutions, from Canon’s uniFLOW (legal) to ecoprintQ and PaperCut (education), and also has a home-grown solution for the legal market. From a broader perspective, UBT’s one-year, money-back guarantee—somewhat of an industry outlier—provides safeguards for entities in verticals such as education and legal to right-size their fleets in the face of volatile usage. It’s more a peace-of-mind play to convince clients to take on new equipment as opposed to renewing due to uncertainty of needs; actual return rates are less than half of one percent.

UBT provides educational forums that are both vertical-specific and segment-agnostic. Last fall, the dealer hosted a cybersecurity forum led by a subject-matter expert (SME) attorney, who discussed vulnerabilities and tied the conversation back to MFP technology. UBT is also involved with multiple chapters of the Legal Administrators Association, which has led to net-new business that far outweighed the modest investments. By joining a cooperative purchasing organization for private schools in the Washington, D.C., market, UBT secured a $1.2 million contract with a large private institution that was dissatisfied with the incumbent OEM vendor. As the deal falls under the cooperative, other members have the ability to piggyback off the terms, providing even more opportunities for UBT.

Creative Thinking

A prime example of a dealer that’s willing to go off-script in its quest to infiltrate a sector is Repeat Business Systems of Albany, New York. President Dawn Abbuhl attacked the health care sector within six months of opening her doors, offering fax machines to regional health systems. She then looked for opportunities to provide singularly unique services, particularly in areas competitors wouldn’t dare tread.

When one hospital made the unusual request to have the dealer train its own people on how to repair copiers (a hard no for RBS’ competitors), Abbuhl received manufacturer approval, and RBS provided a tutorial for two employees. It didn’t take long for the hospital to realize it wasn’t in their best interest to convert staff into techs; regardless, Abbuhl had earned her stripes with the client.

“When they got busy, they decided it wasn’t the best use of their time,” she noted. “But we were able to take over their service. I’ve always been on the lookout for ways we can be different and provide value.”

RBS proved to be a forerunner with its 24/7 response program. Abbuhl capitalized on workflow and faxing software, and middleware for electronic health records (EHR). Bleeding-edge solutions didn’t deter the dealer—some worked, others were less successful. As health systems frequently look to new EHR solutions, Abbuhl ensures she has the lowdown on any new software in order to provide critical input to clients.

From products to marketing strategies, Abbuhl has remained fully ahead of the industry’s curve, and it’s reflected in RBS serving virtually every hospital within its market, and many of those relationships are longstanding. Even those not under contract with RBS have some of their equipment.

We started doing in-house leasing with accounts, so now it’s hard for any vendor to come in because we own all the equipment.

– Dawn Abbuhl, Repeat Business Shystems

Educating clients has long been a priority for RBS, which holds lunch-and-learn sessions for a local hospital association and is active in area chambers of commerce and trade shows. Post-pandemic, it provided security presentations to show how MFPs were breached when employees returned on premises and created a protocol for hardening devices. It also resonated with clients when RBS provided free IT support during the conversion to remote work and forgiveness on leasing.

“We started doing in-house leasing with accounts, so now it’s hard for any vendor to come in because we own all the equipment,” Abbuhl said. “They would need to buy out 700 or 800 devices, which would be challenging. It’s been a great strategy for us.”

Abbuhl also insulates RBS from competitive bids by providing a comprehensive list of examples—such as emergency loaners and free IT services—where the dealer provided a value add or services in excess of the contract terms. “That’s a gentle reminder of the value we offer,” she added.

Organizational Support

Understanding a customer’s challenges and pain points is only the first step to adequately addressing the needs of a given vertical. Cincinnati-based Prosource can attest to this, as it serves a bevy of market segments, including health care, education, government, legal, financial services, professional services, non-profits, and manufacturing and distribution. Devising a customized solution is made simpler by a sales organization that has completely bought into the company’s vertical market approach, bolstered by the continuous training and development of its internal SMEs and vertical-focused account managers.

Jay Cartisano, Prosource president, notes the dealership has built internal structures to support its segmented focus. “Our customer care advocates are critical to the success of our larger vertical market clients, bringing a deep understanding of the needs of the market and providing dedicated, white-glove support. Our project managers work to ensure the success of our implementations with a market-tested approach,” he said.

Prosource also relies on its OEMs’ expansive knowledge of select verticals. Reps who cover health care and government accounts complete intensive OEM certification courses that center on key solutions and value propositions within those markets, in addition to topics such as security, GPOs and workflows.

Having a solid go-to-market strategy and a well-established track record provides points of differentiation that give Prosource an edge among clients in its territories, according to Cartisano. Benchmarking clients is key, as the dealer can validate strategies and solutions proven to drive results.

Part of our go-to-market strategy is pairing that local support with our ability to leverage technology from our various manufacturers to deliver a best-of-breed solution.

– Jay Cartisano, Prosource

Offering a local support structure that entails billing and leasing along with service and support underscores Prosource’s commitment to clients’ ongoing success. The dealer can also scale its support structure and platform to accommodate the needs of larger, national clients.

“Part of our go-to-market strategy is pairing that local support with our ability to leverage technology from our various manufacturers to deliver a best-of-breed solution,” Cartisano added. “That gets the conversation started, and from there, we can help uncover an organization’s pain points, bottlenecks and criteria for success as we work together to develop a co-authored solution grounded in their unique needs and goals—informed by our depth and breadth of experience within that vertical. As needed, we can scale our offering and support and bring in additional expertise from our manufacturers.”

The dealer also leverages vertical marketing campaigns that highlight its market-specific applications of services and solutions: e.g., MPS within hospitals, schools and financial institutions; document automation/enterprise content management configurations for manufacturing, distribution and local government; and security solutions/managed services configured for K-12 schools, manufacturing and legal services.

Prosource has a substantial market outreach engagement platform across a number of verticals; it includes involvement in entities such as the Association of Legal Administrators and the International Legal Technology Association. The dealer serves as a resource to these associations, from presenting on a technology topic to contributing articles on cybersecurity concerns for legal professionals. Internally, Prosource authors blogs on market-specific concerns, including its quarterly K-12 newsletter that examines trends in educational technology. The dealer also provides content for external industry publications.

“Widening our reach into different vertical markets is also about building relationships,” Cartisano noted. “In addition to participating in conferences and seminars specific to verticals such as legal and education, we’re active in chambers of commerce across our geographic markets. This enables our reps to foster relationships with other business professionals and begin to develop their own key referral networks.”

Vertical Credibility

With a host of verticals including legal, health care, government, faith-based, manufacturing, commercial printing, education and finance, Loffler Companies of St. Louis Park, Minnesota, focuses on being an active participant in educational presentations, often in concert with associations and organizations that serve the respective sectors. James Loffler, company president, believes it’s the dedicated vertical teams and the long-term involvement in the associations and the sector that have earned it a staunch reputation.

“There’s a consistency and trust in the relationship factor,” he said. “When you spend time in those verticals from a solution standpoint, you really understand the unique challenges each of these industries have. Finance has to deal with a lot of compliance issues, so we’re able to step in with the client’s cybersecurity team and offer an assessment that’s relevant to the industry and not a cookie-cutter solution that doesn’t check the boxes necessary for that market.”

Loffler boasts a comprehensive set of IT solutions including a full suite of managed services. All these solutions can be fully integrated, and clients can take advantage of customized Power BI dashboards that provide insight into the operational efficiencies.

When you spend time in those verticals from a solution standpoint, you really understand the unique challenges each of these industries have.

– James Loffler, Loffler Companies

According to Loffler, each of the company’s technology practices has a practice manager who is an expert in his/her field. “All our vertical-specific sales reps are backed by solutions experts. For example, we have an expert who understands Canon’s uniFLOW application and the legal space, so he’s able to consult with the law firms on how to enhance, optimize and secure their workflow.

While Loffler Companies offers a litany of lunch-and-learn events, its crown jewel is Tech Fest, which welcomes around 600 attendees every other year for an education-based experience completely devoid of selling. On a more micro level, the dealer has fun-themed events for clients such as commercial printers and another (Jingle Mingle) aimed at the legal community. As is the case with Tech Fest, these gatherings are more about blending education and entertainment.

Buyer’s Journey

Usherwood Office Technology has solidified ties within the health care, education, professional services, manufacturing and not-for-profit sectors. The dealer embraces a client-first approach bolstered by a program called the Odyssey Discovery process, according to Scott Titus, marketing director for the Syracuse, New York-based dealer.

“The Odyssey Discovery process encompasses a lot of time and effort in the early stages of the buyer’s journey to really get to know the client’s needs and goals and some of the unique challenges they face,” Titus said. “By investing this time up front, we become more knowledgeable about the vertical in general and are able to promote solutions that clients in these verticals really need and are seeking out.”

A common denominator across these verticals, according to Titus, is flexibility and service. As an independent dealer, Usherwood can offer various solutions at different price points that best fit the end-user’s needs and budget.

“Combined with our industry-specific knowledge, this helps us position ourselves as not just a seller of a product, but as a full-service business technology solutions company that can help them solve the problems they’re facing,” he noted. “This added value helps set us apart from the competition and gives us the ability to compete on more than just price, which can be a tenuous position.”

The Odyssey Discovery process encompasses a lot of time and effort in the early stages of the buyer’s journey to really get to know the client’s needs and goals and some of the unique challenges they face.

Scott Titus, Usherwood Office Technbology

In order to demonstrate its value proposition for the various segments, Usherwood employs a mix of educational platforms with organizational involvement, including webinars, trade shows, professional associations and content creation. Titus notes the common thread is highlighting clients in specific verticals and sharing problem resolution tactics devised by Usherwood.

“We’ve found that when this is at the center of our communications, regardless of delivery medium/tactic, it outperforms all other approaches,” he said.

Known Quantities

There’s something to be said for gaining identity and acceptance within a given vertical’s community, and EDGE Business Systems of suburban Atlanta has been able to make its bones in segments including the legal, health care, non-profit and private school markets. While the company itself is relatively new, a number of its sales reps have fashioned 15-plus year careers in serving specific client sets, according to Josh Salkin, a partner at EDGE.

“Seeing the same faces at trade shows, volunteer events and receptions helps foster the relationship as a trusted advisor,” he noted.

Significant market share has enabled EDGE to leverage relationships and best practices. The dealer’s reps rely on certain software titles that apply to a specific vertical—such as cost recovery and document management integration for the legal space—while the quality relationships have allowed EDGE to benchmark proven integrations. Salkin points out that happy clients are willing to provide future references and on-site demonstrations for prospects.

Salkin added that a number of reps have expressed an interest in becoming a specialist in a particular vertical. He believes it calls for a commitment to learn the key applications and software products prevalent in the industry in order to provide a total solution as opposed to a pure hardware play.

EDGE spends a significant amount of training on reps’ value propositions to focus on security, compliance and streamlining processes.

– Josh Salkin, EDGE Business Systems

“Today clients are looking for more than just feeds and speeds,” he said. “EDGE spends a significant amount of training on reps’ value propositions to focus on security, compliance and streamlining processes. You have to immerse yourself in the client’s software products, critical documents and workflows.”