The main feature in the November issue of ENX magazine, “Aftermarket Roundtable: What’s Hot, What’s Trending, and What’s New,” examines what’s happening on the aftermarket side of the office imaging industry. Participants in that roundtable include Luke Goldberg of MSE, Monte White of Supplies Network, Gary Willert of LMI, Eric Martin of Clover Technology, Jim Loparich of Pinnacle Sales, Eric Katz of Metrofuser, James Meyers of National Copy Cartridge, and Bob Willmes of Supplies Wholesalers. They share what’s hot, what areas of the business are cooling off, key programs and initiatives announced this year, and highlight the trends that will impact their businesses in 2015.
Because of space considerations, we couldn’t include every question and response that we originally asked during our interviews in that article. This week we present a companion piece to that roundtable discussion when we ask them “What’s the one question you wish every prospect from the dealer and reseller community would ask you that would seal the deal as far as doing business with you?”
Goldberg: How are you going to help me grow my business and be more profitable? If they all asked us that and gave us 30-45 minutes to explain just how we accomplish that there isn’t a customer we couldn’t create a long standing partnership with.
We firmly believe that our products, services, and consultative approach bring tremendous value to our customers and that we offer a degree of value that’s unmatched in the marketplace. Many believe that we are a product/technology centric company and it’s indeed true that the lynchpin of our ability to drive profit and growth for our customers lies with the quality and differentiated value of our product. However, the product does not sell itself; it takes an integrated approach that combines sales, marketing, and engineering to bring closure to the value chain.
We need to empower the dealer to embark on true OEM conversion programs so that they can take the product features and translate them into terms any end customer can understand. We enable this via a training regimen that can include Webinars, factory tours, creation of marketing support, training with sales, and service teams etc. Once this takes place and all parties are on board the end result is the dealer is able to sell a higher value product and garner a premium for it properly positioned as an OEM alternative.
Willert: How can you help us grow our business improve our profitability?
Katz: Are your products all made in the USA? We have seen, in the past two years, our biggest competitors move their production outside of the country. We still believe that one of the selling points of remanufactured product is that you are buying American labor, reinvesting in our country instead of sending dollars across the border.
Willmes: Will I be more profitable with your products and why?
White: There is no one silver bullet. Unfortunately, resellers like choice and we have a loyal customer base in our market. They like to have a choice, they’re often independent business owners and they like to have autonomy in their decision making and that plays out with distributors they want to do business with and also plays into the product they use in their business. It will be interesting to see what the consolidated Clover/MSE strategy unfolds and how that will impact the market. We’re bullish about it. We have both in our camp and I think there are some economies of scale that they’ve achieved as a larger entity that will bode well for our business.
Martin: We still find that many in the reseller community underestimate the importance and impact of the current legal environment surrounding the industry. The OEMs have very clearly shown that they are able and willing to pursue legal action to protect their intellectual property rights, and everyone in the value chain is a potential target: from other manufacturers to distributors and resellers. The misconception that a dealer or reseller is too small for the OEMs to pursue legal action against them is not only erroneous, it’s also dangerous. Resellers should be asking all of their suppliers if the products they offer IP-cleared, and understand the implication if they are not.
At Clover, we have always respected the intellectual property rights of others. We ensure that all of our products are 100% IP cleared before they are made available to our resellers, and fully indemnify those selling out products. It is our steadfast belief that the industry as a whole is healthier without cloned or counterfeit products in it, and will continue to provide a safe harbor for them with products that are guaranteed not to infringe the intellectual property rights of others.
Loparich: What does Pinnacle Sales do that separates us from our competition?
Meyers: Why should I purchase a U.S. remanufactured product vs. a new build compatible?
