By all accounts, 2024 has gotten off to a solid, if unspectacular, start. As we’ve noted in other stories, both in the magazine and newsletter articles, dealers are experiencing “first world” problems, such as the need to add staff and more physical space. It seems dealers are better off than they were just 12 months ago, and the hope is that the customer engagement level remains at least as brisk heading into the second half of the year.
The question on the minds of many is, what products/services are clicking on all cylinders for dealers? What has been your bread and butter as we approach the midway point of 2024? As you ponder your own business’ fortunes, we’ve canvassed our dealer panel to find out the whats and whys behind the growth.
The question: Where are you currently seeing the most growth? Is it the result of a focused sales campaign, or a product of market demand?
Chip Miceli, CEO, Pulse Technology, Schaumburg, Illinois
The one area we’re seeing strong growth is in our audio visual (AV) department. We’re selling more screens and systems. In Illinois and Indiana, more town halls in the states are now video streaming and recording governmental meetings. We just set one up one in Indiana and are getting appointments throughout the state.
As far as marketing, we’re doing a lot through HubSpot on the social media and outreach front. Our website is getting a lot higher visibility and we’re getting a number of leads from it.
Barry Simon, president, Datamax, Little Rock, Arkansas
We continue to find our best growth from our 2024 sales/marketing plans, themed “Synergetic.” Being “synergetic” simply means working cohesively across all departments, but also doing so with optimal energy (synergy + energy). On the sales side, it revolves around a lot of energetic targeted top 50 sales prospecting activities leveraging Kingston Vertical methodologies. On the marketing side, shortly we will be launching our First Time Account (FTA) In-bound Marketing Nurture, focused on building awareness about what to look for from your next technology partner. As part of that campaign, our 7 Point Partner Inspection eBook hits hard on the top seven things that customers get the most frustrated with from their current copier provider.
To succeed with these initiatives, among others, we recognize that internally, departments must be working both cohesively and energetically.
As it relates to products, we’ve expanded our product line in Texas to include Kyocera and are rejuvenating our production print efforts to better bolster revenues. Additionally, our VoIP unified communications, managed IT services, and cybersecurity initiatives are having positive impact on our 2024 revenue stream. Needless to say, we realize we need quite a few arrows in the quiver these days to maximize our market exposure.
Tim Renegar, president, Kelly Office Solutions, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Actually, three areas. We are experiencing the best percentage growth in document management solutions. The market has been there for some time; we just didn’t have the emphasis and the structure around selling it. We do now and it is paying good dividends. We are experiencing great revenue growth in our traditional copier printer group. This is mainly driven by a dedicated specialist in production print that is extremely knowledgeable and experienced as well as large takedowns. I think the large deals are being driven by frustrated customers with some of the larger organizations they are currently doing business with. The bureaucracy, lack of flexibility, and inconsistent support has taken its toll. Also, MNS. I think for our organization, our reputation and client list is becoming a huge asset. We are currently backlogged in our onboarding and we are onboarding much larger customers.
Casey Lowery, president, Applied Innovation, Grand Rapids, Michigan
We are seeing the biggest percentage growth in managed IT. We’ve tried to put a big focus on cross-selling this year and it feels like we are starting to see some results. We’ve slightly changed how we recognized revenue for the team and put an emphasis on driving leads among the different pillars of our business. We make small adjustments annually to try to drive as much cross-sell as possible.
Stephanie Keating Phillips, director of production print and solutions, AIS, Minnetonka, Minnesota
This quarter, AIS has worked with a majority of our K-12 and higher education clients regarding security. Whether it is a conversation on AI and the impact this technology will have on students and staff or securing student data with software and hardware and even on-prem security solutions. Security is a top priority to our partners and allows a dealership like AIS to continue to offer diverse solutions to our clients.
Brett Cosich, COO, Proven IT, Tinley Park, Illinois
Remote work is going by the wayside as office occupancy levels continue to rise. Workers are coming back to the office in force under the guise of the “hybrid model” of one to two days working from home. This has led to an increased focus on workflows, automation and integration, as a significant amount of the workforce is now in a commuter office state where as they “hotel” at different spaces with the need to incorporate and leverage all platforms from wherever.
In addition, the IT department has been focused on providing more data, visibility and transparency into their department and teams. This has created a big push for a partner that can produce both on the front end through extensive pre-sale assessments, and on the management side with integrated dashboards, reporting and metrics, and predictive trends that readily show the value of their data.
Security continues to be top of mind. The risk of data loss, vulnerability, and human error/behaviors have led to a focus on risk avoidance and policies that eliminate potential threats.
Moreover, the final trend that we have seen and been taking advantage of is the increased need for IT leaders to rationalize their IT spend overall. Clients continue to look for flexible, predictable, cost-effective solutions that reduce the burden of ownership and provide predictable monthly expenses.
These market conditions continue to shape our offerings and tailor our solutions to what the client is looking for. We have doubled down on data and visibility, with a significant focus on helping the IT leader create value and metrics in their environment. Our extensive data driven process, reporting, and flexible offering have streamlined our sales approach to answer the clients call to what matters most.
