For all of his success as the founder and CEO of Loffler Companies, Jim Loffler doesn’t feel as if his company has finally arrived. Sure, the Bloomington, Minnesota-based dealership has checked off many of the boxes for success—15 locations, 565 employees, and projected sales in Read More

You deserve a pat on the back. But why, you may ask? Because you’ve ingratiated your dealership deep within the heart of your client base, courtesy of managed services. In crafting a managed print/IT service contract, you’re providing clients with a solution that takes into Read More

It might have been Luke Goldberg who first coined the phrase Amazon of Things (AoT) as a play off the Internet of Things (IoT), which has been slowly but surely gripping our personal and professional lives. Amazon, of course, continues on its path to become exactly what analysts, Read More

In the last week or so, talks of a recession have become louder, though not everyone agrees that the indicators are pointing toward the big R. A story in the Wall Street Journal earlier this week pointed out that stocks declined the previous week after the 10-year Treasury yield Read More

It’s easy to see why Mike Stramaglio projects an image of someone who tends to live in the moment.  The president of the MWA Business Unit under Konica Minolta’s All Covered has endured constant reminders pertaining to his mortality, as well as that of his loved ones, Read More

There’s a wealth of information to be had for dealers who are considering selling a business they may have spent a lifetime developing. It’s not an easy call by any stretch, which is why consultants and lawyers often enter the picture at some juncture. But we have some free Read More

When it comes to client engagements, John Eckstrom—the president and CEO of Carolina Business Equipment (CBE)—has just one question for his team members: will it amaze? That’s quite a tall order. An amazing experience is certainly not something that one encounters on a daily Read More

Want a fun exercise? Try saying the words that comprise EBITDA as fast as you can, even just once. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. By the second or third try, it sounds almost robotic. Perhaps it’s appropriate, because we’re talking about cold, Read More

Walk into Steve Gau’s office, and you might find a framed picture of John McCain on the wall. Gau is an unabashed fan of the late senator’s free-wheeling, maverick style. That conjures images of a nonconformist, an unconventional free-spirited individual. And that’s just Read More

In conjunction with this month’s state of the industry focus on mergers and acquisitions, we’d like to provide you with a look at the various stumbling blocks that can either stall or completely stymie a deal before the final contract is signed. Often times, the obvious sticking Read More

Back in the early 2000s, Judith Jarvis had reached a transition point in her life. The University of Redlands graduate had lost her job, and the financial situation cost Jarvis her car. Undaunted, Jarvis canvassed the employment landscape in search of positions that yielded a Read More

For years, the trade press, consultants, manufacturers and industry think tanks have preached to the office technology dealership masses. The message of their sermon? The need to offer the most-comprehensive menu of products and services to end users, extending beyond the MFP box Read More

Mike Marusic makes no bones about it. The humble MFP was, is and always will be the key launching pad from which opportunities can abound for office technology dealerships. But that’s not to say the president and CEO of Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America (SIIC Read More

Patrick Flesch remembers that special feeling he had while climbing into his car, fresh off his first copier sale of a $2,000 Sharp unit to a small construction company in Oak Brook, Illinois. That sense of satisfaction that accompanied closing the deal was more than enough to Read More

My, but what a difference a couple of years can make. Two years ago, we featured a number of major office technology dealership players in the merger and acquisition (M&A) space, and suffice it to say that the field of competitors has grown significantly in just the past 24 Read More