Atlantic Tomorrow’s Office— What Success Looks Like

With roots dating back to the early 1960’s, Atlantic Tomorrow’s Office has seen it all. As “Atlantic Photocopier” it was one of the first copier dealerships in the United States. While the company has steadfastly maintained its commitment to a “customer first” business model, it has also undergone a virtual evolution, staying one step ahead of technology and the ever-changing demands of the marketplace. That “evolution” has included several name changes over the past few decades.

President and CEO Larry Weiss bought the company when it was in bankruptcy in 1982. At that time, it consisted of seven employees and had $600,000 in revenue. In 1983, Weiss introduced a re-vamped and re-energized “Atlantic Business Products” to the industry, complete with the marketing and sales of mailing systems. The company has never looked back, experiencing continual and exponential growth throughout the years.

Larry Weiss with his sons : Jason, Adam and Larry Weiss

As printers were increasingly becoming connected to business systems, it was once again time for the company to adapt, improve and expand to support such progress. In 2003, with a forward-thinking mindset, Weiss innovated once again and Atlantic Tomorrow’s Office was born.

“The copier used to be the heart of the office,” said Weiss. “If the copier didn’t work, the office stopped—similar to today’s environment when the network goes down. We were very good at servicing the heart.”

While Atlantic Tomorrow’s Office kept a singular focus on solving their customers’ problems, the term “solutions” was a bit too over-used for Weiss. He wanted to create some “separation” between Atlantic and the rest of the industry.

“I couldn’t just call it ‘Atlantic Solutions’,” he said. “Every copier company seemed to be changing its name to ‘something solutions,’ and it had no cachet. We think we made a good choice.”

Though the company’s present name clearly connotes its dedication to adapting to change and supporting new technologies, it would ring hollow without the commitment of Atlantic’s employees and senior staff who recognized that it was imperative to include network support along with office “hardware.” To that end, IT services became an added priority, and continue to be a strong component in Atlantic’s business pursuits.

Today, Atlantic Tomorrow’s Office maintains an industry-wide reputation as a service oriented company. From its modest beginnings, it has developed into a major player in the field, with 370 employees and a 2016 revenue stream of $116 million, signifying a 12% overall growth from last year. Copier sales (including MPS) continue to comprise the lion’s share of that revenue at $106 million, while the recently completed fiscal year’s $10 million in IT services represents a 22-25% increase over last year (a rate of growth which Weiss anticipates in 2017 as well).

How does Atlantic Tomorrow’s Office maintain strong sales and growth in both hardware and IT services? Weiss attributes that growth to a laser focus approach servicing the client. ENX spoke at length with Larry Weiss to better understand how the company has stayed successful as the industry has changed over the years.

ENX: How is business this year?

Weiss: We had 22 percent growth from $8 million to $10 million on the managed services side, and the copier business grew 8 percent from $94 million to $106 million. That’s all organic, no acquisitions. So we feel very good about that and feel confident that next year will be as good, if not better, based on pipeline business we have cultivated.

ENX: What was one of your biggest wins this year?

Weiss: Combining hardware, services and supplies, one of the biggest wins, approximately $1.7 million, was in the educational field. We had more deals of that size this year than we’ve had in the past. We closed approximately 10 to 12 of the larger deals, respective vertical market from education, healthcare and Fortune 500 companies.

ENX: Can you name one major milestone that helped your company get to where it is today?

Weiss: We’ve had a lot of significant milestones that collectively amounted to something major. Most recently though, in September of 2013 we hired outside consultants to assist with forming an executive management team. The EMT focuses work on strategic plans. In other words, to strategically look at where we are and where we want to be in five years. Look for new markets, and what programs we need to design and implement so we can sell deeper and wider into the [existing] accounts. This executive management team consists of an accomplished group of industry professionals, including: VP of Service Joseph Coler; CFO Russ Klein; VP of Sales Robert Habeeb; VP of Business Development Joel Sherman; CTO Bill McLaughlin; In-House Counsel Jason Weiss and GM Adam Weiss. I meet with them quarterly. The EMT has made a big difference in our growth.

ENX: What would you say was the biggest contribution of your executive counsel team so far?

Weiss: They have developed an extensive total account penetration plan. The majority of our accounts are copier accounts, so they came up with a way to identify what copier accounts fit the stack. You can sell a copier to almost any business, but you can’t sell IT to everybody. So they’ve developed a program that looks at which clients fit the IT stack, and through the review process, they’ve developed a program that works with our CRM system. The subject matter experts then call into these accounts with or without the copier sales rep to make the introduction to sell wider and deeper. This has been very successful.

ENX: Tell us about your managed services practices.

Weiss: We have a team of “Jeopardy” champions who are able to identify our clients’ business risks and opportunities. We use no third-party support; everything we do is supported by our people. We have unique workflows that we provide based on specific client needs, including desktops, advanced IT solutions, backup disaster recovery, security protection, regulatory compliance support, and risk mitigation.

ENX: How do you differentiate your company from your competitors?

Weiss: We have a seal of satisfaction that really lays out what the clients get—guaranteed response time, a loaner or replacement program—and there’s a payback if we don’t hit some of those metrics. We’ve gone through our metrics to know exactly how many service calls we get on a monthly basis and we’ve shared with them that 94 percent of the calls are met within four hours. We also show them that we’re very committed, and investing a lot of money toward call avoidance. Twenty percent of all our copier service calls are now eliminated at our help desk. So response time can drop from four hours to 15 minutes.

We provide very specific competitive advantages that show, statistically, that we achieve these metrics (they aren’t just numbers). Clients don’t buy from the best, they buy from the less risky, so we try continually to show potential new clients that our seal of satisfaction makes us a less risky decision.

ENX: What are some of the biggest challenges these days?

Weiss: We have a unique issue—we have lots of people in their late 50s, early 60s. We have to have a “bench” to eventually replace our first-teamers. We really don’t have any plan or program in place yet. They are some significant contributors to the business whether they’re in sales, technical support, or administration. We have lots of employees with over 20 years of tenure, and their contributions have been integral to our success.

ENX: There is a lot of talk about millennials in the workplace. What do you look for in your employees? How do you recruit and retain good ones?

Weiss: When it comes to recruiting on the sales side, we have a set hiring process including a DISC profile and a sales test. It doesn’t matter who you are, millennial or whomever, we know who we want to hire because we know what works. We can’t deviate from that. They say millennials need all this freedom. I say, if that’s what they want, they can go work for somebody else.

ENX: What is your view on the changes in the industry?

Weiss: I’m going to answer that differently than most. There are always a lot of changes in the industry. It’s becoming more software and security centric, and there are different types of products, but even a company like mine, where we’re going to do $116 million at the end of our fiscal year and $10 million of that is on the IT side. That means the rest, the $106 million, is copiers. So, yes, there are changes, but I do not put quotas for my copier reps to sell other solutions. Instead, we supply them with subject matter experts who can assist them selling software, advanced scanning security, PaperCut, and document management. The old saying works—as much as everyone thinks things are different, things always remain the same. You want to see the future, look at the past. We keep a very focused approach, understand the current market and sell whatever the client wants!

ENX: What does Atlantic Tomorrow’s Office pride itself on?

Weiss: We’re just obsessed with customer excellence. That’s it. Very simple. We do not like to say “no” to our customers.

ENX: Does Atlantic have any exciting news to share?

Weiss: We have a product expo every other year. Why every OTHER year? Because if we did it every year, everybody here would quit. It’s a very hectic, non-stop day and a lot of work. The day runs from 9 am to 7 pm, and we have about 1,000 attendees with approximately 500-550 companies and two keynote speakers. At our last event we had NY Giants QB Eli Manning and former Navy SEAL Leif Babin. It’s extremely well received by clients, manufacturers and partners. The next one is in May of 2017. It’s as big as any manufacturer’s dealer show. I will send you an invite to that, so please join us and see for yourself.

ENX: What keeps you motivated and excited about the work that you do?

Weiss: At this stage in my life, I love having a positive impact on the Atlantic employees. We do our best to keep a family atmosphere, where collaboration is paramount, but hard work is, too. Everyone pulls his/her own weight, but help is always a call or cubicle away. We’ve had substantial growth as a company, and because of this growth, many employees have been promoted. It is a very satisfying feeling to see someone work hard, advance within the company and provide their own family with special things and a sense of security for the future. We feel that, just as they have contributed to Atlantic’s success, we have contributed to theirs. It’s rewarding.

ENX: What is your least favorite thing about your job?

Weiss: I hate, hate, sitting down and listening to business forecast reviews from sales reps and sales managers. That’s why the VP of sales does it, and I don’t. Not the personal reviews, mind you, but their forecast reviews, because 90 percent of their sales forecast is bullshit. You can quote me. I hate it. I don’t have the time to go through it. [laughs]

ENX: Outside of work, what do you do for fun?