Pandemic Gives Birth to Growth-Minded Epic Office Solutions, Buoyed by Epson Technology

There have been times during his professional career when Cliff Kilman confesses he was scared. For more than 10 years, Kilman routinely helped consummate the sale of $25 million companies and acted as a consultant for start-up companies. When that many zeroes are involved, it’s only natural to feel anxious pangs.

Curiously, however, when Kilman sat down with business partner Mark Allen to discuss creating a new office technology dealership, Epic Office Solutions of Tyler, Texas, right in the middle of a pandemic, fear wasn’t a motivating factor. Both Kilman and Allen had decades of experience under their belts, albeit in different markets—Kilman was the office technology industry veteran, while Allen had plied his craft in the hospice and home health care sectors. But they were united by their desire to create a better mousetrap to serve the needs of East Texas (and beyond) businesses.

Forging a solid relationship with Epson as an authorized (and now Platinum-level) dealership hasn’t hurt, either. But the most incredible aspect is that Epic has been in business only since June 2020, and is already burning a path toward what its owners expect to be a $100 million-level performer in multiple states, primarily on the strength of organic growth.

And in this case, fear is not an option for Kilman. “When the pandemic hit, for some reason the timing to start this company seemed right, and I haven’t been scared,” he observed.

Kilman debuted in the industry back in the early 1990s, when he served as a technician for Minuteman Office Systems, then Dahill Industries, the latter a Sharp and Konica Minolta reseller. He moved into sales with Dahill before joining East Texas Copy Systems (later acquired by Datamax), and would eventually move on to other regional/vice president of sales positions with various dealers.

Furloughed during the pandemic, Kilman had been entertaining the thought of starting his own business for the past five years. After all, he knew sales, service and admin, had experience as a branch manager and knew what it takes to build an effective team. And he had long known Allen, who worked with Kilman in a previous sales stint.

Allen brought with him a different perspective. He had more than 10 years of experience in the home health and hospice space, and was the president and CEO of Hospice Connection, which he’d sold to Traditions Health last February. Allen, too, was in search of a new business venture, and quickly agreed to join forces with Kilman to form Epic.

Not So Odd Couple

What the men had in common was much more valuable than the differences in their backgrounds. Kilman had sold extensively throughout East Texas for years, and Allen’s firm had made great inroads into hospitals, doctor’s offices and nursing homes. And their business connections were not relegated to the Lone Star State. Marrying dealership experience with a strong foothold in such a critical vertical gave the company a running head start. Many of their competitors had sold to out-of-state interests, and the owners relished the opportunity to be local and offer differentiated technology.

“A lot of the companies I had worked for in recent years were really not that diverse,” Kilman, the CEO, explained. “My vision was to create a company that was willing to be diverse. Change is on everybody’s mind, which gave us the ability to come in and do things differently from how the industry has been run for the last 30 years, to offer things in our marketplace that haven’t been offered.”

The dealer currently has eight employees, and when a company is starting from the ground floor, one of the toughest issues it faces is establishing a corporate culture during its growth phase. Thus, it was important from the beginning that Kilman and Allen quickly set the tone with an employee-first mentality and an open-door policy to foster a family atmosphere. With a variety of experience levels among the staff, including several industry newcomers, Kilman believes identifying the strengths and weaknesses will be essential to forging that family-type bond.

The biggest challenge involved getting set up, but within three months, they were able to secure leasing companies, an office in Tyler, a cornerstone manufacturer in Epson and various vendor and supplier partners. But of all the concerns the owners had, generating net-new relationships was not one of them.

“We’ve been pleasantly surprised by the ease with which we’ve been able to push these Epson units into the market,” said Allen, Epic’s president. “It certainly helped that we had a lot of high-level connections that allow us to meet with CEOs and decision makers right away. We’re not knocking on doors and getting turned away. The Epson products are a totally different technology than people are accustomed to seeing around here. As a result, we’re finding it quite easy to close deals.

“We’ve worked really hard to build our reputations, and we need to make sure that our service is top-notch. If a customer needs something, we must go above and beyond to deliver. We found coming into this that clients are willing to give us an opportunity because of what we’ve done in our previous lives. I had developed a network of people who entrust me with their patients, so they would certainly entrust me with their copiers.”

Epic Takedown

For the time being, Epic is willing to be that up-and-down-the-street provider in addition to serving health care and law firm clients, among others. But the point of differentiation that has gained traction for the firm is selling the WorkForce Enterprise series through its Epson relationship. The dealer’s crowning takedown so far is the placement of 85 units (10 A3 units and 75 A4s) with Azalea Orthopedics, a large orthopedic group in Tyler. For years, Allen had done business with Azalea on the home health side, and adding the high-profile client has led to a number of deals with other health care entities.

The installation took about two weeks due to working within the constraints of Azalea’s schedule, requiring early-morning and late-evening work to complete the project. Epic was able to pull off the installation without a hitch. Sourcing the units was not an issue; Kilman was mindful of the challenges dealers have with procuring product during the pandemic, so the dealer had already fortified its on-hand stock of machines.

“One of the things that helped us gain the account was the service piece of the hardware,” Kilman noted. “Anthony Brooks, Azalea CEO, made it clear that because of COVID, they didn’t want any extra bodies entering their facilities, meaning technicians. That was something we were able to capitalize on, because the technology of the Epson products—having fewer moving parts—means it would require less service. The CEO could appreciate that logic, and it made for a slam-dunk decision on his part.”

In truth, Epson spoke to Kilman’s desire to deliver that unique experience to clients by providing PrecisionCore Heat-Free Technology, and inkjet is a critical piece toward establishing a point of differentiation. He wanted to offer a product that wasn’t so service-intensive, and while researching the options during Epic’s blueprint phase, Epson caught Kilman’s eye. He met with Epson territory rep Jeff Fox; they shared many common connections and were soon able to forge a relationship between the OEM and fledgling dealer.

Not needing to be staffed heavily on the service technician side helped sell Kilman on the inkjet products. “The relationship has been fantastic,” he said. “We’re learning and growing together as to what we can do. I’d been researching for a better way since 2017, and we believe we’ve found it.”

Epson, in turn, is invigorated by the tenacity displayed by Epic’s team, according to Mark Mathews, vice president, North America Commercial Sales and Marketing for Epson America.

“If you want to know the secret sauce behind Epic, it’s that they are out there grinding every day,” he said. “They’ve identified a differentiated approach and are seeing success because of it. We have a collaborative relationship that truly is win-win. It’s exciting to see how we’ve been able to grow together and take the feedback that they provide and implement it real-time to better serve their needs. We foresee our partnership strengthening and becoming more strategic over time because of this.”

Organic Blueprints

Major growth initiatives are in the works for 2021. Epic has designs on becoming a large dealer in several states, with Fort Worth and metro Atlanta operations on tap that will add presence in Alabama as well. The plan, according to Allen, is to open two new locations per quarter—an organic initiative. As the company scales, he wouldn’t rule out M&A as a growth option, but for now the greenfield additions will be focused on areas where they have existing business connections that can grow a location to $1 million in revenue.

Along with Epson and the other brands they represent, Epic can install and service every major manufacturer brand on the strength of its distribution connections. What the product and service future holds for the dealer is largely dependent upon customer demand.

“We will take whatever the market is looking for,” Kilman noted. “Right now, we can push copiers and printers, but we’re also looking to do stand-alone scanners, projectors and plotters. Within the next year, we’ll probably cross the production bridge with the accounts we’re bringing online. We’ll see what the market brings our way.”

With many industry providers doing furloughs and layoffs, Epic is positioned to expand its sales, territories and offices with experienced professionals who, absent COVID-19, might not be available. The pandemic has also given client prospects the opportunity to take stock of their vendors, and offering the unique Epson technology that provides high productivity without the need for constant service support resonates with cash-strapped organizations.

Epic’s first-year sales are anticipated to fall in the $2 million range (June to June), with 2021 year-end projecting somewhere between $4 million and $5 million. Long-range, both Allen and Kilman see the dealership as a $100 million operation. Controlled growth, a strong corporate culture and the Epson partnership will go a long way toward dictating whether their lofty goals are viable.

“We have big dreams. We talk about it all the time, and we’re set to go out and make it happen,” Allen remarked. “We can talk about it until we’re blue in the face, but if we don’t go out and execute, we’re just talking.”

Failure won’t occur for a lack of effort, according to Kilman. “We both work half-days,” he joked. “We just pick the 12 hours that we each work.”

Change Agents

As the company gears toward achieving success in its first full calendar year, Kilman sees the ability to accept and embrace change as vital not just to a greenfield operation, but to any business. As a new dealer, Epic is not bound by any preconceived notions or operating philosophies. Becoming that agent of change, instead of its victim, helps to eliminate fear. And it’s been a long time since Kilman was scared.

“If a person can open their mind to what’s going on, there’s change to be had for everyone,” he said. “The pandemic has affected everyone, but in a business environment, change is OK. Most people are scared to death of it. In our case, if we’re able to come in and offer a better solution, maybe at a better cost or whatever that entails, we’ll have great success. We’re not going in with the traditional cost-per-copy model on everything—we can and we will if that’s what they want—but we don’t need to be that lowest-cost provider.”

For Allen, having launched a company during one of the toughest economic environments in recent history is proof positive that Epic will flourish. After all, both executives are accustomed to winning.

“Cliff has been successful every stop along the way, and I’ve been successful with my business,” he said. “We can do whatever we want to do as long as we put the time and effort in and grind. If we can do this during a pandemic, imagine what we can do once the vaccine is widely available. We have a clear path to success.”