Dealers Outline Path Necessary to Achieve Vertical Segment Success

A popular adage that was bandied about during the 14-month pandemic was the acknowledgment that while we were all in the same storm, our boats (and thus the ability to weather said storm) were hardly universal. The same could be said for the end-user community from a vertical market standpoint.

Depending on which segment you query, the business impact of the pandemic produced wildly differing results. The health care market—ground zero in the worldwide battle against COVID-19—was uniquely tasked, yet from a practicality standpoint, the space saw its hands tied. There was no lack of activity, but time was a premium and getting through the day, as opposed to carving out time for sales calls, became the main thrust. And on-site appointments were wholly out of the question.

The legal sector was hit particularly hard, especially at the onset, with 64,000 jobs cut in May 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. New-matter volume plunged more than 40% on average toward the end of 2020, according to research firm Clio. Anecdotally, many dealers characterized the segment as essentially shut down.

Meanwhile, the architect, engineering and construction (AEC) segment was surprisingly robust in 2020, as new-construction demand continued to rise. That seemed to catch mills, which significantly cut production in anticipation of a demand plunge, totally off guard. While the mills are now trying to compensate, prices for lumber have gone up astronomically, which has been well documented in the media.

Vertical Challenges

The hospitality segment’s woes have also been a cause du jour; the avalanche of job losses has transformed into an attempt by restaurants, hotels and the like to entice service personnel back. In May, the Washington Post reported, citing Labor Department statistics, that the industry has 1.7 million fewer jobs filled than pre-pandemic, despite more than a million job postings in the month of March.

This month’s State of the Industry focus on addressing vertical segments coincides with a critical time for dealers. They’re seeking to serve multiple segments while reconciling resumption challenges against the backdrop of pent-up demand, staffing shortfalls and on-site business proliferation as vaccines increase and mask use dissipates. We asked this month’s panel to discuss their segment strengths, solutions and efforts to expand their reach into the various markets.

Cincinnati-based Prosource has focused much of its efforts on the health care, education, government, manufacturing/distribution, legal, banking/financial and professional services markets. According to Brad Cates, president and CEO, many of these targets were developed as a natural progression, as the dealer gravitated toward certain markets and enhanced its competencies by drilling down to learn more about their challenges. Then it became a matter of formalizing its proficiencies with vertical market specializations.

“Throughout this progression, we leveraged the vertical market expertise of our manufacturer partners, who have invested a lot of time and money in developing solid messaging, value propositions, marketing collateral and materials, and solutions geared toward these markets,” Cates noted. “Those partnerships have been critical as we’ve built up and formalized our own capabilities.”

We also leverage partnerships with other vertically focused organizations to provide even more robust and/or specialized solutions to customers in those verticals.

– Brad Cates, Prosource

Cates also pointed out that Prosource has relied on subject-matter experts (SMEs) for new business development in the past 18-24 months. At the strategic account level, certain reps have vertical concentrations and can support those business development SMEs and vice versa. During the course of its vertical market evolution, the dealer has refined market-specific applications of numerous services and solutions.

Prosource has cultivated market-specific applications of its managed print services program within schools, hospitals and regional banks. When it comes to document automation and content management, the company has devised proven solution configurations for manufacturing, distribution and fulfillment and local government. The dealer also has a robust portfolio of software solutions configured for K-12 education and continues to hone its layered approach to cybersecurity to address the specialized needs of verticals including manufacturing and legal services.

The dealer augments its vertical expansion efforts by leveraging numerous channels to expand its reach in key segments. Prosource is involved with several industry associations and participates in various events, particularly in legal services through bar and legal associations, in addition to educational technology consortiums. Across government, health care and education, Prosource participates in group purchasing organizations (GPOs) to offer customers competitive pricing and a partnership built on trust and transparency.

“We also leverage partnerships with other vertically focused organizations to provide even more robust and/or specialized solutions to customers in those verticals,” Cates added. “Through these organizations, as well as through many area chambers of commerce, we’ve hosted webinars on technology and cybersecurity trends and the implications for those markets.”

As an added layer to establish itself as an authoritative, trusted resource and thought leader, Prosource produces and publishes vertical-specific content through its blogs and external industry publications. Cates notes the company recently launched a content hub specifically for K-12 schools.

Geography Drivers

Quite often, a dealer’s vertical approach is most impacted by its own geography, and Offix of Gainesville, Virginia, is a prime example. The dealer counts three of the top 25 government contractors among its client base, either on a local, regional or nationwide basis. Construction is another huge target, especially given the explosive growth in northern Virginia over the past few decades, according to Marketing Director Matteo Recanatini, especially with the development of “Silicon Alley” and players including Yahoo and AOL. Engineering has blossomed for Offix, as small agreements forged with major firms billowed into nationwide pacts.

“The reason we’ve been able to grow is because of the flexibility we offer,” Recanatini said. “We’re large enough that we can offer a suite of solutions, but not so large that we try to push a take-it-or-leave-it approach. We’ve built these relationships because (President) Steven Valenta wanted our dealership to be all about service.”

Offix has either imported or cultivated SMEs, including one in engineering. Government contracts fall under the purview of the dealer’s vice president of sales, Mitch Riehle—a retired Army Ranger officer—and retired military personnel have that special bond and insight communicating with fellow veterans. The home-spun specialists in construction have leveraged years of experience and learning cultivated through involvement in the Northern Virginia Building Industry Association (NVBIA).

Offix’s top vertical end-users also gravitate toward specific hardware needs, with engineering and architectural firms targeting wide-format printers. Canon-produced software designed for law firms can be tailored to meet other vertical needs, while temperature-scanning kiosks are more universal in nature, but provide greater inroads into retail spaces, enabling Offix to broaden its reach.

With face-to-face events—trade shows, lunch-and-learns, etc.—in a holding pattern over the past year, Offix still acted on a series of vertical-specific activities for the education space and relied on sales contests within specific verticals, including the engineering and mortgage/title spaces. The dealer also produced an end-to-end project for reps who weren’t familiar with a given vertical, providing educational sessions regarding the talking points that are relevant to respective markets—the lingo, structure of the companies, key documents, how they use office technology and the like—in order to help drum up business.

“We produced vertical-specific collateral, postcards and letters, and we created landing pages for real estate, title, engineering, architectural firms and others,” Recanatini said. “We created a series of emails that explained, depending on the talk track the rep had used, the nuts and bolts of a particular vertical. I believe in the cradle-to-grave process, not just doing a series of Facebook posts and calling it a day. We had quite a bit of success in setting up meetings.

We’re large enough that we can offer a suite of solutions, but not so large that we try to push a take-it-or-leave-it approach.

– Matteo Recanatini, Offix

“Some revenues have come our way, while some will come in the future. But having that couple days a week when we focused our reps on going after prospects and then selling to specific verticals through a balance of digital and physical marketing has yielded quite a bit of results. I don’t think that it’s sustainable over the long run, but it was a successful project, at least as a way to pivot away from broad selling.”

Back to School

Education has long been one of the most successful market segments for RJ Young, an industry leader that provides technology solutions that power southeastern businesses. The dealer has invested a significant amount of training for account executives to understand the needs and challenges the segment faces on a daily basis. CEO Chip Crunk notes the company has added specific small- and medium-sized enterprises and group purchasing organization contracts to target and grow the health care vertical.

We build segment base and foster relationships through our digital marketing efforts, including hosting webinars and publishing blogs that target specific industries.

– Chip Crunk, RJ Young

“By specializing on these contracts and the unique needs and compliance concerns of this vertical, we’ve been able to differentiate ourselves in the market and drive a true value proposition unique to that vertical,” Crunk noted.

The dealer offers a number of products that, while not specifically catered toward a given market, certainly dovetail with a segment’s requirements. A prime example is the interactive white board, which is popular with education clients and enhances teaching by engaging different learning and thinking styles in an effort to encourage innovative and engaging hands-on collaboration.

RJ Young subscribes to a community-centric mindset, proactively seeking new opportunities that impact the local economy through partnerships with local charities, according to Crunk. Among the organizations RJ Young engages are the Association of Legal Administrators, HealthTrust University (HPG Healthcare) and the Federation of American Hospitals. The dealer also plays a valuable role in working with Chambers of Commerce within the 31 locations and nine states it serves.

“We build segment base and foster relationships through our digital marketing efforts, including hosting webinars and publishing blogs that target specific industries,” Crunk added.

Wide Net

Impact Networking of Lake Forest, Illinois, services a wide-ranging and diverse array of verticals. Brad Rozmarynowski, partner and executive account manager, counts finance, insurance, nonprofit, health care, legal, hospitality, education, government, AEC and real estate among the clients under his aegis. He credits his proficiency development to a combination of traditional prospecting, referrals, organizational/association involvement and working through critical business challenges with progressive-minded executives and leaders.

“Much of the best knowledge I’ve gained over the years has been through absorbing the cause/effect relationship of business challenges from the client’s perspective, and then taking that back to our specialists and team to figure out how we can help them overcome those challenges,” he said. “I’m also very active on LinkedIn in order to follow topics of interest, interact with professionals and absorb relevant and interesting articles.”

Known for executing on a broad base of IT, cybersecurity, print needs and digital transformation, Impact Networking also burrows down to vertical-specific tools. This includes compliance-as-a-service (CaaS), which elicits strong demand in the health care and contractor spaces with the dealer’s GAP analysis, and CaaS for HIPAA (medical information privacy law) and CMMC (cybersecurity maturity model certification).

The MSP also provides custom app development and digital integration that has enabled it to build expertise within certain vertical markets. Rozmarynowski cited examples such as billing reconciliation in health care, e-commerce in logistics, claims processing in insurance, order-to-cash-cycle automation among manufacturers and distributors, and complex integrations involving DocuWare, SAP and Oracle.

“The magic layer atop all of this is Impact’s tremendous investment in resources in terms of staffing,” he stressed. “Each of our service lines has an experienced specialist dedicated to one or two sales teams, providing first-hand expertise and access to all the resources that can ideate, architect, build and support these great solutions. Among the specialists we’ve hired are seasoned IT directors, accomplished digital transformation consultants and highly regarded marketing professionals who operate side-by-side with sales in a client-facing capacity to develop new business and leverage years of vertical market knowledge.”

As an organization, Impact Networking is dedicated to making significant investments in marketing, partnerships and thought leadership, and as such, its annual sponsorship in industry-specific associations provides direct, unfettered access to member executives. The company participates in annual leadership conferences, and also sponsored and hosted guest speaking events on relevant topics. In the process, the MSP cultivated custom thought-leadership materials to educate members on their primary business concerns. Additional initiatives include chairing fundraising committees, participating in volunteer events, and attending industry webinars and speaking engagements to become more acutely informed of trends and changes that affect strategic planning for prospective clients.

Each of our service lines has an experienced specialist dedicated to one or two sales teams, providing first-hand expertise and access to all the resources that can ideate, architect, build and support these great solutions.

– Brad Rozmarynowski, Impact Networking

“In past years, there was a big focus on pro and college sports sponsorships to build familiarity,” Rozmarynowski noted. “But as our brand has gained significant market awareness, those investments have given way to the aforementioned micro-investments that are more targeted and personal in nature. This has gotten us direct exposure to executives, and the referral momentum has been accelerated among them.”

While placed on hold during the pandemic, the one resource that has proven a boon to all business development for Impact is its Optimize conference, which debuted in 2018. The last event, held in 2019, saw more than 1,000 attendees at its one-day business and technology summit. The educational tracks included vertical market elements as the MSP sought to blend its subject-matter experts with the common challenges they face.

Unique Challenges

Advanced Imaging Solutions (AIS) of North Las Vegas counts health care, education, legal, government and AEC (architects, engineering and construction) among its primary concentrations. The dealer relies on dedicated vertical market representatives and SMEs who have identified the unique challenges each segment faces, including areas such as governing laws, technology needs and the “ever-changing business climate,” according to Jeff Miller, vice president of sales.

The ultimate objective is to garner the knowledge necessary to implement best practices and stay ahead of the issues that confront the segments now and in the future. Maintaining a strong presence in peer groups such as MTA, CDA and Service Leadership also provides AIS with a diverse national view of new technology and opportunities, Miller added.

Security risk assessment, disaster recovery and business continuity are the three key business concerns, regardless of the vertical.

– Jeff Miller, Advanced Imaging Solutions

In terms of vertical-specific solutions, Miller believes delivering an agnostic approach is the key. AIS partners with the top-line MNS, telecom, IT and hardware providers, enabling the dealer to be agile and bridge challenging gaps which exist in multiple platform deliveries.

“Security risk assessment, disaster recovery and business continuity are the three key business concerns, regardless of the vertical,” Miller remarked. “With these key factors as the focus, we assess whether technology is meeting or exceeding the guidelines of a specific organization. Then, we proceed to develop a resolution recommendation, which is not limited to any one brand or specific offering in order to ensure complete compatibility, longevity and scaling.”

During the pandemic, AIS aligned its sales and marketing efforts to ensure they were working more in tandem. Using HubSpot as its marketing automation platform, the dealer bolstered its marketing efforts and content, using blogs and videos to answer client questions and build trust. Employing a “They Ask, You Answer” approach allowed AIS to go much deeper and wider into its markets and penetrate new segments in the process, which has proven to be quite successful.