In this week’s installment of the challenges facing our panel of Elite Dealers, we kick off with insight into serving the evolving needs of clients. Clearly, the pandemic has caused all dealers to mobilize and assess their own processes and structure. But by the same token, dealers must be mindful of how the changed business conditions are impacting their client base and exhibit a servant attitude in delivering products and services that are reflective of their needs.
In a sense, it’s all about navigating a shared experience, and several dealers—including Frontier Business Products of Aurora, Colorado—report channeling much of their efforts into providing needed relief. “Customers’ needs are constantly changing and this is always a challenge; however, the disruption caused by COVID-19 amplified these changes to levels we have never before seen in our 42 years in business,” the dealer reported. “We were able to meet this challenge by communicating effectively with our customers and working with them to make adjustments when needed. In many instances, it was (a matter of) just listening and caring.”
For Systel Business Equipment of Fayetteville, North Carolina, the past year prompted the company to change its business support strategy virtually overnight. Adapt and support became the order of the day, particularly in dealing with the dozen-plus hospitals it serves throughout the state, and it became necessary to provide around-the-clock support. Plus, with many of its customers switching to 100% virtual work—including many public school systems—it required the prompt deployment of technologies aimed at supporting remote working and learning environments.
That, naturally, opened the door to other challenges. “During this time, a few Systel customers, unfortunately, became victims of the rising threat of cyberattacks, which prompted us to shift our focus to managed IT services and security,” the dealer wrote. “We invested in technologies like Network Check-Up, a tool used to identify underlying issues and security risks on business networks that are often provided to our customers at no cost. By investing in this type of technology, Systel has helped customers eliminate additional costs and dissatisfaction associated with underlying problems to its infrastructure, while also preparing companies for future unforeseen circumstances with other IT services like cloud migration and management.”
Low/No Inventory
Another unfortunate casualty of the pandemic has reared its head in the form of supply chain issues that have resulted in inventory shortages as OEMs have struggled to provide the much-needed product. Automated Business Solutions of Warwick, Rhode Island, is among the dealers that have implemented strategies with its sales reps to mollify end-users during this period.
“Ongoing training initiatives have given our sales executives the tools to be more creative in the field and offer enhanced value-added offerings in addition to our core copiers and printers,” the dealer reported.
Anticipating inventory shortages was critical for dealers such as Kelly Office Solutions of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, which made a huge inventory purchase before the situation became dire. Eventually, Kelly Office, too, began to feel the pinch.
“Having more than one vendor, we are able to assist our customers and their needs more quickly,” the dealer wrote. “So far, it is (functional), but we’re still working on this.”
Despite the scourge of long-projected backorders, KDI Office Technology of Aston, Pennsylvania, also managed to maintain inventory levels through significant, pre-shortage supplies orders. The dealer also worked closely with Canon, Ricoh, Lexmark and HP to substitute products for those that are currently unavailable.
“As a result, in all cases, the customer is receiving enhanced products over what was purchased,” KDI wrote.
Offerings Shift
In recent years, Alpha Laser & Imaging pivoted its offerings portfolio to include software and solutions in an effort to be a more complete vendor for its clients, which wasn’t a smooth transition. The dealer’s team leaders focused on providing clients with robust workflow solutions integrated with its hardware to enable companies to work more effectively.
“This was a big learning curve, and training was critical for a sales and engineer teams,” Alpha Laser reported. “We have progressed immensely and our business is better-rounded than ever before.”
Growing Pains
A company that is as active on the merger and acquisition front as Kelley Connect of Kent, Washington, invariably faces the growing pains that accompany the onboarding of new companies and employees, who have become accustomed to conducting business in a certain way. And when an acquisition is used to handling different suppliers and brands than Kelley Connect, that can also add to the integration challenges.
Streamlining processes, product offerings and technical support are critical elements for Kelley, which necessitates constantly training its sales, service and administration staff. In mitigating the issues that can arise from such conditions, the dealer is also mindful to ensure there is no negative impact to its level of service and support for customers.
“Being able to maintain the Kelley culture throughout multiple locations is also a big challenge that we face due to the vast geography,” the dealer reported. “The quality of leadership that we have brought on understand the needs before starting at Kelley and are committed to providing the support for both training and the Kelley way.”
Process Enhancements
The confusion and uncertainty unleashed during the pandemic was keenly felt by Mid Ohio Strategic Technologies, but the Columbus, Ohio-based dealer embraced the opportunity to change and learn new ways of accomplishing goals. It proved to be an illuminating experience.
“We found that we did some things very well already, and we found there were things we could improve on. So we did,” the dealer wrote. “We took the opportunity to work smarter, to come up with new ways to touch our partners and communicate more clearly. We found better ways to do the things we had been doing for so many years. We really did choose to simplify each and every day…give thanks for the day at hand and do the very best we could each and every day.”
