Loyalty is a funny thing. Sure, we know the textbook definition, but we also have our own interpretation of what loyalty looks and feels like, but there’s rarely consensus.
Take relationships, whether they’re personal or professional. There’s a fine line between being loyal and being faithful to a fault, the latter often being at the detriment of the individual or the company, especially when it is not reciprocated. We can agree that loyalty should be a two-way street, right? Otherwise, it leads to unhealthy behaviors and a blow to self-esteem when the party of the second part is not holding up their end of the bargain.
It is completely unfair to Konica Minolta Business Solutions that we even bring this up in the context of its relationships with the reseller community in light of the apparently subsiding supply chain issues that plagued dealers’ ability to source hardware and toner. Virtually every major manufacturer endured varying levels of significant disruption during the past two years. Hell, your local Walmart or supermarket shelves parroted the same obstacles. It would be disingenuous to find fault with Konica Minolta, Walmart or any entity if you have even the most elementary of understanding of how supply chains work.
Like a quarterback patting himself on the chest to indicate fault following a broken play, Konica Minolta—with President and CEO Sam Errigo leading the charge—took an apologetic stance when the supply chain hit the fan. He didn’t hide or sugarcoat the situation; he shared, almost to a fault, though that’s not for us to judge. Errigo spent countless hours on the phone, putting out fires where needed. He made hard decisions, popular or unpopular, because there was no room for inaction.
Moving Forward
Today, with supply chain issues down to the smoldering level, Errigo is looking ahead to the future. He’s sitting down with dealers, one at a time, learning about their business plans, factoring in KM’s business strategy (such as the IIM managed IT program) and providing resellers with the support they need to grab a bigger share of the market pie.
“If we can show them the path forward,” Errigo said during a December call with press and analysts, “I believe that would energize our reseller community, help them look at new opportunities and really get back on a path toward long-term, sustainable growth.”
Does Konica Minolta need to rebuild confidence within the reseller community? That’s a question best asked between KM execs and their reseller partners. It’s the business of their business, so to speak. From an outsider’s perspective, it appears that relationships were not broken, judging by the perspective offered by Laura Blackmer, president of channel sales.
“I am incredibly bolstered by how strong that loyalty remained,” she said. “I measure it through the emails I get, the meetings I attend, and the net-new orders. The dealers have choices, and the one choice they could have made would be to walk away. We really did not have a single dealer do that.”
Still, Blackmer acknowledges that Konica Minolta has a “hearts and minds” challenge as it moves forward in 2023. The OEM isn’t simply banking on the healing qualities of time; around April, KM will roll out a program (details were not released) that will, in part, recognize and reward reseller loyalty. And over the past few months, KM has welcomed qualified resellers of production equipment to its Customer Engagement Center for a two- to three-day, all-expenses-paid visit with a “robust agenda,” according to Blackmer. Each RSVP covers four invitees—sales, tech support, solutions, production specialists—where the ways and means of growing their business are discussed.
At the time of the conference call, 13 dealers had taken Konica Minolta up on the offer, and Blackmer said another 27 resellers would make the trek to the Ramsey, New Jersey, headquarters by the end of February.
Loyalty is won by actions, not words. But what Konica Minolta has done appears to say a lot. When relationships are rocked but unbroken, it often adds a layer of protection to the foundation. And you can’t blame the OEM for pouring more cement.
“That’s how you get their hearts and minds back,” she concluded. “If you show them a path to doing business and you give them the tools to do that…they might not forget for a while, but they may move forward.”
