Some dealers spend decades cultivating a knowledge base within certain verticals. They’ve earned trust among that segment of their client roster. They have a sterling reputation for knowing the ins and outs of a particular business space. The more accomplished dealers boast expertise in more than one vertical.
So when the topic of growth is introduced, is the idea to go deeper with existing verticals or wider into other markets that may have similar characteristics, needs and objectives? Maybe it’s both—doubling down on where your strengths lie AND exploring making investments in new markets that offer the opportunity to replicate a winning approach. In this week’s State of the Industry report on vertical selling, our dealer panel shares its thought process on scaling.
At York, Pennsylvania-based Doceo, the vertical market approach is continuously refined to ensure solutions remain customer-centric and aligned with evolving industry needs. Jim Haney, chief marketing officer, points out that a vertical-focused approach enables the dealer to develop repeatable, impactful solutions uniquely tailored to a given industry.
“Moving forward, we’ll remain attentive and responsive, continually updating our offerings to maintain relevance and deliver optimal value,” he said.
For KDI Office Technology, its growth strategy is driven by continuous improvement. CEO Rick Salcedo notes his Aston, Pennsylvania-based firm is committed to increasing its value, broadening its expertise and exploring avenues where it can make a meaningful impact. Among its core verticals—education, health care, legal, government and manufacturing—KDI is dedicating investments in advanced training for its sales and service teams. By the same token, it’s refining messaging and creating tailored solution bundles to address unique challenges.
KDI is also counting on its partnerships with technology providers to help expand offerings in some of the more critical areas, such as cloud-based document management, cybersecurity, remote support and cloud-hosted VoIP phone systems. According to Salcedo, these solutions enable seamless communication, improve efficiency and are becoming increasingly important across sectors.
“Looking ahead, we’re also exploring growth opportunities in nonprofits, logistics, and mid-market corporate environments—sectors where digital transformation, data security and cost-efficiency are top priorities,” he said. “Our market research is helping us better understand these spaces, and we’re building targeted campaigns to develop solutions that cater to their unique challenges. In all of this, our ultimate goal is to remain adaptable, relevant, and driven by value, ensuring we meet the ever-changing needs of our clients while staying ahead of the curve in every market we serve.”
Sharp Business Innovations (SBI) of Longmont, Colorado, follows the strategy of growing within its current vertical base while exploring new opportunities. It begins with assessing the dealer’s current strengths, including where it performs best, and analyzing customer success stories, case studies and sales velocity by vertical. Co-owner Joshua Wickstrom delves into additional markets based on their size and growth potential. Pain point alignment—where its product uniquely solves problems—and competitive gaps are other criteria factored in, with the aid of tools such as CB Insights, LinkedIn Sales Navigator and Google Trends.
SBI then customizes a go-to-market strategy per vertical that entails creating market-specific messaging and use cases, building persona-based content (e.g., “Top 5 Challenges for [vertical] Leaders in 2025”) and offering vertical case studies, webinars and whitepapers. AI is then leveraged to generate marketing materials, pitches and presentations for each industry. SBI tracks lead conversion rate per vertical and applies a ratio to measure the relationship between the lifetime value of a customer and the customer acquisition cost.
“We double down on high-performing verticals and sunset weak ones,” Wickstrom noted.
