This is the prime kickoff season for dealers across the country. They gather en masse at their headquarters or other venues to hash out their plans for success in the new year. These business pep rallies can be extravagant affairs that have been choreographed and well-rehearsed. Industry heavyweight Pacific Office Automation is renowned for its over-the-top presentations.
Most kickoffs are more subdued affairs—two- to three-day company meetings where the execs up and down the organization gather to strategize. But whether you parachute onto a stage, have a catered dinner or just order in pizza, it’s the best opportunity to ensure that everyone is on the same page and following the proper game plan when it comes to the major objectives .
With that in mind, we’ve surveyed a swath of dealers across the country to answer one of the most pressing questions confronting the top brass: What’s going to be the key to a successful 2026 for your dealership?
Sam Stone, Stone’s Office Equipment: Staying relentlessly customer-centric while modernizing how we serve today’s office environment. Dealerships that simplify the customer experience, remove friction in service and support, and operate with speed and transparency will win. This isn’t about speed-and-feeds of equipment—it’s about how customers experience us day-to-day: answered phones, fast fixes, proactive communication, and making their work life noticeably easier.
Erik Crane, CPI Technologies: For CPI Technologies, the keys will be to 1) Hire 2-3 additional salespeople to expand our market share; 2) Grow imaging at least 10% and IT at least 15%; and 3) Cross-train our entire admin staff on our new ERP, Noetics, so we can utilize all it can do to make CPI Technologies even better!
Ronnie Hay, UBEO Business Services: Imperative to UBEO’s success will be data analytics and effective outreach. There is only so much time in the day to reach out and win net-new customers. Targeting the right customers at the right time is crucial to ensuring we are using our time and resources efficiently. That means accurate data and systematic outreach. Gaining new customers is essential to long-term viability in our constantly changing industry and organic growth is a top priority for UBEO in 2026.
Stephanie Keating Phillips, Advanced Imaging Solutions (AIS-Minnesota): In 2026, AIS will continue to lean into being a true workplace technology partner. We are investing in remote tools and proactive service solutions. Hiring and developing the right people will matter more than ever, especially with an aging workforce in our industry. A lot of our most experienced technicians are close to retirement and the knowledge gap can hit fast if we don’t have a strong bench behind them. We will recruit differently, train intentionally and create a clear path to develop the next generation before the talent shortage becomes an issue.
James Loffler, Loffler Companies: It will be our discipline in executing our cross‑sell strategy. We’re fortunate to have an incredible base of loyal customers who trust us to help them succeed. They’re looking for a technology partner that can bring everything together to drive real results and efficiencies, and that’s exactly where we shine.
We’ve built a unified sales team supported by strong marketing and data analytics, and we believe this will deliver industry‑leading cross‑sell performance in the year ahead. At the same time, we’re doubling down on new‑logo growth across all our markets, including major investments in places like Omaha where we’re adding sales leadership and new team members to accelerate momentum.
Dean Swenson, The Swenson Group: The key to TSG’s success in 2026 is that we are focusing our prospecting efforts on going slightly up-market. We want to double our average transaction size and thus increase our net new clicks!
Robert Woodhull, Woodhull LLC: A strong start has never been more critical than it will be in 2026. With market uncertainty, tighter budgets, supply chain issues, tariffs, geopolitical events and longer decision cycles, falling behind early makes it much harder to recover later in the year. Just as important, we have to keep investing in and developing our people so they have the skills, confidence and mindset to win in a more competitive environment. If we execute early and elevate our team, we put ourselves in a position for a very successful year.
Van Seretis, Premium Digital Office Solutions: Our team will focus on net-new business on the equipment end. With the addition of our new company, Premium Pure Water, we look for more opportunities to add new clients with water, which will turn into office equipment sales as well. That will be key to our success.
