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It\u2019s not easy being a document imaging dealer. Consider that you are in a business\u2014the technology business\u2014that\u2019s ripe with challenges\u2014some new, some ongoing\u2014every day of the year.<\/p>\nIt\u2019s not easy being a document imaging dealer. Consider that you are in a business\u2014the technology business\u2014that\u2019s ripe with challenges\u2014some new, some ongoing\u2014every day of the year.<\/p>\n
Last year when we were soliciting our Elite Dealer nominations for 2014 we asked the question \u201cWhat\u2019s the biggest challenge facing your dealership?\u201d \u00a0Because of space limitations, we couldn\u2019t include those in the Elite Dealer profiles. Instead we\u2019ll be sharing those in the newsletter and online over the next few weeks. We think you\u2019ll find that some of those challenges are the very same ones that you\u2019re facing. Let\u2019s look at the first 12.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs FlexPrint continues to grow nationally, so does our workforce. The biggest challenge we face (or biggest fear) is maintaining the unique culture that has made FlexPrint an exciting place to work, which results in superior customer service. To meet the challenge of growth, FlexPrint has made significant investments in technology (video teleconferencing, interactive smartboards, etc.) and a corporate trainer who assists with new employee onboarding and continual culture building to ensure our new employees outside of the corporate office receive the same communication and benefits of our \u201cemployee focus\u201d culture and environment.\u201d FlexPrint, Inc., Mesa, AZ<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWe’ve gone through a tremendous amount of change in the past couple of years and our employees have embraced and welcomed the new company image, new compensation structures, new people and processes, new facilities and new technology offerings. Helping our employees understand the breadth of service we provide to our clients is important and we communicate openly and frequently to encourage a deeper comfort with areas outside of traditional expertise. Our clients will always remain at the center of what we do and we will continue to reinvent ourselves to remain the area leader in business technology solutions.\u201d PERRY proTECH, Lima, OH<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAs with any successful technology business, we must always be aware of and investing in whatever \u201cis next,\u201d and not become complacent. At the same time as we work to stay ahead of the game, we need to ensure that we nurture our internal culture of positivity, develop talent and continue to be a great place to work. Employee retention is important so we work hard to inspire employees to learn and grow. We keep open lines of communication to all levels of management, and encourage people to rethink processes, ask \u201cwhy,\u201d and share new ideas.\u201d Loffler Companies, Bloomington, MN<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThe nature of business is shifting from hardware to software and solutions. Keeping up with the constant changes in the marketplace to maintain continued growth a challenge as is keeping up with changing technology by attending training courses offered by manufactures as well as in-house training. As a result we are shifting our focus and adapting our business model to incorporate the changes in the industry.\u201d Business Copier Solutions, Poway, CA<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest challenge is always new customer acquisition. Our future is entirely dependent on the quality of clients that we are able to serve. We remain committed to adding young, assertive people to our sales teams and to continue to find ways to offer diverse products and services to our customers. We would not have been able to continue to grow our business if we had not made the commitment to MPS and Managed IT.\u201d Northern Business Machines, Burlington, MA<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThe technology challenge of keeping our knowledge base and product offerings one step ahead of our client\u2019s requests is a never-ending process. We continually train our sales and technical staff to have a basic understanding of the latest technology trends and how CBE can provide the needed technology to quickly, seamlessly and economically provide a way to integrate the newest and greatest products into our client\u2019s office. Specific attention is required to keep in contact with our clients, staying current on their ever changing needs. As technology changes so must our approach to finding the products and services that our current and future clients are interested in acquiring. This involves continually investigating new products and services that may be appropriate to add to our selling roster.\u201d Cell Business Equipment (CBE), Irvine, CA<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAs we continue to grow, we are in the process of building a sales force- which has proven to be a challenge in our area. We have a very committed staff, and expect our employees to uphold this standard. Therefore, as we are in the process of growing in numbers, we are faced with the difficulty of finding the \u2018right fit\u2019 for our company. As a result, each member of the Seeley team offers direct input on who we hire.\u201d Seeley Office Systems, Glens Falls, NY<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cCompetitors trying to make our products and services a commodity represents one of our biggest challenges. Many try to get clients to make fast decisions based solely on price. We have trained our sales reps to slow down the process because the more clients see what we are offering in terms of customer experience and guarantees, and better products, the better our chances are of winning.\u201d ProCopy, Tempe, AZ<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest challenge is to overcome either the reality or perception of \u2018commoditization\u2019 in pure hardware sales. That is increasingly difficult. However, even in the pursuit of higher-end imaging systems that perception can occur and the only weapon is the simple truth\u2014a client needs to align themselves with someone who has done this before on the scale that they require with the objective that is an absolute must to accomplish. Not all imaging products are equal despite the fact that they can appear that way in a superficial demonstration. It is the idea that matters. \u201cSecond is the devaluation of salespeople in the buyer’s eyes. We believe in the Challenger Method of Selling with the difficult to achieve principals that what the client really wants from a salesperson is for them to provide information that they cannot get elsewhere; to have a conversation that \u2018the client would pay for\u2019 due to its content and value.\u201d Imaging Office Systems, Columbia City, IN<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThe most significant internal challenge facing our company would be the ongoing development and education of our sales professionals. As the external market forces continue to shape our business environment (Mobility, Cloud, Social Media and Big Data), our sales consultants need to meet these changes head on in order to maintain their position as trusted advisors to our customers.\u201d Gordon Flesch Company, Madison, WI<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest challenge that Marco currently faces is bringing our other service offerings to our acquired markets that mainly focus solely on a single service. For example, when we purchase a copier company, our challenge is to integrate our other business IT services in that market and find and develop the right leadership to execute on our technology services business model. In an effort to meet this challenge, we are focused on hiring and developing the appropriate people for the acquired markets and training them through our talent management and mentoring program.\u201d Marco, Inc., St. Cloud, MN<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cKeeping up with the fast pace of the ever-changing technology revolution.\u201d Eakes Office Solutions, Grand Island, NE<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s not easy being a document imaging dealer. Consider that you are in a business\u2014the technology business\u2014that\u2019s ripe with challenges\u2014some new, some ongoing\u2014every day of the year. Last year when we were soliciting our Elite Dealer nominations for 2014 we asked the question \u201cWhat\u2019s the biggest challenge facing your dealership?\u201d \u00a0Because of space limitations, we couldn\u2019t include those in the Elite Dealer profiles. Instead we\u2019ll be sharing those in the newsletter and online over the next few weeks. We think you\u2019ll find that some of those challenges are the very same ones that you\u2019re facing. Let\u2019s look at the first 12. \u201cAs FlexPrint continues to grow nationally, so does our workforce. The biggest challenge we face (or biggest fear) is maintaining the unique culture that has made FlexPrint an exciting place to work, which results in superior customer service. To meet the challenge of growth, FlexPrint has made significant investments in technology (video teleconferencing, interactive smartboards, etc.) and a corporate trainer who assists with new employee onboarding and continual culture building to ensure our new employees outside of the corporate office receive the same communication and benefits of our \u201cemployee focus\u201d culture and environment.\u201d FlexPrint, Inc., Mesa, AZ \u201cWe’ve gone through a tremendous amount of change in the past couple of years and our employees have embraced and welcomed the new company image, new compensation structures, new people and processes, new facilities and new technology offerings. Helping our employees understand the breadth of service we provide to our clients is important and we communicate openly and frequently to encourage a deeper comfort with areas outside of traditional expertise. Our clients will always remain at the center of what we do and we will continue to reinvent ourselves to remain the area leader in business technology solutions.\u201d PERRY proTECH, Lima, OH \u201cAs with any successful technology business, we must always be aware of and investing in whatever \u201cis next,\u201d and not become complacent. At the same time as we work to stay ahead of the game, we need to ensure that we nurture our internal culture of positivity, develop talent and continue to be a great place to work. Employee retention is important so we work hard to inspire employees to learn and grow. We keep open lines of communication to all levels of management, and encourage people to rethink processes, ask \u201cwhy,\u201d and share new ideas.\u201d Loffler Companies, Bloomington, MN \u201cThe nature of business is shifting from hardware to software and solutions. Keeping up with the constant changes in the marketplace to maintain continued growth a challenge as is keeping up with changing technology by attending training courses offered by manufactures as well as in-house training. As a result we are shifting our focus and adapting our business model to incorporate the changes in the industry.\u201d Business Copier Solutions, Poway, CA \u201cThe biggest challenge is always new customer acquisition. Our future is entirely dependent on the quality of clients that we are able to serve. We remain committed to adding young, assertive people to our sales teams and to continue to find ways to offer diverse products and services to our customers. We would not have been able to continue to grow our business if we had not made the commitment to MPS and Managed IT.\u201d Northern Business Machines, Burlington, MA \u201cThe technology challenge of keeping our knowledge base and product offerings one step ahead of our client\u2019s requests is a never-ending process. We continually train our sales and technical staff to have a basic understanding of the latest technology trends and how CBE can provide the needed technology to quickly, seamlessly and economically provide a way to integrate the newest and greatest products into our client\u2019s office. Specific attention is required to keep in contact with our clients, staying current on their ever changing needs. As technology changes so must our approach to finding the products and services that our current and future clients are interested in acquiring. This involves continually investigating new products and services that may be appropriate to add to our selling roster.\u201d Cell Business Equipment (CBE), Irvine, CA \u201cAs we continue to grow, we are in the process of building a sales force- which has proven to be a challenge in our area. We have a very committed staff, and expect our employees to uphold this standard. Therefore, as we are in the process of growing in numbers, we are faced with the difficulty of finding the \u2018right fit\u2019 for our company. As a result, each member of the Seeley team offers direct input on who we hire.\u201d Seeley Office Systems, Glens Falls, NY \u201cCompetitors trying to make our products and services a commodity represents one of our biggest challenges. Many try to get clients to make fast decisions based solely on price. We have trained our sales reps to slow down the process because the more clients see what we are offering in terms of customer experience and guarantees, and better products, the better our chances are of winning.\u201d ProCopy, Tempe, AZ \u201cThe biggest challenge is to overcome either the reality or perception of \u2018commoditization\u2019 in pure hardware sales. That is increasingly difficult. However, even in the pursuit of higher-end imaging systems that perception can occur and the only weapon is the simple truth\u2014a client needs to align themselves with someone who has done this before on the scale that they require with the objective that is an absolute must to accomplish. Not all imaging products are equal despite the fact that they can appear that way in a superficial demonstration. It is the idea that matters. \u201cSecond is the devaluation of salespeople in the buyer’s eyes. We believe in the Challenger Method of Selling with the difficult to achieve principals that what the client really wants from a salesperson is for them to provide information that they cannot get elsewhere; to have a conversation that \u2018the client would pay for\u2019 due to its content and value.\u201d Imaging Office Systems, Columbia City, IN \u201cThe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1638],"tags":[1925,138,2020,186,2023,2021,560,797,526,2022,657],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10870"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10870"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10872,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10870\/revisions\/10872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}