{"id":3599,"date":"2013-02-28T14:17:33","date_gmt":"2013-02-28T14:17:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theweekinimaging.com\/?p=3599"},"modified":"2013-04-11T23:47:40","modified_gmt":"2013-04-12T03:47:40","slug":"12-questions-with-gary-willert-of-lmi-solutions-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/feature-articles\/2013\/02\/12-questions-with-gary-willert-of-lmi-solutions-2\/","title":{"rendered":"12 Questions with Gary Willert of LMI Solutions"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Gary<\/a>

Gary Willert<\/p><\/div>\n

How long have I<\/em> been in the business writing about the imaging and office technology industry? It\u2019s going on 27 years yet I can\u2019t believe I\u2019ve made it this far without crossing paths with Gary Willert, president and CEO of LMI Solutions. Willert acquired the company, which was originally founded in 1992 as a manufacturer of aftermarket consumables, in 1996 and has since expanded its reach into the MPS arena, including consulting, training and marketing, and print management software.<\/p>\n

A stranger no more, I spoke with Gary earlier this week about LMI and MPS. I think you\u2019ll find his comments illuminating. \u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

How\u2019s business?<\/i><\/p>\n

Willert: <\/b>Really good, we finished last year up 35 percent and eclipsed the $50-million mark, hitting almost $52-million, and so far this year we\u2019re 25 percent ahead of last year.<\/p>\n

What are you doing right?<\/i><\/p>\n

Willert: <\/b>I\u2019m very critical and think we\u2019re doing everything wrong. We\u2019ve put a lot into our programs over the years and continue to add to them. At the end of the day we still need a good product and a good quality product for an MPS environment. We just try and do the right thing, take care of our customers and do whatever we can for them.<\/p>\n

Who are your customers?<\/i><\/p>\n

Willert: <\/b>A lot of them are in the BTA channel and into some form of MPS. They\u2019re typically more progressive companies that are trying to further their businesses and their customer\u2019s businesses as well. And a lot of them are now getting into managed services.<\/p>\n

Why does a dealer come to you for help with MPS?<\/i><\/p>\n

Willert: <\/b>Everyone has some form of MPS, but maybe some are missing pieces here and there and their programs are stalling. It could be not having the right people to sell it, not having the right compensation program, or turnover. We\u2019re listening to our dealers to find out what they\u2019re missing and how we can fill in those gaps and help them succeed.<\/p>\n

Some companies are doing extremely well and growing their MPS business, but we can still add to that through some form of training. We have online training modules that stress management print\u2014why managed print and how to sell it\u2014and we also do individual training for the sales people, best practices kind of thing. We\u2019re going to continue to do that. We have more modules we want to offer to our dealers and that\u2019s one of the things they\u2019re looking for, that training piece. They have the same difficulty as everybody does, finding good sales people and getting them up to speed so that they\u2019re productive.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all about education, isn\u2019t it?<\/i><\/p>\n

Willert: <\/b>We\u2019re not out to compete with consultants or those people who are really smart and know what they\u2019re doing. We have our online training which takes four hours. There\u2019s 10 modules and you take a test at the end of each module before moving to the next one. A sales manager or the owner of the dealership can monitor their progress. Since the training is online, it\u2019s not taking away from anyone\u2019s work time. They can do it over the weekend. Plus this is available for new sales reps now rather than waiting for the next person to come in and train them.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the end all because obviously the sales manager still has to do a fair amount of the sales training, but it\u2019s definitely a big jump start. Global has standardized on it and just through them alone we\u2019ve had thousands of reps go through it around the country. It\u2019s a great program, repeatable, sustainable, and easy. It educates that new person or a veteran about what MPS is and what they\u2019re trying to accomplish.<\/p>\n

As a supplier of aftermarket products I\u2019m curious what percentage of your dealer customer\u2019s business today is transactional vs. MPS?<\/i><\/p>\n

Willert: <\/b>The majority is still transactional, but there is a high percentage of MPS customers that are doing it and getting it. There\u2019s a lot of dealers that still do both, they don\u2019t want to get rid of the transactional business because it\u2019s a revenue stream. At the same time they\u2019re trying to convert it to MPS and that\u2019s where some of the success is questionable.<\/p>\n

It depends on the dealership as to how much they\u2019re converting. A good example is \u2018I have the business already, what\u2019s my incentive to convert this to a contract?\u2019<\/p>\n

There you have it. It\u2019s a matter of priority, how much time and effort they want to put into that versus new business and maybe gain some of the customers they don\u2019t have and putting them on MPS.<\/p>\n

Most businesses are the same, and LMI is no different, it\u2019s time, resources, and priorities. That percentage for us is growing every year, but you still have quite a few large dealers still selling transactional business.<\/p>\n

What do you say to people who say that MPS has become a commodity?<\/i><\/p>\n

Willert: <\/b>It\u2019s definitely become more price competitive, but I wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s a commodity at all. It\u2019s all in the presentation. Some companies are going in and been very successful saying \u2018I don\u2019t need to see any of your devices or your fleet, I\u2019ll take everything on for a penny and a half or a penny\u2019, whatever it is and they\u2019ll take their chances. And they\u2019re still successful and growing their business, but in a way it\u2019s become a little commoditized when you do that.<\/p>\n

The ones that are doing it right are the ones that are getting into those accounts a little bit deeper and trying to be that consultant and monitor their devices and see where\u2019s the cost and how can you optimize all of your imaging devices. Let\u2019s face it, LMI is in this business, and I\u2019m sure we<\/i> can make improvements based on what we\u2019re printing in our offices. There\u2019s always opportunity to do things better and the ones who have been successful are the ones taking more of a consultant approach versus pricing. But it is getting more price competitive no doubt about it.<\/p>\n

What are some of the trends affecting your business today?<\/i><\/p>\n

Willert: <\/b>The managed service side is making an impact and that\u2019s going to be dealer by dealer and OEM by OEM. Konica Minolta is a good partner of ours and they\u2019ve been very successful on the managed print side, but now through the acquisition of all those managed services companies they\u2019re coming at it from that angle and then adding on the managed print. That\u2019s interesting. We\u2019re seeing some of the larger dealers going with a similar approach. It\u2019s definitely converging and I see it coming down the road and bundling with the managed print side.<\/p>\n

And you see LMI fitting into that scenario?<\/i><\/p>\n

Willert: <\/b>We\u2019re definitely looking at that in terms of what we can offer to help get our dealers into that space. Are we into managed services at this point, no, but we\u2019re trying to augment the managed print piece with the managed services side and offer different solutions as far as monitoring and fulfilling\u2014once again streamlining their processes. If we can eliminate costs on their end it\u2019s a big win for them and for us.<\/p>\n

What are some of the biggest challenges facing LMI today?<\/i><\/p>\n

Willert: <\/b>There\u2019s a lot going on in our world, the clones coming in from China. There\u2019s one company that HP just went after, and I see Canon and HP really cracking down on some of the illegal stuff. At the same time they sued them they kind of gave the remanufacturers almost an endorsement. I see that as something that is right around the corner.<\/p>\n

As you know, HP\u2019s profits have not been stellar as of late and even Canon is looking for ways to improve their growth and profitability, and they see that as an obvious one to go after. I\u2019m surprised they haven\u2019t gone after it a little bit more aggressively in the past. That could be a real challenge because honestly, the numbers in the past have been 600,000-700,000 cartridges a month coming into the states and that\u2019s a big gap for people like us and the industry to fulfill. It sounds great, but the reality is no one has excess capacity to replace that volume. That\u2019s not going to happen overnight, but I see that as a challenge.<\/p>\n

What can we expect to hear from LMI during the rest of the year? <\/i><\/p>\n

Willert: <\/b>Our next push is 100 percent recycling. In other words we want solutions for our customers to have a true end of life certification when they return product and cartridges. The bottom line is everything is being recycled and we have a solution now that\u2019s unique in the industry that we\u2019re going to unveil shortly. We\u2019ve unveiled it at some small shows like the DSG Group and Executive Connections Summit in Scottsdale, and have some unique solutions we\u2019re going to be offering to our dealers that are a true 100 percent recycling effort.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not going to be remanufactured, which is the best choice, because that\u2019s putting it back into the stream with a good viable product. This is no waste to energy, no burning of the cartridges which is what most have done in the past. It is truly recycling. We\u2019re excited about that and see that as a potential game changer for a lot of end users, especially your Fortune 150 companies who all have huge sustainability programs. It\u2019s just a must in that world and the educational institutions are all for it and have been doing it for a while and they\u2019ve been looking for solutions for a while. I think it\u2019s going to be a big opportunity for us and our dealers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How long have I been in the business writing about the imaging and office technology industry? It\u2019s going on 27 years yet I can\u2019t believe I\u2019ve made it this far without crossing paths with Gary Willert, president and CEO of LMI Solutions. Willert acquired the company, which was originally founded in 1992 as a manufacturer of aftermarket consumables, in 1996 and has since expanded its reach into the MPS arena, including consulting, training and marketing, and print management software. A stranger no more, I spoke with Gary earlier this week about LMI and MPS. I think you\u2019ll find his comments illuminating. \u00a0 How\u2019s business? Willert: Really good, we finished last year up 35 percent and eclipsed the $50-million mark, hitting almost $52-million, and so far this year we\u2019re 25 percent ahead of last year. What are you doing right? Willert: I\u2019m very critical and think we\u2019re doing everything wrong. We\u2019ve put a lot into our programs over the years and continue to add to them. At the end of the day we still need a good product and a good quality product for an MPS environment. We just try and do the right thing, take care of our customers and do whatever we can for them. Who are your customers? Willert: A lot of them are in the BTA channel and into some form of MPS. They\u2019re typically more progressive companies that are trying to further their businesses and their customer\u2019s businesses as well. And a lot of them are now getting into managed services. Why does a dealer come to you for help with MPS? Willert: Everyone has some form of MPS, but maybe some are missing pieces here and there and their programs are stalling. It could be not having the right people to sell it, not having the right compensation program, or turnover. We\u2019re listening to our dealers to find out what they\u2019re missing and how we can fill in those gaps and help them succeed. Some companies are doing extremely well and growing their MPS business, but we can still add to that through some form of training. We have online training modules that stress management print\u2014why managed print and how to sell it\u2014and we also do individual training for the sales people, best practices kind of thing. We\u2019re going to continue to do that. We have more modules we want to offer to our dealers and that\u2019s one of the things they\u2019re looking for, that training piece. They have the same difficulty as everybody does, finding good sales people and getting them up to speed so that they\u2019re productive. It\u2019s all about education, isn\u2019t it? Willert: We\u2019re not out to compete with consultants or those people who are really smart and know what they\u2019re doing. We have our online training which takes four hours. There\u2019s 10 modules and you take a test at the end of each module before moving to the next one. A sales manager or the owner of the dealership can monitor their progress. Since the training is online, it\u2019s not taking away from anyone\u2019s work time. They can do it over the weekend. Plus this is available for new sales reps now rather than waiting for the next person to come in and train them. It\u2019s not the end all because obviously the sales manager still has to do a fair amount of the sales training, but it\u2019s definitely a big jump start. Global has standardized on it and just through them alone we\u2019ve had thousands of reps go through it around the country. It\u2019s a great program, repeatable, sustainable, and easy. It educates that new person or a veteran about what MPS is and what they\u2019re trying to accomplish. As a supplier of aftermarket products I\u2019m curious what percentage of your dealer customer\u2019s business today is transactional vs. MPS? Willert: The majority is still transactional, but there is a high percentage of MPS customers that are doing it and getting it. There\u2019s a lot of dealers that still do both, they don\u2019t want to get rid of the transactional business because it\u2019s a revenue stream. At the same time they\u2019re trying to convert it to MPS and that\u2019s where some of the success is questionable. It depends on the dealership as to how much they\u2019re converting. A good example is \u2018I have the business already, what\u2019s my incentive to convert this to a contract?\u2019 There you have it. It\u2019s a matter of priority, how much time and effort they want to put into that versus new business and maybe gain some of the customers they don\u2019t have and putting them on MPS. Most businesses are the same, and LMI is no different, it\u2019s time, resources, and priorities. That percentage for us is growing every year, but you still have quite a few large dealers still selling transactional business. What do you say to people who say that MPS has become a commodity? Willert: It\u2019s definitely become more price competitive, but I wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s a commodity at all. It\u2019s all in the presentation. Some companies are going in and been very successful saying \u2018I don\u2019t need to see any of your devices or your fleet, I\u2019ll take everything on for a penny and a half or a penny\u2019, whatever it is and they\u2019ll take their chances. And they\u2019re still successful and growing their business, but in a way it\u2019s become a little commoditized when you do that. The ones that are doing it right are the ones that are getting into those accounts a little bit deeper and trying to be that consultant and monitor their devices and see where\u2019s the cost and how can you optimize all of your imaging devices. Let\u2019s face it, LMI is in this business, and I\u2019m sure we can make improvements based on what we\u2019re printing in our offices. There\u2019s always opportunity to do things better and the ones who have been successful are the ones taking more of a consultant approach versus pricing. 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