{"id":13934,"date":"2015-08-21T09:07:23","date_gmt":"2015-08-21T13:07:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=13934"},"modified":"2015-08-21T09:07:23","modified_gmt":"2015-08-21T13:07:23","slug":"disrupting-the-status-quo-adam-gregory-is-the-face-of-the-21st-century-document-imaging-dealer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/dealer-spotlight\/2015\/08\/disrupting-the-status-quo-adam-gregory-is-the-face-of-the-21st-century-document-imaging-dealer\/","title":{"rendered":"Disrupting the Status Quo: Adam Gregory is the Face of the 21st Century Document Imaging Dealer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Adam

Adam Gregory<\/p><\/div>\n

Don\u2019t ever tell Adam Gregory, \u201cYou\u2019re going to fail,\u201d because if you do, he\u2019s going to prove you wrong.<\/p>\n

The president of Advanced Business Solutions, a virtual document imaging dealership that primarily focuses on the Atlanta, GA and Jacksonville, FL markets, had an idea for a new business model for the document imaging industry back in 2002. When he brought that model to his boss at a small independent dealership in Marietta, GA, he quickly dismissed it.<\/p>\n

Two years later Gregory decided to go off on his own and put that business model into action. His boss told him, \u201cYou\u2019ll never succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been 11 years now and that business model of Gregory\u2019s is working out just fine. He has five employees, a new market (Jacksonville, FL), and a network of dealers across the country who help him service customers with locations outside of Atlanta and Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

After I first heard about Gregory, I couldn\u2019t wait to talk to him about the inspiration for his unique business model, how customers react to a different kind of dealer, and how he remains competitive going up against direct branches and other dealers operating under a more traditional business model.<\/p>\n

How did you get into this business?<\/em><\/p>\n

Gregory: <\/strong>Before I got out of the Navy in 1999 I went to this big job fair in Atlanta. On the way in, this guy asked me what kind of job I was looking for. I told him, \u201cI don\u2019t know, I just know I like to meet people and like to talk to them.\u201d He goes, \u201cYou ever thought about selling?\u201d I thought he was talking about Amway or something like that, but when he said copiers, I asked is that even a business? To make a long story short, about a month later I started working for his independent dealership in Marietta, GA as a sales rep. I was barely making enough money to pay rent.<\/p>\n

I worked my way up to sales manager and had five guys working under me. After three years I approached him and said, \u201cI have this idea and I\u2019d like to hear what you think. Every day our sales guys get up at six in the morning, come into the office by 8 and get on their computer and do e-mail or make phone calls. Why do they have to come in here to do that, can\u2019t they do it from home? I can understand if we\u2019re selling cars, but we\u2019re not. I\u2019ve been here three years and I\u2019ve never sold one machine off the demo floor.\u201d<\/p>\n

He told me, \u201cWe\u2019ve always done it this way.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was there another two years and then told him, \u201cYou\u2019ve done a lot for me, but I\u2019m leaving and starting my own business.\u201d He looked at me and said, \u201cDon\u2019t do it, you\u2019ll never succeed.\u201d That\u2019s all I needed to hear, that was my motivation.<\/p>\n

That was in 2004. I didn\u2019t start with a dime in my pocket and today I\u2019m debt free. I\u2019m a cash run company and we\u2019re doing about $1.2 million.<\/p>\n

You needed a product line to sell so you contacted OKI Data, why\u2019d you pick them?<\/em><\/p>\n

Gregory:<\/strong> I knew it was a secondary line, but there was a lot of potential and there was a lot I could do with that line for the type of business I wanted to build. [My contact at OKI] went to bat for me, I got a small credit line with OKI, and I was off and running.<\/p>\n

Tell me more about your business model?<\/em><\/p>\n

Gregory:<\/strong> This is a new century, a new environment; people can get all the information they need on the Internet. They know more about the machines by the time we talk to them than they ever did before.<\/p>\n

I just moved to Florida with my family and I have a guy in Atlanta that\u2019s running that operation. We\u2019ve got three guys who do service for us and they operate out of their home. We have a warehouse where we keep parts and if they need a part they go get it and let me know what they use. We have no overhead, no inventory; we use distributors for everything we need. Toner gets there next day\u2014it\u2019s a great concept.<\/p>\n

I have machines in Arizona, Houston, TX, Indianapolis, and Orlando. I have 200 machines in Florida and 500 in Georgia. I use independent dealers and technicians to do all of my service for me, and have never had a problem.<\/p>\n

Did you ever get any pushback from prospects about doing business with a company that doesn\u2019t have a physical location?<\/em><\/p>\n

Gregory: <\/strong>When I first started, the first two, three, four years, I was nervous. I kept telling myself, how do I tell this customer I don\u2019t have a brick & mortar, how am I going to look legitimate if I don\u2019t tell them I have a $5 million business and 15-20 people working for me?<\/p>\n

The longer I\u2019ve done this I\u2019ve come to understand that the customer is not worried about that. Sometimes we put too much thought into that. How do I look financially stable to a customer instead of focusing on what can I provide that somebody else can\u2019t?<\/p>\n

I just closed an account in Jacksonville with six offices for 47 machines. When I closed the deal I was living in Atlanta, I didn\u2019t even have my house here in Florida yet. I told the CFO, I have five or six technicians in the Jacksonville area; we show up in four to six hours, we get parts there next day. He said, \u201cI don\u2019t care if you live in Hawaii, as long as you can keep my equipment running.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was based off a productivity standpoint instead of saying this is what we have. Since we can provide that, customers understand. They think, I don\u2019t care what Adam\u2019s got; I just care that he can provide the service we need.<\/p>\n

What were some of the challenges you had to overcome when getting this business off the ground, especially with this business model? <\/em><\/p>\n

Gregory: <\/strong>When I first started there were some challenges. A machine would break down and the customer might need a loaner. How was I going to get it to them? A lot of that was the money; I didn\u2019t have the money to put a $5,000 piece of equipment in the warehouse as a loaner. Over time that obstacle disappeared.<\/p>\n

Another challenge was the A3 market. Here I was an OKI dealer, all we sold was color letter\/legal boxes and I wanted to sell A3 and get some bigger machines out there. Then I got into refurbished and connected with a wholesaler in Tennessee. He drop ships my machines wherever I need them to go. I did that with used Canon machines for a long time. As we started to transform, OKI came out with an A3 model.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s almost like everything fixed itself. It\u2019s just taken time.<\/p>\n

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

Gregory: <\/strong>I have a $200 million company with 70-100 machines in six states, I\u2019ve got your mom & pops, CPA offices, big doctor\u2019s offices with 30-40 machines. Sixty percent of my business is small businesses with up to 25 employees, another 35 percent is probably midsize companies, and the rest are large businesses.<\/p>\n

Who do you view as your competition?<\/em><\/p>\n

Gregory: <\/strong>Direct branches.<\/p>\n

How do you compete against these big guys?<\/em><\/p>\n

Gregory: I\u2019m loving it. Let me be honest, when [the OEMs] started buying dealers out over the past few years, it was like, \u201cOh my gosh you have Xerox coming in buying people out, IKON sweeping people up,\u201d and I thought, \u201cOkay that could be a bad thing for the market, but for some small guys that was a good thing. It\u2019s something we could market against.\u201d<\/p>\n

My main competitors are Konica Minolta and Ricoh, and I tell customers, \u201cYou want service from Ricoh, you\u2019re just a little bitty number on a big old list. You can call me directly or text me on my cell phone and we\u2019ll fix it immediately. Which would you prefer?\u201d That\u2019s usually the breaking point for us right there.<\/p>\n

People go, \u201cI don\u2019t want to wait a whole day for a technician, or I want to talk to the owner, the owner of the company has some meat in this game.\u201d I\u2019d tell them, \u201cGood luck talking to the owner of Ricoh.\u201d<\/p>\n

You represent OKI Data, Canon, and HP, how do each of those lines fit into your business model?<\/em><\/p>\n

Gregory: <\/strong>Canon fits in with more of our A3 line, but we sell mostly refurb. I don\u2019t sell as much HP because you can get reman toner for HP like crazy. The way I look at it is, if I put a printer in somebody\u2019s office and there are 20 guys around the block that can get the toner for that customer, anybody can walk in and knock me off my feet. If I go in with an OKI Data, you can hardly find reman toner on the color side, and I can just about sell them a machine for the same price as an HP. But I guarantee you I\u2019m going to have that toner business with OKI because there are only a couple of us OKI dealers.<\/p>\n

HP is about 10 percent of our market, OKI is 70 percent and the rest is Canon. We have OKI everywhere. The system OKI has set up for dealers allows me to stretch my hands across the country and find people to service my products. That\u2019s what makes this [business model] possible.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re doing well with A4, is that the best product segment for this business model or doesn\u2019t it matter?<\/em><\/p>\n

Gregory: <\/strong>I don\u2019t think it matters. Whether it\u2019s another dealer you signed a contract with to work on it for you or an independent tech, it doesn\u2019t matter as long as you\u2019ve got someone that can work on it.<\/p>\n

Do you anticipate branching out into other product segments?<\/em><\/p>\n

Gregory: <\/strong>We\u2019ve gotten into document management on the software side, but outside of document management, maybe wide format. It\u2019s something we\u2019re looking into, but it\u2019s hard to find guys to work on those things. We\u2019re trying to decide if it\u2019s worth our time and effort. I\u2019ll be happy staying where I am for the next 10 years because I\u2019m comfortable knowing that people are going to keep printing for another 10 years.<\/p>\n

How difficult is it finding other dealers and distributors who can help you sustain this business model? <\/em><\/p>\n

Gregory: <\/strong>Not at all. I\u2019ll tell you why, and I\u2019d love to use this example of Managed IT. Everybody in the copier industry wants to offer Managed IT. With Managed IT companies you\u2019re either going to have to buy them or they\u2019re going to be [upset] with us. We\u2019re trying to take their business. They might want to take our business and sell printers and copiers.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a guy out there with a small company who started out as a Managed IT company, he now sells Canon, another line, and just picked up OKI Data. He had them for about two years when I closed this deal with this big customer in Phoenix. I called him up and told him I have six or seven machines [that need servicing] and I\u2019d like to meet him for lunch. I worked out a deal where I paid him a flat rate to work on the machines. He sends me an invoice and the rest is history. If he needs parts he\u2019ll use his if he has them, if he doesn\u2019t, I\u2019ll ship them to him.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how I\u2019ve gone about finding people. Most independent dealers are like me and if somebody calls and says I have 10 machines coming to Jacksonville, can you service them, I\u2019d say \u201cHell yeah,\u201d because we\u2019re competing against these big guys with offices all around the country. If we don\u2019t all work together, who\u2019s going to help us?<\/p>\n

One of the companies I work with is right here in Jacksonville, in the same market, but we help each other [provide] service to each other\u2019s customers. We have a gentleman\u2019s mutual agreement that their customers are theirs and mine are mine.<\/p>\n

\"The

The Gregory Family<\/p><\/div>\n

What do you do for fun when you\u2019re not working?<\/em><\/p>\n

Gregory: <\/strong>Spending time with my beautiful wife, Melissa and our children. We have four girls and three boys. You get one shot in this life, so enjoy it with those that mean the most to you when you have the time.<\/p>\n

A fun question, what\u2019s the one thing you\u2019re good at that your employees and customers would be surprised to hear?<\/em><\/p>\n

Gregory: <\/strong>Karaoke. I sing pretty well.<\/p>\n

Another fun question for you, if you had to choose your final meal, what\u2019s on the menu?<\/em><\/p>\n

Gregory: <\/strong>A medium well rib eye, baked potato loaded with butter and sour cream, a piece of garlic bread, and a big old glass of sweet tea.<\/p>\n

How does the rest of the year look for Advanced Business Solutions? <\/em><\/p>\n

Gregory: <\/strong>It looks great. We expanded into Florida the end of last year and I\u2019m looking for another 10-15 percent growth over this year into 2016.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don\u2019t ever tell Adam Gregory, \u201cYou\u2019re going to fail,\u201d because if you do, he\u2019s going to prove you wrong. The president of Advanced Business Solutions, a virtual document imaging dealership that primarily focuses on the Atlanta, GA and Jacksonville, FL markets, had an idea for a new business model for the document imaging industry back in 2002. When he brought that model to his boss at a small independent dealership in Marietta, GA, he quickly dismissed it. Two years later Gregory decided to go off on his own and put that business model into action. His boss told him, \u201cYou\u2019ll never succeed.\u201d It\u2019s been 11 years now and that business model of Gregory\u2019s is working out just fine. He has five employees, a new market (Jacksonville, FL), and a network of dealers across the country who help him service customers with locations outside of Atlanta and Jacksonville. After I first heard about Gregory, I couldn\u2019t wait to talk to him about the inspiration for his unique business model, how customers react to a different kind of dealer, and how he remains competitive going up against direct branches and other dealers operating under a more traditional business model. How did you get into this business? Gregory: Before I got out of the Navy in 1999 I went to this big job fair in Atlanta. On the way in, this guy asked me what kind of job I was looking for. I told him, \u201cI don\u2019t know, I just know I like to meet people and like to talk to them.\u201d He goes, \u201cYou ever thought about selling?\u201d I thought he was talking about Amway or something like that, but when he said copiers, I asked is that even a business? To make a long story short, about a month later I started working for his independent dealership in Marietta, GA as a sales rep. I was barely making enough money to pay rent. I worked my way up to sales manager and had five guys working under me. After three years I approached him and said, \u201cI have this idea and I\u2019d like to hear what you think. Every day our sales guys get up at six in the morning, come into the office by 8 and get on their computer and do e-mail or make phone calls. Why do they have to come in here to do that, can\u2019t they do it from home? I can understand if we\u2019re selling cars, but we\u2019re not. I\u2019ve been here three years and I\u2019ve never sold one machine off the demo floor.\u201d He told me, \u201cWe\u2019ve always done it this way.\u201d I was there another two years and then told him, \u201cYou\u2019ve done a lot for me, but I\u2019m leaving and starting my own business.\u201d He looked at me and said, \u201cDon\u2019t do it, you\u2019ll never succeed.\u201d That\u2019s all I needed to hear, that was my motivation. That was in 2004. I didn\u2019t start with a dime in my pocket and today I\u2019m debt free. I\u2019m a cash run company and we\u2019re doing about $1.2 million. You needed a product line to sell so you contacted OKI Data, why\u2019d you pick them? Gregory: I knew it was a secondary line, but there was a lot of potential and there was a lot I could do with that line for the type of business I wanted to build. [My contact at OKI] went to bat for me, I got a small credit line with OKI, and I was off and running. Tell me more about your business model? Gregory: This is a new century, a new environment; people can get all the information they need on the Internet. They know more about the machines by the time we talk to them than they ever did before. I just moved to Florida with my family and I have a guy in Atlanta that\u2019s running that operation. We\u2019ve got three guys who do service for us and they operate out of their home. We have a warehouse where we keep parts and if they need a part they go get it and let me know what they use. We have no overhead, no inventory; we use distributors for everything we need. Toner gets there next day\u2014it\u2019s a great concept. I have machines in Arizona, Houston, TX, Indianapolis, and Orlando. I have 200 machines in Florida and 500 in Georgia. I use independent dealers and technicians to do all of my service for me, and have never had a problem. Did you ever get any pushback from prospects about doing business with a company that doesn\u2019t have a physical location? Gregory: When I first started, the first two, three, four years, I was nervous. I kept telling myself, how do I tell this customer I don\u2019t have a brick & mortar, how am I going to look legitimate if I don\u2019t tell them I have a $5 million business and 15-20 people working for me? The longer I\u2019ve done this I\u2019ve come to understand that the customer is not worried about that. Sometimes we put too much thought into that. How do I look financially stable to a customer instead of focusing on what can I provide that somebody else can\u2019t? I just closed an account in Jacksonville with six offices for 47 machines. When I closed the deal I was living in Atlanta, I didn\u2019t even have my house here in Florida yet. I told the CFO, I have five or six technicians in the Jacksonville area; we show up in four to six hours, we get parts there next day. He said, \u201cI don\u2019t care if you live in Hawaii, as long as you can keep my equipment running.\u201d It was based off a productivity standpoint instead of saying this is what we have. Since we can provide that, customers understand. They think, I don\u2019t care what Adam\u2019s got; I just care that he can provide the service we need. What were some of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1643],"tags":[2352,2353],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13934"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13934"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13938,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13934\/revisions\/13938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}