{"id":20326,"date":"2016-09-22T13:08:24","date_gmt":"2016-09-22T20:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=20326"},"modified":"2016-10-20T04:17:40","modified_gmt":"2016-10-20T11:17:40","slug":"difference-maker-spotlight-cannon-ivs-jerry-jones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/the-week-in-imaging-twii\/editors-blog\/2016\/09\/difference-maker-spotlight-cannon-ivs-jerry-jones\/","title":{"rendered":"Difference Maker Spotlight: Cannon IV\u2019s Jerry Jones"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jerry

Jerry Jones of Cannon IV<\/p><\/div>\n

Cannon IV, one of the country\u2019s leading dealerships, was started 42 years ago by Jerry Jones\u2019s father. In those early days the business consisted solely of selling carbon paper and typewriter ribbons out of the family garage in Indianapolis, Indiana. Jones joined the business at the same time and he reflects on the unbelievable evolution of the company. \u201cI almost think of carbon ribbons as something out of the Stone Age,\u201d he muses. \u201cNow we\u2019re into digital printing, technology in business and managed print services is our focal point.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cIV\u201d in Cannon IV refers to the four brothers in the business. Family values and culture is important to the Jones family and they extend that to the staff and their customers. Cannon IV\u2019s tagline is an acronym known as FIT. It stands for family, integrity and trust. Jones\u2019 fundamental belief is that you can\u2019t lead or be led unless there is an element of trust there.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have high levels of respect; high levels of trust and integrity and that carries over to the customer,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople believe in that. Customers get a good glimpse of it and know that they can depend on you. They know that they\u2019re dealing with honest law-abiding citizens who they can put their faith and trust in.\u201d<\/p>\n

How does Jones describe the feeling of being recognized by his peers as an ENX magazine Difference Maker? \u201cIt is an honor any time your peer group thinks you are doing something noteworthy because there are so many outstanding people in the industry,\u201d he says. Jones credits Doug Johnson of LMI and Brian Stevenson of TriMega who have been great friends, role models, and mentors for several years. \u201cBoth are extremely bright and innovative,\u201d he adds. \u201cThey fit perfectly into the Cannon IV culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones says that today Cannon IV is focused on driving business efficiencies, cost-cutting measures, and implementing innovative sales training with the help of Stevenson and Johnson. \u201cThe people in genuine MPS are always trying to figure out better ways to collect data to respond better to the customer,\u201d he explains. \u201cIt\u2019s something that Doug has been very passionate about. The industry has been doing things like CPP, but now we are discussing how to switch that to a seat-based option.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think all of us are just trying to figure out how to reduce the touches,\u201d he adds. \u201cI think that we have to be better listeners. We\u2019re giving the customer too much information. They want to know about the abnormalities and it\u2019s our job to show them the abnormalities. We have to be able to go to the customer and say that we can manage this much better. We have a tendency in the industry to want to give everybody everything and I don\u2019t think people want that anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflecting further on the industry, Jones says that he\u2019s surprised that a dominant OEM hasn\u2019t emerged to fully embrace MPS. \u201cThey all have it and they all do it, but none of them really want to offer a great deal to their channel partners,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to get information from something that people are saying is a driving force in the industry. I\u2019m surprised they haven\u2019t taken a more proactive role. We tend to get the best information and the best products from people outside the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not surprising that Cannon IV was voted the best place to work for two years in Indiana (2014, 2016). Jones recalls that in 2008, at the outset of the recent recession, the business was hit hard because people simply weren\u2019t looking to replace hardware. \u201cI was faced with a very difficult decision of having to do major layoffs,\u201d he says. \u201cBut instead I did the math and I found out what we needed to reduce the expense. I went to all of our employees and asked them to take a fairly significant pay reduction \u2013 at least 10 to 12 percent \u2013 while the Jones family took even more of a reduction. I explained that when things improved I\u2019d not only pay them back, I\u2019d pay them back with interest. In about nine months we paid everybody back with interest. \u00a0Since that happened people say that this is the company they want to retire from.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked what he thinks is the best thing about his job, Jones replies that it is the opportunity to teach and mentor. And then he adds: \u201cAnd I have the privilege to work in a family business with my three brothers and a son.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cannon IV, one of the country\u2019s leading dealerships, was started 42 years ago by Jerry Jones\u2019s father. In those early days the business consisted solely of selling carbon paper and typewriter ribbons out of the family garage in Indianapolis, Indiana. Jones joined the business at the same time and he reflects on the unbelievable evolution of the company. \u201cI almost think of carbon ribbons as something out of the Stone Age,\u201d he muses. \u201cNow we\u2019re into digital printing, technology in business and managed print services is our focal point.\u201d The \u201cIV\u201d in Cannon IV refers to the four brothers in the business. Family values and culture is important to the Jones family and they extend that to the staff and their customers. Cannon IV\u2019s tagline is an acronym known as FIT. It stands for family, integrity and trust. Jones\u2019 fundamental belief is that you can\u2019t lead or be led unless there is an element of trust there. \u201cWe have high levels of respect; high levels of trust and integrity and that carries over to the customer,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople believe in that. Customers get a good glimpse of it and know that they can depend on you. They know that they\u2019re dealing with honest law-abiding citizens who they can put their faith and trust in.\u201d How does Jones describe the feeling of being recognized by his peers as an ENX magazine Difference Maker? \u201cIt is an honor any time your peer group thinks you are doing something noteworthy because there are so many outstanding people in the industry,\u201d he says. Jones credits Doug Johnson of LMI and Brian Stevenson of TriMega who have been great friends, role models, and mentors for several years. \u201cBoth are extremely bright and innovative,\u201d he adds. \u201cThey fit perfectly into the Cannon IV culture.\u201d Jones says that today Cannon IV is focused on driving business efficiencies, cost-cutting measures, and implementing innovative sales training with the help of Stevenson and Johnson. \u201cThe people in genuine MPS are always trying to figure out better ways to collect data to respond better to the customer,\u201d he explains. \u201cIt\u2019s something that Doug has been very passionate about. The industry has been doing things like CPP, but now we are discussing how to switch that to a seat-based option.\u201d \u201cI think all of us are just trying to figure out how to reduce the touches,\u201d he adds. \u201cI think that we have to be better listeners. We\u2019re giving the customer too much information. They want to know about the abnormalities and it\u2019s our job to show them the abnormalities. We have to be able to go to the customer and say that we can manage this much better. We have a tendency in the industry to want to give everybody everything and I don\u2019t think people want that anymore.\u201d Reflecting further on the industry, Jones says that he\u2019s surprised that a dominant OEM hasn\u2019t emerged to fully embrace MPS. \u201cThey all have it and they all do it, but none of them really want to offer a great deal to their channel partners,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to get information from something that people are saying is a driving force in the industry. I\u2019m surprised they haven\u2019t taken a more proactive role. We tend to get the best information and the best products from people outside the industry.\u201d It\u2019s not surprising that Cannon IV was voted the best place to work for two years in Indiana (2014, 2016). Jones recalls that in 2008, at the outset of the recent recession, the business was hit hard because people simply weren\u2019t looking to replace hardware. \u201cI was faced with a very difficult decision of having to do major layoffs,\u201d he says. \u201cBut instead I did the math and I found out what we needed to reduce the expense. I went to all of our employees and asked them to take a fairly significant pay reduction \u2013 at least 10 to 12 percent \u2013 while the Jones family took even more of a reduction. I explained that when things improved I\u2019d not only pay them back, I\u2019d pay them back with interest. In about nine months we paid everybody back with interest. \u00a0Since that happened people say that this is the company they want to retire from.\u201d Asked what he thinks is the best thing about his job, Jones replies that it is the opportunity to teach and mentor. And then he adds: \u201cAnd I have the privilege to work in a family business with my three brothers and a son.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":20327,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[80,1638],"tags":[2810,2811],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20326"}],"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\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20326"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20341,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20326\/revisions\/20341"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}