{"id":39169,"date":"2020-03-28T02:32:04","date_gmt":"2020-03-28T09:32:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=39169"},"modified":"2020-03-31T05:54:46","modified_gmt":"2020-03-31T12:54:46","slug":"rave-reviews-forward-thinking-datamax-continues-to-make-believers-out-of-clients-employees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/dealer-spotlight\/2020\/03\/rave-reviews-forward-thinking-datamax-continues-to-make-believers-out-of-clients-employees\/","title":{"rendered":"Rave Reviews: Forward-Thinking Datamax Continues to Make Believers Out of Clients, Employees"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Barry Simon has been blessed with a built-in defense system that safeguards against complacency. He uses terms such as \u201cfail forward\u201d and cautions not to trip into pride-based assumptions like the notion that everything his company does represents the best way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 40 years in the business, Simon \u2013 the president of Little Rock, Arkansas-based Datamax \u2013 can spot when the bar of excellence has been raised, or when new measuring sticks for success should be applied. The company, with roots tracing back as an A.B. Dick dealership in 1955, has built momentum to the $50 million mark in annual revenue amidst a flurry of changes\u2014including a splitting of the company seven years ago. This is a testament to Simon\u2019s unwavering determination toward \u201cCreating Raving Fans\u201d among his clients and employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Barry Simon, Datamax president<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Datamax has kept its eye on the bouncing ball. The dealer represents Canon, Konica Minolta, Lexmark and Kyocera in servicing markets ranging from health care and education to manufacturing, AEC and nonprofits in Arkansas and Texas. As the tally for black-and-white clicks dwindled, Simon branched out into managed services, production print, wide-format, enterprise content management and document management, along with unified communications. Plus, the dealer\u2019s MaxCare, a comprehensive portfolio of technology support services, helps account representatives leverage the full value proposition Datamax has to offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company made two strategic acquisitions in the past two years, obtaining East Texas Copy Systems and Firmin\u2019s Office City, bringing its total to eight locations (which a ninth coming in Jonesboro, Arkansas). Simon presides over the entire operation\u2014he first became Little Rock president in 1985\u2014and David Rhodes is president of Datamax Texas. Future deals are in the pipeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We spoke with Simon about the various aspects that have helped Datamax survive and keep moving forward during the industry\u2019s sea change, along with how he endeavors to keep his business closely attuned to the needs of clients while continuously \u201cCreating Raving Fans.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How was business in 2019? What were the keys that dictated your success?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simon<\/strong>: Our business in general had changes, and for us it was down a little in Dallas and Little Rock, but there were reasons for that. For the first year or two after an acquisition, business revenues can be impacted, then begin to materialize in the third year, when you start getting everything back on track. That\u2019s what we saw, but now we\u2019re poised to make even better things happen in 2020. We\u2019re making a big push in production print and managed IT services; in fact, we have managed IT in all our operations. About six or seven months ago, we started selling unified communications, which includes voice-over IP (VoIP) technology. For the most part, 2019 was a year for us to reassess what we wanted to do and where we needed to be\u2014looking at our people and reevaluating. It\u2019s about getting away from selling boxes and focusing on being solutions providers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Shown from left are Vice President of Marketing Robert Caldwell, Vice President of Sales David Holzhauer, President Barry Simon, PrintView Services Manager Russ Hill and Administration Manager Kristen Finkbeiner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What sets Datamax apart from the competition?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simon<\/strong>: We did a study in CDA six years ago in which we wanted to find out prospects\u2019 and customers\u2019 buying decisions. We did double-blind surveys with a statistically valid number of accounts. It was interesting to see why people bought, and the top five reasons were pretty consistent. So we focused on those qualities and asked ourselves, \u201chow are we different?\u201d We changed our tagline a few years back (\u201cRelevant Technology Raving Results\u201d) to better align ourselves with the actual wants of our customers. In our mission to create raving fans, we knew we had to be truly relevant to the customer. Ultimately, we want them to have results worth raving about. It was important not to approach our customers with cookie-cutter presentations or proposals. We discover what they are looking for, what they need, and we try to be relevant with our recommendations, whether it\u2019s in office equipment, production print, IT services, VoIP\/unified communications or document\/content management. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our managers go through a thorough planning process, something I feel a lot of dealers don\u2019t do. Other companies say they want to be a $50 million or $100 million dealer, but they really don\u2019t set the plans in motion for how they\u2019re going to get there. In all of our offices, we work from the ground up. We meet with our people and talk about the goals we want to reach. And we work those plans. If we\u2019re not succeeding, we\u2019d better understand why. We\u2019re not afraid to set goals. I think people sometimes don\u2019t want to set goals because they\u2019re afraid to fail. That\u2019s not our company. I have a philosophy that we should fail forward; if we fail, we learn something from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently, we worked with our marketing team to create an additional blog called \u201cYou Ask, We Answer,\u201d which provides valuable information and education on a number of topics. We want to be a go-to resource for people to know they can come to us. We want to tell it like it is and help our customers become better at what they do. That\u2019s one way we differentiate ourselves. We want to avoid becoming a \u201cme, too\u201d dealer or a price-only alternative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You acquired East Texas Copy Systems in 2018 and Firmin\u2019s Office City last spring. What did each of these companies bring to the table for Datamax<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simon<\/strong>: I\u2019d been talking to (East Texas owner) Greg Walker off and on for years about acquiring his company. When he finally decided he was ready to exit, Greg looked to us because of our culture and our longtime friendship. I asked him about how they cared for their customers and employees, and I wanted to know what they wanted their legacy to be going forward. For dealers that are just looking to cash out, we\u2019re probably not the best option for them. Greg and I agreed to have a neutral party perform an evaluation, which went smoothly and made it easier for both of us. It was our biggest acquisition to date. It provided an expansion of our Texas market and gave us increased buying power with the manufacturers that helped us get where we wanted to be. And most importantly, it was a strong culture fit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Datamax team members attend the Tyler (TX) Area Chamber of Commerce Business to Business Expo in January. Shown from left are Marketing Communications Manager Jeff Walker, East Texas Area Sales Manager Kenny Prince, Account Manager Kaylee Lynn and Account Manager Chris Bostick <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With Firmin\u2019s, (owner Chuck Firmin) wanted to focus mainly on furniture and other areas, so we bought the copier side of his business, which represents about $1.4 million. We still have a great working relationship; he gives us copier leads and we give him leads for furniture sales. We needed to be in Texarkana, which provided a bridge between Little Rock\/Hot Springs and Dallas to get into more of the market that we needed. As a result, we didn\u2019t have to start from scratch. We revitalized the bottom portion of his building and put our office there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you have any potential acquisitions in the pipeline currently? What are the qualities you look for in a prospective addition?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simon<\/strong>: We have two that we\u2019re working on. We\u2019re always looking for the right business, with our same culture and values. That\u2019s what\u2019s worked for us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What has been the key to your growth in managed network services?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simon<\/strong>: We\u2019ve worked with Paul Dippell and Service Leadership (a service provider consultancy firm) on our strategy. We have a hunter\/farmer type of environment in all of our offices; we have one consultant strictly going after the managed service side of it and another selling document\/content management and unified communications as well as managing the account. We\u2019ve shared with all of our legacy copier reps what that looks like, and we have mapped out a compensation plan. We have helpdesks, people in all of the offices who can take calls. We want to make sure that the calls are routed to the proper person. There are so many different variables, and you want to put your best foot forward and make sure you get customers on your stack. The problem you encounter is trying to be all things to all people. It takes time when you go through an assessment with these companies to convince them this is what they need to do. They have to demonstrate pain in some capacity. We feel that the stronger we can get into an account, the better we\u2019re going to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Barry Simon (left), president of Datamax Inc., and David Rhodes, president of Datamax Texas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tell us about the development of CommCare, your Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) solution. How has it been received by clients?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simon<\/strong>: Other than our ongoing strategic partnership reviews, we provide a significant amount of support remotely, which is where our customers prefer us to be and where we can maximize our service delivery. Previously, we may not have been part of some RFPs because we weren\u2019t selling VoIP. The phone side provided a bit of an eye-opener, because I used to think that clients were more satisfied with their system providers than they really were. We found it easier to get into the VoIP space. But we\u2019re still learning; we want to uncover all of the \u201cgotchas\u201d in this business, so we\u2019re taking it a little bit slower. I think it\u2019s going to provide a nice boost on the managed service side of our business. We\u2019re getting some traction. Ordinarily, you want to sell a new offering to as many people as you can. But with this, I want to make sure that we\u2019re going to be able to offer the right service. We don\u2019t want to onboard somebody\u2014especially a current user of our copier business or managed services\u2014and find out that they\u2019re not happy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Datamax President Barry Simon and Sales Support Specialist Barb Noll greet riders with the Patriot Pack, whose 10-day annual bike trek is in support of The Jillian Fund. Datamax has been a longtime supporter of The Jillian Fund, which provides financial support to families of children with life-threatening illnesses<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We started out by training our sales people and asking the right questions. We took our time getting through it. If a customer doesn\u2019t have the right internet capabilities, they\u2019re not going to be a good fit and you have to tell them that. If they can\u2019t change their internet provider to get to where they need to be, you\u2019ll end up in a bad situation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, you have a wide arsenal of support services branded under the MaxCare umbrella. What was the thought process behind this as-a-service approach?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simon<\/strong>: The idea of the MaxCare wheel is that when our sales people are having conversations, they can present a holistic approach to the technology services we provide. For example, the client may not be in the market for a copier right now. However, they\u2019re looking at other offerings and that wheel helped us get to that. Take Microsoft Office 365\u2026we\u2019ve got to start understanding how many people are wanting to go to the cloud, and we have to know what the cloud brings to the table. As we progress with these things, it\u2019s more of what our customers are asking from us as we do partnership reviews. We ask them what they\u2019re looking for in the future, the software they\u2019re using, including the cloud-based software that\u2019s running their company. If we look at these things as a provider, we have to know how to take over that agreement. People are rarely aware of everything a dealer sells, so MaxCare helps our people fully understand and properly articulate everything we offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Datamax service and logistics support team inside the Little Rock warehouse<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Do you employ a bundled approach?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simon<\/strong>: We leave that to the customer. That is an advantage; we can put this all into one payment if desired. We let them decide how they want to go, whether it\u2019s PaperCut, uniFLOW, VoIP or managed services. The bundle enables us to give a break to those businesses that have been fair to us as customers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2019, you were named to the \u201cBest Places to Work in Arkansas\u201d list, and your motto of Creating Raving Fans is well known. How are you able to make such raving fans out of your employees?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simon<\/strong>: Robert Caldwell, our vice president of marketing, and Jeff Walker, our marketing communications manager, have been instrumental in this area. It can be a challenge to maintain and promote culture as you continue to grow and deal with eight different offices. We produce an internal eNewsletter called The Rave Review every month. Built as a specific online pillar page, it allows readers to fan off and read articles on both people and initiatives in every Datamax location. It gives employees a feel for our people and what is going on at other offices within the organization. Whether it\u2019s the \u201cRaving Fans,\u201d \u201cRaving Teammates\u201d or \u201cRaving Friends\u201d (community initiatives) that we\u2019re celebrating, the newsletter is a vehicle for organization-wide communication. I\u2019ll post something on the Review, and Robert and Jeff will go to the various offices and talk to the employees to give them that company-wide perspective. Culture is tough when you have an office that might have just eight or nine people, because they don\u2019t have a sense for what is going on in the other offices. It\u2019s important that people buy into the culture; otherwise, it will fail. Three years ago, we went to each office and did videos where we interviewed our people and customers. We\u2019re doing it again now because it needs to be refreshed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was your dealership\u2019s greatest accomplishment in 2019?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simon<\/strong>: Winning the Best Places to Work honor (from Arkansas Business) for the third straight year was a big accomplishment. Production print has been good for us, along with managed services. We worked on what was one of our biggest orders ever with a customer in East Texas. We finished the deal in 2020, but most of the hard work that got it done took place last year. And I think getting our culture out to all of our employees through the Rave Review was pretty significant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was the biggest challenge you faced in the past year?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simon<\/strong>: Keeping that culture going and making sure everybody believes in it, along with onboarding the acquisitions and making sure we\u2019re putting our best foot forward for them. We went through some transitions. You stress people out when you make acquisitions, and I think we stretched some of our people a little thin. We had some new salespeople join the fold, and we worked hard in getting them trained and doing the things we need to do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are your goals for the next 12-18 months?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simon<\/strong>: On the sales side, we\u2019re focusing on 30-50 mid-market accounts per sales account manager in Arkansas and Texas to produce at a level we\u2019re seeking. We need to make sure that we remain relevant to clients at all times. On a quarterly basis, through our partnership reviews, we\u2019ll figure out what we need to do to take them to the next level. We also need to do some soul-searching with our own offices to make sure we are structured properly for that success. Business-wise, the growth we\u2019ve realized has been primarily through the new markets we serve. However, we feel we\u2019re positioned better than ever before with the management staff we currently have. We\u2019re looking at 2020 as a pivotal year for us in all facets of our business. We\u2019re looking to continue bolstering our service tech training, equipping our technicians with the highest level of expertise. Our 13 years as being Canon ATSP Certified, seven years as a Canon Advanced Partner and four years being named Konica Minolta Pro-Tech certainly reflect those efforts. It\u2019s going to be an exciting year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Datamax Inc. was recognized by Canon in 2019 for its long-standing Association of Technical Service Professionals (ATSP) commitment. Executives and service managers from both Texas and Arkansas were on hand to receive the award<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As the industry continues to contract and evolve, what will be the keys to success for the dealer community?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simon<\/strong>: I believe it\u2019s important to emphasize production print and color, along with managed services, document imaging and VoIP. We\u2019ve got to start looking at cybersecurity and how can we be an asset to our customers. We do a lot of lunch-and-learns, during which we bring in customers and prospects to hear from experts. People want education. You can\u2019t just sell a copier and survive anymore. Black-and-white impressions are going backwards. However, if you stay attuned to where you\u2019re at, there\u2019s competition that is going to fail. Some of us will grow because other dealers are not making the necessary changes to what they do. But you really have to focus on the areas that are going to make you different. We have to be careful not to get hung up on the notion that what we\u2019re doing is the best \u2013 you have to focus on your differentiators and, most importantly, what is relevant to the customer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you like most about your job?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simon<\/strong>: I love this business. I can\u2019t think of anything else I would rather do. I like being a part of it and seeing our people and customers grow. We have people who have been with us for 35-40 years and are about ready to retire, and to me that\u2019s exciting. I see people as our greatest asset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside of work, what do you do for fun?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simon<\/strong>: I get up at four in the morning every day to work out. I like playing golf. Patti and I love to travel with the different groups that we\u2019re in. We like Hawaii a lot. In 2018, we had the chance to go to Thailand; my brother lived there. What an unbelievable place. I couldn\u2019t get over how inexpensive it was and enjoyed everything the country had to offer. In the end, I like to make sure that I stay sharp on the things that I need to do. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Barry Simon has been blessed with a built-in defense system that safeguards against complacency. He uses terms such as \u201cfail forward\u201d and cautions not to trip into pride-based assumptions like the notion that everything his company does represents the best way. After 40 years in the business, Simon \u2013 the president of Little Rock, Arkansas-based Datamax \u2013 can spot when the bar of excellence has been raised, or when new measuring sticks for success should be applied. The company, with roots tracing back as an A.B. Dick dealership in 1955, has built momentum to the $50 million mark in annual revenue amidst a flurry of changes\u2014including a splitting of the company seven years ago. This is a testament to Simon\u2019s unwavering determination toward \u201cCreating Raving Fans\u201d among his clients and employees. Datamax has kept its eye on the bouncing ball. The dealer represents Canon, Konica Minolta, Lexmark and Kyocera in servicing markets ranging from health care and education to manufacturing, AEC and nonprofits in Arkansas and Texas. As the tally for black-and-white clicks dwindled, Simon branched out into managed services, production print, wide-format, enterprise content management and document management, along with unified communications. Plus, the dealer\u2019s MaxCare, a comprehensive portfolio of technology support services, helps account representatives leverage the full value proposition Datamax has to offer. The company made two strategic acquisitions in the past two years, obtaining East Texas Copy Systems and Firmin\u2019s Office City, bringing its total to eight locations (which a ninth coming in Jonesboro, Arkansas). Simon presides over the entire operation\u2014he first became Little Rock president in 1985\u2014and David Rhodes is president of Datamax Texas. Future deals are in the pipeline. We spoke with Simon about the various aspects that have helped Datamax survive and keep moving forward during the industry\u2019s sea change, along with how he endeavors to keep his business closely attuned to the needs of clients while continuously \u201cCreating Raving Fans.\u201d How was business in 2019? What were the keys that dictated your success? Simon: Our business in general had changes, and for us it was down a little in Dallas and Little Rock, but there were reasons for that. For the first year or two after an acquisition, business revenues can be impacted, then begin to materialize in the third year, when you start getting everything back on track. That\u2019s what we saw, but now we\u2019re poised to make even better things happen in 2020. We\u2019re making a big push in production print and managed IT services; in fact, we have managed IT in all our operations. About six or seven months ago, we started selling unified communications, which includes voice-over IP (VoIP) technology. For the most part, 2019 was a year for us to reassess what we wanted to do and where we needed to be\u2014looking at our people and reevaluating. It\u2019s about getting away from selling boxes and focusing on being solutions providers. What sets Datamax apart from the competition? Simon: We did a study in CDA six years ago in which we wanted to find out prospects\u2019 and customers\u2019 buying decisions. We did double-blind surveys with a statistically valid number of accounts. It was interesting to see why people bought, and the top five reasons were pretty consistent. So we focused on those qualities and asked ourselves, \u201chow are we different?\u201d We changed our tagline a few years back (\u201cRelevant Technology Raving Results\u201d) to better align ourselves with the actual wants of our customers. In our mission to create raving fans, we knew we had to be truly relevant to the customer. Ultimately, we want them to have results worth raving about. It was important not to approach our customers with cookie-cutter presentations or proposals. We discover what they are looking for, what they need, and we try to be relevant with our recommendations, whether it\u2019s in office equipment, production print, IT services, VoIP\/unified communications or document\/content management. Our managers go through a thorough planning process, something I feel a lot of dealers don\u2019t do. Other companies say they want to be a $50 million or $100 million dealer, but they really don\u2019t set the plans in motion for how they\u2019re going to get there. In all of our offices, we work from the ground up. We meet with our people and talk about the goals we want to reach. And we work those plans. If we\u2019re not succeeding, we\u2019d better understand why. We\u2019re not afraid to set goals. I think people sometimes don\u2019t want to set goals because they\u2019re afraid to fail. That\u2019s not our company. I have a philosophy that we should fail forward; if we fail, we learn something from it. Recently, we worked with our marketing team to create an additional blog called \u201cYou Ask, We Answer,\u201d which provides valuable information and education on a number of topics. We want to be a go-to resource for people to know they can come to us. We want to tell it like it is and help our customers become better at what they do. That\u2019s one way we differentiate ourselves. We want to avoid becoming a \u201cme, too\u201d dealer or a price-only alternative. You acquired East Texas Copy Systems in 2018 and Firmin\u2019s Office City last spring. What did each of these companies bring to the table for Datamax Simon: I\u2019d been talking to (East Texas owner) Greg Walker off and on for years about acquiring his company. When he finally decided he was ready to exit, Greg looked to us because of our culture and our longtime friendship. I asked him about how they cared for their customers and employees, and I wanted to know what they wanted their legacy to be going forward. For dealers that are just looking to cash out, we\u2019re probably not the best option for them. Greg and I agreed to have a neutral party perform an evaluation, which went smoothly and made it easier for both of us. It was our biggest acquisition to date. It provided an expansion of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1643],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39169"}],"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\/166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39169"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39300,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39169\/revisions\/39300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}