![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Cover1.jpg\")
Don\u2019t be fooled, however. It\u2019s not mere entertainment; there\u2019s method behind these presentations. There\u2019s a high level of expectations that come with working for the largest dealer in the country. When the \u201cUncomfortable Choir\u201d sang about getting out of the comfort zone at their annual business meeting earlier this year, there was a crystal-clear message to be absorbed. Status quo doesn\u2019t carry a company to the precipice of $400 million, and there are no sacred cows. MFP sales may keep the lights on, but managed IT, telephony and other serviced-based offerings are the path forward. And at a time when COVID-19 threw a wrench into everyone\u2019s plans, Pacific Office Automation sounded the pivot bell, sourcing personal protective equipment and temperature-reading kiosks to address the new normal clients are facing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Full Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Founded in 1976, POA is certainly built for speed, augmented by 1,150 team members in eight states and 24 locations. The company represents virtually every major manufacturer in the industry, serving the needs of a laundry list of verticals led by health care, legal, education, government and SMB. Beyond MFPs, copiers, IT and phones, the company offers wide-format and production printers, scanners and faxes, security cameras, visual communications (video conferencing, interactive whiteboards), shipping and mailing, to name a few. Managed services (print and IT), data security and software are also a significant aspect of POA\u2019s arsenal. The company\u2019s \u201crelationship wheel\u201d ensures sales reps walk clients and prospects through the complete breadth of its offerings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We sat down with Pitassi to learn how COVID-19 has impacted business and POA\u2019s approach, and to get a sense of the opportunities the market will bear as the country navigates the pandemic and embarks on returning to some sense of normalcy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How was business in 2019? What were the keys that dictated your success?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pitassi<\/strong>: It\u2019s interesting, because we had growth in every category across four different regions. Displacement is an important strategy, because we\u2019re in an industry in which print is flat to declining. That doesn\u2019t apply to large-format printing or high-end production, and not necessarily printers under contract. The growth has to be by retention of the client and adding more customers at a higher rate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We had a lot of new takedowns; we added 11,000 printers under contract, which is up from the previous year. We call it relationship sales, and what we track is how many services our salespeople sell into beyond copiers and printers. Whether it\u2019s telephony, IT services, mailing, high-end production, software-as-a-service, or security, we focus on the relationship and sell within the client. Our IT business represented about $29 million of our overall revenue. That includes unified communications, a part of our business that is growing in 2020 as well. Even though it\u2019s a small portion of the overall revenue, it\u2019s still very encouraging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What sets POA apart from the competition?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pitassi<\/strong>: There\u2019s nothing really magical about POA; I wish I could say we have some secret sauce. But I think we have honor in work. We wake up early, work a full day and want to outwork our competitors. Our true competition is really growth; if we can grow, we\u2019re winning. Our people are very prideful about that aspect. Personally, I learn a lot from other dealers and their experiences. While people may view other dealers as competition there really is a strong network of collaboration which has assisted POA immensely. That collaboration is more important than ever in light of the events occurring in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So if there\u2019s no \u201csecret sauce,\u201d what catapulted POA to the top of the sales ladder?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pitassi<\/strong>: Organic growth is much bigger and much healthier (than acquisition growth), in my opinion. We see what is happening in our industry, and the growing private equity. They\u2019re growing with that money, and it enables them to grow quite quickly. At POA, we\u2019re conservative in our approach to growth. We try to grow by winning the business inside a territory. We\u2019ll grow by one acquisition a year and it won\u2019t be a big company. But you need a market foundation. We\u2019re not currently in Sacramento, San Diego, Las Vegas or Reno. There are some cities that make sense for us, so finding a dealer to acquire\u2014with trained technicians and a local understanding of business\u2014can provide that infrastructure. But overall, we\u2019re much more geared toward organic growth than acquisition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You enjoy spicing up POA\u2019s sales kickoff meetings with memorable, out-of-the-ordinary opening performances. What was the catalyst behind it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pitassi<\/strong>: Motivating people is one part of it. But it\u2019s important for people to feel as if they\u2019re part of something bigger than any one person, group or market. There is always room for improvement, but I\u2019m very excited about POA and the pure pride and loyalty surrounding what we have built. POA has created something that\u2019s pretty cool. I want to motivate people and articulate to them continually that we\u2019re a business that provides for our families, provides for our extended families and provides for the community. If we can be good in all aspects of that, then we absolutely matter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not about how many copiers we sell. It helps to sell copiers, but that in itself is kind of boring. Who wants to talk about copiers and printers? There\u2019s not a lot of sizzle. It\u2019s really important to articulate success, and do it in a way that\u2019s a lot of fun. We like to celebrate our success and kick off our goals in fine fashion, so that everybody understands expectations. Everyone understands their role as part of a team. It\u2019s also important to brand your culture. It defines who we are, what we do and how we do it. We have 10 culture words, including accountability, passion and trust\u2014all terms that mean something to us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n During your sales kickoff at the start of the year, the topic of conversation was the drive toward the $400 million mark. Tell us about your business in the three-month lead-up to COVID-19, and how you\u2019ve readjusted goal setting.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pitassi<\/strong>: The kickoff meetings play a huge role in starting off the year on the right foot. We review the previous year, talk about successes, and kick off our goals for the New Year. Our 2020 goal was \u201cTake the Leap,\u201d to figure out how to get to the $400 million mark. The January and February run rate had us on track for that goal, but that\u2019s not going to happen now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In March, when the virus happened\u2026it challenged all aspects of everyone\u2019s personal and professional state of mind. I have a lot of sympathy for people and what they\u2019re going through due to the pandemic, and POA is trying to be understanding and supportive. But on the other side, though, we\u2019re working hard to maintain the business, which goes back to us providing for so many people and their families. We\u2019ve refocused on selling during a pandemic, and we got aggressive about promotions and helped a lot of clients with refinancing their current contracts. We brought on new products that might help clients get through what could well be a prolonged ordeal. I think this new normal is going to be with us for a while. I feel strongly that companies will embrace some of the technologies that we\u2019re selling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Tell us a little about some of these products you\u2019ve pivoted to, from temperature-scanning kiosks to hand sanitizer and personal protective equipment.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pitassi<\/strong>: A key word we have tried to instill in our staff during the pandemic is offset, and that ties into the other products POA has pivoted to. We believe in, and want businesses to think of, POA as an all-encompassing office equipment solutions and service provider. Whether that be a copier or, in these days, the equipment and services a business will require in order to now operate under the current circumstances. With that in mind, POA has added temperature-scanning kiosks, personal protective equipment, back-to-work safety kits and additional home office solution packages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The temperature kiosk is just one way of helping offices reduce the risk. This is relevant to all businesses when they are determining how best to welcome back their workforce safely, but it is especially relevant to the hospitality business, assisted living\/nursing homes and health care facilities. We\u2019re seeing some pretty good success right out of the gate. There are a lot of technologies that use different methods for taking a temperature. We\u2019re not sure what direction it might go, but we\u2019re invested in it. We have to be ready to see how the market shakes out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ll also be rolling out personal, back-to-work safety kits\u2014large, medium and small\u2014that include many different types of PPE in them. But again, it\u2019s all about that word, offset. Our people who were selling chargeable supplies, such as toner, are also selling gloves, disposable face masks, hand sanitizer, those types of things. Customers are appreciative that we can get them the supplies they need, and I think it could be a reorder business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As you have facilities in eight states, each of which have various phased-in degrees of business resumption, tell us a little about your coordination initiatives and efforts to get back to some semblance of normal.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pitassi<\/strong>: This is a big challenge for all of us. Health and safety always come first at POA, and there are a lot of mixed feelings about the threat of the virus. Part of the challenge we face is that there are positions in our company\u2014technical staff, deliver drivers, warehouse\u2014where we are supporting essential businesses. So, the thought process cannot just be about how we make our own buildings safe, but also how we protect our employees when they are visiting a customer\u2019s location. We created an internal task force, and trained employees on the best practices and taking precaution, including producing a training video on technician safety precautions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For employee positions that may not rely on coming into a POA office, we\u2019ve left it up to the employee. Whether it\u2019s a salesperson, a contract biller or an IT support desk person, all of these jobs are working from home company-wide. We have to balance two things. One, for anybody with pre-existing conditions that could put them at a higher risk, we want to work with them on their entry back into the office when it makes sense for them to return. The second part, it\u2019s currently a personal choice for employees. That could change by market. It could be that in a few months, we will say that if you\u2019re a sales person, we want you back in the office. But we\u2019re not there yet, and I\u2019m going to hold out as long as I can. As long as we\u2019re productive, we can continue to assess the health and safety risk factor. We know that ultimate return date is a moving target. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s two weeks, two months or 10 months from now, but there will be a day when most people will need to come back to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Considering the experiences of the past two months and the aftermath of COVID-19, what might your playbook for 2021 encompass?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pitassi<\/strong>: As a dealer, you can either stay put and be a victim to what has happened because of COVID-19, or you can finally pivot to the other services, such as IT, telephony, etc. This business is 10 times the opportunity of print and copy. We\u2019re in the infancy of the IT world, and this just forces us to get into that business at a much higher level. So, 2021 for me is going to drill down to the territory level, determine what we might have lost in services from print and copy, and seek to get it back by selling the other services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If a portion of billing is by usage, you\u2019re going to have a pretty big downturn. As the volume comes back, will it return to 100% of what it was in terms of print and copy, which is the core part of our business? I don\u2019t think so. By July 1, I\u2019m estimating a 20% downturn. It\u2019s just a math problem. The service part, our aftermarket, is a monthly recurring number. It\u2019s broken down into revenue and profitability. I want to drill it down to the field level, to the rep. They need to determine how much their revenues are down, and then we need to devise a six-, 12- or 18-month goal of getting back to the rep\u2019s previous revenues. So, whatever the downturn, we need to incent our sales team to sell services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Prior to COVID-19, as the trend of prints per machine were challenged and became flatter, we wanted to replace that revenue by offering other services. Now, COVID-19 caused (the decline) to be abrupt, so we need to be just as abrupt in pivoting to other services. I think we\u2019ll be back fine in 2021. The scary thing is, will we have another outbreak in a bigger way, from November through January? That\u2019s my biggest concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What does \u201cgetting out of your comfort zone\u201d mean to your employees and POA?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pitassi<\/strong>: It is an interesting thought process, but it\u2019s tough to do. It\u2019s challenging people to do the uncomfortable, and making that the habit. If I only sell to mid-sized companies, I don\u2019t sell any big deals. Or \u201cI only sell copiers, I don\u2019t sell IT.\u201d Technicians that are break\/fix have to pivot to fixing computers. These are self-imposed boundaries that a person refuses to push past. In the comfort zone, fear is the first obstacle. Once you get past fear, there is the learning zone and the growth zone. Complacency is a big part of it. A lot of people are in their comfort zone because they don\u2019t want to take the chance, they don\u2019t have the confidence. Maybe they don\u2019t want to be a manager or don\u2019t think they could be one. Our \u201cUncomfortable Choir\u201d did a great job of articulating that in their performance at this year\u2019s sales kickoff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you anticipate being active in the M&A landscape in the near term<\/strong>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pitassi<\/strong>: As mentioned earlier, POA believes in organic growth over time. COVID-19 will thrust some companies that don\u2019t pivot and change technology into a tough spot. Frankly, they might be challenged losing the services that were paying the bills, prompting many companies to sell. I think there are going to be opportunities there, and POA will examine those closely while still adhering to our focus on organic growth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Post-acquisition, do you rebrand companies to POA?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pitassi<\/strong>: It\u2019s all subject to the situation. Some will benefit greatly from us putting some structure in, that POA flavor. We also like decentralization and allowing companies to have autonomy. For example, in Idaho Falls, we still answer the phone as Yost, because the local community identifies with that name. So we\u2019re open to being flexible with the branding. With some acquisitions, we insert our culture and expectations in a strong way on day one. But if something is working, there\u2019s no reason to break it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What do you like most about your job?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pitassi<\/strong>: I like developing and mentoring hard-working people and being an ingredient in their success. It\u2019s gratifying seeing them flourish, whether that is financially, career related or personal success and growth. It\u2019s all about the development of people in a career and not a job. It\u2019s a huge reward for me to see people succeed in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Outside of work, what do you do for fun?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pitassi<\/strong>: I\u2019m a wannabe drummer and play in a rock-and-roll band called The Denominators. We play classic rock cover songs. I\u2019m good in my own mind, but I\u2019m the lowest common denominator. If you put a band of really talented people around you, you can actually be pretty good. I\u2019m having a lot of fun. I have to hire myself because sometimes we don\u2019t get any gigs, but that\u2019s OK. I love to play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have one grandson, Mason, and it\u2019s all about him. He just had his second birthday, and it\u2019s so fun being a grandparent. He\u2019s the best.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In another life, Doug Pitassi would\u2019ve been the host of a TV game show or perhaps \u201cDancing with the Stars.\u201d Relatable and genuine, self-deprecating with a touch of deadpan humor, the president and CEO of Pacific Office Automation (POA) adds a showman\u2019s touch of personality to a leadership role that often requires a larger than life persona. Pitassi spends more than enough time dealing with the Xs and Os for a company that has scaled the office technology dealership mountain, with sales that eclipsed $365 million for 2019. He\u2019s earned the right to take a break and front the Beaverton, Oregon-headquartered firm\u2019s annual sales kickoff meeting in fine style, whether it\u2019s \u201cparachuting\u201d into the opening ceremony, doing his best KISS imitation or performing other popular parodies. Don\u2019t be fooled, however. It\u2019s not mere entertainment; there\u2019s method behind these presentations. There\u2019s a high level of expectations that come with working for the largest dealer in the country. When the \u201cUncomfortable Choir\u201d sang about getting out of the comfort zone at their annual business meeting earlier this year, there was a crystal-clear message to be absorbed. Status quo doesn\u2019t carry a company to the precipice of $400 million, and there are no sacred cows. MFP sales may keep the lights on, but managed IT, telephony and other serviced-based offerings are the path forward. And at a time when COVID-19 threw a wrench into everyone\u2019s plans, Pacific Office Automation sounded the pivot bell, sourcing personal protective equipment and temperature-reading kiosks to address the new normal clients are facing. Full Arsenal Founded in 1976, POA is certainly built for speed, augmented by 1,150 team members in eight states and 24 locations. The company represents virtually every major manufacturer in the industry, serving the needs of a laundry list of verticals led by health care, legal, education, government and SMB. Beyond MFPs, copiers, IT and phones, the company offers wide-format and production printers, scanners and faxes, security cameras, visual communications (video conferencing, interactive whiteboards), shipping and mailing, to name a few. Managed services (print and IT), data security and software are also a significant aspect of POA\u2019s arsenal. The company\u2019s \u201crelationship wheel\u201d ensures sales reps walk clients and prospects through the complete breadth of its offerings. We sat down with Pitassi to learn how COVID-19 has impacted business and POA\u2019s approach, and to get a sense of the opportunities the market will bear as the country navigates the pandemic and embarks on returning to some sense of normalcy. How was business in 2019? What were the keys that dictated your success? Pitassi: It\u2019s interesting, because we had growth in every category across four different regions. Displacement is an important strategy, because we\u2019re in an industry in which print is flat to declining. That doesn\u2019t apply to large-format printing or high-end production, and not necessarily printers under contract. The growth has to be by retention of the client and adding more customers at a higher rate. We had a lot of new takedowns; we added 11,000 printers under contract, which is up from the previous year. We call it relationship sales, and what we track is how many services our salespeople sell into beyond copiers and printers. Whether it\u2019s telephony, IT services, mailing, high-end production, software-as-a-service, or security, we focus on the relationship and sell within the client. Our IT business represented about $29 million of our overall revenue. That includes unified communications, a part of our business that is growing in 2020 as well. Even though it\u2019s a small portion of the overall revenue, it\u2019s still very encouraging. What sets POA apart from the competition? Pitassi: There\u2019s nothing really magical about POA; I wish I could say we have some secret sauce. But I think we have honor in work. We wake up early, work a full day and want to outwork our competitors. Our true competition is really growth; if we can grow, we\u2019re winning. Our people are very prideful about that aspect. Personally, I learn a lot from other dealers and their experiences. While people may view other dealers as competition there really is a strong network of collaboration which has assisted POA immensely. That collaboration is more important than ever in light of the events occurring in 2020. So if there\u2019s no \u201csecret sauce,\u201d what catapulted POA to the top of the sales ladder? Pitassi: Organic growth is much bigger and much healthier (than acquisition growth), in my opinion. We see what is happening in our industry, and the growing private equity. They\u2019re growing with that money, and it enables them to grow quite quickly. At POA, we\u2019re conservative in our approach to growth. We try to grow by winning the business inside a territory. We\u2019ll grow by one acquisition a year and it won\u2019t be a big company. But you need a market foundation. We\u2019re not currently in Sacramento, San Diego, Las Vegas or Reno. There are some cities that make sense for us, so finding a dealer to acquire\u2014with trained technicians and a local understanding of business\u2014can provide that infrastructure. But overall, we\u2019re much more geared toward organic growth than acquisition. You enjoy spicing up POA\u2019s sales kickoff meetings with memorable, out-of-the-ordinary opening performances. What was the catalyst behind it? Pitassi: Motivating people is one part of it. But it\u2019s important for people to feel as if they\u2019re part of something bigger than any one person, group or market. There is always room for improvement, but I\u2019m very excited about POA and the pure pride and loyalty surrounding what we have built. POA has created something that\u2019s pretty cool. I want to motivate people and articulate to them continually that we\u2019re a business that provides for our families, provides for our extended families and provides for the community. If we can be good in all aspects of that, then we absolutely matter. It\u2019s not about how many copiers we sell. It helps to sell copiers, but that in itself is kind of boring. Who wants to talk about copiers and […]<\/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\/40634"}],"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=40634"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40673,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40634\/revisions\/40673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Building.jpg\")
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