{"id":41197,"date":"2020-08-06T11:56:10","date_gmt":"2020-08-06T18:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=41197"},"modified":"2020-08-06T11:56:13","modified_gmt":"2020-08-06T18:56:13","slug":"countering-margin-erosion-pros-and-cons-of-looking-to-new-sources-of-revenue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/feature-articles\/2020\/08\/countering-margin-erosion-pros-and-cons-of-looking-to-new-sources-of-revenue\/","title":{"rendered":"Countering Margin Erosion: Pros and Cons of Looking to New Sources of Revenue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

At a time in business when the sale of bread-and-butter\nofferings such as copiers and MFPs have been severely curtailed by\nCOVID-induced conditions, dealers may be seeking to supplement their revenues\nby branching into ancillary offerings or even products that are far removed\nfrom the traditional office realm. Temperature-measuring kiosks and monitoring\nsystems have proven to be popular bolt-ons for dealers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Melissa Confalone, Fraser<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

But whether times are good or challenging, a methodical\napproach is prudent to ensuring your dealership can annex an offering with a\nminimum of equity expended\u2014including time and energy\u2014and can be applied across\na substantial portion of your client roster. Melissa Confalone, vice president\nof sales for Fraser Advanced Information Systems of West Reading, Pennsylvania,\nbelieves a strategic plan needs to address the following points:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Identify your target market<\/li>
  • Know what current clients may be able to take\nadvantage of the offering<\/li>
  • Know the market for new clients for the\noffering<\/li>
  • Thoroughly know\nthe problem you\u2019re solving for businesses<\/li>
  • Know if your competition has something similar or the same offering<\/li>
  • Know how you\u2019re going to generate revenue and gross profit<\/li>
  • Make sure your marketing and sales messaging are aligned<\/li>
  • Review your plan in three to six months to see your successes and to evaluate any changes you need to make to make the offering successful<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cWhen offering a\nnew product or service, you have to know what your goal is first and foremost,\u201d\nConfalone said. \u201cAre you looking for client acquisition?  Is it\nspecifically revenue and gross profit for the product you\u2019re seeking? With any\nnew offering, you have to lay out your strategic plan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    Susie Woodhull, Woodhull LLC<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Managed network services has proven to be somewhat elusive for\nWoodhull LLC, based in Springboro, Ohio. CEO Susie Woodhull notes the company\nhas been frustrated in its attempts over the last two years to acquire a\nspecialized company to fold within her own. The dealer recently hired a director\nof operations with extensive experience on the service side, and may well forge\nits own path to developing MNS competency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    One newer area in which the firm has enjoyed success is with\ncommercial imaging. While the margins are somewhat lower, Woodhull points out\nthe dealership found fertile ground in dealing with court systems and\nmunicipalities for scanning of historical documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cWe found, even though the margins are lower, that we can get a lot of quantity,\u201d she said. \u201cIn the case of municipalities and court systems, they\u2019re required by law to have all their files available to the public. It gets to the point where it\u2019s unmanageable in hard copy form, so they want to scan it and have it available for people to search. It\u2019s a service play and (the customer) ends up with a disc or whatever format they want the scanned documents in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    Brad Yocum, Function4<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Brad Yocum, market director for Function4 of Sugar Land, Texas,\npoints out that his dealership had previously made strategic investments in\nareas such as software-as-a-service, MNS and VoIP\/unified communications prior\nto the pandemic. Although any addition can be taxing on resources at the onset,\nhe prefers to take a longer view of the investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cWe want to find those areas where the additional offerings are\nvaluable,\u201d he said. \u201cAdding products and offerings that we have never done\nbefore can strain resources and provide bad experiences for customers. We\nbelieve this is a temporary disruption and want to be relevant far into the\nfuture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    Chip Miceli, Pulse Technology<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    When the pandemic hit, Pulse Technology President and CEO Chip\nMiceli huddled with his team to take a deeper look at some of the offerings\nthat had been shelved because it was busy with IT service and other business.\nThat opened the door for document management solutions and VoIP, which really\ntook off after businesses were sent home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    COVID-19 provided multiple opportunities for the dealer to\nexplore. \u201cIn our Indiana\nlocation, we made a push for hand sanitizer and teamed up with a distillery in\nMichigan to help us produce the product,\u201d Miceli said. \u201cIn tandem with that, we\nhave ramped up sales of masks, wipes, seal guards and products that will keep\nbusinesses in business. Other products that caught on include face-recognition\nproducts and thermo-scan products to take temperatures.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    Ray Belanger, Bay Copy<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Another tack a dealership can take is to identify new vertical\nmarkets that can provide opportunities. For years, Bay Copy of Rockland,\nMassachusetts, has focused on two markets, health care and education, that were\ndramatically impacted by the pandemic. According to CEO Ray Belanger, Bay Copy\nis looking to expand its work in the financial industry with both banks and\ncredit unions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cWe utilize our sales team and also engage through a variety of\nmeans, including email blasts, direct mail where appropriate, and some visibility\nthrough other marketing strategies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    At a time in business when the sale of bread-and-butter offerings such as copiers and MFPs have been severely curtailed by COVID-induced conditions, dealers may be seeking to supplement their revenues by branching into ancillary offerings or even products that are far removed from the traditional office realm. Temperature-measuring kiosks and monitoring systems have proven to be popular bolt-ons for dealers. But whether times are good or challenging, a methodical approach is prudent to ensuring your dealership can annex an offering with a minimum of equity expended\u2014including time and energy\u2014and can be applied across a substantial portion of your client roster. Melissa Confalone, vice president of sales for Fraser Advanced Information Systems of West Reading, Pennsylvania, believes a strategic plan needs to address the following points: Identify your target market Know what current clients may be able to take advantage of the offering Know the market for new clients for the offering Thoroughly know the problem you\u2019re solving for businesses Know if your competition has something similar or the same offering Know how you\u2019re going to generate revenue and gross profit Make sure your marketing and sales messaging are aligned Review your plan in three to six months to see your successes and to evaluate any changes you need to make to make the offering successful \u201cWhen offering a new product or service, you have to know what your goal is first and foremost,\u201d Confalone said. \u201cAre you looking for client acquisition?  Is it specifically revenue and gross profit for the product you\u2019re seeking? With any new offering, you have to lay out your strategic plan.\u201d Managed network services has proven to be somewhat elusive for Woodhull LLC, based in Springboro, Ohio. CEO Susie Woodhull notes the company has been frustrated in its attempts over the last two years to acquire a specialized company to fold within her own. The dealer recently hired a director of operations with extensive experience on the service side, and may well forge its own path to developing MNS competency. One newer area in which the firm has enjoyed success is with commercial imaging. While the margins are somewhat lower, Woodhull points out the dealership found fertile ground in dealing with court systems and municipalities for scanning of historical documents. \u201cWe found, even though the margins are lower, that we can get a lot of quantity,\u201d she said. \u201cIn the case of municipalities and court systems, they\u2019re required by law to have all their files available to the public. It gets to the point where it\u2019s unmanageable in hard copy form, so they want to scan it and have it available for people to search. It\u2019s a service play and (the customer) ends up with a disc or whatever format they want the scanned documents in.\u201d Brad Yocum, market director for Function4 of Sugar Land, Texas, points out that his dealership had previously made strategic investments in areas such as software-as-a-service, MNS and VoIP\/unified communications prior to the pandemic. Although any addition can be taxing on resources at the onset, he prefers to take a longer view of the investment. \u201cWe want to find those areas where the additional offerings are valuable,\u201d he said. \u201cAdding products and offerings that we have never done before can strain resources and provide bad experiences for customers. We believe this is a temporary disruption and want to be relevant far into the future.\u201d When the pandemic hit, Pulse Technology President and CEO Chip Miceli huddled with his team to take a deeper look at some of the offerings that had been shelved because it was busy with IT service and other business. That opened the door for document management solutions and VoIP, which really took off after businesses were sent home. COVID-19 provided multiple opportunities for the dealer to explore. \u201cIn our Indiana location, we made a push for hand sanitizer and teamed up with a distillery in Michigan to help us produce the product,\u201d Miceli said. \u201cIn tandem with that, we have ramped up sales of masks, wipes, seal guards and products that will keep businesses in business. Other products that caught on include face-recognition products and thermo-scan products to take temperatures.\u201d Another tack a dealership can take is to identify new vertical markets that can provide opportunities. For years, Bay Copy of Rockland, Massachusetts, has focused on two markets, health care and education, that were dramatically impacted by the pandemic. According to CEO Ray Belanger, Bay Copy is looking to expand its work in the financial industry with both banks and credit unions. \u201cWe utilize our sales team and also engage through a variety of means, including email blasts, direct mail where appropriate, and some visibility through other marketing strategies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":41198,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1650,82,87,1638],"tags":[114,2738,3588,3521,359],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41197"}],"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=41197"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41199,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41197\/revisions\/41199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}