{"id":50962,"date":"2022-07-28T12:50:12","date_gmt":"2022-07-28T19:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=50962"},"modified":"2022-07-28T13:39:25","modified_gmt":"2022-07-28T20:39:25","slug":"tips-from-the-pros-dealers-share-insight-into-leveraging-most-from-hidden-gems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/feature-articles\/2022\/07\/tips-from-the-pros-dealers-share-insight-into-leveraging-most-from-hidden-gems\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips from the Pros: Dealers Share Insight into Leveraging Most from Hidden Gems"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Any time the prospect of venturing into a new discipline is broached, a dealer will have plenty of questions (and needs) addressed in order to move forward. And when it comes to advice, either slight or significant, insight from those who have already been down that road can be most beneficial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we conclude this month\u2019s State of the Industry report on non-traditional offerings, or hidden gems, we asked our dealer panel for tips on how to get the most from various products and services that fall outside of the mainstream. In some cases, a number of offerings have already garnered significant market reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Keven Ellison, AIS<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When marrying the as-a-service model with marketing, as is the case with Advanced Imaging Solutions (AIS) of Las Vegas, a dealer is essentially casting its line in the agency pool. Having a strong marketing team and leadership component in place is only the beginning, and Keven Ellison\u2014AIS\u2019 vice president of marketing\u2014believes the right approach can tap into the market advantage dealers enjoy,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy having an experienced marketing staff member embedded in your customer’s business, you really get to learn their business and can identify new business opportunities as they are discussed in real-time,\u201d Ellison pointed out. \u201cThe traditional account management for advertising or marketing agencies will never become this close to a client or customer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Changing Footprint<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Christopher Malatesta, IMR Digital<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

With more and more workers setting up shop at home and on the go, today\u2019s physical footprint continues to dwindle as businesses reassess their square footage needs for on-site operations. That\u2019s where IMR Digital\u2019s value proposition rises to the top; eliminating the need for physical documents and sending filing cabinets to the recycling bin, thus freeing space that can be better utilized from a business standpoint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, that only scratches the surface of the value proposition, notes Christopher Malatesta, senior sales executive for the division of KDI Office Technology in Aston, Pennsylvania. \u201cAs businesses downsize offices, or eliminate them altogether to work virtual, they now need to provide their teams full access to all of their key documents and data,\u201d he said. \u201cIn order to do so, all of the paper in those filing cabinets needs to be digitized and stored electronically on a company server or in the cloud so businesses can continue to run\u2026and in many cases run more efficiently.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Being firmly entrenched with a partner that can act as a confidant and liaison throughout the process can ensure your dealership maximizes its potential in scaling a non-traditional offering, according to Chip Miceli, president and CEO of Pulse Technology in Schaumburg, Illinois. After all, guidance is equally beneficial to the dealer and the end-user.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNon-traditional offerings work best when you work with a company that will treat you as a partner and hold your hand throughout the process,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Erik Crane, CPI Technologies<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Interactive whiteboards continue to grow in popularity due to their penchant for providing both static and variable content in any number of vertical environments. Erik Crane, president and CEO of CPI Technologies in Springfield, Missouri, believes it\u2019s important to find out which manufacturers have the best coverage and resources in your area. Crane had a ViewSonic manufacturer rep close enough to come in and provide on-site training for rotating groups of 20 teachers at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese are the resources you need available, especially since they are lower-margin items and you don\u2019t want to dedicate a lot of your own resources,\u201d he said. \u201cPlus, you have to have dedicated reps to sell these ancillary products. Your mainline reps can do some of it and find some leads, but turning it over to a dedicated rep who is focused on it and well-versed in that world is important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlso, you\u2019ll need to have a clear commission program in place so that there\u2019s no confusion. If there\u2019s a question about money, people get skittish really fast.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Any time the prospect of venturing into a new discipline is broached, a dealer will have plenty of questions (and needs) addressed in order to move forward. And when it comes to advice, either slight or significant, insight from those who have already been down that road can be most beneficial. As we conclude this month\u2019s State of the Industry report on non-traditional offerings, or hidden gems, we asked our dealer panel for tips on how to get the most from various products and services that fall outside of the mainstream. In some cases, a number of offerings have already garnered significant market reach. When marrying the as-a-service model with marketing, as is the case with Advanced Imaging Solutions (AIS) of Las Vegas, a dealer is essentially casting its line in the agency pool. Having a strong marketing team and leadership component in place is only the beginning, and Keven Ellison\u2014AIS\u2019 vice president of marketing\u2014believes the right approach can tap into the market advantage dealers enjoy, \u201cBy having an experienced marketing staff member embedded in your customer’s business, you really get to learn their business and can identify new business opportunities as they are discussed in real-time,\u201d Ellison pointed out. \u201cThe traditional account management for advertising or marketing agencies will never become this close to a client or customer.\u201d Changing Footprint With more and more workers setting up shop at home and on the go, today\u2019s physical footprint continues to dwindle as businesses reassess their square footage needs for on-site operations. That\u2019s where IMR Digital\u2019s value proposition rises to the top; eliminating the need for physical documents and sending filing cabinets to the recycling bin, thus freeing space that can be better utilized from a business standpoint. Still, that only scratches the surface of the value proposition, notes Christopher Malatesta, senior sales executive for the division of KDI Office Technology in Aston, Pennsylvania. \u201cAs businesses downsize offices, or eliminate them altogether to work virtual, they now need to provide their teams full access to all of their key documents and data,\u201d he said. \u201cIn order to do so, all of the paper in those filing cabinets needs to be digitized and stored electronically on a company server or in the cloud so businesses can continue to run\u2026and in many cases run more efficiently.\u201d Being firmly entrenched with a partner that can act as a confidant and liaison throughout the process can ensure your dealership maximizes its potential in scaling a non-traditional offering, according to Chip Miceli, president and CEO of Pulse Technology in Schaumburg, Illinois. After all, guidance is equally beneficial to the dealer and the end-user. \u201cNon-traditional offerings work best when you work with a company that will treat you as a partner and hold your hand throughout the process,\u201d he added. Interactive whiteboards continue to grow in popularity due to their penchant for providing both static and variable content in any number of vertical environments. Erik Crane, president and CEO of CPI Technologies in Springfield, Missouri, believes it\u2019s important to find out which manufacturers have the best coverage and resources in your area. Crane had a ViewSonic manufacturer rep close enough to come in and provide on-site training for rotating groups of 20 teachers at a time. \u201cThese are the resources you need available, especially since they are lower-margin items and you don\u2019t want to dedicate a lot of your own resources,\u201d he said. \u201cPlus, you have to have dedicated reps to sell these ancillary products. Your mainline reps can do some of it and find some leads, but turning it over to a dedicated rep who is focused on it and well-versed in that world is important. \u201cAlso, you\u2019ll need to have a clear commission program in place so that there\u2019s no confusion. If there\u2019s a question about money, people get skittish really fast.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":50963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1650,82,87,1638],"tags":[3572,3521],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50962"}],"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=50962"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50964,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50962\/revisions\/50964"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}