{"id":53484,"date":"2023-01-19T13:12:57","date_gmt":"2023-01-19T21:12:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=53484"},"modified":"2023-01-19T13:12:59","modified_gmt":"2023-01-19T21:12:59","slug":"business-planning-vol-ii-more-actionable-information-based-on-2022s-lessons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/feature-articles\/2023\/01\/business-planning-vol-ii-more-actionable-information-based-on-2022s-lessons\/","title":{"rendered":"Business Planning, Vol. II: More Actionable Information Based on 2022\u2019s Lessons"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Remember the five-year business plan? Perhaps your dealership still develops them to set the stage for long-term goal achievement. There\u2019s certainly value in a $20 million dealership laying the foundation to increase top-line revenues to $30 million and identifying a profitability percentage increase to meet by 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think about a dealer that developed a five-year plan at the onset of 2020 with the aforementioned goals. At the time, the company may have been banking on growth through MPS, increased hardware sales, managed IT and a newer offering such as unified communications. This firm is now three years into the plan, and barring a growth explosion over the next 24 months, that $30 million isn\u2019t going to happen. Chances are, its hopes for executing the plan were shot to hell by the middle of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not to disparage the concept of a five-year plan. There was simply no accounting for an event that occurs maybe every 100 years. But the pandemic and its aftermath engraved fundamental changes into the business landscape, the results of which are still being reconciled and discovered. Business planning has become more of an inexact science, and what we\u2019ve learned is the road to accurate projections is best mapped out in 6- and 12-month increments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can\u2019t speak to what business may look like in five years. But this week, we offer you part two of lessons learned from 2022 that can be useful in planning out 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Lauren Hanna, Blue Technologies<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

One of the cornerstone lessons gleaned by Lauren Hanna, vice president of sales for Cleveland-based Blue Technologies, is the value of effective communication with clients and internal teams alike. The key to dealing with obstacles is to lay out a plan that avoids the pitfalls of over-committing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnother lesson learned was that you have to take moments like the supply chain crisis and use them to identify areas of strength and weakness,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t plan on evolving business processes through the challenges, you will be left behind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hanna also stressed the importance of remaining true to who you are as a company. \u201cIdentify the core strengths and double down during the challenges,\u201d she related. \u201cThere will always be more challenges; how you respond is what should evolve. Businesses should be focusing on more things than just pre-pandemic revenue. I think that business planning needs to include identifying profit centers and potential profit centers, as well as a team to sell and support them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Open Channels<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Elliot Williams, Epson<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The need to maintain open communication with both clients and OEMs to understand business needs and product availability is a critical aspect, according to Elliot Williams, director of product marketing, business imaging for Epson America. This will be essential to developing a realistic approach to meeting customer requirements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s no surprise that building and establishing a rapport with customers is a key element to a successful relationship. However, the art of face-to-face, in-person communication with customers has fallen to the wayside due to circumstances beyond our control,\u201d Williams noted. \u201cWe had to adapt and have grown accustomed to living in a virtual world \u2013 meeting with customers on Zoom calls and communicating through email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing the world change again,\u201d he added. \u201cDealers should look to re-establish customer relationships \u2013 by way of cold calling, scheduling in-person meetings or attending open houses \u2013 as being physically present is very important because people purchase from whom they know and can depend on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Paul Archer, Automated Business Technologies<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Not shying away from investing is the primary mantra that Paul Archer, president of Automated Business Technologies (ABT) in Centennial, Colorado, ascribes to, and he has the receipts to prove it. ABT\u2019s 2022 will be the best year on record for the dealer, and 2021 showed significant improvement over 2019. Archer is taking an aggressive posture toward the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn spite of inflation and a possible recession, we can continue to grow,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have focused on strengthening our company in every way. Our team is benefitting from this and our customers are as well. We will continue to invest in people, processes, and customer offerings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Jason Habbal, Vision Office Systems<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Profitability will always be among the key buzzwords uttered by dealers. Jason Habbal, vice president of Vision Office Systems in Charlotte, North Carolina, breaks it down to the individual account level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI believe dealers need to be looking at the profitability of accounts over buying new accounts,\u201d he said. \u201cThe model of giving the equipment away to get the service revenue does not work, and I believe many dealers and even some manufacturers are realizing this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protecting Profits<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Jennie Fisher, GreatAmerica<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

While scaling beyond print is sound advice, Jennie Fisher\u2014the senior vice president and general manager of the office equipment group at GreatAmerica Financial Services\u2014believes it\u2019s equally important for dealers to protect their bottom line. One such avenue to attaining that end is enhancing operational efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe most successful solution providers are realizing there are a plethora of touchpoints between them, the customer, the sales rep, third-party providers, and their systems,\u201d she said. \u201cUsing technology integrations, successful dealers are automating many of these processes to improve workflow efficiencies and help maximize their recurring revenue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Jim Dotter, VBS<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In devising its own business plan, Virginia Business Systems (VBS) and its sister company, Edwards Business Systems (EBS) of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, is focusing on managed services, industrial print and net-new clients to grow business in 2023. EBS\/VBS is expanding conversations with clients around IT needs and is leveraging the investments made by OEM partner Konica Minolta to create significant industrial print opportunities, particularly in the areas of packaging and labels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInnovative client engagement will be critical to success in 2023,\u201d noted VBS President and CEO Jim Dotter. \u201cThe noise in inboxes and voicemail has created a fatigue for buyers, and we need to find interesting ways to engage clients, including video, physical correspondence via mail and in-person networking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Mason Smith, MTS Office Systems<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Market conditions left an impression on Mason Smith, the president and CEO of MTS Office Systems in Anderson, South Carolina. There\u2019s value in building a dealer\u2019s inventory of stock, seeking out quality pre-owned equipment and, perhaps most importantly, devising creative ways to make it easier to do business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith rates rising along with equipment costs, dealers will need to get creative to maintain their current customer bases and net-new business,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Brent Martin, ARLINTON<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Two key elements that bear watching are remote document management and security solutions.  Brent Martin, director of marketing for ARLINGTON, sees a need for secure printer options at office locations, with document management and scan solutions available to office and remote employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLook to provide other options that fit into post-COVID office environment such air purifiers, security solutions, and more,\u201d he advised. \u201cContinue to identify those needs in the modern office and align yourself with a distributor that can fulfill those needs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remember the five-year business plan? Perhaps your dealership still develops them to set the stage for long-term goal achievement. There\u2019s certainly value in a $20 million dealership laying the foundation to increase top-line revenues to $30 million and identifying a profitability percentage increase to meet by 2027. Think about a dealer that developed a five-year plan at the onset of 2020 with the aforementioned goals. At the time, the company may have been banking on growth through MPS, increased hardware sales, managed IT and a newer offering such as unified communications. This firm is now three years into the plan, and barring a growth explosion over the next 24 months, that $30 million isn\u2019t going to happen. Chances are, its hopes for executing the plan were shot to hell by the middle of 2021. This is not to disparage the concept of a five-year plan. There was simply no accounting for an event that occurs maybe every 100 years. But the pandemic and its aftermath engraved fundamental changes into the business landscape, the results of which are still being reconciled and discovered. Business planning has become more of an inexact science, and what we\u2019ve learned is the road to accurate projections is best mapped out in 6- and 12-month increments. We can\u2019t speak to what business may look like in five years. But this week, we offer you part two of lessons learned from 2022 that can be useful in planning out 2023. One of the cornerstone lessons gleaned by Lauren Hanna, vice president of sales for Cleveland-based Blue Technologies, is the value of effective communication with clients and internal teams alike. The key to dealing with obstacles is to lay out a plan that avoids the pitfalls of over-committing. \u201cAnother lesson learned was that you have to take moments like the supply chain crisis and use them to identify areas of strength and weakness,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t plan on evolving business processes through the challenges, you will be left behind.\u201d Hanna also stressed the importance of remaining true to who you are as a company. \u201cIdentify the core strengths and double down during the challenges,\u201d she related. \u201cThere will always be more challenges; how you respond is what should evolve. Businesses should be focusing on more things than just pre-pandemic revenue. I think that business planning needs to include identifying profit centers and potential profit centers, as well as a team to sell and support them.\u201d Open Channels The need to maintain open communication with both clients and OEMs to understand business needs and product availability is a critical aspect, according to Elliot Williams, director of product marketing, business imaging for Epson America. This will be essential to developing a realistic approach to meeting customer requirements. \u201cIt’s no surprise that building and establishing a rapport with customers is a key element to a successful relationship. However, the art of face-to-face, in-person communication with customers has fallen to the wayside due to circumstances beyond our control,\u201d Williams noted. \u201cWe had to adapt and have grown accustomed to living in a virtual world \u2013 meeting with customers on Zoom calls and communicating through email. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing the world change again,\u201d he added. \u201cDealers should look to re-establish customer relationships \u2013 by way of cold calling, scheduling in-person meetings or attending open houses \u2013 as being physically present is very important because people purchase from whom they know and can depend on.\u201d Not shying away from investing is the primary mantra that Paul Archer, president of Automated Business Technologies (ABT) in Centennial, Colorado, ascribes to, and he has the receipts to prove it. ABT\u2019s 2022 will be the best year on record for the dealer, and 2021 showed significant improvement over 2019. Archer is taking an aggressive posture toward the future. \u201cIn spite of inflation and a possible recession, we can continue to grow,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have focused on strengthening our company in every way. Our team is benefitting from this and our customers are as well. We will continue to invest in people, processes, and customer offerings.\u201d Profitability will always be among the key buzzwords uttered by dealers. Jason Habbal, vice president of Vision Office Systems in Charlotte, North Carolina, breaks it down to the individual account level. \u201cI believe dealers need to be looking at the profitability of accounts over buying new accounts,\u201d he said. \u201cThe model of giving the equipment away to get the service revenue does not work, and I believe many dealers and even some manufacturers are realizing this.\u201d Protecting Profits While scaling beyond print is sound advice, Jennie Fisher\u2014the senior vice president and general manager of the office equipment group at GreatAmerica Financial Services\u2014believes it\u2019s equally important for dealers to protect their bottom line. One such avenue to attaining that end is enhancing operational efficiency. \u201cThe most successful solution providers are realizing there are a plethora of touchpoints between them, the customer, the sales rep, third-party providers, and their systems,\u201d she said. \u201cUsing technology integrations, successful dealers are automating many of these processes to improve workflow efficiencies and help maximize their recurring revenue.\u201d In devising its own business plan, Virginia Business Systems (VBS) and its sister company, Edwards Business Systems (EBS) of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, is focusing on managed services, industrial print and net-new clients to grow business in 2023. EBS\/VBS is expanding conversations with clients around IT needs and is leveraging the investments made by OEM partner Konica Minolta to create significant industrial print opportunities, particularly in the areas of packaging and labels. \u201cInnovative client engagement will be critical to success in 2023,\u201d noted VBS President and CEO Jim Dotter. \u201cThe noise in inboxes and voicemail has created a fatigue for buyers, and we need to find interesting ways to engage clients, including video, physical correspondence via mail and in-person networking.\u201d Market conditions left an impression on Mason Smith, the president and CEO of MTS Office Systems in Anderson, South Carolina. There\u2019s value in building a dealer\u2019s inventory of stock, seeking out quality pre-owned equipment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":53485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1650,82,87,1638],"tags":[798,197,4275],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53484"}],"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=53484"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53486,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53484\/revisions\/53486"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}