{"id":54775,"date":"2023-04-20T17:01:05","date_gmt":"2023-04-21T00:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=54775"},"modified":"2023-04-20T17:02:54","modified_gmt":"2023-04-21T00:02:54","slug":"all-things-considered-elements-to-ponder-when-adding-ancillary-products","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/the-week-in-imaging-twii\/editors-blog\/2023\/04\/all-things-considered-elements-to-ponder-when-adding-ancillary-products\/","title":{"rendered":"All Things Considered: Elements to Ponder When Adding Ancillary Products"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Success in business is not always about coming up with new ideas for selling beyond-the-ordinary products and services. As we\u2019ve seen over and over, it\u2019s about reading the room that is your end-user client base and studying the markets you serve for potential offerings. You\u2019re not telling your customers what they need (or at least you shouldn\u2019t); they\u2019re telling you. If you think a new offering has merit, don\u2019t just bounce the idea off your exec team. Canvass the customers!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Behind every great idea (even so-so ones) waiting to be acted upon is a firm commitment and an action plan that can aid in its execution. It is the ability to execute that spells the difference in success with a newer offering or the deafening chirps of crickets. Ancillary products are like new plants; when not fed and given the attention\/nurturing they require, they\u2019ll shrivel into brown tumbleweeds blowing across the bottom of your website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this week\u2019s installment of the State of the Industry report on ancillary products, our dealer panel provides insights into what you should keep in mind when going down the road of a particular offering. They\u2019ve been there, and their experiences can help you gauge whether a given offering might be an optimal fit for your client and prospect base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Nate Schaf, Eakes Office Solutions<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As we\u2019ve seen, not every ancillary offering can translate well with a client base. When Eakes Office Solutions of Grand Island, Nebraska, embarked on janitorial and sanitation (jan\/san) products, it stood as a stark outlier from the balance of the dealer\u2019s catalog. As such, it requires a top-down buy-in throughout the organization, notes Nate Schaf, director of marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe products solve a different problem, the buyer is different, vendors\u2013both wholesale and direct\u2014are critical to profitability and you need dedicated sales and service people to sell the products and solve the problems, to name a few,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is not a \u2018me, too\u2019 category.  Customers expect educated and knowledgeable sales reps to be a consultant and help navigate their facility challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Necessary Investments<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Rick Salcedo, KDI<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

While KDI Office Technology of Aston, Pennsylvania, moved into business process outsourcing, President and CEO Rick Salcedo offers a more holistic approach to ancillaries in general. Understanding clients\u2019 needs is foremost in cultivating a platform that can adequately address them in order to make it a more compelling offering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investments in training and education help ensure both your sales reps and customers have a deep understanding of the products and technologies and goes a long way toward positioning the ancillary effectively in a manner that can drive value. Also, leveraging partnerships with manufacturers and suppliers that are experts in a given field can enable a dealer to power through the learning curve and provide additional resources and support to your team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBe strategic in your marketing and sales efforts: Introducing new offerings requires a strategic approach to marketing and sales,\u201d Salcedo said. \u201cYou need to ensure that your offerings are positioned effectively and that your sales team has the necessary tools and resources to effectively sell them. Finally, it’s important to evaluate the financial impact of introducing new offerings. This includes understanding the profit margins and recurring revenue opportunities, as well as any costs associated with training, marketing, and sales efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy taking these considerations into account, fellow dealers can successfully introduce new offerings to their catalogs and provide additional value to their clients.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sage Advice<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Tim Renegar, Kelly Office Solutions<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

One of the great things about our industry is the willingness of dealers to share tips, tricks and advice with fellow dealers outside of their market. Kelly Office Solutions of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, was all too happy to provide a western dealer with insights into pure water, pure ice and pure air. Kelly President Tim Renegar sat down with the colleague and provided the key details to getting started and setting the stage for an effective platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canvassing a fellow dealer carries the same weight, maybe even more, as probing your client base for a potential match, so don\u2019t be shy about picking up the phone and asking for insights. \u201cThey jumped into it and were really ecstatic,\u201d Renegar noted. \u201cThey created a sales team around it and are still running with it today. The manufacturer comes in and gives you a quick training course and works with your technicians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI always tell them, make sure you use the very high highest quality water lines; when you’re installing all the fittings, use the highest quality you possibly get. You don\u2019t want to run the risk of any kind of leakage. There\u2019s a variety of things you can do to prevent anything major from happening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Importing Expertise<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

While not always possible, it is advisable to add a product or solution through the acquisition of a company that specializes in it. That holds true for furniture, which was the formula employed by Pulse Technology of Schaumburg, Illinois. That makes it easier to layer in additional manufacturer lines and leverage subject-matter experts who can help a dealer avoid rookie mistakes, notes CEO Chip Miceli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery dealer who expands his or her products and services\u2014whether that\u2019s office furniture or something else\u2014should focus on opportunities where recurring revenue is likely,\u201d he said. \u201cOne natural add-on for dealers is selling office supplies and products, including toner, paper, break room items, and so forth. It is always in a dealer\u2019s best interest to do everything possible to become a one-stop shop for customers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Jeff Olson, Marco<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Not all dealers have the financial and personnel resources to the extent of a megadealer such as Marco of St. Cloud, Minnesota. Jeff Olson, director of project management, addressed the big-picture goals that go beyond their ancillary gem, shredding services, which can be applied to most new initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are many things to consider when adding offerings to your portfolio,\u201d he said. \u201cCan you handle the startup costs without affecting your normal day-to-day business? Will concentrating on growing another area of the business affect personnel and culture? Research who your competitors are and find a way to stand out from them. Focus on what pain you can take away from your client and offer great service.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Success in business is not always about coming up with new ideas for selling beyond-the-ordinary products and services. As we\u2019ve seen over and over, it\u2019s about reading the room that is your end-user client base and studying the markets you serve for potential offerings. You\u2019re not telling your customers what they need (or at least you shouldn\u2019t); they\u2019re telling you. If you think a new offering has merit, don\u2019t just bounce the idea off your exec team. Canvass the customers! Behind every great idea (even so-so ones) waiting to be acted upon is a firm commitment and an action plan that can aid in its execution. It is the ability to execute that spells the difference in success with a newer offering or the deafening chirps of crickets. Ancillary products are like new plants; when not fed and given the attention\/nurturing they require, they\u2019ll shrivel into brown tumbleweeds blowing across the bottom of your website. In this week\u2019s installment of the State of the Industry report on ancillary products, our dealer panel provides insights into what you should keep in mind when going down the road of a particular offering. They\u2019ve been there, and their experiences can help you gauge whether a given offering might be an optimal fit for your client and prospect base. As we\u2019ve seen, not every ancillary offering can translate well with a client base. When Eakes Office Solutions of Grand Island, Nebraska, embarked on janitorial and sanitation (jan\/san) products, it stood as a stark outlier from the balance of the dealer\u2019s catalog. As such, it requires a top-down buy-in throughout the organization, notes Nate Schaf, director of marketing. \u201cThe products solve a different problem, the buyer is different, vendors\u2013both wholesale and direct\u2014are critical to profitability and you need dedicated sales and service people to sell the products and solve the problems, to name a few,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is not a \u2018me, too\u2019 category.  Customers expect educated and knowledgeable sales reps to be a consultant and help navigate their facility challenges.\u201d Necessary Investments While KDI Office Technology of Aston, Pennsylvania, moved into business process outsourcing, President and CEO Rick Salcedo offers a more holistic approach to ancillaries in general. Understanding clients\u2019 needs is foremost in cultivating a platform that can adequately address them in order to make it a more compelling offering. Investments in training and education help ensure both your sales reps and customers have a deep understanding of the products and technologies and goes a long way toward positioning the ancillary effectively in a manner that can drive value. Also, leveraging partnerships with manufacturers and suppliers that are experts in a given field can enable a dealer to power through the learning curve and provide additional resources and support to your team. \u201cBe strategic in your marketing and sales efforts: Introducing new offerings requires a strategic approach to marketing and sales,\u201d Salcedo said. \u201cYou need to ensure that your offerings are positioned effectively and that your sales team has the necessary tools and resources to effectively sell them. Finally, it’s important to evaluate the financial impact of introducing new offerings. This includes understanding the profit margins and recurring revenue opportunities, as well as any costs associated with training, marketing, and sales efforts. \u201cBy taking these considerations into account, fellow dealers can successfully introduce new offerings to their catalogs and provide additional value to their clients.\u201d Sage Advice One of the great things about our industry is the willingness of dealers to share tips, tricks and advice with fellow dealers outside of their market. Kelly Office Solutions of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, was all too happy to provide a western dealer with insights into pure water, pure ice and pure air. Kelly President Tim Renegar sat down with the colleague and provided the key details to getting started and setting the stage for an effective platform. Canvassing a fellow dealer carries the same weight, maybe even more, as probing your client base for a potential match, so don\u2019t be shy about picking up the phone and asking for insights. \u201cThey jumped into it and were really ecstatic,\u201d Renegar noted. \u201cThey created a sales team around it and are still running with it today. The manufacturer comes in and gives you a quick training course and works with your technicians. \u201cI always tell them, make sure you use the very high highest quality water lines; when you’re installing all the fittings, use the highest quality you possibly get. You don\u2019t want to run the risk of any kind of leakage. There\u2019s a variety of things you can do to prevent anything major from happening.\u201d Importing Expertise While not always possible, it is advisable to add a product or solution through the acquisition of a company that specializes in it. That holds true for furniture, which was the formula employed by Pulse Technology of Schaumburg, Illinois. That makes it easier to layer in additional manufacturer lines and leverage subject-matter experts who can help a dealer avoid rookie mistakes, notes CEO Chip Miceli. \u201cEvery dealer who expands his or her products and services\u2014whether that\u2019s office furniture or something else\u2014should focus on opportunities where recurring revenue is likely,\u201d he said. \u201cOne natural add-on for dealers is selling office supplies and products, including toner, paper, break room items, and so forth. It is always in a dealer\u2019s best interest to do everything possible to become a one-stop shop for customers.\u201d Not all dealers have the financial and personnel resources to the extent of a megadealer such as Marco of St. Cloud, Minnesota. Jeff Olson, director of project management, addressed the big-picture goals that go beyond their ancillary gem, shredding services, which can be applied to most new initiatives. \u201cThere are many things to consider when adding offerings to your portfolio,\u201d he said. \u201cCan you handle the startup costs without affecting your normal day-to-day business? Will concentrating on growing another area of the business affect personnel and culture? Research who your competitors are and find a way to stand out from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":54778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[80,1650,82,1638],"tags":[2020,4024],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54775"}],"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=54775"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54777,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54775\/revisions\/54777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}