{"id":8834,"date":"2014-03-01T17:52:55","date_gmt":"2014-03-01T22:52:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=8834"},"modified":"2014-10-30T17:58:00","modified_gmt":"2014-10-30T21:58:00","slug":"catching-up-with-dpoes-chip-miceli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/dealer-spotlight\/2014\/03\/catching-up-with-dpoes-chip-miceli\/","title":{"rendered":"Catching Up with DPOE’s Chip Miceli"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Chip

Chip Miceli, President<\/p><\/div>\n

Chip Miceli, president of DPOE, has been in the office imaging business since 1972. He\u2019s a familiar face at dealer meetings and industry events and is one of those dealers who is always generous with his time and his industry insights, whether it\u2019s speaking to the press, speaking at conferences, or rubbing elbows with his peers at industry functions.<\/p>\n

His dealership, based in Elk Grove Village, IL, has been serving the Chicago area for 56 years and has successfully made the transition from a copier dealership to a dealership at the forefront of the services and solutions evolution. This emphasis on services, particularly IT services, has been impressive with that segment of the business alone, growing at a 150 percent clip the past three years. The other thing about Miceli is that he\u2019s not shy about taking on new product categories and was one of the first dealers in the country to embrace Sharp\u2019s presentation technology, another area of his business that is also expanding rapidly.Bn February I had the opportunity to talk to Miceli about the industry; his dealership; his participation in industry events, something not as any of his peers tend to do; his strategy for finding new sales people; and the challenges of working with family.<\/p>\n

How has the last 12 months been for DPOE?<\/em><\/p>\n

Miceli<\/strong>: Pretty good, we increased our revenue, and we grew our network services business quite a bit. Hopefully, this year it\u2019s going to take off and fly even higher.<\/p>\n

What are you folks doing right?<\/em><\/p>\n

Miceli:<\/strong> We hired more sales people, younger sales people who seem to gravitate more towards the technology. Because of that it was easier to train them and get them to go out and find the opportunities.<\/p>\n

Was it difficult to convince yourself to hire younger sales people?<\/em><\/p>\n

Miceli:<\/strong> Not me.<\/em><\/p>\n

When you say younger, what age bracket and what kind of backgrounds do they have and where did you find them?<\/em><\/p>\n

Miceli<\/strong>: They\u2019re under 30 years old and fresh out of college. It\u2019s different types of majors, some in journalism and a lot in communication. Nobody ever goes to school to become a sales person so we didn\u2019t hire anybody with that background. We just hit the colleges pretty heavy, job fairs, and created a lot of interest [in working for DPOE]. We talked to them about technology, and they said, \u2018this is something we might be able to do\u2019. And they\u2019re doing a good job.<\/p>\n

What other segments of your business besides MNS are doing particularly well right now?<\/em><\/p>\n

Miceli<\/strong>: The service side on MPS is flat and we\u2019re not growing any clicks there. Every time we get a new account with clicks, we have another account that lowers its clicks. But the hardware side has grown about 4 percent, which has surprised me. With the price of hardware coming down and us consolidating, we sold more hardware than we ever had before.<\/p>\n

Why are those MPS clicks going down?<\/em><\/p>\n

Miceli<\/strong>: Some of the programs we put together for these people has helped them print less. When we use our archiving software or our workflow software and software like PaperCut, that helps them print less. Because that\u2019s what we do for them, that creates more opportunities.<\/p>\n

What segments of your business do you see room for improvement?<\/em><\/p>\n

Miceli<\/strong>: I\u2019d like to see us double our revenue in managed network services this year. I believe we put together a great workflow package and we\u2019re pushing that hard because I believe that there\u2019s a lot of opportunity in that arena.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the biggest challenge facing DPOE this year?<\/em><\/p>\n

Miceli<\/strong>: I don\u2019t see any challenges or anything hard for us to overcome. I\u2019d like to buy a couple of more companies; I\u2019d like to buy an IT company. That\u2019s probably my biggest challenge, trying to find one that\u2019s for sale let alone one that would fit our MO here.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re someone who seems to be out there learning, attending conferences and events outside of your manufacturer dealer meetings, is that something you\u2019ve always done?<\/em><\/p>\n

Miceli<\/strong>: I started a peer group 10 years ago and have been learning from them ever since. And by attending other industry events I found I could come back with more information that was beneficial for our organization. That\u2019s why I ended up going to them. I\u2019m going to be cutting back on some of them because I think some have become a waste of time. In fact I\u2019m talking to people now about consolidating some of these events so there\u2019s only one, like years ago in the NOMDA days.<\/p>\n

What are some of the things you\u2019ve learned over the years by attending these events, and you can speak generally?<\/em><\/p>\n

Micel<\/strong>i: I always make sure I come home with at least two things I can use in the business. So every event is different. I attend the seminars where there are panels of dealers because I learn more from dealers than I do from vendors. If there\u2019s a dealer panel those are the ones anybody in our industry can learn from. I also participate in panels because I like giving back to the community. It\u2019s been good to me and I like helping other dealers become involved in print management or managed network services.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re also president of Select Dealer Group until May of this year, how has participation in that organization been helpful for DPOE?<\/em><\/p>\n

Miceli<\/strong>: That organization is over 10 years old and we have a steady 40 dealers. I\u2019m finding dealers are becoming more involved. The meetings have been interesting and they learn a lot. There\u2019s at least 25 dealers who attend every meeting and we have at least three a year.<\/p>\n

They all walk away with something and that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about. There\u2019s also the fact it gets you out of your office, you can sit down, or at cocktail hour pick other people\u2019s brains about the things you need to do better in your business. That\u2019s good for dealers to do that and helps them understand different ways [of approaching the business] more so than listening to a speaker or someone talking about best practices because then you can hone in on that, not just talking about your best practice, but how you really do this.<\/p>\n

DPOE is a family business and your brother, your three sons and your daughter are all in the business. Are you able to leave the business back in the office when socializing with family and friends outside of the office or does business somehow find a way to enter into the conversation?<\/em><\/p>\n

Miceli<\/strong>: I live and breathe this stuff so it\u2019s hard for it not to come into your social life. And the group of people I hang with always want to know, what\u2019s the new technology you\u2019re pushing today? They bring it up more than I do.<\/p>\n

Working with your children in the business, how does that work, is it challenging at times?<\/em><\/p>\n

Miceli<\/strong>: It can be. That\u2019s why they don\u2019t report to me.<\/p>\n

What are some of the things you\u2019re doing at DPOE that have you excited about 2014?<\/em><\/p>\n

Miceli<\/strong>: A year and a half ago we built a network operations center with four seats. Now we have to figure out how to expand it because we need to add at least two more right now and at least another two the end of this year or next year. One of the things on my agenda is how to expand it and where do I put it? Right now it\u2019s in our showroom. We\u2019re trying to work that out now.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve also gotten into the video wall business and that\u2019s an area that we\u2019re hoping grows a little faster than it did last year.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve been in this business for a long time, how much longer would you like to keep doing this?<\/em>
\nMiceli<\/strong>: Until I die. It\u2019s fun, I enjoy going to the peer groups I belong to and the conferences. There\u2019s so much I\u2019m involved in and I have too much fun learning new stuff and changing the way we do things for me to sit back and retire. I don\u2019t know, I don\u2019t mind working three days or four days a week and having a long weekend, but I take those now. My wife said to me once, \u201cI hope you don\u2019t retire because I don\u2019t think we can live together.\u201d That would probably be true.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chip Miceli, president of DPOE, has been in the office imaging business since 1972. He\u2019s a familiar face at dealer meetings and industry events and is one of those dealers who is always generous with his time and his industry insights, whether it\u2019s speaking to the press, speaking at conferences, or rubbing elbows with his peers at industry functions. His dealership, based in Elk Grove Village, IL, has been serving the Chicago area for 56 years and has successfully made the transition from a copier dealership to a dealership at the forefront of the services and solutions evolution. This emphasis on services, particularly IT services, has been impressive with that segment of the business alone, growing at a 150 percent clip the past three years. The other thing about Miceli is that he\u2019s not shy about taking on new product categories and was one of the first dealers in the country to embrace Sharp\u2019s presentation technology, another area of his business that is also expanding rapidly.Bn February I had the opportunity to talk to Miceli about the industry; his dealership; his participation in industry events, something not as any of his peers tend to do; his strategy for finding new sales people; and the challenges of working with family. How has the last 12 months been for DPOE? Miceli: Pretty good, we increased our revenue, and we grew our network services business quite a bit. Hopefully, this year it\u2019s going to take off and fly even higher. What are you folks doing right? Miceli: We hired more sales people, younger sales people who seem to gravitate more towards the technology. Because of that it was easier to train them and get them to go out and find the opportunities. Was it difficult to convince yourself to hire younger sales people? Miceli: Not me. When you say younger, what age bracket and what kind of backgrounds do they have and where did you find them? Miceli: They\u2019re under 30 years old and fresh out of college. It\u2019s different types of majors, some in journalism and a lot in communication. Nobody ever goes to school to become a sales person so we didn\u2019t hire anybody with that background. We just hit the colleges pretty heavy, job fairs, and created a lot of interest [in working for DPOE]. We talked to them about technology, and they said, \u2018this is something we might be able to do\u2019. And they\u2019re doing a good job. What other segments of your business besides MNS are doing particularly well right now? Miceli: The service side on MPS is flat and we\u2019re not growing any clicks there. Every time we get a new account with clicks, we have another account that lowers its clicks. But the hardware side has grown about 4 percent, which has surprised me. With the price of hardware coming down and us consolidating, we sold more hardware than we ever had before. Why are those MPS clicks going down? Miceli: Some of the programs we put together for these people has helped them print less. When we use our archiving software or our workflow software and software like PaperCut, that helps them print less. Because that\u2019s what we do for them, that creates more opportunities. What segments of your business do you see room for improvement? Miceli: I\u2019d like to see us double our revenue in managed network services this year. I believe we put together a great workflow package and we\u2019re pushing that hard because I believe that there\u2019s a lot of opportunity in that arena. What\u2019s the biggest challenge facing DPOE this year? Miceli: I don\u2019t see any challenges or anything hard for us to overcome. I\u2019d like to buy a couple of more companies; I\u2019d like to buy an IT company. That\u2019s probably my biggest challenge, trying to find one that\u2019s for sale let alone one that would fit our MO here. You\u2019re someone who seems to be out there learning, attending conferences and events outside of your manufacturer dealer meetings, is that something you\u2019ve always done? Miceli: I started a peer group 10 years ago and have been learning from them ever since. And by attending other industry events I found I could come back with more information that was beneficial for our organization. That\u2019s why I ended up going to them. I\u2019m going to be cutting back on some of them because I think some have become a waste of time. In fact I\u2019m talking to people now about consolidating some of these events so there\u2019s only one, like years ago in the NOMDA days. What are some of the things you\u2019ve learned over the years by attending these events, and you can speak generally? Miceli: I always make sure I come home with at least two things I can use in the business. So every event is different. I attend the seminars where there are panels of dealers because I learn more from dealers than I do from vendors. If there\u2019s a dealer panel those are the ones anybody in our industry can learn from. I also participate in panels because I like giving back to the community. It\u2019s been good to me and I like helping other dealers become involved in print management or managed network services. You\u2019re also president of Select Dealer Group until May of this year, how has participation in that organization been helpful for DPOE? Miceli: That organization is over 10 years old and we have a steady 40 dealers. I\u2019m finding dealers are becoming more involved. The meetings have been interesting and they learn a lot. There\u2019s at least 25 dealers who attend every meeting and we have at least three a year. They all walk away with something and that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about. There\u2019s also the fact it gets you out of your office, you can sit down, or at cocktail hour pick other people\u2019s brains about the things you need to do better in your business. That\u2019s good for dealers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1643,1649,1814],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8834"}],"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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8834"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8837,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8834\/revisions\/8837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}