It\u2019s been all in the family at Modern Office Methods (MOM) in Cincinnati since 1957. That family tradition of ownership continues with Kevin McCarthy, a 30-year veteran of the industry and\u00a0the dealership\u2019s current president and CEO.<\/p>\n
With a long history, yearly revenues in the $40 million range, innovative programs such as its FleetCare managed print services program and the JumpSTART Your Nonprofit marketing and community involvement program as well as an uncanny ability to evolve with market and technology changes, MOM is a shining example of a successful office technology dealership.<\/p>\n
I had the opportunity to interview Kevin about the company his father founded, his own tenure in the industry, and the various strategies, innovative programs, and new initiatives that continue to keep MOM relevant in a dynamic industry.<\/p>\n
How\u2019s business?<\/em><\/p>\n McCarthy<\/strong>:\u00a0 Great, we just had one of our best months ever in October. If we can follow it up with three more, it will be spectacular.<\/p>\n How was it prior to October?<\/em><\/p>\n McCarthy<\/strong>: Not bad, it\u2019s never as good as I want it to be, but that might be because my expectations are too high.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve been in the business for 30 years, how\u2019d you get into this business initially, was it by accident or design?<\/em><\/p>\n McCarthy:<\/strong> By design, it\u2019s a family business; my father started this back in 1957.<\/p>\n Any doubts about getting in?<\/em><\/p>\n McCarthy<\/strong>: When I first got out of school as a small family business, it was, \u2018Why don\u2019t you come join the business?\u2019 I didn\u2019t want to be the SOB (son of the Boss), so I first went outside the industry and took a job in Seattle. I loved what I was doing, but every time I saw or talked to my Dad, he kept asking when was I coming back and coming to work [for him]. Eventually, I couldn\u2019t take those questions anymore and came back.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve acquired a couple of former Xerox office equipment dealers over the years, which have helped contribute to MOM\u2019s growth, what made those appealing to you?<\/em><\/p>\n McCarthy<\/strong>: The people. They were good, talented people with good client relationships. As we\u2019re always trying to grow our businesses, adding good talented people is a great way to do it. There\u2019s very little up-front costs; because the way the Xerox agents were structured they didn\u2019t really have a lot of MIF so we ended up buying them over time and it\u2019s worked out pretty well.<\/p>\n Your FleetCare MPS program has been growing like crazy, what do you attribute that to?<\/em><\/p>\n McCarthy:\u00a0<\/strong> It took awhile for us to figure out what we needed to do to make it work and once we put a dedicated leader on top of it and a strong structure in place it just started to explode. In fact we have more printers under contract than we have MFPs. Then you need good people who are really focused on it, believe in your program, and will follow your program.<\/p>\n I want to improve the program and we\u2019re looking at how we can tweak what we\u2019re currently doing and make it better because I think we can make it better.<\/p>\n What was the biggest challenge of getting the FleetCare program up and running?<\/em><\/p>\n McCarthy<\/strong>: We didn\u2019t turn it over to someone who was fully dedicated to it. What happened was our old copy reps were saying [customers] weren\u2019t buying it; I think they just weren\u2019t talking about it.<\/p>\n Who in your organization is responsible for selling MPS, do you have specialists?<\/em><\/p>\n McCarthy:<\/strong> We have a sales leader and he has six dedicated reps.<\/p>\n Were those dedicated reps easy to find?<\/em><\/p>\n McCarthy:\u00a0<\/strong> Good sales people are never easy to find. Some of them were recommended by friends from outside the industry and one came out of the copier industry. There\u2019s no consistent way we find them.<\/p>\n What do you know now about MPS that you wish you did when you first started offering it?<\/em><\/p>\n McCarthy<\/strong>:\u00a0 I\u2019d start with specialists.<\/p>\n I think your JumpSTART program is a brilliant marketing and public relations strategy, what are the origins of that? (Jump START is a contest in which area nonprofits in Cincinnati, Columbus, and Dayton, OH–the markets MOM serves–apply for a chance to win one of three office technology makeovers worth up to $20,000.)<\/em><\/p>\n McCarthy<\/strong>: A friend of mine had a program that was somewhat similar to JumpSTART in a different market. I loved the idea because it allowed us to give back to your community. We get a lot of attention from it and have a lot of people visiting our Website just because of the program.<\/p>\n I\u2019m also impressed by your Mobile Solutions Open Houses; those have drawn attention to some of your solutions and you\u2019re seeing some sales as a result of these Open Houses?<\/em><\/p>\n McCarthy:<\/strong> We\u2019re beginning to. The forms product that\u2019s part of our FleetCare fleet of software is starting to take off. We have between $100,000-$200,000 proposed in that between now and the end of the year. It\u2019s a great product.<\/p>\n It allows us to import the actual document for our client and set it up such so they can fill it out on their iPad or tablet and get the client\u2019s signature. It improves the ability to move the document through the organization more quickly and therefore improves their cash flow. They can now turn things around quickly especially if they\u2019re a service organization.<\/p>\n What\u2019s your take on managed services or managed IT services? Any plans in those areas?<\/em><\/p>\n McCarthy<\/strong>: The short answer is we\u2019re not doing very much right now. We\u2019ve been trying to solidify the back end. We have a partner we\u2019re working with who will handle the back end. And we have the feet on the street and have had them for a while. We\u2019ve been talking about it for two years but we want to make sure that when we launch next year we don\u2019t misfire.<\/p>\n Who\u2019s the partner for the back end?<\/em><\/p>\n McCarthy<\/strong>: Ricoh\u2014they will take care of this for us. They\u2019ve invested millions of dollars in this and have 47 people on their Help Desk. I\u2019ve been down to visit their Help Desk and it would take years and more money than I have to build the infrastructure they have, and they\u2019ve been able to do it better. How can I go wrong with a $22 billion organization? It\u2019s going to be a great partnership.<\/p>\n We\u2019re their beta dealer. Our sales team is chomping at the bit to have it. We already have our first external client lined up. They have 11,000 external employees and they want us to build and help them with their IT. Other clients are asking us for it too and our sales people are getting ready to take it to market. We launch in January.\u00a0 But I want to do us first; I want to eat our own dog food.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve recently added Samsung to your product offerings, what makes them a good choice for MOM?<\/em><\/p>\n McCarthy:<\/strong>\u00a0 They have great technology, and the technologies they have shown to us are very complementary to the other product lines we carry.\u00a0 The opportunity to share some of this other technology is going to be large for us.<\/p>\n Are you talking about their display technology?<\/em><\/p>\n McCarthy:\u00a0<\/strong> They have some unbelievable displays and as much money as they plow back into their research every year it\u2019s amazing to see the things they have coming out. I can\u2019t share some of it because I\u2019m under NDA. They\u2019re a huge company and are growing rapidly and they want to be in this space and I\u2019m sure they\u2019re going to be successful. Their growth path is mind boggling to me.<\/p>\n What\u2019s next for MOM?<\/em><\/p>\n McCarthy:<\/strong>\u00a0 MNS is definitely the next big thing. We\u2019ve also got projects going internally to make us more efficient in what we do, and part of the effect of us being more efficient means our sales force will better understand some of the technology we\u2019re trying to sell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s been all in the family at Modern Office Methods (MOM) in Cincinnati since 1957. That family tradition of ownership continues with Kevin McCarthy, a 30-year veteran of the industry and\u00a0the dealership\u2019s current president and CEO. With a long history, yearly revenues in the $40 million range, innovative programs such as its FleetCare managed print services program and the JumpSTART Your Nonprofit marketing and community involvement program as well as an uncanny ability to evolve with market and technology changes, MOM is a shining example of a successful office technology dealership. I had the opportunity to interview Kevin about the company his father founded, his own tenure in the industry, and the various strategies, innovative programs, and new initiatives that continue to keep MOM relevant in a dynamic industry. How\u2019s business? McCarthy:\u00a0 Great, we just had one of our best months ever in October. If we can follow it up with three more, it will be spectacular. How was it prior to October? McCarthy: Not bad, it\u2019s never as good as I want it to be, but that might be because my expectations are too high. You\u2019ve been in the business for 30 years, how\u2019d you get into this business initially, was it by accident or design? McCarthy: By design, it\u2019s a family business; my father started this back in 1957. Any doubts about getting in? McCarthy: When I first got out of school as a small family business, it was, \u2018Why don\u2019t you come join the business?\u2019 I didn\u2019t want to be the SOB (son of the Boss), so I first went outside the industry and took a job in Seattle. I loved what I was doing, but every time I saw or talked to my Dad, he kept asking when was I coming back and coming to work [for him]. Eventually, I couldn\u2019t take those questions anymore and came back. You\u2019ve acquired a couple of former Xerox office equipment dealers over the years, which have helped contribute to MOM\u2019s growth, what made those appealing to you? McCarthy: The people. They were good, talented people with good client relationships. As we\u2019re always trying to grow our businesses, adding good talented people is a great way to do it. There\u2019s very little up-front costs; because the way the Xerox agents were structured they didn\u2019t really have a lot of MIF so we ended up buying them over time and it\u2019s worked out pretty well. Your FleetCare MPS program has been growing like crazy, what do you attribute that to? McCarthy:\u00a0 It took awhile for us to figure out what we needed to do to make it work and once we put a dedicated leader on top of it and a strong structure in place it just started to explode. In fact we have more printers under contract than we have MFPs. Then you need good people who are really focused on it, believe in your program, and will follow your program. I want to improve the program and we\u2019re looking at how we can tweak what we\u2019re currently doing and make it better because I think we can make it better. What was the biggest challenge of getting the FleetCare program up and running? McCarthy: We didn\u2019t turn it over to someone who was fully dedicated to it. What happened was our old copy reps were saying [customers] weren\u2019t buying it; I think they just weren\u2019t talking about it. Who in your organization is responsible for selling MPS, do you have specialists? McCarthy: We have a sales leader and he has six dedicated reps. Were those dedicated reps easy to find? McCarthy:\u00a0 Good sales people are never easy to find. Some of them were recommended by friends from outside the industry and one came out of the copier industry. There\u2019s no consistent way we find them. What do you know now about MPS that you wish you did when you first started offering it? McCarthy:\u00a0 I\u2019d start with specialists. I think your JumpSTART program is a brilliant marketing and public relations strategy, what are the origins of that? (Jump START is a contest in which area nonprofits in Cincinnati, Columbus, and Dayton, OH–the markets MOM serves–apply for a chance to win one of three office technology makeovers worth up to $20,000.) McCarthy: A friend of mine had a program that was somewhat similar to JumpSTART in a different market. I loved the idea because it allowed us to give back to your community. We get a lot of attention from it and have a lot of people visiting our Website just because of the program. I\u2019m also impressed by your Mobile Solutions Open Houses; those have drawn attention to some of your solutions and you\u2019re seeing some sales as a result of these Open Houses? McCarthy: We\u2019re beginning to. The forms product that\u2019s part of our FleetCare fleet of software is starting to take off. We have between $100,000-$200,000 proposed in that between now and the end of the year. It\u2019s a great product. It allows us to import the actual document for our client and set it up such so they can fill it out on their iPad or tablet and get the client\u2019s signature. It improves the ability to move the document through the organization more quickly and therefore improves their cash flow. They can now turn things around quickly especially if they\u2019re a service organization. What\u2019s your take on managed services or managed IT services? Any plans in those areas? McCarthy: The short answer is we\u2019re not doing very much right now. We\u2019ve been trying to solidify the back end. We have a partner we\u2019re working with who will handle the back end. And we have the feet on the street and have had them for a while. We\u2019ve been talking about it for two years but we want to make sure that when we launch next year we don\u2019t misfire. Who\u2019s the partner for the back end? McCarthy: Ricoh\u2014they will take care of this for us. 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