ITEX 2010—What a Great Event

Wow, ITEX was phenomenal this year. For those of you that attended, and there were many, I know you agree because I have heard the feedback. What makes ITEX such a great show? To me the number one attribute of ITEX is the networking opportunity; most of the industry decision makers attend the show. When I say decision makers I mean dealer/reseller principals and senior management. Company owners and senior management have a unique perspective on the industry and having the opportunity to speak with thousands of this group provides untold benefits to all, including companies like mine in the consulting field.

The second benefit of ITEX is the education. Unlike many shows, where the sponsors get all of the speaking spots (Nothing against listening to a software or hardware vendor giving their perspective on the industry but after all, won’t the vendors pay you to listen to them), ITEX vets the presenters and chooses those that bring benefit to the dealer/reseller community. For less than $100, the entry fee, attendees get to choose from dozens of educational tracks on all aspects of the business. SD has presented for years and this was the first year we had a booth at the show, and we were asked to speak months before we were asked to consider exhibiting.

If I had to critique the show I will say that I was disappointed with the “Hybrid” moniker. Every time I hear hybrid I think of a car or fuel option. It seems to be the most over used word in the English language these days. I can’t pick up a newspaper or magazine without reading about some company, industry, or option presenting themselves as hybrids. I think it supplanted “solution” as the most ubiquitous word in the business press. ITEX is more than the hybrid dealer, covering education on all aspects of running a successful company. That was reflected in the educational options offered at ITEX.

Strategy Development consultants presented in many areas of the business and each of our classes had approximately 200 participants. David Ramos presented on self managed teams and opportunities in the color space. Ed Carroll presented on professional service. Mike Woodard presented on creating the ideal service and IT team as well as managing the base to control service cost. And I (Tom Callinan) presented on repositioning your business model, which was essentially business planning.

So if you look at the educational offerings presented by Strategy Development we covered sales management, color opportunities, professional services, service operations, and business planning. And, there were dozens of other well (albeit the SD seminars were sold out…) received educational offerings.

If you missed ITEX you missed a great event, and we missed you! We’ll be at the BTA Northeast and Southeast events as well as InfoTrends Solution Summit 2010 in Chicago. Like ITEX, all of these events provide a great ROI. The BTA events have solid education and networking opportunity, on a regional level, and InfoTrends provides enough research to make the trip well worth the effort. If you cannot make these great events we hope to see you next year at ITEX 2011 in DC.

The Road Map to Reposition Your Business Model

There are untold numbers of industry players “shouting from the roof tops” about MPS. Opinions vary widely on everything from the definition of MPS to what will happen to your company if you do not enter the MPS space today. Regardless of what decision you make to enter the MPS space—or not—or even to continue your business or sell, you should make that decision based on facts and not hype. At this ITEX seminar, taking place Wednesday 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM Tom Callinan, the leading expert in MPS and business planning, will be presenting The Road Map to Reposition Your Business Model. In this don’t miss seminar, Callinan will cover industry statistics and trends you need to consider in planning your next five years in the imaging industry. If you are attending ITEX this seminar is included with your general admission ticket. Arrive early as preregistration is extremely high.

The Obituary is Written: Is the Patient Dead?

“Long before digital tools such as listservs, e-mail blasts, and even Facebook enabled us to easily broadcast messages, photocopiers were the most efficient way to distribute information to groups of all sizes. If the boss needed to discuss a new company policy, workers got memos in their (physical) in-boxes or slipped under their office doors. Community newsletters, fliers for parties, and the oft-maligned Christmas letters in holiday cards were all made possible by the automated copying machine, which made its commercial debut 50 years ago.

‘It was democratizing technology,’ says Stephen P. Hoover, vice president of global software solutions for Xerox.”

Is it me or does this read like an obituary? It is from an article in the February 8, 2010 Fortune Magazine titled Paper Chase, celebrating the copier’s 50th birthday this year. Note the phrase I highlighted, which I think we sometimes forget: Copiers were used to distribute information. Is that the functionality you think of today when you think copier?

Many in the industry don’t want to talk about it but the copier is dying. Unit sales are dropping and are forecasted to continue their decline. More disturbing is that prints produced on mono A3 devices (devices with 11X17 platens) is forecasted to drop by more than 50% by 2013. Those clicks are your profits.

There is tremendous opportunity in all of this change, but it will not come naturally. If you plan and use some of the cash you are generating in your copier business to move into the services business you can generate more revenue and earn more profit than ever. You will also be able to make acquisitions of smaller competitors on the cheap—nobody is paying 5X adjusted EBITDA today.

I am instructing a seminar at ITEX 2010 titled “The Roadmap to Repositions Your Business Model,” at 11:00 AM Wednesday. I encourage you to attend. At the same time Mike Woodard, service consultant, will be instructing a service module on “….Managing The Base to Control Service Cost,” which is perfect for your service leadership. If you want more information contact Marc Theaman at Theaman@strategydevelopment.org

Culture: A Key Ingredient to Success

The consulting team at Strategy Development works with scores of dealers and resellers throughout North America. One frequent question I get when speaking at a conference is “what makes a company successful.” I could spend a year of articles on this subject—and you would want to start with having a solid business plan—but even with that plan you need a positive culture.

Whether you plan for it or it happens by happenstance you have a company culture. If the principals or senior management of the company have well defined goals and communicate the goals clearly and consistently at every level of the organization you can almost bet that you will have a goal oriented culture. If you set individual goals with a slight stretch and perfectly aligned with the company goals then provide generous rewards for achievement, you will develop a culture of accomplishment and reward.

Fun is an important aspect of culture; at least I think it is and I can tell you that every successful company we work with designs fun into their culture. Do you create an environment of fun at work?

I made an important qualification above that I hope you picked-up on; goals need to be aligned. That is another key aspect of having a winning culture. If the company’s goal is to grow 20% this year—and yes, many MPS companies are growing by far more than 20% even in this environment—and your sales force can earn a great living simply managing their base of accounts you have a disconnect. Your sales force is the engine and if they aren’t paid to grow it will not happen. You will consistently miss your goals and your culture will not be goal oriented. You are allowing a culture you would never desire to creep into your company because of lack of planning, alignment, and communication.

So great companies do not hesitate to move the goal line as long as everybody on the team understands why the goal line needs to be moved. Great companies then give outsized rewards to those that are able to achieve the more difficult goals and they make sure that everybody has fun in the process.

I have seen nothing but bad things happen when culture is left to happenstance. Employees get rewarded for behavior that can actually be detrimental to the company’s goals and because of lack of planning and lack of communication “management” becomes the reason for all things bad. Without planning and communication departments do what is best for their own fiefdom and a culture of “all out for me” develops, impairing a company’s ability to grow or achieve reasonable profits.

One of our very successful clients had a quarterly trip for those sales professionals that significantly exceeded quota. It was a short trip—a long weekend in Sonoma—for the sales professional and significant other. Five of the company’s top achievers earned the trip. When they arrived at the airport they found out that the flight was delayed for five hours due to mechanical issues. Clearly, the trip in itself was an indication of the reward culture at this company but I think what happened next will highlight the focus to culture even more. The principal of the company chartered a private jet for almost $15,000 to take his reps to Sonoma.

The principal was telling me about how great the trip was and just mentioned this event casually. My response was, “Wow that must have been expensive.” He rejoined, “Yes, but I was faced with having my top five reps remember the trip by the five hours they wasted in the airport or a great time in Sonoma and I didn’t want them to be talking about being stuck in the airport for the next three months.” The point is not to charter jets for your trips; the point is to focus on how your actions create a company culture. It is a key ingredient to success.

Strategy Development & The BTA Launch Business Planning Workshop

Bryn Mawr, PA (June 2009) — Dealers are seeking strategies to grow revenue and profits in the face of year-over-year industry unit placement declines, a shift from A3 to A4 products, a difficult financing environment and new competition for pages from other channels selling print management solutions.

Although there are many training programs that address different aspects of planning or focus on improving results in functional areas, there is no single program that comprehensively brings together all functional areas into a cohesive plan of action — until now. The BTA Business Planning Workshop is a 2.5 day program developed and instructed by the consultants from Strategy Development. Attendees will learn through a combination of instruction, case studies and class discussion how to build and execute a business plan that becomes a roadmap to achieving business goals.

A snapshot of some of the content from this workshop:

· How to use your financial statements to make good business decisions
· Using the Strategy Development Balanced Scorecard to maximize results
· Conducting SWOT analysis and using the data to grow
· Using industry trends to plan for a profitable future
· Launching new initiatives
· Driving productivity: A key to high profits
· Engineering processes to improve workflow and employee satisfaction
· Cash management

“We have been able to help scores of dealers across North America launch print management initiatives, improve their equipment sales effectiveness and improve back office and service operations,” said Tom Callinan, managing principal of Strategy Development. “But short of a consulting engagement with our team, until the launch of the BTA Business Planning Workshop there has been no single program available that allowed the dealer to get a holistic view of growing their business and profits.”

“Our members have benefited greatly from the expertise of the Strategy Development team and we are looking forward to enhancing our training curriculum with this comprehensive workshop,” added Brent Hoskins, BTA executive director. “Business planning is one of the most requested educational areas from our members, so we are happy that we can now provide that education.”

The inaugural BTA Business Planning Workshop will be held October 6-8. For information e-mail Tom Callinan at callinan@strategydevelopment.org or call 610.527.3317.

Strategy Development, a management consulting firm focused to the technology and outsourcing space, specializes in business planning, sales effectiveness, advanced sales training, and operational and service improvement. For more information visit Strategy Development at www.strategydevelopment.org.

The Business Technology Association (BTA) serves office technology dealerships, manufacturers, distributors and service companies. Its members sell and service and/or manufacture service hardware, software and supplies that help businesses be more efficient and save money. Through education, information and guidance, BTA members are the premier source of the technology used by businesses throughout the United States every day.