MFP Dealers "Seasons of Change"

The last eighteen months in the New York Metro Area has truly been a "Season of Changes" to remember!

Some of the acquisitions Connecticut Business Systems (Ricoh & Konica Minolta)bought by Global, Carr Business Systems (Canon, Ricoh & Konica Minolta)bought by Global, Stewart Industries (Savins largest Dealer in US) bought by Global, Copy Dynamics (Canon) bought by Stewart Industries (Global Owned), Northern Business Systems (Ricoh)bought by Toshiba, Lanier US now Ricoh Business Solutions and then all of Global purchased by Xerox WHEW!!!! All of these dealers have territories with in 100 miles of each other, it's the megalopolis of the NE and the greatest NOPA numbers in the US.

So, I'm sitting at my home office the other night and started to ponder on how the competition has changed. We'll it seems that most of the competition now is a "Direct Sales Force", as much as Global will say they are not direct how are they going to compete against a Xerox Direct Sales Force and on the other hand how am I going to compete against all of these organizations? Ricoh Direct Branch, Toshiba Direct Branch, Konica Minolta Direct Branch, Sharp Direct Branch, Xerox, hey what the heck happened to all of the Dealers?

I was on the phone today with a friend that is the Sales Manager at Sharp Investment Dealer today and we counted the dealers that were left that were doing about 5 million in sales volumes and not less 1 million, we could only think of 5! Just a few years ago there were 15 Dealers.

So, how do you compete? It's the basics, cold calling, mailing and the casual dropping to say hello to let the account know that you are available for them at any time and anywhere. Remembering that the customer is always right and as long as you believe and treat the customer that they are always right they will always buy from you again and again.

Thank God that Manufacturers Direct Branches have not found away to compensate the best sales people, if so we would all be working for them. Direct Sales Branches are too rigid in structure, too many layers of management, and takes months to implement changes. Guess that's why I like working for a smaller dealer, it is easy to make changes, and decisions can be made in minutes. If I had worked for a Direct Branch I would have not been able to watch all of my sons baseball games from Little League through college, would not have been able to take those long weekends and GOD bless cell phones take a couple of extra weeks of vacation each year (gee, hope my boss does not reads this, however I think he will, just kidding Jack!).

Well, it's off to Ricohs National Convention in Dallas, we see many friends there and will have a few things to say when I get back!