SEPTEMBER 2008 INDEPENDENT DEALER

If You're NotConnected,You're Not

CommittedIt’s probably the most critical question facing any in-dependent office products dealer today: What per-centage of your business comes in online?

If it’s not somewhere in the 40% range and movingupward, you need to do something about it andquickly.

Putting it simply, if you aren’t doing all you can todayto move as many customers as possible onto youronline ordering platform, you’re putting your busi-ness and its future at serious risk.

Our cover story this month highlights some inde-pendents who have made a commitment to the In-ternet and who are enjoying increased sales andprofitability as a result.

As their stories demonstrate, selling online is not justabout growing volume or trying to respond to theneeds and preferences of a younger, more web-friendly generation of buyers. It’s also about in-creased productivity, larger average order size andfewer returns. And, on a level that’s truly mission-critical, it’s about being able to offer online orderingthat’s just as good as any of our larger competitors.

The good news for independents is that there areplenty of resources available today to help them on-line.

Both national wholesalers have invested heavily innew content to improve online searches and otherkey functionality and competition among the indus-try’s dealer technology providers is forcing all ofthem to keep continually upgrading their online plat-forms.

The bad news, of course, is that building and main-taining an effective web presence is an expensive,time-consuming process that never stops if you wantto do it right. But being realistic, what choice do youhave as a dealer if you really want to stay in thegame?

That’s the message that comes through loud andclear from this month’s cover story. Ignore it at yourperil!

THE

WINNERS’CircleThe Phillips Group, Pennsylvania Dealer, Makes Donation in Support of Local Community College

From left, Rick Beittel, chief financial officer, Phillips Group; Don Schell, chairman, HACC board of trustees; BillShuey, president of document management division, and Joe Berrigan, director of document management sales,Phillips Group.

When it comes to supporting worthy community causes, no one does it better thantoday’s independents. The latest example to hit our desk comes from Middletown, Penn-sylvania-based The Phillips Group, which recently donated $30,000 to a community col-lege in its local market.

Phillips earmarked the donation for the Opportunity & Access Scholarship Endowmentat Harrisburg Area Community College. In recognition of the gift, the college named aclassroom for The Phillips Group.

Newtown Office Supply, Pennsylvania Dealer, Supports Local Women’s Group Through Toner Recycling CampaignThe Phillips Group was not the only independent doing worthy deeds lastmonth. About 120 miles east of Middle-town, in Newtown, Pennsylvania, own-ers David Wickman and Norman Whiteand their team at Newtown Office Sup-ply are putting funds raised by their toner

recycling program to good use.

The dealership recently contributed $1,000 generated by the program to a local womenand girls support organization. The donation was just the first payment towards a totalgoal of $5,000 for the organization. Hats off to one more locally owned and operated in-dependent who is giving back to the community in a big way!

Boston Contract Furniture Dealer Celebrates 100th BirthdayIf you ever doubted the ability of the office furniture business to keep people eternallyyoung, just ask Lester Peabody. Last month, Lester celebrated his 100th birthday andwhat better place to hold the festivities than at the family business, Peabody Office Fur-niture in downtown Boston.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

ARTLITE USESECi

Excerpts from a letter to ECi written

by Martha Thompson of United,

nominating Artlite Office Supply

for DDMS Dealer of the Year:

“A long-time DDMS user (since 1989),

Artlite was the first dealer I know to

use e-commerce, trying the very first

system offered, even before the inter-

net came along.

For years, DDMS used them as a Beta

site for new products, and they have

always embraced new technology.

They are a traditional dealer that has

over 60% of their office supply busi-

ness coming in online, and they have

a reputation for perfection.”

ECi congratulates Artlite on being

named DDMS Dealer of the Year.

INDUSTRY-SPECIFIC BUSINESS SOFTWAREW W W . E C I 2 . C O M • I N F O @ E C I 2 . C O M

866.374.3221

Bert Light, Co-Owner,Artlite Office Supply

Winner’s Circle: continued from page 2

The dealership’s history goes back even further than Lester’s—Peabody’s originally started out as a typewriter dealership in1899. Today, it’s a furniture only operation and with grandsonChristopher representing the fourth generation of the Peabodyfamily at the dealership, an outstanding example of family busi-ness values and culture at their finest.

Lester told a local TV station getting to be 100 years old isn't thathard. He offered some advice: "Have a good diet and certainhabits that lend to good health," he said.

All Makes Office Equipment, Nebraska Dealer, Earns Honors for Truck Graphics

If you’re in Omaha, chances are you’ll have a hard time missing thedelivery trucks of All Makes Office Equipment as they make theirrounds. The trucks feature some very attractive graphics that hav-ing been drawing plenty of attention, both in town and beyond.

The graphics recently earned honors from the National PrivateTruck Council and the Commercial Carrier Journal in their annualfleet graphics contest, beating out entries from the likes of KraftFood, Bridgestone Tires and even the mighty Wal-Mart!

"We’ve wanted to enhance the image of our delivery trucks forsome time,” said Jeff Kavich, All Makes president and CEO, “andour creative imaging on our trucks has proven to be effective.”

Congratulations to Jeff and his team for the honors. If you’ve gottrucks with graphics that are doing a good job of branding yourdealership, we’d love to see them and share them with our read-ers. Just drop an e-mail with a photo or two to simon@idealer-central.com and we’ll take it from there!

Guernsey Office Products, Washington D.C. AreaDealer, Gains Media Exposure on Forbes.com Web SiteCongratulations to David Guernsey and his team at Guernsey Of-fice Products in Chantilly, Virginia, for garnering some very nicemedia exposure with a story on the forbes.com small businessweb site about their company’s growth over the past 20 years.

The story highlighted how Guernsey took what was a $5 millionbusiness at the time and turned it into a $50 million operation bytargeting larger customers and investing in a larger distributioncenter and technology upgrades.

Guernsey dug deep at the time, he told Forbes. “It was scary, butwe needed a new level of sophistication to serve larger customersin order to grow.”

As the story notes, the gamble paid off. Today, Guernsey's is oneof the leading dealers in the Washington, D.C. market, despite

fierce competition from the national players and other independ-ents. “It's tough to make all the investment on the front end,”Guernsey told Forbes, “but when you need to grow, [sometimes]you can't do it piecemeal.”

For the full story, check out: http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/2008/08/11/caliper-intuit-microsoft-ent-manage-cx_mc_0811growthtips.html

Emerald Business Supply, Philadelphia Dealer,Marks Twenty Years of ServiceEarlier this year, we reported on the Fera family at Pittsburgh’sBulldog Office Products and their 40th anniversary celebrations.There must be something special in the water in Pennsylvaniathat fosters family businesses, because this month, we’re de-lighted to turn the spotlight on Mike O’Connell and brothers John,Tim, Joe and Jim at Emerald Business Supply in Philadelphia, asthey mark 20 years of providing outstanding service and value tothe city of brotherly love.

In addition to Mike and his brothers, their wives and Mike’s twosons are also active in the dealership, making it a true family-owned and operated business. And with sales up 20% last yearand running 15% ahead so far this year, it’s a family with plentyto celebrate!

Mike speaks with pride of his Philadelphia roots. “We grew up onEmerald Street in the heart of the city, where the principles ofquality, pride and service were instilled in us as children,” he re-calls. “When we began Emerald Business Supply, we named itfor the street where we grew up and the values our ‘band of broth-ers’ learned back then continue to guide us every day.”

He also gives generous praise to first-call wholesaler S. P.Richards and the TriMega dealer group for their contribution toEmerald’s success. But he says the lion’s share of the kudos goto an outstanding team of hard-working industry professionalsand a loyal customer base.

“A lot of the people we deal with understand what’s happeningwith the loss leaders in our market and they’re educated on com-petitive pricing,” he explains. “And when they call Emerald, theyknow they’ll get one of the owners and we’ll be ready to do what-ever it takes to respond to their needs.”

It may sound old-fashioned but it’s what independents across thecountry have been doing for years. And as the O’Connell broth-ers in Philadelphia can testify, it’s still an approach to the marketthat can yield rich dividends!

Superior Business Products,New York Dealer, Adds NewEmployee Superior Business Products in Sch-enectady, New York has added JaimeWasniewski as a furniture consultant.Jaime has been in the furniture and de-sign business for five years and previ-

ously worked for a Steelcase dealership. She is a graduate ofSUNY Albany with a degree in Art History.

SEPTEMBER 2008 INDEPENDENT DEALER PAGE 4

Keeney’s Office Plus is a remarkable story of afamily business that started with Bob Keeney sell-ing from the back of his station wagon, thenopening a small store selling gifts and a few of-fice supplies, to operating seven retail stores, toclosing all stores and becoming one of the largestand best-known commercial office supply andfurniture dealers in the Puget Sound region.

That’s quite a transformation and it’s not alwaysbeen an easy task, says Lisa Keeney McCarthy,Bob Keeney’s daughter, and president of the com-pany. Bob Keeney passed away last February.

“This is Microsoft country and competition is bru-tal in the extreme,” she says, “But we’ve beenable to carve out a niche because of our closeattention to each customer. We train our peopleto find out what the customer’s true needs are,which goes beyond simply product needs. Whatis the customer trying to accomplish? Where canwe be helpful? We can do that only by havingemployees who really get to know each cus-tomer, almost as if they were an employee.”

Take a look at their web site and you’ll see whatLisa means. They show photos of employeesand their responsibilities, all the way from Lisa

and general manager Steven Sterneto salespeople, furniture installers,and delivery personnel.

Steven adds, “We hire smart peoplewho can think for themselves, talkto customers intelligently and makedecisions on their own. We don’thave lots of rules.

“The key is integrity, compassion and fulfillingcommitments 100 percent of the time. If you al-ways do what you say you’re going to do, youeliminate 95 percent of your competition.”

If you talk to Lisa and Steven about the com-pany’s remarkable success, you will hear themtalk about their employees in glowing terms.

“Where do you find such terrific employees?” Iasked. Their response: “We look for really nicepeople, who are empathetic and honest, andwho have a strong work ethic. They must alsobe good listeners. These attributes are muchmore important than specific work experience.

“We encourage our people to get involved incommunity activities, and we support them withtime off and flexible work schedules.”

Lisa and her husband Brian McCarthy workwith several children’s organizations. StevenSterne does a lot of work at his children’sschool, including teaching weekly classes attheir drama club.

That willingness to give back extends to the in-dustry itself. Lisa has served on the NOPA andis.group boards and is currently a member of

the is.group marketing committee, and StevenSterne has taught a number of is.group semi-nars.

Looking to the future, Lisa McCarthy says, “Wethink there’s a lot of opportunity in the market,both locally and nationally, for independents.”

“Concern for the environment is very importantin our market, so we’re working on Green prod-ucts, educating customers and our salespeo-ple. We believe the next phase of Green willfocus on quality, so that’s where we’re headed.”

When asked about Keeney’s formula for suc-cess, McCarthy answers simply. “Ask whatthey want, listen to their answers, and providea solution tailored to their needs.” This not onlygoes for the sales staff, but for all of Keeney’semployees who are constantly challenged byMcCarthy and Sterne to pick up where othercompanies leave off, to go that extra mile for acustomer and to provide service unlike anyother company.

� Keeney’s Office Plus, Redmond, Washington� Lisa Keeney McCarthy, president;

Steven G. Sterne, general manager� Office supplies, furniture� Founded: 1947� Employees: 30� Sales: $10 million� Partners: is.group, S.P. Richards� Online Sales: 60%� Web: www.keeneysop.com

SEPTEMBER 2008 INDEPENDENT DEALER PAGE 5

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Conveniently located off of Route 309 inMontgomeryville, Pennsylvania, Lizell OfficeFurniture’s showroom is a sight to behold. It’sa picture of class, elegance and functionality,and helps set the 50-year-old dealershipapart from its competitors in the GreaterPhiladelphia area.

Lizell has a solid contract furniture businessas well as an impressive retail operation.That’s where the showroom comes in. Theshowroom is a 30,000-square foot, multi-levelspace where customers can view furniture inoffice-like vignettes and meet with sales con-sultants who can guide them through the se-lection process, ensuring that the productsthey purchase are a perfect match for theirspace.

“Most office furniture dealers don’t usuallyhave this type of showroom,” boasts TonyLizell, president. “Most focus more on theircommercial business. We compete againstsome who have showrooms, but they aremostly a ‘line ‘em up’ kind of discount deskdealer. Our presentation is more upscale.”

Unlike the big box stores that also sell furni-ture along with supplies and equipment,Lizell focuses primarily on furniture and furni-ture-related accessories. The 50-year-oldfamily business originally began as a sta-tionery store, but has since evolved under

Tony’s leadership to a furniture-only dealer-ship.

Showroom staff is trained to determine theneeds of every customer, from small and mid-size companies to those looking to furnish ahome office.

“We get a lot of people who find us from oursign alone, although much of our businesscomes from referrals and people who havedone business with us in the past,” says Tony.

Lizell’s is open every day, although weekendstend to be the most popular for home officecustomers.

“We’re very competitive on our pricing at theretail level, but we don’t carry the cheapstuff,” says Tony. Product lines includeGlobal, HON, La-Z-Boy, and MAiSPACE.

Why do home office customers shop atLizell instead of the big box stores? “Our customer is more discriminating,” notesTony. “They know that they need a good so-lution, want to browse a larger selection, andwant better quality.”

Another differentiator is Lizell’s sales staffwho take a consultative approach to the sale.

“They spend a lot of time understanding whatcustomers are looking for, defining whetherit’s commercial or home office, what they do,

and if they have any health issues or back is-sues, so we can provide the best solution,”explains Tony. “We also make sure, in termsof the home office, that we find the designand style of furniture to complement theirhome environment.”

While retail and contract business have beenriding a bumpy road of late thanks to the cur-rent state of the economy, Lizell’s projectbusiness is doing quite well. Despite thetough economic climate, Tony can’t imaginedoing anything else.

“I like design and architecture and workingwith our customers,” he explains. “They’reusually professional people and I enjoy doingbusiness with them.” He also likes the size ofthe orders. “It’s different from what I grew upwith…pencils, papers, and erasers,” he adds.

Meanwhile, Tony expects a few more bumpson the road ahead. “My crystal ball says it’sgoing to be the same a year from now,” hepredicts. But he welcomes the challenge.“This just gives us an opportunity to be morecreative and focus on controlling costs,” saysTony.

Make that controlling costs and satisfyingcustomers; a couple of things that Lizell Of-fice Furniture does very well.

SEPTEMBER 2008 INDEPENDENT DEALER PAGE 7

� Tony Lizell, president� In business since 1958� Office furniture, home office

furniture, design services� Up 8% in 2007� Employees: 20� Key Partners: Global, HON,

La-Z-Boy, MAiSPACE� Web: www.lizell.com

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What our client’s are saying:

OfficeMax is one of nine nationwide retail-ers hit by computer hackers who obtainedmillions of customers’ credit and debitcard numbers, according to a report lastmonth by the Associated Press.

The AP said 11 people were charged withhacking into retailers’ wireless computernetworks, including the OfficeMax net-

work, and capturing more than 41 millioncredit and debit card numbers.

“They used sophisticated computer hack-ing techniques that would allow them tobreach security systems and install pro-grams that gathered enormous quantitiesof personal financial data, which they thenallegedly either sold to others or used

themselves,” attorney general MichaelMukasey said at a news conference. “Andin total, they caused widespread losses bybanks, retailers, and consumers.”

“I suspect that a lot of people are unawarethat their identifying information has beencompromised,” he said.

Office Depot has been hit with new allega-tions by state government auditors of over-charges and other irregularities related to itsperformance under exclusive, sole-sourcestate contracts.

In California, Office Depot agreed to repaythe state $2.5 million for overpayments, theSan José Mercury News reported lastmonth. Office Depot’s agreement to the$2.5 million payment came following a stateaudit that concluded state workers routinelyfailed to get the best value when buying of-fice supplies during the past two years.

The audit concluded that state workers or-dered $14 million in office supplies—nearly25% of the total purchases—that were notsubject to special pricing the state had ne-gotiated. The audit further found that stateofficials had failed to monitor the purchas-ing to guard against overcharges.

Earlier this year, the Mercury News reportedproblems with the two primary aspects of thecontracting initiative. The newspaper docu-mented tens of thousands of dollars in over-charges, and also reported concerns aboutwhether small businesses were truly benefiting.

The newspaper reported most of the ninesmall businesses that had partnered with Of-fice Depot on the contract had not listedthemselves as primarily in the office supplybusiness before the contract went into effect.

While the audit found the role of OfficeDepot’s small-business “partners” satisfiedstate law and policies, State AssemblymanIra Ruskin (D-Los Altos) told the MercuryNews that “even if the contract carried outthe letter of the law” on the role of smallbusinesses, “it is obvious it did not carry outthe spirit.”

He said he did not believe the audit fully an-swered questions he raised in legislativehearings this spring, and he said he wouldseek a meeting with state officials.

Meanwhile, in North Carolina, state auditorsreported Office Depot overcharged its stateagencies by nearly $300,000 over a six-month period.

State auditors said Office Depot inflated re-tail prices on its own brand items so thatthey could offer a higher discount to win thebid, added over 24,000 unauthorized items

to the state’s web purchasing system atlesser discounts or no discounts at all andoften substituted private label merchandisefor branded merchandise, causing the stateto pay more than planned.

Following release of the North Carolinaaudit, the top official in the state’s Dept. ofAdministration asked the State Bureau ofInvestigation to determine whether a crimi-nal investigation is warranted into the pric-ing practices of Office Depot.

California and North Carolina are not theonly states to encounter problems with theirOffice Depot state contract. Governmentpurchasing officials in Florida and Nebraskaalso uncovered major problems with over-charges and other irregularities in their statecontracts and similar problems in Georgiaprompted officials in that state to suspendtheir own state contract with Office Depotearlier this year.For more information on Office Depot’sproblems with its state contracts, visit theDepot State Contract Watch web page onthe INDEPENDENT DEALER web site(www.idealercentral.com/id_watch.html).

SEPTEMBER 2008 INDEPENDENT DEALER PAGE 9

CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

If you have news to share - email it toSimon@IDealerCentral.com

In California and North Carolina, Auditors Find Massive Overcharges in Office Depot State Contracts

Credit Card Fraud Hits OfficeMax Customers

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Industry News: continued from page 9

S. P. Richards Acquires ActionEmco’s MidwestBusiness, United Stationers Buys New Jersey OperationIn the course of just a few days last month, wholesaler ActionEmcowas disassembled and its parts acquired in separate transactionsby the industry’s two national wholesalers.

The two deals represented the final stages in a process of con-solidation that played out with remarkable speed and saw the de-mise in just over six months of the Advantage MarketingWholesale group of regional wholesalers.

The process started in February when S.P. Richards signed anagreement to acquire O Henry, AMW’s member serving theSoutheast. In July, came the news that PPI Wholesale Office Sup-plies, AMW’s West Coast wholesaler, was closing and selling sub-stantially all of its assets to S.P. Richards.

And finally, last month, S.P. Richards announced it was acquiring theMidwest business of ActionEmco, the sole remaining AMW whole-saler, followed just a few days later with news that United Stationerswas acquiring ActionEmco’s New Jersey business.

In Atlanta, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported the Midwestdeal will add $50 million annually to overall sales at S.P. Richards.United said its deal, for $15 million, would bring it approximately$70 million in incremental annual revenues.

is.group Reports ‘Brisk’ Growth for Legacy Office ProductsThe is.group dealer group has reported sales of the Legacy OfficeProducts private label brand, described by the organization as “thefirst private label brand of office products for all independent deal-ers,” are growing at a brisk pace, with sales up 59.6% in the firsthalf 2008 versus first half 2007 then-marketed Value Plus, and israpidly being adopted by independent dealers across the U.S.

is.group said nearly 440 SKUs bearing the Legacy Office Productsname and logo are stocked in its three regional distribution cen-ters and announced plans to add 101 new SKUs in 2009. Newcategories in 2009 will bring marker boards and cork boards,bringing the total of Legacy branded SKUs to 554, including copypaper.

is.group blasted what it called industry rumors and disinforma-tion suggesting it will be impossible to continue with the Legacyline following the sale of ActionEmco, who was licensed byis.group to market and sell the line.

“The Legacy line is not going away,” said Craig Bartholomew, Re-porter Big Sky Office and is.group’s chairman of the board. “Any-one who tells you otherwise is simply mistaken. is.group’s shareof the overall Legacy volume is far greater than that of Ac-tionEmco. My dealership’s volume in Legacy products is upnearly 35%—it just makes so much sense!”

SEPTEMBER 2008 INDEPENDENT DEALER PAGE 10

CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

http://www.aopd.com

Industry News: continued from page 10

ECi Launches Redesigned Web SiteDealer technology provider eCommerce Industries, Inc. haslaunched a newly-redesigned web site at www.eci2.com. ECi saidits site has been completely re-built from the ground up, with ar-chitecture reflecting the latest industry trends, techniques and de-sign standards and incorporating new technologies to make thesite fast and responsive.

The new site is the final element of a comprehensive re-brandingeffort ECi has been conducting across all of its communication andmedia channels. The revamped site’s improved interface and sleeknew design reflect the new look and tone of the company, ECi said.

ECi said it will be adding further to the site in the coming months,with additional content, discounts, special offers and other newsite features.

City of Hope Piano Fund Exceeds Goal, Moves to Next LevelOffice products may be fiercely competitive and every bottom linedollar precious, but that doesn’t stop the folks who earn their liv-ing in this business from performing acts of exceptional generos-ity. Just ask Martin Clemente and Paul Ventimiglia of XStamper.

Earlier this year, Paul and Martin toured the City of Hope’s cam-pus and saw for themselves the work of the doctors and re-searchers at the center and the City of Hope’s unique approachto the prevention, treatment and cure of cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

Their visit, says Paul, was a life changing experience andprompted them to launch a campaign to raise funds to purchasea piano for the children and adults who come to the City of Hope’sPatient and Family Resource Center.

“City of Hope doctors and researchers not only focus on healingthe body, but they also give just as much importance to the spirit,”Paul explains. “The healing of body, mind, and soul involves notonly the harsh reality of chemotherapy, radiation, and bone mar-row transplants, but also art and music therapy.”

Paul and Martin’s fundraising effort was intended to support thespirit side of the equation by providing a valuable resource for pa-tients and their families under tremendous stress. And how did

the industry respond to their call?

“Our initial goal was $20,000 and we had no trouble meeting it,”says Paul proudly. “By the end of July we had $30,000 in dona-tions and commitments and we can’t say enough about the levelof support this effort has received. For Martin and me, it has beena very humbling, and enriching experience.”

As Martin and Paul looked further into the needs of patients inthis area, however, they realized more was needed than just astandard piano.

Now, they are looking into the possibility of providing not only thebaby grand piano as first anticipated, but also a a disklavier toprovide music constantly being performed as background music,and they will also attempt to purchase at least two keyboards withheadsets and roller table to accommodate all patients.

“Art and music therapy is essential to healing the mind and soul,and what we all have accomplished together is an incredible suc-cess,” says Paul. If you’d like to support this effort, there’s stilltime. Any dollar amount is welcome and all checks should bemade out to Paul J. Ventimiglia with a notation at the bottom ofyour check indicating “City of Hope piano fund”. Please send yourcontribution to Paul at 557 Saddle Lane, Grosse Pointe Woods,Michigan 48236.

S.P. Richards Gears Up for Third Annual ‘Tour de Hope’ Fundraiser for Cancer ResearchOn October 4, hundreds of cyclists, many of them S. P. Richardsemployees, suppliers and customers, will be pedaling furiouslyalong Georgia’s scenic Silver Comet Trail as part of the third an-nual Tour de Hope, a special fundraiser hosted by S. P. Richardsto help raise funds for the City of Hope Cancer Center.

Participants this year include a team from the New England areaspearheaded by S. P. Richards branch manager Paul DaSilva anda 20-person team from COS Business Products in Chattanooga,TN, who will be making the 120-mile trip to participate.

To register (for non-Atlanta cyclists, “virtual rider” registration isavailable) or support an individual rider or team, visit the ride’sweb site at www.tourdehope.net.

SEPTEMBER 2008 INDEPENDENT DEALER PAGE 12

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In Memoriam: Robert E. Krumwiede of C-Line Products Robert E. Krumwiede, past president of C-Line Products, died August 17. He had just celebrated his 80th birthday. Krumwiede was a grad-uate of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He served as an MP in the Korean War before beginning his almost 50-year career inthe office products industry.

Krumwiede joined C-Line back in 1953, the year the company began manufacturing sheet protectors, one of its signature products.He was instrumental in the growth and development of C-Line for the next 44 years before he retired and his son Jim took over aspresident.

He is survived by his wife Gerry; daughter Cathy, sons Jim and David, and their spouses and many grandchildren. The family has re-quested in lieu of flowers that contributions be made to the Multiple Sclerosis Society, 910 W. Van Buren, Chicago, IL 60607.

Industry News: continued from page 12

Smead’s Smartstrip 3.0 Labeling System Receives Microsoft CertificationSmead’s SmartStrip 3.0 labeling software has received certifica-tion from Microsoft for use with Windows Vista, making it the firstSmead product to be certified for Windows Vista and, Smead said,making it one of the first “Vista Certified” programs in its field.

The SmartStrip Labeling System offers the efficiency of colorcoded indexing without the time-consuming task of applying in-dividual colored labels to shelf filing products, Smead said.

Using a form that feeds easily into printers, a label strip completewith color coding, text and bar codes is ready for end tab filingproducts. In addition, Smartstrip software allows you to matchlabel design with the most popular color coding systems includ-ing Smead, Tab, Ames, Datafile and others.

New Ink Facility for Newell RubbermaidNewell Rubbermaid has announced it will spend $12.5 million toopen a new ink factory in Manchester, Tennessee, to supply thecompany's writing instrument manufacturing facilities inTennessee and other facilities around the world. The new factoryis slated to come online in December 2009.

PaperPro Introduces New ‘Green’ StaplerPaperPro has joined the move-ment for more environmentallyfriendly products by launchingthe Eco-Stapler, a new staplermade with 30% recycled contentand packaged in a blister cardcomprised of recycled paperstockprinted with soy-based inks andan R-PET blister. The stapler

comes in three earth-toned colors—stone, moss and sand—and isavailable in both 20-sheet desktop and 15-sheet compact models.

Nukote Announces Renewable Energy PurchaseNukote International has announced the purchase of clean, re-newable, wind-generated electricity that it said offsets 6% of thecompany’s electricity needs and places it in the growing pool ofEPA green power partners.

Nukote said the amount of energy purchased is estimated to beequivalent to offsetting 1,372,896 pounds of carbon dioxide. (En-vironmental benefits based on Northeast Power CoordinatingCouncil (NPCC) calculations.)

“As a remanufacturer, Nukote is already operating on a path ofsustainability,” said Steve Baiocchi, president of sales. “Now,Nukote will embark on a whole new era of corporate environmen-tal awareness. We are making it a company priority to identify newchallenges and opportunities for sustainability, while profitably

finding solutions to grow our business and keep our world green.”

Katun Performance Imaging Supplies Now Available Through Industry Wholesalers Katun Corporation has announced a broad range of its Katun Per-formance imaging supplies is now available through United Sta-tioners/Azerty and Supplies Network. The Katun Performance lineincludes monochrome and color toner cartridges for copiers,printers, fax machines, and multifunctional devices.

New CFO, Gunlocke President at HNIKurt Tjaden has been appointed vice president and chief financial of-ficer at HNI Corporation, where he will report to HNI chairman, pres-ident and CEO Stan Askren. Prior to joining HNI, Tjaden was vicepresident and chief financial officer, Asia for Whirlpool Corporation.

His experience includes serving as chief financial officer for Pure Fish-ing, Inc. and Gateway Asia Pacific. He also held multiple financial andinternational positions during 14 years at Procter & Gamble.

Tjaden succeeds Jerry Dittmer, who was appointed president ofthe HON Company and executive vice president of HNI Corpora-tion in March.

Also at HNI, Don Mead, formerly vice president of marketing forthe HON Company, has been named president of HNI’s GunlockeCompany operation. Mead will also report to Askren.

Mead joined HNI in 2000 as vice president, marketing for Allsteel,and has since held multiple executive level positions at Gunlocke,HNI and the HON Company.

OFS to Acquire LoewensteinFurniture manufacturer OFS Brands has signed a binding letterof intent to acquire certain assets of Loewenstein, Inc., a furni-ture manufacturer specializing in the hospitality, corporate andeducational market segments. Final terms of the acquisition werenot disclosed.

“The acquisition of Loewenstein allows for our seamless expan-sion into the hospitality market,” commented OFS Sr. VP of mar-keting Mike Wagner. “Our marketing strategy will be to protectthe individual character of the Loewenstein brand and allow it tooperate independently in the marketplace. This is a great oppor-tunity for our company, and we are very excited about Loewen-stein’s future potential.”

SentrySafe Acquires SchwabRochester, New York-based SentrySafe has purchased SchwabCorporation, Lafayette, Indiana. Terms of the deal were not dis-closed. The purchase is effective immediately and Schwab willoperate as a wholly owned subsidiary of SentrySafe.

“This is an extremely exciting time in our company history, sincenot only are we welcoming Schwab Corporation into our family-owned business, but for the first time are specifically acquiring a

SEPTEMBER 2008 INDEPENDENT DEALER PAGE 13

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Industry News: continued from page 13

company to complement and enhance our growing business,” saidJim Brush, president and CEO of SentrySafe. “We see this acqui-sition as a mutually beneficial opportunity for both companies.”

Mayline Launches Online Dealer DashboardThe Mayline Group has introduced a new Dealer Dashboard fea-ture on its web site intended to make it easier than ever for deal-ers to obtain proprietary information on a host of topics.

The dashboard will allow dealers to obtain up-to-the-hour infor-mation on inventory availability, order tracking, promotions, fac-tory closeouts and more, Mayline said.

Mayline dealers can access the Dealer Dashboard fromwww.mayline.com and registering on a secure login page. Regis-tration requires dealers to provide their Mayline account number,city, state, and phone number currently on file with Mayline.

New Reps for High Point FurnitureHPFI (High Point Furniture Industries) has appointed San Anto-nio-based Alvarez & Associates to represent the company's prod-ucts in Texas. Arnold Alvarez will cover the south Texas territory,Ginger Pool will cover the Houston area and Greg Potter will coverthe Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex. Greg Potter, as G.P. Contract, willalso cover the state of Oklahoma.

RLC-Rick Lowe & Company will represent HPFI in Arkansas andLouisiana. Rick Lowe will cover southern Louisiana includingLake Charles and New Orleans, Jim and Jonathan Ives will cover

northern Louisiana and the state of Arkansas.

Industry Veteran Art Williamson Launches NewNetworking Program for Contract Furniture DealersConsultant Art Williamson, an industry veteran with more than 30years’ office furniture experience, has launched the Contract-Dealer Network, a new program designed to provide non-com-peting contract furniture dealers with the opportunity to networkwith each other and exchange ideas and information on bestpractices and critical industry issues.

Participants will form groups of no more than 15 dealers who willmeet monthly by conference call to discuss topics of their choos-ing covering dealer branch management, operations, and humanresources.

In addition, a members-only online blog will further encouragecommunications and information exchange among participants.

“Unlike other industry dealer peer groups that represent a singlemanufacturer, CDNetwork participants will benefit from commu-nicating with a diverse cross section of dealers representing var-ious manufacturers,” Williamson explained. “In addition,membership in each group will be limited to one dealer per mar-ket to avoid competitive considerations.”

For more information, contact Art Williamson at:Office Furniture Strategies, Inc. (Ph: 804.378.0189; E-mail: artwilliamson@comcast.net)

SEPTEMBER 2008 INDEPENDENT DEALER PAGE 14

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Is Your Business Web Savvy?We’re long past the days of the “If you build it, they will come” approach to web site

marketing and more and more dealers are finding the Internet offers a whole lot more than

just another way for customers to place orders. Here’s a look at how dealers are strength-

ening their online presence and using it to build their brand and reach out to new markets.

The Internet is arguably one of the most efficient and cost-effective ways tomarket and promote a product or service and can go a long way towardssimplifying the ordering process. At least that’s what Shane Roach, co-owner of Mr. Paper Office Supply in Gainesville, Florida, discovered back in1994. But all of that is changing.

Initially, Mr. Paper’s web site was just another way for customers to place or-ders. And that was fine back then.

“It wasn’t marketed as a way to do business,” recalls Roach.

Mr. Paper’s web site has since evolved from just an ordering tool to a vehi-cle for attracting new business and for marketing and promoting to existingcustomers. Thanks to those marketing and promotional efforts, more than60% of Mr. Paper’s business now comes in online.

More than 80% of orders and 65% of sales dollars are generated online atGlobal Office Solutions in Detroit. Customers seem to enjoy the conven-

SEPTEMBER 2008 INDEPENDENT DEALER PAGE 16

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Cover Story: continued from page 16

ience and the instant gratification of ordering their office supplieswith the click of a mouse.

“As busy as everybody is, the ability for them to quickly place anorder online is a huge way for them to free up their time,” saysReuben Levy, president of Global Office Solutions. “It gives themgreater control when they need to place an order and how theyplace the order. It just takes things to the next level.”

Iowa Illinois Office Solutions in Davenport, Iowa, has been en-couraging customers to place orders over the Internet sinceshortly after the dealership’s founding in 2001.

“We introduced it to all of our clients through our sales force,”notes Dave McPherson, vice president of sales.

Customers are also reminded of the dealership’s Internet order-ing capability on flyers that are included with every order.

Iowa Illinois Office Solutions’ online business seems to be pro-gressing nicely, with 40% of clients currently ordering suppliesover the web. The goal is to raise that figure to 60%. How?

“It’s going to take more effort by our sales force to make sure thatall customers are aware of it,” notes McPherson.

The dealership is also looking at a software program that will allowthem to send personalized e-mails to clients about the conven-ience of placing orders online and is considering incentives to itssales force whenever they sign customers up for online ordering.A one-time incentive for clients who place either their first or sec-ond order via the Internet is another strategy the dealership islooking at to drive traffic through its web site.

“We really feel that it’s going to require us to get more clients onthe Internet rather than it being just something that we have, be-cause it benefits both them and us,” says McPherson.

Those benefits include lower return rates, a higher volume of or-ders, and convenience to the customer.

The company’s web site continues to evolve, says McPherson.“We’re in the process of revamping the images on our web siteand have asked our sales force to put more emphasis on the In-

ternet because we know that’s the way we need to go,” he con-cludes.

When John Hauptstueck acquired Rosa’s Office Plus in Rich-mond, Indiana a year and a half ago, only 6% of its business wasonline. Eighteen months later its online business has risen to25.4% and is well on the way to Hauptstueck’s goal of 50%.Order size has also risen by 17% on average and gross profitsare up 9%, even though Hauptstueck doesn’t attribute all thatgrowth to the company’s web initiatives.

Tangram Interiors, a Southern California-based Steelcase dealer,has seen its sales grow ever since adding a “Public Shop Online”page to its site. Here buyers will find a quick-ship online orderingcatalog where they can order seating, storage systems, desksand workstations, and panel systems as well as various er-gonomic accessories and organizational products.

Recently the company began tracking how many people werelooking at the Tangram site, and, reports president Joe Lozowski,it was way more than he thought.

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“I remember thinking, ‘Wow, we’d better keep this thing updatedall the time,” says Lozowski. “And we were already doing a prettygood job of keeping it updated.”

Tangram gets about five new clients a day from the web site.

“We don’t consider ourselves retailers, but we know there are a lotof people looking at our web site. More people are looking to buythe products that we sell and we need to make it easier for them,”says Lozowski.

Tangram uses a program called Ensync, which allows customersto access orders from Tangram’s web site. About 170 of Tan-gram’s clients have their own private pages where they can placeand track orders and look up delivery information.

“That’s been a big help for them and us,” says Lozowski. “It elim-inates the phone calls asking if they can order a chair or ques-tions about when their chair is shipping,” notes Lozowski. “Wecontinue to drive that as a productivity tool and are trying to makethat a way of doing business with every new client. We use thatas a differentiator for us because we’re one of the few dealerswho have something to offer like that. For most customers this isan eye-opening experience and it’s helped us win a lot of busi-ness.”

Lozowski expects Tangram’s Internet business to continue grow-ing as it leverages the various capabilities of the e-commerceproducts it uses and takes advantage of Google AdWords ads to

attract customers to their site and measure the results.

“We’re going to be way further down the road than we’ve everbeen because we’ll be able to measure whether the campaignswe’ve invested in work and determine what sort of results we’vegotten from them,” predicts Lozowski.

Mark D’Agostino, CEO of DeBald & Company in Youngstown,Ohio and Trifecta Business Products in Cleveland, has been work-ing diligently to bring his client base into the age of online order-ing.

“This is a very conservative area and we’ve seen slow growth with

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SEPTEMBER 2008 INDEPENDENT DEALER PAGE 19

the Internet,” reveals D’Agostino, who reports that the two com-panies are in the process of merging operations and revampingtheir web sites.

“What we teach here is that Internet ordering and the web willnever go away,” he says. “Our philosophy is that this is just anextension of our business and another avenue to reach us.”

Specials help drive business to DeBald’s web site. Popular pro-motions include tickets to sporting events and concerts, as wellas gift certificates to spas and area restaurants.

“We see a much more mobile workforce in the future and realizethat our web sites have to adapt to that mobile workforce,” opinesD’Agostino. “You may have a purchasing agent who is not work-ing under the corporate roof but working from home and we needto be able to make sure that they can order from us as if they wereworking in their office.”

To meet the needs of a mobile workforce, DeBald is customizingits web sites to allow for multiple logins and customizing eachlogin for specific clients or specific departments within those or-ganizations.

“We’re seeing that owners and management of companies wanta more direct approach so people aren’t spending as much timesearching for things, shopping for things, and wasting their timeon the Internet,” says D’Agostino. “By customizing it for them wekeep it very simple and we help them with the implementation.”

DeBald helps integrate its online ordering capability with cus-tomers’ purchasing systems so that it’s more of a seamless ap-plication and so they don’t do double the work by entering theorder into the DeBald web site and then into their purchasing sys-tem.

Getting Them ThereKey to using the Internet to grow a business is getting customersto the site. But just because you build it doesn’t mean they’llcome.

Lewis Bass, senior product manager for ECi, has been assistingdealers in boosting their web presence for nearly 10 years.

“Early on the thinking was build a web site and they’re going tocome to it,” he says. “But that wasn’t necessarily the case then,and it isn’t necessarily the case now.”

Dealers interested in leveraging their web site to grow their busi-ness need to understand that it’s all about image, appearance,and marketing, he contends.

“If they want to compete against Staples, they need to give theappearance of Staples,” maintains Bass. “And they can. That’sthe magic of the web; a dealer doesn’t have to be big to look big.”

“There’s a lot of basic common sense things that any dealer cando to market their web site,” adds Leon Asbill, Jr., vice president,creative director, ECi. “Your URL should be everywhere—invoices,flyers, statements, on your truck, etc.”

Mr. Paper encourages its customers to visit its web site throughevery touch.

“You can advertise all you want, but getting someone to take thatfirst action and log on is the most difficult one to get,” says Roach.

The most effective way Mr. Paper has found to drive people totheir site is when sales reps in the field help them log on or actu-ally do it for them, if the customer needs that much help.

“Once they see how easy it is, even if you just walk them throughand show them how to request a catalog, and how easy it is tocheck pricing, it becomes our most valuable marketing tool,” ex-plains Roach.

It’s the same drill at Global Office Solutions where sales repsspend a fair amount of time encouraging customers to use thesite and then train the ones who need it.

Global has designed programs specifically around its customersusing the Internet, such as a rewards program that kicks in oncea customer starts ordering online. The rewards program has var-ious criteria and although Levy is hesitant to go into details, he ex-plains that ordering online is one of the criteria that customershave to meet if they want to earn rewards points.

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“It gives us a competitive advantage,” hesays.

Meanwhile, at Mr. Paper, online orderinghas also reduced returns. But the biggestadvantage is the marketing and promo-tions that can be done via the web site ore-mail blasts in a permission marketingcampaign.

“People who have registered on your siteand shown interest in your company aremuch more receptive to your marketing asopposed to people who you’re mass mar-keting to,” contends Roach.

“The one thing about moving consumersto the Internet, is that it’s not an overnightsensation,” says Hauptstueck. “Most folksare slow to change. What we’ve seen isthat the consistency of the web site andthe consistency of our sales and customerservice staff to assist has helped convertmore customers to the web.”

Hauptstueck identifies several initiativesthat have helped drive more businessthrough the Internet for Rosa’s. First, wasmaking sure the web site was easy toread, easy to use, and worked well. Sec-ond is a program called “Live Person,”which is an online chat button that cus-tomers can access if they have a problemor concern. Clicking on the button allowsthem to chat with Rosa’s customer serv-ice staff.

Offering incentives to sales staff has alsomade a difference. Rosa’s uses a tiered in-centive structure where sales reps earn a

bonus depending on how many of theircustomers place orders over the web.Bonuses can be as much as $250 for asales rep whose online business rises to50%.

Walking customers through the online or-dering process is also critical. SinceRosa’s already knows what each customerbuys most often, they pre-populate theirfavorites list on the Rosa’s site along withthe various toner cartridges they use. Asales rep then schedules an appointmentto show them how easy it is to order on-line. Most customers are converted thenand there, with 94% continuing to orderonline once they take the plunge.

Greenville Office Supply in Greenville, S.C.currently does about 60% of sales online.That’s up from about 20% two years agoand about 40% from four years ago.

Whenever a sales rep goes out for anynew account, they set those customers uponline and show them how to use theGreenville Office Supply web site for on-line ordering.

“We make the assumption that every cus-tomer is going to order online and everycustomer is going to receive their invoic-ing electronically via e-mail,” says ScottHart, vice president. “If they want to dosomething differently, that’s an exception.Our preferred set-up method is you haveto order online.”

Keeping Them ThereOnce a dealer gets the customer to their

web site, the challenge is keepingthem there. This means fresh

content.

“The more you offer,you’re just locking yourcustomer into usingyour web site,” saysRoach.

“Some of our dealers aredoing $1-$2 million a month

in transactions [over the Internet],”says Bass. “Those guys are putting

fresh things on the home page for when

customers first log in. Even if they only getfive new sales for these new products, it’sspreading the word of new stuff comingin.”

Rosa’s customers have come to expecttheir web specials, which have reallyboosted online ordering. The promotionsvary monthly, with the most successfulpromotion so far being gas cards in $5,$10, and $25 denominations, dependingon the size of the order. The latest incen-tive: gifts from local artisans, such as clayworks, soap, candy, or candles. Cus-tomers also receive a $5 gift for everyquarterly $150 order, or $10 for a $225order, or a $25 gift for when their quarterlyorders reach $650.

“Our customers love it,” says Haupt-stueck.

Greenville Office Supply also offers web-only specials. “This drives customers tothe site and gives them a reason to orderonline,” notes Hart. “We post web specialson the front splash page that they can onlysee there. If they aren’t ordering online,they’ll never see those specials becausethey’re not available to non-online users.”

Greenville’s reps also teach end usersabout the efficiencies and the effective-ness of a favorites list, which customerscan only use if they’re ordering online.

Last ClicksClearly, you cannot win like you used to inthe office products and office furniturebusiness if you don’t play online.

When asked if he sees Greenville OfficeSupply’s online business growing beyondthe 60% it is now, Hart replies, “It’s goingto have to because we’re behind thepower channels. I’m hearing numbers wayabove 60% for them.”

“You’d better have an online presence,”adds Levy. “If you don’t have an online so-lution, you must be somewhere they don’thave Internet connectivity.”

SEPTEMBER 2008 INDEPENDENT DEALER PAGE 20

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Sometimes the independent office products salesrep gets a bad rap. There is a perception that someare not as professional as they should be or as pro-fessional as sales reps who work for larger corpora-tions. I beg to differ; I have met many of you, and Ifind quite the opposite it true! You can be and are asprofessional in your sales approach as you are indealing with customers and managing those rela-tionships.

We all know these are interesting times in the officeproducts industry. With the consolidation of Staplesand Corporate Express, along with the integrityquestions surrounding Office Depot, the profes-sional independent dealer has a window of oppor-tunity to really excel and shine.

However, we can’t ignore the reality of difficult eco-nomic times. It doesn’t matter who you work for—asmall dealer, the power channel or a highly aggres-sive large independent. I have often said, “It is timeslike these that separate the men from the boys.” Theclear differentiator is professionalism.

Professionalism is about more than just beingdressed for success, saying the right things andbeing responsive to our customers.

Being truly professional in this competitive environ-ment is about being prepared to compete and win,to come to the game with a plan and a course of ac-tion for executing that plan with passion.

When I think of the consummate professional I thinkof an Olympic athlete. Do you think they go to theOlympic Games without preparation and training,without knowing who their competitors are, and howthey need to plan to compete and win against them?And I would venture to say that no one has ever wonan Olympic medal without passion.

being preparedOver the next few months, we are going to look atthese three key elements to having a professionalapproach to competing in today’s marketplace.

In this article, we will concentrate on being prepared.To determine whether you are prepared, ask your-self the following questions:

What are your strengths as an individual or as acompany? As you prepare to compete, you want toplay from a position of strength. You wouldn’t wantto go out into the market leading with gymnasticswhen your strength is swimming.

What is your competition doing? This question isnot being asked so that you can do what they arealready doing. It is so you can decide what they arenot doing—or not doing well—so you can do it, anddo it better. It’s important to understand your com-petition’s strengths and weaknesses so that you canbe prepared to go after them aggressively, yet pro-fessionally.

Where and how is your current business growing?Get the sales intelligence. This is above and beyondrunning reports. It involves looking at trends by mar-ket segments and time frames. You want to under-stand where to put your focus for retention orperhaps the “plug” for the leakage. Establish yourimmediate plan of action and decide what activitiesare going to have the greatest impact on businessgrowth.

What are your customers’ wants and needs? Yourcustomers are evolving and changing and becomingmore demanding and more technical. Think aboutwhat they want and need from an office productssupplier, not what you want to sell them.

SEPTEMBER 2008 INDEPENDENT DEALER PAGE 22

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Krista Moore is Presidentof K Coaching, LLC an

executive coaching andconsulting practice that

has helped literallyhundreds of independent

dealers maximize their fullpotential through

enhancing theirmanagement systems,

sales training, andleadership development.

For more information, visitthe K Coaching web sites

at www.kcoaching.com,for coaching and

consulting programs andwww.opwebinar.com for

the latest online trainingcourses.

Be aProfessionalby Krista Moore

Krista Moore: continued from page 22

Do you know what you don’t know? A critical part of preparationis the conditioning and training you need so that you can be thebest that you can be. The first step in development is awareness.As a sales rep, do you know what you need to know to be pre-pared to compete as a professional? Professionals don’t justshow up.

Please take the time to review the following checklist thoughtfullyand honestly. We often use these statements to ensure sales repsare equipped and prepared to hit the streets professionally.

do you know what you don’t know?

� Knows how to pre-plan the sales call to be prepared and touncover client needs.

� Understands the amount of sales activity required for ap-pointments, presentations and closing new business.

� Knows how to uncover needs through probing questionsand creating rapport.

� Knows how to diagnose, handle and overcome objections.

� Has proficiency in the dealership’s e-commerce offeringand capabilities to demonstrate and sell it.

� Has strong financial acumen and understanding of profitmargin and what you can do to impact margins for the com-pany.

� Understands the importance of business reviews andknows how to perform them.

� Has a thorough understanding of the company’s expecta-tions for business growth.

� Understands how to write and present a proposal based onfactors other than price.

� Has a thorough understanding of bid strategy, pricing andquotation processes.

� Knows how to build an individual sales plan for each ac-count.

� Knows the importance of CPR—Conversion, Penetrationand Retention activities—in each account and within your ter-ritory.

Being prepared is knowing what you need to know about yourselfand your business so that you can be the consummate profes-sional—just like the Olympic athlete who is mentally and physi-cally conditioned to win.

Let’s get ready over the next few months through preparation andplanning to compete aggressively and be the best that we canbe. Now is the time to shine—let’s put our best professional gameface on and close the gap!

SEPTEMBER 2008 INDEPENDENT DEALER PAGE 23

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I am often asked what makes somedealerships successful, while othersstruggle or die. The question is not al-ways easy to answer, but during thepast year I have identified a few differ-ences between successful dealers andthose who aren’t doing quite as well.

The dealers who are successful invest,plan, and continually attempt tochange for the better, in spite of theircircumstances.

In my experience, the businesses thatstruggle the most and often fail arethose that become too focused ontheir negative circumstances or thatare determined to “ride out the storm”by doing what they always did.

It’s not that folks don’t want to be suc-cessful, it’s just that striving for improve-ment introduces the probability of havingto change and/or make a financial in-vestment they think they can’t afford.

Here are a few questions that mighthelp you decide whether you are run-ning your company from a position offear or with an eye toward the future:

• Are you constantly battering yourvendors for a lower price eventhough inflation is at its highestpoint in over 10 years? (Aren’t weupset with our customers whenthey do this to us?)

• Have you considered switchingwholesalers only because ofprice?

• Have you decided againstinvesting any money towardsmarketing, sales training, orconsulting that might help moveyour business forward?

• Is cutting costs more importantto you than trying to hire moresales people?

• Are your margins decliningbecause you and your team areunwilling to risk possibledefections from your customerbase?

If you answered “yes” to more than twoof these questions I challenge you to reevaluate your reasons for being in busi-ness.

Fear paralyzes many entrepreneurs,but calculated risk-taking energizes

SEPTEMBER 2008 INDEPENDENT DEALER PAGE 24

CONTINUED ON PAGE 25

Tom Buxton is founder andCEO of InterBiz Group,

a consulting firm that workswith independent office

products dealers to help increase sales and profitability,

for more information, visit www.interbizgroup.com.

Don’t Let Fear ofFailure BecomeFailure Becauseof Fear!By Tom Buxton

“Courage is not the absence of fear; it is the mastery of it.”

Harvey Mackay

Tom Buxton: continued from page 24

them. Even if you don’t have muchmoney you can change your strategy,attack the market aggressively andmove up your margins to fund morechange.

At his first inaugural Franklin D. Roo-sevelt said, “The only thing we have tofear is fear itself.” Certainly the countrywas in worse shape at that time than it isnow and the state of the business com-munity was abysmal.

Roosevelt’s attitude and leadershipdrove this country through the Great De-pression and the World War that fol-lowed. His example should alsoencourage us to strive on in spite of ourfears.

I challenge you to reevaluate your atti-tude and your perspective on the cir-cumstances that you are in.

No matter how difficult things are foryour business, the consequences of fail-ure cannot be greater than those thatgreat leaders like Roosevelt faced.

Decide to improve your business now,by determining whether uncertainty mo-tivates or paralyzes you. Here are a fewspecific suggestions to energize yourbusiness.

Find someone you trust to listen to yourfears and help you critique your go-to-market strategy. (By the way, this personcould be a friend or colleague from an-other type of business.)

Engage with your wholesale rep and orbuying group representative becausethey have a breadth of knowledge aboutyour marketplace and want (need) youto succeed.

Decide to improve your businessnow, by determining whether

uncertainty motivates or paralyzes you.

Determine how much if any money you

have to invest in growing or streamliningyour business. If you don’t have any atthe present time create a plan to raisemargins. You may lose some customers,but this era of inflation gives you moreopportunity than any time in recentmemory to improve profitability.

Renew your sales engine. Good salespeople are hard to find, but both S.P.Richards and United Stationers havemethodologies to help you minimize therisk of a bad hire.

Go forward no matter what! Do not waitout the economy or your competition. Inorder to be successful, you must striveto be successful. Make it happen or findan expert to assist you in your attempt.

Don’t quit. There’s a famous poem thatsays it best: “Success is failure turnedinside out.” I encourage you to Google“Don’t Quit” and read the full poem.After you read it, print it and post itsomewhere so that you will see it anddraw inspiration every day!

SEPTEMBER 2008 INDEPENDENT DEALER PAGE 25

What is not historic is the role small businesses playin our economy and in the creation of jobs. Smallbusinesses have created 233,000 jobs this yearalone and make up roughly 75% of the work force,yet small businesses have not had the support ofpast and current presidents.

Why haven’t the presidential candidates spent moretime addressing the inequities facing small busi-nesses or put forth strong pro-small business agen-das?

Some will point to their web sites for details of theirstrong pro-small business initiatives. But what I seethere is the same lip service that the current and pastpresidents have all paid to small businesses.

Neither of the current presidential candidates havemade a central theme of their campaign the needto support small businesses. Instead, you see thempandering in states like Ohio and in certain parts ofIllinois where manufacturing jobs have disappearedor where entire towns are struggling to survive.

During the Democratic primary you had SenatorObama tell an audience that he would bring manu-facturing jobs back from overseas. No one believesfor a minute that jobs lost overseas will come back.

I think we can guess why the candidates won’t makesmall businesses their focus. Democrats don’t wantto offend the unions, while Republicans, the partysmall businesses have traditionally supported, don’twant to offend corporate America. Result: Smallbusinesses are stuck in the middle without any realplace to go.

It’s short-sighted of both parties to dismiss smallbusinesses and just pay lip service to our needs.Just do the math and you will quickly see that a pro-small business agenda at the centerpiece of your

campaign can only help a candidate.

Do you really think hard-core union folks or corpo-rate folks will switch parties because you come outwith a strong pro-small business agenda? Doubtful.Becoming the first candidate to take a firm smallbusiness stand opens the door potentially to millionsof votes you might not have received. With nearly 27million small businesses in this country it is hard tounderstand why a candidate doesn’t court this seg-ment.

Let’s take a closer look at what each candidate isproposing on the small business front.

Senator John McCainreleased his small businessagenda in August (a year and ahalf into his campaign). Here

are some of the highlights:

Lower Energy CostsJohn McCain's Lexington Project is meant to ad-dress the rising costs of energy that are hurting smallbusinesses. Senator McCain supports increased do-mestic exploration of oil and natural gas and he hasset a goal of 45 new nuclear power plants by 2030,creating 700,000 jobs and providing cheap electric-ity. In addition, he plans to devote $2 billion annuallyto research that will allow the clean use of our mostplentiful and low-cost energy source: coal.

Controlling Healthcare CostsThe McCain healthcare plan would provide $5,000for health insurance to every American family, sup-porting small businesses that seek to offer insurance.

SEPTEMBER 2008 INDEPENDENT DEALER PAGE 26

CONTINUED ON PAGE 27

Presidential CandidatesOffer Small Business Plans.Are They Small BusinessFriendly? You Decide.by Paul A. Miller

Paul Miller is a founding part-ner in Miller/Wenhold CapitolStrategies, LLC, providers ofdirect and grassroots lobby-

ing, legislative and regulatorytracking, advocacy planningand implementation and re-

lated services. Before settingup Miller/Wenhold, Miller

served as government affairsdirector for the National OfficeProducts Alliance and the Of-

fice Furniture Dealers Alliance(NOPA/OFDA). In addition tohis lobbying and regulatory

monitoring activities, Paulalso provides consulting serv-

ices to businesses on sellingto the federal, state and local

government markets. Formore information, visitwww.mwcapitol.com.

This year is historic in that it will see the election of a sitting senator as president of

the United States for the first time since John F. Kennedy was elected president. It

could also be historic in that the first African-American could be elected president.

Paul Miller: continued from page 26

Senator McCain opposes costly mandatesor "pay or play" requirements that wouldraise the financial burden on small busi-nesses and cut their ability to hire, expand,or raise payrolls.

Taxes: Simpler, Fair, Pro-Growth, and CompetitiveThe McCain plan keeps tax rates low: Itwould keep the top tax rate at 35 percent,maintain the 15 percent rates on dividendsand capital gains, and phase-out the Al-ternative Minimum Tax. The McCain planwould also cut the corporate tax rate from35 to 25 percent. Also proposed: allow thefirst-year deduction, or “expensing” ofequipment and technology investmentsand establish a permanent tax credit equalto 10% of wages spent on R&D. SenatorMcCain would also seek to balance thebudget, reduce federal borrowing, andcontrol spending to reduce the burden onthe economy.

Here are the key points from Senator Obama’s

small business agenda:

Fair Trade PoliciesSenator Obama said he would fight for atrade policy that opens up foreign marketsto support good American jobs. He willuse trade agreements to spread goodlabor and environmental standards aroundthe world and stand firm against agree-ments like the Central American FreeTrade Agreement that fail to live up tothose important benchmarks. Obama alsoproposes to pressure the World Trade Or-ganization to enforce trade agreementsand stop countries from continuing unfairgovernment subsidies to foreign exportersand nontariff barriers on U.S. exports.

Amend the North American Free Trade AgreementSenator Obama believes NAFTA and its po-tential were oversold to the American peo-ple. As president he would work with theleaders of Canada and Mexico to fix NAFTAso that it works for American workers.

Improve Transition AssistanceTo help all workers adapt to a rapidlychanging economy, the Obama planwould update the existing system of TradeAdjustment Assistance by extending it toservice industries, creating flexible educa-tion accounts to help workers retrain, andproviding retraining assistance for workersin sectors of the economy vulnerable todislocation before they lose their jobs.

Invest In A Clean EnergyEconomy And Create 5 MillionNew Green JobsThe Obama plan would invest $150 billionover 10 years to advance the next gener-ation of biofuels and fuel infrastructure,accelerate the commercialization of plug-in hybrids, promote development of com-mercial scale renewable energy, invest inlow emissions coal plants, and begin tran-sition to a new digital electricity grid. Theplan will also invest in America's highly-skilled manufacturing workforce and man-ufacturing centers.

Provide Tax Relief for SmallBusinesses and Start UpCompaniesThe Obama plan would eliminate all capi-tal gains taxes on start-up and small busi-nesses to encourage innovation and jobcreation. Obama will also support smallbusiness owners by providing a $500“Making Work Pay” tax credit to almostevery worker in America. Self-employedsmall business owners pay both the em-ployee and the employer side of the pay-roll tax, and this measure will reduce theburdens of this double taxation.

Create a National Network ofPublic-Private BusinessIncubatorsThe Obama plan would support entrepre-neurship and spur job growth by creating anational network of public-private businessincubators. Business incubators facilitatethe critical work of entrepreneurs in creat-ing start-up companies. The plan would in-vest $250 million per year to increase thenumber and size of incubators in disad-vantaged communities throughout thecountry.

As you can see there are a few nice thingsfor small business in each of these plans.But the proof in still in the pudding, as theysay. Back in 2002, President Bush issueda list of priorities in which small businessissues figured prominently. Yet the BushAdministration has done very little to helpsmall businesses.

It could even be said that the Bush Ad-ministration has sabotaged the small busi-ness community by creating loopholesthat allow large businesses to compete forsmall business contracts.

And neither the Bush nor the Clinton Ad-ministration did anything to strengthen theSmall Business Administration.

So what can the small business commu-nity do about all this? First and foremost,small businesses have to begin to harnessthe power they could have if they couldcome together as a group.

We always say there’s strength in num-bers. If the small business community canfind a way to come together and exert itspower on both parties, then and only then,will it get the attention from the candidatesthis November and in the future.

You have the power. It’stime to organize anddemand a strong smallbusiness agenda of the next President andCongress—regardless ofwho’s in power.

SEPTEMBER 2008 INDEPENDENT DEALER PAGE 27

Linda R. Winn is vice president of sales for Highline Capital Corporation, providers of leasing and collateralized financingservices to a broad range of industries, including office furniture. She can be reached toll-free at 877-422-4100 ext 252; E-mail: lwinn@highlinecapital.com

Selling office furniture in our current eco-nomic environment can sometimes feellike trying to run a race uphill in leadsneakers. Every sale of any size you maketoday has to clear two hurdles: determin-ing the best office furniture to meet yourcustomer’s needs and finding a way forthem to pay for it.

In tough times, many companies want tokeep working capital available for busi-ness expansion or to hedge against bothan economic downturn and inflation.

For those businesses it doesn’t makesense to utilize their available cash to pur-chase furniture, when it can be better usedfor more important operational expensessuch as personnel and advertising. To getthe furniture they need, they will have tofind a way to finance it.

The credit market has changed dramati-cally over the past few months and whilebank lending has not completely dried upfor creditworthy businesses, the processhas become significantly more arduousand the approval criteria more stringent.

To obtain a loan today generally requiresmore paperwork and more money upfront. For a loan for office furniture, it’s notunusual for a bank to ask for up to 50%down. And the bank’s decision-makingprocess can take up to several weeks.

Fortunately, there are other financing al-ternatives which have become increas-ingly attractive in the current lendingenvironment. The most popular of thesealternatives is lease financing.

Lease financing for office furniture offersseveral significant benefits. It can provide100% financing, and may include the abil-ity to fold costs such as delivery and in-stallation charges into the financedamount. This means your customer willhave very little out-of-pocket expenses.

Most lease companies ask for just the firstand last payments in advance, which isusually less than 5% of the total acquisi-tion price. This can be a lot easier on youron your customer’s cash position than thedown payments generally required for abank loan.

Depending on the amount of the financingrequest, lease financing approval canoften be obtained with just a simple one-page application. Generally the paperworkneeded to secure financing with a leasewill be substantially less than with con-ventional bank financing.

Also, bank loans often require additionalcollateral, including other equipmentowned by the business, personal resi-dences and other real estate owned by thecompany principals. Leases are generallycollateralized by just the equipment fi-nanced and the personal guarantee of theprincipals of the business.

By utilizing lease financing to acquire officefurniture, your customer can preserve ex-isting bank lines of credit for future operat-ing expenses or expansion opportunities.

In addition, with a properly structuredlease your customer may be able to takeadvantage of accelerated tax deductions

associated with the Economic StimulusPackage of 2008.

These tax deductions allow write-offs ofup to $250,000 of qualifying equipmentpurchases from 2008 taxable income.Equipment must be put into service by De-cember 31, 2008. Your customer shouldconsult with his tax advisor for specificbenefits.

One dealer who’s seen firsthand how use-ful a leasing option can be is John Savoryof Southwest Office Supply & Interiors inPortland, Oregon. John’s sales team re-cently closed a major deal with a rapidlygrowing company that was looking for ad-ditional workstations and seating but anx-ious to preserve cash flow for otherpurposes.

“The total deal involved somewhere in theregion of $150,000 worth of office furnitureand our ability to offer a leasing programwas absolutely critical to the client,” he re-calls. “They were able to get the furniturethey wanted, avoid what would have been amajor capital investment and enjoy somesignificant tax benefits all at the same time.”

Offering financing is a sales tool. By pro-viding a way for your customer to pay forthe furniture, you can quickly ascertaintheir interest level. They may tell you thatthey’ll just write a check. That’s great!They’ve just taken the cost hurdle out ofthe sales equation. On the other hand, ifyour customer doesn’t know that financ-ing is an option, they may decide to putthe acquisition on hold. Be proactive anduse financing to help close sales.

SEPTEMBER 2008 INDEPENDENT DEALER PAGE 28

Using Lease Optionsto Help Close OfficeFurniture Sales

by Linda Winn

Ron Raccuia ofIntegrity Office

Coming Out aWinner in Businessand Sports

For Ron Raccuia, the office products industryis not just about buying and selling. “It is,” hesays gratefully, “where I learned how to be abusinessperson.”

Raccuia has clearly been a star pupil. Sinceopening his dealership, Buffalo, New York-based Integrity Office back in 1993 with justfour people, he’s seen it grow to a team of 30and annual sales of some $9.5 million.

And what’s the most important lesson he’slearned along the way? “Every business, nomatter what it is, is built on relationships,” hecontends. “And it’s built on the ability to man-age those relationships, have both parties suc-ceed in them—because deals only work bothways and not one way—and then be consistentin what you do and how you do it.”

The results of that approach at Integrity speakfor themselves. But that’s just part of Ron Rac-cuia’s story.

Before moving to Buffalo and opening his of-fice products business, Raccuia spent twoyears in Miami working for a sports manage-ment agency that represented athletes amongother clients.

Evidently, he never quite lost the sports bugbecause six years after starting Integrity, Rac-

cuia founded his own athletic gear distributioncompany, ADPRO Sports.

“ADPRO initially started out as a typical adspecialty company,” Raccuia recalls. “We werelooking for something else to sell our customerbase and it seemed a logical choice. Onlyproblem,” he says ruefully, “is that we were ter-rible at it. We didn’t know what we were doing,we didn’t make any customers happy and itwas just a bad experience.”

But if you’re smart like Ron Raccuia, you learnfrom experience. “What we learned,” Raccuiaexplains, “was that the ad specialty businesscould open up some product lines that fit myown background in sports marketing a wholelot better.”

Today, ADPRO Sports is one of the top ten dis-tributors of Nike sportswear in the country, witha customer base that includes literally hun-dreds of teams at colleges, universities andhigh schools up and down the East Coast.

“We were the first new distributor Nike openedup in five years back then,” Raccuia saysproudly. “And that relationship has been hugefor us.” How huge? Annual sales growth in re-cent years has been running around 20-25%and Raccuia estimates the company will close

out this year with volume of around $6.5 million.

But that’s not all. Through the ADPRO connec-tion, Raccuia got to know several members ofthe NFL’s Buffalo Bills football team. One thingled to another, the memories of his early yearsin sports marketing started to revive and Rac-cuia soon found another outlet for his relation-ship-building skills.

Today, in addition to running two thriving dis-tribution businesses, Raccuia also represents11 pro football players, including cornerbackand kick return specialist Terrence McGee,who was selected for three Pro Bowls and wasthe first player in NFL history to return both akickoff and an interception for touchdowns inthe same game.

Good things, as the saying goes, come inthrees, and for Ron Raccuia, his three currentbusinesses may just be enough. “We’ve gotthree solid companies that are all profitable andgrowing nicely and we’re really not looking forany new ventures,” he says.

But if the past 15 years offer any in-dication, new ventures have a habitof finding Ron Raccuia, whether he’slooking for them or not. Stay tuned!

SEPTEMBER 2008 INDEPENDENT DEALER PAGE 29

THE OTHER SIDE:

by Mike GentilePresident & CEOis.group

ActionEmco, the only wholesaler who sold exclusivelyto the independent dealer channel, has been a greatand committed partner to the independent dealer.They stepped up and helped is.group launch theLegacy Office Products private independent dealerbrand. They have also developed many innovativecatalog concepts and merchandising strategies thatfacilitated growth for many independent dealers.

All of this was done with limited resources and a gen-uine desire to provide its dealer/customer base withthe necessary tools to compete against the big boxchannel. It is disappointing that they will no longer beable to service the independent dealer channel.

A monopoly exists when there is just one controllingentity. In most cases, it’s not a good thing. A monop-oly can slow down innovation on processes and prod-ucts, forces customers into no-choice situations, andusually results in higher prices for everyone. That isthe very reason that they are illegal in the UnitedStates and several other countries. We now need toconsider that in essence, a duopoly has been formedby the ActionEmco sale.

Logic tells us that a duopoly should be better than amonopoly, right? The answer is a resounding “maybe,maybe not”. According to information found from var-ious researched sources, a duopoly can be as anti-competitive as a monopoly. Control of market share iswhat both parties typically want. There are numerouscases in other industries where it has been proventhat a three-player system is far more likely to keepan industry sound and more apt to create a competi-tive environment.

Staples publicly stated that they intend to achieve

$200-300M in synergies from the Corporate Expressacquisition, which will come from vendor pricing, ven-dor terms, scale, own brand and procurement. Inessence, lower cost of goods and better terms for thesame volume combined. These big box behemothsare going to be less wholesale-dependent than everbefore. This begs the question, where will that leaveSP and United?

The reason I bring this up is to focus our attention onwhat opportunities the two U.S. national wholesalersnow have in terms of their relationships within the in-dependent dealer channel.

I believe that it is in the wholesalers’ and the manu-facturing community’s best interests to begin to trulyfocus their attention on the independent dealerswithin our industry. These same dealers have demon-strated. time and time again, that they know how tocreate and sustain demand in the SMB space. The in-dependent dealer wakes up every day and gets “or-ders” while the big boxes churn and burn customers.

Our wholesalers and manufacturers both have statedthat our channel is their strategic customer. They re-ally need to look at what the future will bring, and startto make serious headway in working even moreclosely with independent dealers and dealer groups.Now is their best opportunity to demonstrate to usthat they truly do want to be our partner. There are nu-merous mutually beneficial synergistic opportunitiesthat must be explored among buying groups, whole-salers and manufacturers that would result in in-creased Independent Dealer market share.

The die has been cast. We all now know what theplaying field looks like and who the real competitorsare and they are NOT your fellow independent dealernor other buying groups.

Now is the time to put aside egos, disagreements re-garding disparate business models and local inde-pendent dealer competition, and for ALL to realizethat there is an opportunity for all parties and stakeholders of our channel to work together during thisunique period in our industry’s history.

SEPTEMBER 2008 INDEPENDENT DEALER PAGE 30

TheLASTwordAn Open Letter to the Industry