inside - Indoff

INSIDE
11816 Lackland Rd.
St. Louis, MO 63146
May 2010
Material Handling, Office Interiors, Business Products, Promotional Products
President’s Prose
by Jim Malkus, Indoff President and CEO
CONTENTS
Page 2
Human
Resources
Page 3
Recruiting
Page 4
Operations
Page 7
Marketing
Page 8
New Faces
Page 10
Techie Talk
We try another twist to the newsletter this time – “co-authored” articles with a Sales Partner
helping out. Our hope in doing this is to give a different perspective on some routine topics,
whether that is the Partner’s perspective on margins, on meetings or on cross-selling.
At the risk of upsetting our VP of Human Resources, I’m going to steal comments from our
recent sales meeting. Every 18 months, we hold our standard sales meeting here in St.
Louis, and every third year we hold the Champions’ Circle sales meeting, a rewards trip for
Partners who have done well in the prior year.
We questioned the wisdom of holding this year’s meeting with the struggle that was 2009.
We ultimately decided to proceed because we felt that we had made a commitment and we
thought it was important to celebrate those Partners who succeeded in spite of the difficult
economy.
Here are a few quotes regarding the meeting:
“…they were shocked a company would follow through and hold that type of meeting”
“…there seemed to be a lot of enthusiasm in your group”
“…had a great time getting to know Indoff’s greatest asset – the people”
“…I was inspired by those who attended… The interaction is truly priceless.”
“…It is great to work with a group of successful professionals that want to be a success…”
“… the content for this meeting was outstanding.”
And finally, my favorite - “…everyone ‘loves’ working for Indoff in an almost cultish way”
Comments such as the above validate our decision to hold the meeting. I believe we had a
number of good ideas, great questions and suggestions that will benefit all of us going forward. The meeting reminds us all of what a great group of professionals we are privileged
to work with every day of the year. It is our collective talent and willingness to share our
knowledge and experiences that is our greatest strength as a company.
From one of the almost cultish leaders, thank you all for all you do for Indoff throughout the
year.
INSIDE
Human Resources
by Robin Midgal, Indoff VP Human Resources
Assisted by: Shari Zeimetz (BP/OI/PP)
Hello everyone and welcome to Spring!! I have just returned from our Champions
Circle Sales Meeting held in Orlando, FL. This meeting is a little less demanding
than the normal sales meeting that we hold in St. Louis, but none the less a lot
of work with the detail planning and bringing everyone together. I enjoy putting
the meetings together because I truly believe it’s important to bring our Partners
together every year to share their experiences with each other. Shari Zeimetz was
kind enough to share her experience from our Orlando trip:
“I enjoy putting the
sales meetings together because I truly
believe it’s important
to bring our Partners
together every year
to share their experiences and learn from
each other.”
hor
o-Aut
C
Shari Zeimetz
2
“The Champions Circle Trip to Orlando Florida 2010 was a wonderful experience
and something I don’t think many companies do much of anymore. There is a
sales goal to be met in order to qualify and it is a goal that we continually strive
for. For us, and our style of “relationship selling,” it comes down to honesty and
integrity, knowing that it is our reputation in this business that matters most. One
of the motto’s we work by is “If you take care of the customer, the dollars always
take care of themselves.” For the next Champion’s Circle trip in 2013, which is
sure to be in another fantastic location with great food, drink and lots of camaraderie, we will strive to continue servicing our clients as we always have - with the
utmost respect and high quality service levels at a fair price.” - Shari
Shari’s words reinforce why we hold our meetings; giving our Partners the opportunity to interact is valuable to us all. Our next sales meeting will be here in
St. Louis, April 7 -10, 2011; please mark your calendar now so you don’t miss it.
Thank you all for all you do.
Indoff Sales Partners of the Month
Congratulations to our top Partners of each division!
February:
March:
Material Handling:
Byron Ambrose $204,619
Office Interiors:
Sue Hurst $185,401
Business Products:
Bill Brooks $91,529
Promotional Products:
Mike Hollern $45,249
Material Handling:
Walt Carter $261,869
Office Interiors:
Mark Waters $217,914
Business Products:
Bill Brooks $141,112
Promotional Products:
Kristy Long $76,918
INSIDE
Recruiting
by Angela Suntrup, National Marketing Manager
Assisted by Tom Groves (BP)
Please send all referrals to me at angela.
[email protected]
thor
u
Co-A
Tom Groves
Adding new Partners results in new SALES for Indoff!
The Recruiting Department is excited to congratulate the 26 new Partners who
started in the first quarter of 2010. Because of your added sales volume we are off
to a great 2010!
We added 8 MH Partners, 6 OI Partners, 10 BP Partners and 2 Promo Partners!
Nine of the 26 new Partners came from Partner referrals!! Without your referrals
and willingness to speak to prospects these hires would not be possible. Tom Groves
from Evansville, IN says:
“It is very easy for me to talk about Indoff to potential candidates. I am reminded
every day how much better my quality of life is now, versus when I had my own
business. I wear Indoff shirts to every function and purposely sit with strangers.
You never know when you might meet a referral looking for a positive change in
their business career.”
As a way to say thank you we are excited to roll out the 2010 Referral Program!
2010 Referral Program for Partners Only!
Starting June 1, 2010 through December 31st, 2010, when you refer a prospect they
will get a special commission rate for their first year with Indoff. Each sales person/
owner you refer, who is qualified, will receive 60% commission (70% commission
for Promo) on their first years sales!!!! What does this mean for you????? You will
receive a 10% override on their gross profits for 1 year! Payment will be MONTHLY
just like commissions and starts with their first sale!
Ideal prospects are currently in outside sales in one of our 4 divisions. They have an
established customer base and sales of $350,000 or more per year!
Check out the bonus potential below:
New Partner’s gross profit
Your referral payment
$10,000 in GP $1,000
$30,000 in GP
$3,000
$50,000 in GP $5,000
$100,000 in GP $10,000
It is easy to refer a prospect. Simply email [email protected]
Jim Dixon, Lucy Quintanilla, Brent Stephens, Cindy Frost, Kevin Hurley, Doyle Patrick,
3
Kris Woodward, Chris Hammon, Jack Kraemer, Karlene Perry, Mark Morey, Jeff Menter................
“Check out the
2010 Referral Program - it’s unlike
anything we’ve ever
done it the past!”
Diane Stegall, Jack Robinson, Mike McCarthy, Joe Hammer, Frank Horner, Ken Fortner, Neal Huff,
Phil Boss, Mike Blanton, Cristy Pereda, Ken Wycherly, Paul Greer, Lori Beck, Peter Gwin,
INSIDE
Operations
by Pam Hake, Indoff VP Operations
Assisted by Material Handling Partners Brad Anderson & Brian Galloway (& Ed Roberts)
Indoff Solutions Unlimited
I asked Brad and Brian to assist me with my article this month. They gave me
good information about their thoughts about Indoff and their approach.
• Brad - “Most Indoff Partners have relationships with their customers that far exceed relationships that their competitors have with their customers. It’s true that
customers are still buying products and materials but they are looking for better
value (not necessarily lowest price). These relationships provide Indoff Partners
unique opportunities to get a larger market share from their customers due to the
fact that we have four divisions, and so much vendor flexibility. Our competitors
typically only have one division to capitalize on, where Indoff can capitalize on
every aspect of our customers’ business. Many clients are seeking single source
vendors, it saves them on set ups, checks, etc. We need to take advantage of this
and provide MH, BP, OI and PP to these customers, whenever possible. I have
worked with Partners in MH and other divisions. I brought a BP Partner into one
of my largest customers, to fill another need for the customer.
Co-Authors
Br
ian
G
all
ow
ay
on
ers
d
Bra
d
An
Ed Roberts
As a Partner who has referred other Partners to Indoff, if all you want to do is
collect a paycheck and not work for it, then don’t join Indoff - you will be disappointed. However, for individuals who work hard and treat customers ethically,
you should do well. I’ve been very fortunate that I have several good customers
who have done well so I have been able to survive the tough times.”
• Brian - “Because Indoff has 4 different divisions selling Material Handling, Office
interiors, Business Products, & Promotional Products it’s easy to increase your
Sales & Commissions by working with other Indoff Partners in other divisions (or
your own). When I see an opportunity for Office Interiors for example, I bring
in an Indoff OI Partner and we can work together with a split on the order. This
can increase sales immensely. We (I share an office with Ed Roberts) specialize in
conveyor systems so we network with other Partners that may not have as much
experience with conveyors, or on related items that they may be able to help us
with. I also referred Mike Blanton, in MH, to Indoff, and we work with him on
various orders. We also have a Partner Marketing Site, that we have gotten many
good leads from. With Indoff, the opportunities are endless.”
We have as many different possible approaches as we have Partners. The sky is
the limit at Indoff, if you just take advantage of tools and knowledge of your fellow Partners. Thanks so much to Brad and Brian for the input. Until next time...
4
Introducing Promo.Indoff.com
Offering you the opportunity to cash in on the $20 billion promo industry
Please contact Amanda Goedken for more details - [email protected]
INSIDE
Human Resources
by Robin Midgal, Indoff VP Human Resources
INSIDE
Marketing
by Amanda Goedken, Marketing Manager
Assisted by Michael Simon (OI) and Chad Willison (BP)
One focus in 2010 is to create “customer oriented” marketing resources – i.e. line
cards, e-marketing, divisional slicks – to help you promote Indoff as a multi-faceted
company, thus opening doors to more cross-selling opportunites. To help drive this
home, I asked a couple Partners to send me their thoughts on using Indoff’s marketing
materials and cross-selling. Here’s what they had to say:
Michael Simon (OI): “When I talk to prospective clients, I provide them with Indoff
and Office Interiors marketing sheets. If we have talked and I think there may be other
opportunities, I also include marketing sheets from other divisions. I let them know that
through working with Partners in the other divisions, we can provide any product and
they only need one point of contact – me. That makes me more valuable to them and it
allows me to strength our relationship. It saves them time, headaches and money.
“Don’t forget to visit:
blog.indoff.com
Co-Authors
So far I’ve worked on an order with Doug Black, am working on one with Bill Jacobson,
am trying to get into a number of accounts with Cynthia Koubeck, and have been trying
to partner with Tonya Kersting. I’ve recently quoted a job with Mac Beare, and work
with Betty Long for promotional items. Right now I’m in the process of getting info
from a customer for a T-shirt quote. When I was working on a furniture order, I mentioned promo products and the client said they were getting ready to look for pricing
and she asked if I could give her a price. It was that easy.
Cross-selling across divisions and even within our own divisions is a win-win situation.
It helps the company grow by making sales that would’ve gone to other companies. It
also makes us different from the competition – no one out there can do what we do.
Anything you can do to differentiate yourselves from the competition sets you apart
and should give you an edge. It also builds good relationships among the Partners.”
Chad Willison (BP): “I tell my customers Indoff can be a single source for all their
supplies and I really stress the fact that I can do their promotional products as well
as office supplies. My assistant Betty Long has been in the business for over 25 years.
Some months are an extra $500-1000 worth of commission for me. Recently I’ve attempted to cross sell with John Swenson in Material Handling. The more money I can
make, the better, so I try to put Indoff in every business’s face wherever possible. I
do my own marketing piece each week and email to my customers generating extra
business. Making Indoff huge by creating more sales giving us better buying power and
edge over our competition.”
l Simon
Michae
Chad Williso
n
Thank you all for everything you do, and a special thanks to Michael and Chad for their
time helping me with this edition’s Marketing Dept. article.
7
New Faces
INSIDE
Techie Talk
by Shawn & Colin Faulkingham, IT Systems
Assisted by: Chris Drowne (BP/OI/PP)
We’ve made a number of changes to the Confluence system to enhance the information that Sales Partners need. One of the most significant is the Intranet and the
Groups tab. The Groups tab can be found under the Intranet tab in the upper right
hand of a Confluence web page. Under the Groups tab you will find links to all the
departments we have at Corporate, in which you can then find any related information or documents for that particular department. If you don’t know what department you would need to find a particular document, info or employee, the search
box will find it for you. Colin has upgraded it to SOLR, which will give you search
that is easy to drill down into. As a matter of fact, the search box is the only place I
go to if I need to find something. The home pages are a good place to find updated
info about a department or another public group that someone has created; things
they may be working on or a place to get in contact with a department head.
We have made a number of changes on the back end as well. Virtualization of our
Confluence servers is underway along with finally retiring the last of our legacy
systems. This will free up some time managing disparate systems and move more
time into helping Partners and Customers. Everything we do in IT may not be easily
seen from the outside, but certainly is reflected in having more time to manage and
improve our systems and to help Sales Partners and Corporate Employees do their
jobs as efficiently as possible. We team up with Sales Partners from time to time
to test new ideas, Confluence functionality and systems so we can bring these to
the rest of our Sales Partners so everyone can benefit. Chris Drowne, for example,
helped us test the ASUS eeePC, and here are some of his remarks:
thor
Co-Au
Chris Drowne
10
“I think the EEEPC is an excellent mobile platform tool for those partners who want
this type of access. There is no smart phone available that will give you the functionality to access any website or emails like this does. I will admit it takes organization and a well pre-planned day to maximize your efficiency from day to day. Making
sure you have the necessary literature, and contact information for customers and
vendors is key to success.“
Without your help and feedback, we could not bring the kinds of enhancements
that you have come to expect. We will continue to objectively listen to comments,
questions and constructive criticisms to continue making Sales Partners and their
customers work more efficiently with Indoff’s Systems. We want to thank you, the
Indoff Sales Partner, for your patience and cooperation with the IT group!
INSIDE
Techie Talk
by Shawn & Colin Faulkingham, IT Systems
Assisted by: Chris Drowne (BP/OI/PP)
13