BTA EASTERN REGIONAL SHOW REVIEW I had the pleasure of attending the BTA regional event held at the Ritz in White Plains, New York. About 70 dealers came to sit through educational seminars and to see what the 30+ sponsors had to show. Gone are the crazy party days of NOMDA. Apparently today’s dealers want to learn, stay on top of trends and talk to their peers about business. After some thanks to the sponsors, the afternoon kicked off with a presentation by “executive of the millennium” (according to Marketing Research Consultants) Rick Taylor, President and COO of Konica Minolta Business Solutions, U.S.A. (KMBS). Rick said KMBS’ business “is about 42% dealer” and that it’s “…the fastest growing part of the business.” He also mentioned they are looking aggressively to acquire companies. The point he was making is that dealers are critical. This makes a ton of sense, particularly with respect to a company that is so heavily invested in a branch channel of distribution. KMBS knows what the branches will sell and has a good idea as to how much they will sell, but the majority of dealers are dual line nowadays and they will only sell what is easiest and most profitable. If a manufacturer doesn’t listen, doesn’t make adjustments and doesn’t do everything in their power to keep dealers selling their products over their competitors, their revenue will fall and it’s the type of revenue that can often be difficult to get back. Rick’s speech covered the five keys to success, which he labeled as Production Print, Solutions & Verticals, MPS, Managed IT Services and Social Media. The point he made about social media was, to me, the best part of the presentation. “We want to do the same research on the customer that they are doing on us. So if they’re [the customer] taking the time to research what they think they need...it’s rude for us not to know what that customer does, how they operate, the possible number of pain points they might have that we can solve.” Everyone is telling you that your dealership and branch needs to be on Twitter and LinkedIn and Facebook. I have my own feelings about that and I don’t know if placing your information on these websites really helps a company like yours, but Rick’s point is, find your customer’s tweets and LinkedIn account and read their Facebook page. Take the time to look at their website. You can have a much better understanding of your customer with the information at your disposal, compared to when I was selling before these services existed, when you sat in front of your customer asking questions like, “So what do you guys do here.” Now, it’s all at your fingertips. The next day there were educational sessions that included Building a Better Sales Team in a Transitioning Industry by Learning Outsource Group, The Rise of Social Media in Business by in2communications, Inc., State of the Office Document Technology Industry and Looking Beyond Print with Managed Services by my buddies Jon Reardon and Randy Dazzo from InfoTrends and a couple of others. After many of these sessions and over lunch, the dealers I spoke to told me they found these presentations really informative and more than worth the trip. The thing about these regional BTA shows is, a manufacturer does not put them on for their dealers. These are conducted for all dealers so the content is geared towards the dealer’s business, not one of his two or three brands. And the fact that BTA is an independent association providing education, legal services, information and research among other things makes them a unique organization and one that every dealer should consider belonging to. If you missed this show in White Plains, I urge you to check out one of their upcoming shows such as the Southeast’s Fall Colors Retreat Oct. 21 - 22 at the Waynesville Inn Golf Resort & Spa in Waynesville, North Carolina or the West District’s Capture the Magic event Nov. 17 - 18 at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas where President and COO of Toshiba America, Mark Mathews will be providing the keynote presentation It’s a worthwhile organization and the dealers I spoke to really got a lot out of their visit.