ABR Digital Office Solutions thrives in difficult times.
Pictured above: ABR Digital Office Solutions President Kathryn Murph
ABR Digital Office Solutions in Savannah, Georgia, is a survivor. The dealership endured the COVID-19 pandemic with minimal damage compared to many businesses, much as it did the 2008–2009 recession. While other businesses experienced significant losses in 2020, ABR Digital Office Solutions had its second-best year ever. Sales were up even though service revenues and clicks were down 18%. Midway through 2021, business continues trending upward.
“There were two weeks when Georgia shut down; that was really scary,” recalled Kathryn Murph, ABR’s president. Even though she had to furlough five employees for a short time, as soon as she received PPP [Paycheck Protection Program] funding, all returned.
Above: ABR Digital Office Solutions Savannah team.
Murph cites the grit and determination of her employees as one reason for the dealership’s success in 2020, as well as its broad customer base. “We’re not heavy in any one market, and I think that saved us,” she said. “Now that Georgia is wide open again, we’re hitting on all cylinders, and I’m seeing the clicks coming back up.”
Not only were sales strong inside ABR’s existing customer base, but new business rose 18% in 2020. “I would like to claim that it’s our strengths, but it’s also our competitors’ weaknesses,” reflected Murph. “We’ve learned to capitalize on those. We’re in a fortunate situation that we’ve been debt-free for 25-plus years, so having cash on hand when my competitors don’t has helped us dramatically.”
ABR may not be heavily focused on any one vertical even though it counts close to 60% of all the law firms in the markets the dealership serves as clients. It also services two large municipalities, the City of Savannah and Beaufort County in South Carolina. Last year, ABR picked up a new hospital as a client and was on the verge of adding another hospital at press time.
Back Story
ABR Digital Solutions, founded by Murph’s father Dwight Alford, opened its doors in 1985 as an A.B. Dick dealer. In 1995, the dealership began its transformation into a single-line Minolta dealer. That lasted until the early 2000s when it added Gestetner, a Ricoh Family Group company. ABR’s focus on Segments 2 and 3, as well as selling a product line that was falling short in those segments, prompted the decision to add a second line. “We were getting our clocks cleaned,” recalled Murph. Today, ABR carries Konica Minolta and Savin A3, and Kyocera A4. It also sells Konica Minolta and Ricoh production machines and Canon’s Océ wide-format products.
The dealership struggled its first few years before turning a profit. By 1990, Murph, who had graduated from college in 1985 and had spent five years working for a check-printing company, was looking for a change. “It wasn’t a thrilling industry,” she recalled. “I wanted a thrill of the kill job.” That’s when her father told her, “You want something competitive, sell copiers.”
Even though she was skeptical about joining the business, she agreed to try it for a year. “If it didn’t work out, I could quit,” said Murph. “If he didn’t like my work ethic, he could fire me, no harm, no foul.”
Thirty-one years later she’s still there, overseeing a team of more than 30 employees.
Beyond Copiers
Like most office technology dealerships, ABR’s foundation is copiers, but that is changing. A new line of business is unified communications, a segment enjoying modest success yet offering unlimited potential.
“We haven’t had any hiccups with unified communications, but it hasn’t taken off like I thought it would,” acknowledged Murph. “Savannah is such a niche market and is usually five to 10 years behind industry trends. That’s beneficial to me because I can let everybody else fall on their face, get all the kinks worked out, and then learn best practices.”
Two specialists are responsible for selling the unified communications, which for now is more prudent than handing it off to what Murph described as an extremely tenured sales force. As her specialists get more traction selling unified communications, she anticipates her seasoned reps will eventually follow suit.
With Konica Minolta, Savin, and Canon, ABR is aligned with the leading production-print equipment OEMs. At first, Murph didn’t view Savannah as a hotbed of activity for production print. That changed when a print shop ABR was doing business with inquired about wide-format machines for producing blueprints. ABR’s production-print business has been on the rise ever since.
“That’s probably one of the biggest egg-on-my-face movements,” admitted Murph. “We came to the party late, but we succeeded rapidly.”
Helping drive production-print sales is a former Ricoh sales rep adept at selling production whom Murph hired after Ricoh laid off its down-the-street reps. “He’s lighting the woods on fire with production,” she said.
MPS is another bustling business segment. “There’s huge margins,” said Murph. “I’ve got a couple of reps that really embrace that, and we are making huge money, and they’re making good money.”
The secret to ABR’s MPS success is reps who ask the right questions and an easy-to-grasp MPS program. “Our program is really easy and profitable,” explained Murph. “With the Kyocera line, I don’t even sell the printers. I don’t bundle the price in. We just have a flat cost-per-page for black and a flat cost-per-page for color. It’s been easy for customers, and many IT people are glad to have it off their plates.”
Managed IT
ABR is still finding its footing in managed IT, even though it has a Raleigh, North Carolina, sister company run by Murph’s brother Blake Alford that specializes in managed IT. Murph is looking to acquire an IT company but has yet to find one that’s a good fit. “There’s not really a good established business,” she said. “We have too many trunk slammers.”
Until she can find a suitable IT company, Murph has partnered with a local IT firm that brings in ABR when a customer needs an MFP, MPS, or unified communications.
ABR has made two acquisitions in the past 11 years. The first in 2010 was a Savannah location of a Ricoh dealer based out of Atlanta. The second was a Konica Minolta dealer that also sold the Canon Océ wide-format line. Murph has no plans to expand geographically beyond the current markets, but she doesn’t rule out acquisitions within the geographies ABR covers.
“We are always looking,” she said. “We’re on the Atlantic Ocean, so we cover 60 miles in every direction except for the East, for obvious reasons. The fish are not interested in a whole lot of stuff. There are a couple of dealers within that 60-mile radius and maybe even stretching out to 90 to a hundred miles. I’d rather be the lead in the market I’m already in than spread out too far geographically.”
Internal Leasing
The company has had its own internal leasing business since the late 1980s. Murph attributes that move to her father’s brilliance. After turning a profit for the first time in 1989, he realized the banks and leasing companies were making money on the residual. Rather than give that money to a third party, he started a leasing business. Within ten years, the leasing enterprise was totally self-funded and is the most profitable company in the ABR family.
“It gives us an incredible competitive advantage because we can take the crap credit scores, if necessary, and gain some business, and it also allows us to control the back end of all deals,” noted Murph. “I’ve talked to other dealers and can’t understand why they wouldn’t do it. I’m sure a lot of it’s financial, but why wouldn’t you want to control your customer from beginning to end?”
Family Plan
Above: Murph’s stepsons, Brian and Tyler carrying on the family tradition.
After the challenges of this past year, Murph and her team are ready to face whatever may be around the corner with the same grit and determination that got them through 2020. ABR Digital Solutions has evolved into a family business, and the next generation is poised to contribute to the dealership’s growth. Murph plans to continue working for the foreseeable future, even though her husband David, the dealership’s vice president of service, will retire on August 1, 2021. Her two stepsons are also in the business, and her father Dwight and brother Blake are still active. Upon David’s retirement, Murph’s stepson Brian will take over as ABR’s service manager. Brian has some new ideas for enhancing the service department Murph said could be a steppingstone to managed IT. Her youngest stepson Tyler is ABR’s office administrator.
“As we all say, we’ve got toner in our blood,” said Murph. “It’s a very quirky, specific industry, and if you get bitten by the bug, you can’t get out.”
Access Related Content
To become a subscriber, visit www.thecannatareport.com/register or contact cjcannata@cannatareport.com directly. Bulk subscription rates are also available.
