Everybody likes to feel appreciated. In the office technology industry, customer appreciation works in two ways. There’s the appreciation that vendors show their dealer partners and the appreciation dealers show their customers with customer events and other perks.
We have not explored this topic before in The Cannata Report, but it is an integral aspect of the office technology industry, so it’s about time we did. In this issue, we examine customer appreciation from two angles—vendor and dealer—as we seek to gain a perspective on how everyone views these efforts, what makes a successful event, and why customer appreciation is critical.
I vividly remember the first dealer meeting I attended—a Canon meeting in the late 1980s at the Phoenician Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was an amazing experience for a young editor still relatively new to the office technology industry. Besides the requisite General Session presentations, product demonstrations, and group meals, an afternoon was set aside for activities such as horseback riding. I don’t remember anything about what was discussed at that meeting more than 30 years ago, but I do recall having a great time mingling with my peers in the press and Canon’s PR representative, as well as getting to know a few Canon dealers, some of whom became key sources. What I didn’t think about at the time was the overall purpose of the event beyond education, as well as the cost. It had to be enormous.
Since then, I’ve been to dozens of dealer meetings, and the thought that always crosses my mind when I think about what it takes to put on events of this magnitude is, “They must be selling a lot of copiers.” Meetings such as those are vivid examples of customer appreciation—the customer, of course, being the dealer.
In this issue, we also examine what it takes to maintain dealer loyalty, what goes into a successful customer event, what vendors can do to help their dealers sell more of their products and solutions, and the qualities of a successful distribution partner. Particularly enlightening is a dealer panel that shares their views on vendor-dealer relationships.
Since we are on the subject of customer appreciation, thanks for reading, commenting on our content, and acknowledging us at industry events. We appreciate your support and constructive criticism.
