Above: CEO Sam Errigo discusses Konia Minolta’s financial performance during the General Session.
Carol and I were invited to attend the Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. dealer meeting in Sarasota, Florida, from February 12-14. The company has adopted a meeting concept of small groups, ranging from 25 to 50, whose revenue is within proximity of each other. It is an interesting approach.
Left to right, Josh Gerson, Christian Stinellis, Johnathan Garlow of Ford Office Technologies with Phil Boatman, vice president, dealer sales East of Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A.
Canon was the first to utilize this format with their APP Group, which is oriented towards its largest contributors to overall channel revenue. This gives the host the ability to provide an agenda of common interest to the entire audience.
This was a different kind of dealer meeting. A select group of 47 dealers was invited, and the first thing we asked Maggie Grande, senior marcoms manager, corporate communications, was the focus and purpose of this meeting. “Communication: We are always looking to increase communication with our dealers, so this series of roadshows is just one channel among all the others,” she responded.
Scenes from Konica Minolta’s 2024 dealer meeting.
Laura Blackmer, president of dealer sales, kicked off the meeting and welcomed everyone, including the industry press. CEO Sam Errigo followed, outlining Konica Minolta’s goals with its dealer partners for the upcoming year. Errigo also discussed the company’s five objectives for the coming year, objectives which were supported by each of the breakout sessions.
Konica Minolta’s Business Five Objectives for Fiscal Year 2024
- Growth mindset supported by programs to accelerate market share.
- Grow print volume with production print and drive service revenue.
- Continue business transformation with value-added services for dealers.
- Restore Konica Minolta’s reputation as the premier channel partner.
- Improve profitability for dealers and Konica Minolta.
In his opening remarks, Errigo was presenting a state-of-the-union message, stressing the improved financial condition of Konica Minolta. His comments also explained how the company is its manufacturing from China to other Pacific Rim locations, including moving production print back to Japan.
It is readily apparent that China was making it impossible for the Japanese manufacturers to remain. The Chinese government had informed the Japanese manufacturers that they must build the entire machine in China. Wisely, the Japanese have moved manufacturing to the Philippines, Thailand, and other Pacific Rim countries.
Konica Minolta’s Supply Chain is Flowing
Errigo’s message was simple and to the point. Konica Minolta can now provide all the inventory that the channel requires, and the supply chain is working very well. He also spoke of the steps that Konica Minolta has taken to prevent unfortunate incidents, such as the fire at a major toner facility in September 2021, which crippled its ability to manufacture critical supplies. In our opinion, Konica Minolta was hit the hardest by the combination of the pandemic and that freak accident that shut down its major toner production facility. According to Errigo, this is something that will never happen again. His assessment that Konica Minolta has recovered and is moving forward was reinforced with several key statistics.
- Konica Minolta has a 17% market share.
- Its revenue increased in Q3.
- Operating profit was 18.5 billion yen, with revenue and profit in the office up 23%.
Capturing Market Share
Errigo reassured the dealer audience on a year-to-date basis that Konica Minolta’s business is up while on a worldwide basis, the business is stabilizing. He also asked the audience, “How are you going to take market share from your competitors?” He suggested production print and what he referred to as value-added services. His most important recommendation was, “Diversification is essential to take market share.”
It was clear to the dealers attending the meeting that Konica Minolta did not have all the answers when Errigo said, “We have to figure this one out together.” The most important message in his presentation was, “We have to restore our reputation as the premier channel partner and improve profitability for dealers and for Konica Minolta.”
Mike Mathe, chief of operations & sales enablement, supported and added to Errigo’s message. He emphasized the importance of improving communications and relationships with the dealers. Mathe cited a Q4 promotion with up to a $700 rebate when purchasing three or more A3 color units and 2.9% special financing for color and monochrome devices.
What’s New?
Dino Pagliarello, senior vice president of portfolio management and planning, noted that Konica Minolta would introduce new A3 and A4 between March and June. He added to the diversification message by noting that Konica Minolta enjoys a 13.3% market share in production and 12.7% in industrial print.
The breakout sessions were highly informative and were among the best we have ever attended. These were supported by an AI presentation provided to the entire group in a General Session. Blackmer introduced it with a title of “The Seller Role of the Future.”
The theme of this presentation was that sales should treat AI technology as a teammate. If used properly, it can provide a 27% increased bandwidth. It can help the seller become more professional and provide added value. It is also capable of improving high-quality deals.
Konica Minolta and Production Print
Pagliarello conducted a breakout which was a virtual visit of Konica Minolta’s CEC (Customer Experience Center) in Ramsey, New Jersey. His associate John Fulena, vice president production & industrial print, dealer sales, gave the audience a virtual tour of the facility and demonstrated the full breadth of the Konica Minolta line. Fulena not only gave an overview of what was there but, more importantly, commented on the dealers that bring their customers to the CEC for demonstrations. When dealers use the CEC, they have a 90% closing rate.
Fulena explained how Konica Minolta preps a dealer to attend the CEC and that dealers sometimes sell something in addition to what the visit was all about. “Many of our dealers do not know about the breadth of our wide-format line nor the depth we have in production print.”
Breakout Sessions
The other breakout sessions were about marketing to state and local government and how the Konica Minolta MFP lineup provides the added security of patient information in the healthcare arena. Dan Schmidt, national healthcare sales manager, dealer channel, indicated there was only one other manufacturer that provided this same capability and that was Xerox.
Blackmer in moderating the presentation on AI wrapped it up very well and again stressed the importance of broadening the capabilities of dealer’s sales organizations through the appropriate use of technology. This is an exceedingly difficult subject for quite simple reasons. Dealer sales organizations are heavily tenured, and much of what the AI capability is all about is bringing on a new client. The information AI could help sales extract is already well known to the people who have been selling many of the same businesses for years.
As we view it, AI represents the future. However, it is a reality, and in time, dealers should adapt this AI technology. As Blackmer indicated, it can increase the bandwidth of sales by 27%.
