what’s happening and Andy here I am

joined today by Jen Healy of Ricoh how

are you today Jen

great Andy long time long time it is so

good to see what’s happening where are

you today

um well we’ll see last time I spoke to

you um I was living up in Chicago I have

now during the pandemic times relocated

back to Atlanta Georgia so I’m in

Atlanta Georgia in my home

so yeah did a little move since the last

time we spoke well welcome back down to

the South I guess that is technically

the South

um it is Atlanta’s a great town I didn’t

even know you moved that’s so cool so

why don’t you before we get into the you

know the the conversation interview

what do you do for Rico uh what’s your

role there now yeah so

um let’s see I’m now the senior director

of the dealer marketing strategy

planning and sales enablement so I am

focused all marketing gyms right hand

person from a marketing perspective and

absolutely love it and excited I’m fully

dedicated to the Dealer Division that is

awesome

um very cool I’ve enjoyed working with

you over the years and your other roles

so I imagine we’ll be doing a lot more

you must be crazy crazy busy this year

especially you and that’s the purpose of

the chat today right I just kind of

you’re coming off of a big road show we

we had a conflict that wasn’t able to

make it so I kind of wanted to touch

base talk about you know what cities

were you in and what did you guys do on

that road show would you talk about what

were some highlights yeah um absolutely

um so the the hole in the intention

right of those Regional Road shows that

we did was you know we had what we

called Rico connections with all the

virtual stuff that happened during the

pandemic time and really wanted to get

back with with all of our dealers and we

put this Roadshow together and the idea

behind it was to have you know

meaningful connections

um you know with our our dealers and in

a very intimate way and that’s the one

thing that we heard about all of those

was the feedback is we love the intimacy

and you know Rico has a lot of new

Executives and it was really important

to have that one-on-one time you know

when you get to converge X right 800 000

people you can’t necessarily have that

connection

you know with them at any of those

events so we did these events and we had

them um you know there was the first one

was in Charlotte in December

um at Hendricks which is one of our

partners

um and then we had of course in January

Philadelphia with the Eagles and then

our final one was in March in Austin at

the University of Texas so

um again we wanted to have it was

bi-directional we had a lot of think

tanks um and really solidifying our FY

23 strategy

um getting feedback showing the vision

of where we’re going and then hearing

from our dealers and making sure that

they had input and where we’re going so

that we can transform together and

that’s really going to be you know all

of our interactions as we move forward

into FY 23 we just started our new year

April 1st and we have a lot of actions

coming out of those think tanks and that

will lead us to our big event our

national event and in October

so the national event we’re having road

shows and a national event in one year

that’s that’s a ton where is the

national event this year

um yes so it’s going to be in Denver so

it’ll be in October and um so we’ll have

a national event there and we’re also

going to do it in conjunction with our

Boulder customer experience Center

um so that’s the um I was going to ask

you about that that’s um so I’ve been

out there and that’s that’s the old IBM

facility and then it was the IBM Ricoh

facility and now you’ve just completely

it’s the RICO facility right and that’s

all what we would call Big Iron that’s

just massive stuff inkjet

um presses and tell tell us about that

facility yeah so um so that that

facility right they still IBM still has

um there’s no one there but they still

have some of the space but it’s more for

you know it data backup center kind of

thing but it’s really the Ricoh area and

we have two components of it it’s the

customer experience Center where yes you

have the big engines and it has

everything and anything production that

Rico does you know from from small entry

level production all the way through

like you said the big engines and our

wide format and so they can go through

and see and we have a running facility

where a lot of stuff is being printed

um as well as thinking outside the box

and what our capabilities we also have a

customer briefing Center where

um you know in our dealers use it um

where they bring in their customers and

um you know it’s run in construction

with our dealers and ourselves and you

know we go through with their customers

the expectations and where did they want

to go and show some of the capabilities

of of Rico along with with our dealers

and why they should you know choose

production

and so it’s it’s a really cool

experience so we’re going to add that

and it’s it’s to our benefit it’s only

30 minutes away you know as you know

from Denver

um so that’ll be part of the whole

entire experience um going into to

Denver well thank goodness because it’s

not an official event unless there’s a

bus ride involved so right exactly no

but I mean that was some of the feedback

right and you know we we’ve really grown

this year in production with you know

our with our dealers and um and and

their commitment to us and want to

continue to focus in that area

um from that to you know workflows and

really focusing around the core and the

adjacencies of our core

um so that really came out of the think

tanks too and what do customers care

about and how we’re going to grow

together

yeah that that facility is um it’s

awesome it’s it’s you know when you walk

in there it’s it’s at a different level

and the investment that you guys have

put into just

um the exhaust and the power and just

the Aesthetics of it it’s really it’s

really really impressive uh back to the

to the road show before we talked uh

before we came on you you had mentioned

some of the things that you had launched

and one that um I kind of wanted to talk

about today uh you had this TurnKey

program that you guys were rolling out

for dealers and tell them tell me a

little bit about that for marketing yeah

absolutely

um so you know part of like I said the

think tanks was talking about Trends and

customers and challenges and you know

one of the things that you know we

worked in conjunction with you know our

national dealer Council and our dealers

you know over the last couple years and

really fine-tuned was what we’re calling

dealer sales and marketing kids and

um it’s working together and looking for

where’s the opportunities and what are

the customers challenges and we’ve

created these kits that help them from

you know what’s the buyer Persona what’s

the buyer’s journey and what is all the

different content and tools that you

need to connect with the customer

throughout that Journey so whether it be

you know social email all the way to you

know having a business conversation from

a sales rep standpoint training and you

know all the tools and resources so not

to you know give out all the secrets us

um but you know that’s what we did and

it’s really putting their brand forward

um because it’s important Rico is their

partner and that’s one of the things

that we heard is hey we want to put our

brand forward with Rico and and we lead

to a solution

this is an area that they’ve in my

opinion that a lot of dealers not all

but I would say the majority struggle

right A lot of them you know We’ve joked

on our show here in the past but a lot

of them

um you know set up a website day one

never touched it again and and you know

it’s time to really take a look at your

not just your website but you know your

image that you’re Pro you know that

you’re that you’re putting forth and and

um what does it say about you what does

it say about your company uh it’s a

really good opportunity to showcase you

know your brand and build that brand and

you know kind of piggyback on the the

major brands that you may carry Rico

being you know one of them so

um I love that you’re helping them sort

of turn that corner a lot of them really

could use some work uh that takes me to

the next part of this which is

e-commerce you know is there a plan for

e-commerce with this is there is there

the dealers on their own with that or or

where are you guys which what’s Rico’s

thought on e-commerce and the dealers

and what they need to do yeah we you

know I’m glad you brought that up so one

of the things that we discussed you know

in our think tanks was you know what’s

going on with the customers and you you

hear them you remember when we talked

about buyer 2.0 if you remember back how

long was it eight nine years ago and we

scared everybody we said oh 50 60 of you

know your customers or you know

transacting and looking and doing

business without even talking to your

sales reps well you know everyone’s gone

digital and so now what you’re having is

that you know it’s depending on what you

know company you’re looking at right

analysts you know and predictions 70 80

percent right

that’s happening now right so they’re

going out and they’re getting

information and they’re not necessarily

speaking to a salesperson now it doesn’t

mean the sales person is not involved

and the salesperson can be involved to

your point which is sending out social

doing emails

um and leading to their website right

which gets into that e-commerce and and

I really let’s call it Digital customer

engagement okay because e-commerce is

really a b2c strategy and I know

everybody talks about e-commerce but

let’s talk about Digital customer

engagement because it can be and it’s a

little scary when people say e-commerce

because like oh great I need to put my

price out there now

right I mean are you hearing that right

now where that’s the fear that’s what

everybody’s stuck at is is what do I do

you know everyone says I need to be on

e-commerce I’m not going to compete or

build something to go against Amazon but

it’s there’s something in between those

two extremes and and that’s that’s you

know Rico is really looking at from

addition you know digital standpoint and

that’s that customer engagement how am I

engage with my customer because a lot of

them want to engage you know online

doesn’t mean you have to put a price out

there maybe it’s you know you’re looking

at hey it’s my printers and I’m gonna

put some stuff out there because you

know what at that point it’s a commodity

I’m gonna put it and that’s the

thoughtfulness that you need to have

when you’re putting the strategy

together and then maybe if it’s taken

down a certain path and there’s chat

Bots coming in right or it’s engaged

with my sales rep or it’s a lead

development person there’s a lot of

things that our dealers need to think

through we Rico are thinking through

right what’s the next Evolution how do I

connect and how do I stay connected

digitally with those prospects and

customers so we have added a program to

our Co-op program program as a whole to

help our dealers so we are working with

our dealers on that next Evolution

um we have some early adopters and we

have some that you know maybe in Denver

we’ll be talking about successes or

pitfalls and and so on um so hoping to

have a lot more information

um to share with our dealer community in

in Denver

so all of this programs is all

co-oppable um just like the old days the

training that you would have you know or

marketing

um the dealer submits you know their

Co-op expenses and you’ll cover it and

so this is helping with the website

design it’s helping with the the social

media the marketing the e-commerce who

are you using for your e-commerce

can you say um yeah so we’re um using

key points U-verse um that’s who we

partner with from a co-op standpoint and

then Rico is looking at what are we

building for our own and maybe at some

point also offering that to maybe some

of our dealers as well now we know that

some are multi-line so they may not want

to do that

there’s nothing wrong with that right I

mean everybody a lot of companies

learned in in the last year or two that

um putting all your eggs in one basket

is it can be risky so yeah um the

e-commerce thing is really interesting

to me because you did you did mention

something I thought that was you know

um

the big issue right and when we talked

about it we joked about it is that you

know none of these dealers thinks that

they’re going to go up against Amazon

but you know

take it to that next step when you’ve

got people on your site when you think

about your own patterns right when you

get into something and you’re

researching and you finally get to that

point where you may not even be ready to

buy it but you just want to know that

one little piece of information the cost

at the very end you want to cost it

doesn’t have to be you can put a

ballpark cost on there you can put a you

know a message that allows people to

understand that you know there are

contracts if you’re in a religious

Affiliated or Healthcare or legal ABA

there may be additional savings but you

know nothing sends me away from a

website faster than when I’m trying to

find that information and I can’t find

it right and right if I’m looking for

printers cost is certainly going to be

one of those things and you know so I

don’t know if maybe the answer is a lost

leader you just put your basic most

inexpensive products on there maybe you

just have a couple on there where you do

specials

um but I I think a lot of companies do

understand that you know when I’m

looking at the Abc copier dealer at

their website you know if it’s a couple

dollars more than I see on Amazon but

you know they explain why it’s a couple

dollars more I might buy it from them

right I may not neces I don’t always my

own personal preferences I you know I

like to buy very you know I like to get

a good deal but I’m not necessarily

going to buy the cheapest thing I can

find because when you hit a certain

level light bulbs start going off in

your head and you start thinking like

well why is everybody else up here and

they’re down here and then you find out

oh because they’re gonna whack me on the

shipping or you know right or there’s

some other little thing I hadn’t

considered or an installation or I I can

get it in 6 weeks versus

right

and that’s exactly it so

um that’s very cool the uh the the the

e-commerce thing you know there’s a lot

of the oems are sitting back not doing

anything and a few of them with a small

handful of you guys are uh I think

taking kind of a leadership role in this

and really trying to help your dealers

along and let’s face it like that

stuff’s already out there I mean if I do

a search right now

um you’re no different I’m pretty sure

when I did this a month ago there was

only one brand that had nothing on

Amazon you had stuff on Amazon all of

your competitors had stuff on Amazon

um Amazon isn’t just Amazon Amazon’s a

place for anybody to sell so you know

any dealer watching this could really

set up their account and sell their

Ricoh gear or if they’re another brand

they could sell those possibly those

other brands but you know to not come up

in the search right when when people

actively I mean you work so hard to find

that person that’s looking for for

um you know manage print or or

production print information or or

office technology and and you know just

to send them off your website because

you don’t want to give them a price just

it’s it’s an Antiquated way to think and

I think it’s you know like and I was

saying you know that customer engagement

piece of it too is you know that you

know a customer may be thinking of them

in one way but there may be other you

know solutions that help with a workflow

standpoint and and it could be where

you’re offering up more content for them

to digest right that offers a complete

solution to their problem and then also

offering like that chat or that inside

sales rep to answer for more questions

right and or follow-up and oh by the way

I can tell you where I know some things

I’m not going to get a price on you know

I’m thinking from a marketing

perspective right because we’re always

looking for technology and so on but

it’s really great when I have that sales

rep who gets all the information from

the website right who’s learned my my

journey and is having a meaningful

conversation versus starting with me of

hey I want to talk to you about all this

stuff instead hey let me talk to you

about X Y and Z what are you trying to

solve for right it looks like this and

that’s when they’re closing that sale

they’re more intelligent walking in that

door than walking in blindly so that’s

some of the things that you can do from

that engagement standpoint on your

website well and you know we saw I saw a

great presentation I can’t remember I

think was AIS um gave it a couple it was

last year at one of the BTA events and

it was um it was referencing the the

pool guy that everybody knows this pool

story and I read the book and I’m

blanking on the name

um Chris Taylor I think presented it I

could be wrong uh and and the whole

concept was you know little tiny pool

store no different than any other pool

store figured out some things on their

website and you know suddenly became a

voice of

um education and started helping people

understand

um what they were buying and comparing

his pool technology to the different

pools that were out there and just being

honest about it not this is the best one

this is the one you want you know

um just explaining all the things that a

new pool buyer would have his questions

and his rankings uh went through the

roof and and it just this is the the

ultimate story because the end result

was his he started selling an incredible

link and just a ton of pools you know

because he had all these people on his

site he started building trust with them

he started answering their questions

because now they gave him all the

information that the other websites

wouldn’t give right how much ballpark am

I looking at you know and he would give

you a little calculator based on you

know the size how how big you wanted it

how much the different types would cost

and and he explained that his pool

wasn’t good for you if these were the

types of things and that you’re dealing

with with your yard or with what you’re

trying to you know what kind of pool you

wanted it was just such an a great

analogy to what we do and and and

completely at because it was it was just

so on point because it’s just you know

if you educate your customers and it’s

exactly what you were just talking about

if you educate your customers if you

enable them to feel like they’re they’re

they’re they’re understanding a little

bit better the process of their

understanding what the products are

um they start trusting you and you know

as a sales company especially with a new

customer that’s one of your biggest

obstacles in my opinion is you know they

don’t know you they haven’t done

business with you

um you know you you don’t have a

reputation yet so you know the fact that

they came to you and then you gave them

some information and then they came back

to you and you gave them more

information and you’re not going to get

every sale doing that but you know what

if you got quarter of them or half of

them and this pool guy was getting an

incredible number of pretty high

percentage of closing

um based on people who are on his site

and it’s just that’s kind of a new way

of doing it you know the more you help

your potential customer your prospect

um understand what the real cost of this

is going to be and and you don’t keep

gotcha giving them gotchas and you know

oh we forgot to tell you the shipping

was going to cost this much and there’s

an installation fee and an activation

fee and so many fees right and all of a

sudden value at the end of the day

bringing value yeah yeah I love it I

love it so this is awesome

um anything else we’re gonna see in uh

in in Boulder or not in Boulder in

Denver what what else uh what else but

you know like I said everything has been

leading to this and you know getting the

feedback and working with you know our

dealers through these Regional events

with their input and the interactions

you’re going to see involvement from our

dealers at this

um so it’s not our show it’s their show

right yeah that’s awesome I love that

you’re doing it in Denver I don’t

know her show and in Denver I’ve been

out there we were chatting before we

started recording I’ve been out there a

bunch of times for industry stuff you

know all copy is out there and you know

they had a CDA meeting I went to

um been at your facility it’s just such

a great spot but just to do a dealer

show uh and then on top of it by the way

that this is your first big deal or

conference since 2018 maybe 19 not 19.

yeah right before before yeah right

before it was literally months before

yeah

um I think it’s been a long time so

welcome back right and is it going to be

a converge x what are you going to call

it do you have a name for it

um well that’s it’s gonna be a sign so

we went from converge X to it’s gonna be

some kind of a summit I don’t know what

the official name is we’re working

through all that stay tuned

um you know invitations everything else

will be coming out but

um you know we went from connections to

forums to think it’s more like a summit

um because again it’s you know you’re

going to see a lot more a lot a lot more

different things it’s not the

traditional converge X we we’re not

going to that you know right now

um it’s it’s much more about again those

meaningful connections and now really

putting action into motion

well the fact that it’s not in Las Vegas

I’m very happy about that you know it’s

um that’s that’s such a typical place

and Vegas is always great for a show uh

but it’s just nice to mix it up and do

it in a different location especially

one that you know hasn’t really been

done uh in in a long time if ever I just

don’t remember anything being you know

this significant out there so yeah

looking forward to it and yeah and so

we’ll see you out there and then

anywhere in between are you guys going

to be

um doing any of the association shows or

any of the peer group shows anything in

between now and then I think there’s

been some opportunities you know Jim has

been making his way around at some of

these so you’ll see Mr kariti

um and um in fact you know you may see

me so there may be some stuff going on

out there

um between then but right now we’re all

about it’s the first half of the year

yeah uh getting

um into all of the actions that are

coming out of these Regional events and

uh really moving forward and partnering

with our dealers as we go into Denver

um so again just really excited about it

lots of stuff teams really busy and

we’re looking forward to seeing you

there too well I can’t wait it has been

way too long and thank you so much for

coming on today this was awesome

catching up

um really excited to hear about the the

that TurnKey package for the dealers and

you know my goodness there are a lot of

them I can think of like five or ten of

them off the top of my head who God

bless them great companies terrible

websites like I don’t understand why our

industry just you know they all set them

up in like 2003 and then never changed

them and oh man there’s just such

opportunity to get data and analytics

and and it’s so rich with just

information and but you have to set it

up right you have to you know maybe

update it a little every now and then so

um I love that you’re enabling them to

do that and then you know putting an

e-commerce package on there from from

Key point or I mean anybody that you’re

using your dealer is great but obviously

it’s a trusted name like that

um and the RICO is working with them

that that obviously brings a lot of

credibility to that so this was awesome

thank you so much and any last shout

outs to anyone before I let you go uh

yeah no to you know all our dealer

community and just you know like like I

said in the beginning you know you can

ask people to transform but you need to

partner together and offer all the tools

and resources so that we can all

transform so that’s kind of the key here

and uh you know all of our BCS and sss’s

and you know Jim’s leadership just uh

working all together and then like I

said Thank you for having me on here

it’s been a while and I look forward to

talking to you soon again yes I can’t

wait to see it take care and uh we will

um we’ll talk soon hopefully maybe we’ll

get one more of these in before the big

conference awesome I appreciate it

thanks Andy