January 2012, Las Vegas, Nevada - I’m just back from the Konica Minolta dealer show in Las Vegas Nevada and wanted to get our coverage out as quickly as possible. However, this will be an initial review as there was simply too much to write about this quickly.
Typically, most dealer shows are very much the same. MPS...solutions…MPS…solutions…and here are the new copiers. Not the case this time. While most dealer shows are light on content and programs, this show had a mind-blowing amount of information. In fact, it was almost overwhelming.
Like many manufacturers trying to simultaneously support a direct and dealer channel, Konica Minolta has had to walk a fine line between supporting their branches without making their dealers feel slighted or as they may be on an un-level playing field. As few as three years ago, there was an incredible amount of contention between KM branches and dealers. While it will never go away completely, every dealer I’ve spoken to has said there has been a significant improvement in this area.Even though this was a dealer show, Rick Taylor, President and COO of Konica Minolta made a point to tell the crowd of over 1,000 that, attending this show were the direct operations senior and regional management. Taylor told the crowd “I think it’s really important for these key executives to continue to understand the importance of the dealer channel to our business.”
This sums up a huge part of the show. While the show’s theme was “Inspire Customer Passion,” a more appropriate theme could have been “Konica Minolta Dealers Feel the Love.” Indeed when Taylor spoke those words, the reaction and applause showed how much the dealers appreciate this approach.
According to Taylor, dealers are the fastest growing part of Konica Minolta and represent about half of their US business. With that, it’s no wonder they’re so focused on making the dealers feel included and a part of the solution (pardon the pun) rather than the unwanted stepchild of the organization as is the case with a couple of key competitors. Taylor called his dealers “the best dealer organization in the industry today” and continued to discuss how critical this channel is to the overall success of the company.
[URL=http://industryanalysts.com/IA10/Blog/Entries/2012/1/18_Konica_Minolta_2012_Dealer_Show.html]you can read the rest here[/URL]