To the Future and Beyond

By: Norm MacLeod

This article could also have been called, Quick, before someone turns out the light at the end of the tunnel, Some facts to consider:

Typical mobile users check their phone on average every nine minutes.

Millennials rely on user generated experiences to make most of their purchasing decisions.

When they purchase, the quality of the experience is judged by how well you meet THEIR expectations in terms of ease of transaction and quality of service.

It takes twelve positive interactions to make up for one negative experience.

All of the above come from a Future Trends article I was reading during the holidays. It did nothing to make me feel better about where our little industry is headed. Faced with irreversible declines in the use of paper, filing, bindery, even tech products like media and cartridges, how are both dealers and vendors going to continue with a business-as-usual  approach?

Sure, there are a few bright spots, like Cleaning/Breakroom supplies, services and ergo trends in furniture that will bring some sales growth but I don’t think we’ve seen anything more than the tip of the iceberg yet. When the millennials start influencing more of the office purchasing decisions, the great divide between how we think and do business and what they think and want will dramatically effect sales. And that day is coming faster than you probably think.

My 24 year old daughter was hired after graduation into a Human Relations position within a medium size engineering firm (around 300 employees); within a year she was making key office supplies purchasing decisions and having to deal with an Office Supply representative she can’t stand or communicate with.

Office supplies purchasing is such a minor concern to a company like this that it has been delegated to a rather junior person with little knowledge of what to buy. Her only resource is online.... and she thinks the industry websites suck!

Millennials don’t use print catalogues, they don’t look at flyers, they think sales people are creepy, they stream all their entertainment direct when they want it and they resent the fact that the world still seems to be run by old boomers too stubborn to ride into the sunset. So how are you going to keep them happy if you currently enjoy their business, how would you gain them as customers if they aren’t?

At this point, I’m supposed to give you a few great suggestions about meeting these challenges, wrap up the article and make you feel  a little more positive that there is still a chance of surviving the future. Unfortunately, I don’t have the magic answers and I suspect virtually no one else in our industry does either. So what do I recommend?

Apprenticeship programs and mentoring

We need people in our industry who understand and can relate to this new breed of customer. More importantly, we need people that millennial customers can trust and communicate with. To get these people, we need to aggressively market our channel to them and offer quality jobs to graduates. No one coming out of the soft science or marketing courses is thinking “Hey, maybe I’ll call my local stationer, there’s a real opportunity area I’d love to get into.” They usually wind up under-employed doing something they can’t stand.  

Local community colleges and even universities would welcome business sponsorships and guaranteed job placements in course areas like Business Administration and Marketing. If a large vendor like Acco or 3M or Fellowes gave grants to business students it would help our industry’s awareness as a possible future employer and God forbid, if one of these students became a product manager or sales rep at Staples or G&T or Basics, they might even remember who helped pay their tuition. A Dealer sponsored grant would be even more powerful in terms of enticing graduates to check out our industry since they have a local presence in every city across the country.

The fresh blood is our industry’s best chance at finding new relevance and connection with the customer base. We need to get on their radar when they need us. When they reach the work force, it’s too late.

Norm MacLeod has been a Marketing / Merchandising executive in the Office Products channel for over 30 years. At the dealer level, with Willson Stationers, Compucentre and most recently Basics Office Products and at the vendor level with Blueline Inc. Currently in a semi-retired state as a photographer at large and special projects gun-for-hire for the Basics Dealer group.

         He can be reached at: nwmac123@gmail.com