INSIDE - Indoff

INSIDE
March 2015
11816 Lackland Rd.
St. Louis, MO 63146
“Indoff Provides Product and Services for Everything from Floor to Ceiling”
CONTENT
Page 2
Human Resources
Page 3
Partners of the
Month
Page 4
Recruiting
Page 5
New Faces
Page 6
Finance &
Accounting
Page 7-8
Million Dollar
Partners
Page 9
Partner Meet
& Greet
Page 10
Operations
Page 13
Marketing
Page 14
Anniversaries
Page 15
Techie Talk
President’s Prose
by Jim Malkus, Indoff President & CEO
Welcome to the March Madness/springtime/potpourri edition of Inside Indoff! We went with a
very broad general theme this time, and I think you’ll pick up on that as you read this edition.
Later this month, I’ll have my 27th anniversary with Indoff (as I type that, I realize that sometime
in April I’ll hit the point where I have been an Indoff employee for more than half of my
life – wow…). The first three years were different – running a “local” sales force, inventory, closing
remote offices, selling a remote operation, selling a furniture dealership – but since 1991, the
basics have remained the same. While I truly breathe the Indoff Partner program at this point,
there are touch points where I’m reminded that others may not.
I traveled to Chicago on the 4th of this month to visit with United Stationers. Every year for the
past 15+ years, United has been our single largest volume vendor. They helped us get into the
office supply business, and our relationship with them has always been good - but the players
have changed. Mary Bowen and John Putz were our United team for years, and they are no
longer there. Seated around a table with their Director of Digital and E-Commerce Services, a
Regional VP, a District Sales Manager, the Senior VP of Sales and others, I realized our story
needed told again. While all of the parties “knew” who we are, they hadn’t heard directly from
us who we are and how we operate (to his great credit, the Director of Digital and E-Commerce
Services explicitly said this in asking us to tell our story). It was the best meeting I have had with
United in a while.
I don’t share this story to make you all jealous that I got to go to Chicago when it was fourteen
degrees outside (yeah, me!); I share because it offers a strong reminder. Indoff has purchased over
a quarter of a billion dollars in product from United, but the folks we spoke with didn’t know us.
Your customers are probably in the same boat – they don’t know what you can do. You may be the
chair lady, the caster guy, the t-shirt supplier or the a/c vendor, and they have no idea what else
you can do. When you’re prospecting for business, don’t forget your existing customers – tell them
how you can help beyond the niche you have serviced in the past. Call on your accounts regularly;
e-market to them monthly. People forget, the players change – tell your story at every
opportunity. It’s repetitive, but it’s new to some folks.
I hope that springtime has arrived wherever you may be, and I thank you all for all you do for
Indoff throughout the year.
INSIDE
INSIDE
Human Resources
by Robin Migdal, Indoff VP of Human Resources
March has arrived! Spring is in the air, clocks are rolling forward, and National Nutrition
Month is here as a reminder to focus on making healthy choices and habits. As you take
a little time to examine your physical health, why not spend some time looking into the
health of your retirement savings plan?
Please keep the following in mind as you review your 401(k):
• Contribute as much as you possibly can. We all have needs and financial presures, but
paying yourself first remains solid advice. If at all possible, contriute at least at 6% of
your pre-tax income in order to maximize the “free” company dollars that we pay.
• Review your contributions and your investment selections regularly; make sure they
still match up with your risk tolerance, your age and your goals. No one else is going to
care as much about your future and your retirement as you do.
“Contribute as
much as you
possibly can.”
• The MassMutual web site is full of calculators and tools for you to see how you’re
• doing in meeting your goals – use them!
National Sales Meeting – October 2015
The National Sales Meeting will be at the Embassy Suites Hotel/St. Charles
Convention Center on October 22nd through October 25th. Invites will be sent via e-mail
sometime in May to Partners that have qualified to attend (sales volume of $20,000 per
month is a rule of thumb) and most new Partners who have started since our last meeting.
Please keep an eye out for this invite.
Don’t forget to write this year’s National Sales
Meeting on your calendars! It will be held in Saint
Louis, at the Saint Charles Embassy Suites/Convention
Center on October 22-25.
Also, keep in mind, the Champion Circle will be held
April 30-May 4 in 2016 at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill
Country Resort.
Indoff Sales Partners of the Month
Congratulations to our top Partners from each division!
January
Material Handling:
Mark McCullough
$291,404
Commercial Interiors:
Georgine Golitko
$368,707
Business Products:
Tom Vanhoozer
$138,063
Promotional Products
Mike Hollern
$284,571
Allied:
Lee Key
$437,338
February
Material Handling:
Joe Vander Zanden
$130,932
Commercial Interiors:
Aimee Klein
$287,171
Business Products:
Sarah Brooks
$80,606
Promotional Products:
Kristy Long
$133,273
Allied:
Lee Key
$167,888
INSIDE
Recruiting
by Angela Suntrup, Indoff National Marketing Manager
Spring is here! I hope the weather is warming up where you are selling!
In this newsletter article I want to focus on the importance of Partner referrals (surprise,
surprise). I know I am a pain when it comes to asking for referrals but that is because Partner
referrals are very important to the growth and future of Indoff. In 2014, Partner referrals
were once again the #1 hire source!
Having talked to many Partners one concern I hear echoed is, I do not want to refer someone
in my market. As Jim Malkus stated in his President’s message, North Carolina was our #1
selling state in 2014 and has been for 3 years in a row! Some of their success is contributed
to having multiple Partners in a market.
Below are some thoughts from Kimberly Pope, a Commercial Interiors Partner. Kimberly is
one of four Partners that work in the Asheville, NC market. Having multiple Partners in their
state has helped them in the following ways:
“Partner referrals
are very
important to the
growth and future
of Indoff.”
Manufacturer’s representatives - Support of the
manufacturer’s representative is critical. We would have never had an account with The HON
Company had it not been for our long term relationship with the manufacturer’s rep. We had
a business reputation as sales people and designers and they knew we were capable of selling
their products to end users. Relationships with reps goes a long way to getting a great
discount and a vendor account started.
Vendor/Partner Management - We took the initiative to contact the manufacturer’s
representative, ask for specific deep discounting and push for what we needed to be
successful. Then we made contact with the other Partners to invite them to make use of the
discounting so that we could reach a common goal and maintain that discount structure to
be competitive. Example, Donna Sutton manages our HON account which involves every sales
partner in the state of NC. She has a responsibility in time invested that would be surprising to most but it is what is necessary to make it successful. Our team has invested time and
energy to promote HON in the state including organizing trips for training, securing samples
and materials for Partners when they need it etc. On a side note, I have seen John Kaiser take
similar initiative with other manufacturer’s lines to share great discounts with other Partners.
Commitment by each partner to participate - given the right products and motivation there
has been success and HON is one of those successes. The challenge is every Partner has
products they are used to selling and their own agenda. Promoting change and the team
concept can be a challenge. Strong partners will get a commitment from a quality vendor
based on the will to sell it regardless.
Support in numbers helps but at times pure determination has no limitations. We do benefit
as a group with access to lines and pricing due to the strength of the partners in our state.
Our benefits come from the quality of their selling reputation, initiative and experience in
addition to the amounts of Partners we have in North Carolina.
If you know someone who would be a good fit for Indoff please contact me! You will receive
the $1,000 referral bonus once your prospect generates $1,000 in Gross Profit!
Welcome to Indoff!
Doug Coakley
Material Handling
Burlington, IA
Kathy Dickinson
Material Handling
Mesa, AZ
Doug Fletcher
Commercial Interiors
Bentonville, AR
Bruce Lang
Commercial Interiors
Temecula, CA
Kyle Hildebrand
Business Products
San Diego, CA
Jasmine McDaniel
Business Products
Riverside, CA
Mike Taylor
Business Products
Little Rock, AR
Darren Barr
Business Products
Spring, TX
Thomas Clishem
Business Products
Ashton, MD
Mike Vergere
Energy Solutions
Ellisville, MO
Tony Stewart
Energy Solutions
Lake Elsinore, CA
John Woosley
Energy Solutions
Austin, TX
Kevin Miles
Energy Solutions
Irving, TX
Linda Smith
Corporate
Monica Londono
Energy Solutions
Jacksonville, FL
Dale Howard
Commercial Interiors
Bonney Lake, WA
Jennifer Zini
Corporate
Not Pictured:
Not Pictured:
Claudia Alonso
Commercial Interiors
El Paso, TX
Ryan Mosley
Business Products
Nixa, MO
INSIDE
Finance & Accounting
by Julie Frank, Indoff Executive VP & CFO
Welcome to springtime! While we cannot compare our winter with what hit the northeast and
most recently the mid-south, the late arrival of cold and snow seemed harder to deal with than
most years (or maybe I’m just getting old…). We are ready for some warm weather!
In order to run a successful business, there is a delicate balancing act of “Groundhog Day” repetitiveness combined with constant improvements. In accounting and finance, we work in concert
with everyone else – our Partners, our vendors and our customers – so our challenge is both to
remind people of the information we need and constantly search for ways to do this better.
Here are some “Groundhog Day” items –
For Partners • check your aging
• send us purchase orders on orders > $25,000
“These are the
little things that
help make us
all successful.”
• tell us about job problems
For ourselves –
• review open orders
• work through vendor invoices timely
• make our calls – early detection, past due, follow-ups
They’re not glamorous, we all know we should be doing them, but a reminder can sometimes
make all of the difference.
We are also looking at making improvements in a few areas:
• vendor prepayments
• credit card purchases
• credit file virtualization
I know these listings probably make you long for a job in our accounting department, but these
are the little things that help make us all successful. We know that efficiently paying vendors and
accurately billing customers are important to our mutual success, and we take that
responsibility seriously.
Thank you all for all you do for Indoff, and I wish you warm weather and sunshine!
Congratulations 2014
Million Dollar Partners!
Joe Vander Zanden
Material Handling
De Pere, WI
Steve Bloom
Material Handling
Tijuana
Darrin Wicks
Material Handling
Evansville, IN
Jeff Woltkamp
Material Handling
San Juan Capistrano, CA
Bob Goodwin
Material Handling
Palm Harbor, FL
Scott Paisley
Material Handling
Greendale, WI
Sam Siegel
Material Handling
Jacksonville, FL
Bill Jacobson
Material Handling
Reno, NV
Marsha Olinghouse
Commercial Interiors
Altoona, IA
Georgine Golitko
Commercial Interiors
Pittsburg, PA
John Kaiser
Commercial Interiors
Wilmington, NC
Mark McCullough
Material Handling
Dublin, OH
Tim Stine
Material Handling
Elizabethtown, PA
Bill Brooks
Commercial Interiors
Hendersonville, TN
Congratulations 2014
Million Dollar Partners!
Ken Groth
Commercial Interiors
Boulder, CO
Steve Brandt
Commercial Interiors
St. Louis, MO
Sarah Brooks
Business Products
Hendersonville, TN
Al Hutton
Promotional Products
Cromwell, CT
Lee Key
Allied
Saint Louis, MO
Chris Koeneman
Allied
Saint Louis, MO
Aimee Klein
Commercial Interiors
New York, NY
Mike Hollern
Promotional Products
San Antonio, TX
Ted Haines
Allied
Saint Louis, MO
Tom Vanhoozer
Business Products
Fayetteville, GA
Kristy Long
Promotional Products
San Luis Obispo, CA
Jim Burlingame
Allied
Saint Louis, MO
Partner Meet & Greet
Marsha Olinghouse
Commercial Interiors
Altoona, IA
1. What is one career goal you accomplished in 2014?
Started working on my 10 year exit into retirement.
2. If you could witness any event past, present or future, what would it be?
Seeing my daughters as little girls again.
3. What advice would you give to a new Indoff Partner?
Learn one niche product and become an expert on it.
4. Do you have a big project in 2015 you are looking forward to?
Yes, working on them now.
5. How long have you been in the business?
1979 ... since the wheel was invented. One time I looked up the wheel on
the patent website.
6. Is there a new product or group of products you started selling recently?
BBF ... super easy, super simple and great spiffs.
7. What’s your favorite movie?
Somewhere in Time.
8. Why Indoff?
Freedom to balance my life and my work, also the quality of people at Indoff.
9. If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?
Stock market trading.
10. If you could have any super power, what would it be?
To fly.
Bob Barroll
Material Handling
Baltimore, MD
Pictured: Far right
1. What is one career goal you accomplished in 2014?
I sold a big lighting job that I was working on for 5 years.
2. If you could witness any event past, present or future, what would it be?
Sounds silly but world peace, nations stop fighting each other, religious
zealots cease their imposing beliefs on others, and general harmony.
3. What advice would you give to a new Indoff Partner?
Be patient. It will take at least 6 months to really get things going and two
years to get in the full swing.
4. Do you have a big project in 2015 you are looking forward to?
No, big projects usually come by surprise.
5. How long have you been in the business?
36 years. I sold my lanscaping ability at the age of 12 and sold myself to
Hobart’s admission counselor to get into college. What I have sold has
changed over the years but it all comes back to selling myself to
customers.
6. Is there a new product or group of products you started selling recently?
LED lighting, it is similar to other lighting but different. There is a learning
curve.
7. What’s your favorite movie?
Cool Hand Luke. “What we’ve got is a failure to communicate.”
8. Why Indoff?
Former company went out of business, John Temple asked if I wanted a job and I said sure. I am
allowed to sell whatever I want, whenever I want, as long as it is legal.
9. If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?
I would like to be fluent in about 20 different languages.
10. If you could have any super power, what would it be?
The ability to fly “Superman style.”
INSIDE
Operations
by Pam Hake, Indoff VP of Operations
Spring is a time of year that makes us think about renewal and change. I would like to
take this opportunity to fill you in on what is happening with Partner Support. First as
most of you know, we have made some changes in personnel.
“Do you have
ideas on how we
can better assist
our future new
Partners?”
• Maureen Maxwell is now the Partner Support Manager. She is bringing new ideas and
approaches to all of the things they do to support our most important asset, our
Partners.
• This has allowed Marcia Whites to take a step back and take more time for herself and
other interests. Marcia remains dedicated to supporting our Partners. She is our
Goodwill Ambassador, and remains happy to assist you in any way she can.
• Diane Cole has moved to the role of Corporate Trainer. She is the one primarily
responsible for training our Partners on Confluence and our other tools. She will be
taking over training for Supplies Direct shortly as well.
• Stephanie Yates is the newest member of the group. She is our New Start
Coordinator. She is new to the group, but not new to Indoff. She moved from
Recruiting to fill the open slot in Partner Support. We welcome her to the team.
The above changes and some feedback from recent new starts have led us to look at
how we handle the orientation and training of our new Partners. We always say that we
give our Partners the flexibility (within some broad guidelines) to run their Indoff business as they see fit. Now we are taking a look at how we can do a better job of individualizing our approach to orientation and training for our new starts, to assure we are
meeting the Partners needs and not just giving them what we think they should have.
I want to take this opportunity to ask for feedback from you; on things we could have
done (or still can do) better for you. Is there something you wish we would have shared
with you sooner? Do you have ideas on how we can better assist our future new
Partners? I am 100% sincere, when I say; we want to hear from you, I want to hear from
you. Tell me how we can better support our Partners, our greatest asset. If our Partners
aren’t out there doing what they do best, selling, we have no reason to be here
administrating and doing the behind the scene tasks.
Thanks for all you do for Indoff all year long. Until next time………………….
INSIDE
Marketing
by Adam Heck, Indoff Marketing Manager
Hello Partners,
Adam Heck
Marketing Manager
For March’s newsletter I wanted to start with a brief overview of the marketing tools available to you. We have hundreds of e-marketing pieces archived on the intranet,
customizable divisional slicks and line cards. We also have presentations info on how to
get started with e-marketing and social media . In addition, there are general Indoff
presentations that can be modified for your specific applications, etc. All of these
materials can be found on the intranet section of Confluence, by clicking on the Groups
tab, and then clicking on Marketing.
If you have ideas for e-marketing piece themes, please pass them along to us. We try to
create useful pieces and keep an eye out for what vendors are sending our way for more
ideas, but you as the Partner really are the best source of themes and ideas for
e-marketing. We put together pieces with specific products, and also product groups that
let the Partner pick the vendor they would like to use. Themed or seasonal pieces also can
be very helpful, Spring Cleaning is a topical example. If there is something you would like
to send out, it’s very likely it will also be beneficial for a lot of other Partners.
Thanks for your attention,
Lexy Polich
Marketing Assistant
Adam and Lexy
March Vendor Spotlight
Overview
Tombow is a market leader for art, craft and office products. Tombow was established in Japan in 1913 as the wood-case pencil
provider for Japanese students. Since these beginnings and supported by a history of unparalleled customer service, Tombow has
grown the company’s portfolio to a worldwide provider of adhesive and correction tapes, ballpoint and rollerball pens, drawing
pencils and erasers, dual brush marker pens, glue sticks and liquid glues manufactured in facilities located in Japan, Southeast Asia
and Thailand.
Tombow’s exemplary products are defined by their quality and the creative uses of those products by consumers around the world.
• Correction Products - Tombow offers a full-line of correction tape products that are manufactured with post-consumer materials,
including the Original MONO Correction Tape, with more than 15 SKUs in various applicator styles including refillable, pen-style and
various widths.
• Drawing Products
o Dual Brush Pens - The cornerstone of Tombow’s art line is the Dual Brush Pen, which features flexible brush tips and fine tips in one marker. The brush tip is equivalent to a paintbrush and can create fine, medium or bold strokes, while the fine tip provides consistent lines.
o Irojiten & Recycled Color Pencils - Irojiten means “color dictionary” in Japanese and these pencils provide the ultimate drawing experience.
• Writing Products - Whether you’re looking for an elegant writing instrument or something stylish for everyday use, Tombow pens
let you express yourself in innovative designs and colors, crafted with quality for a smooth flow of ideas. Tombow has created the
AirPress, Zoom and Ultra pens to meet the expanding demand of today’s on-the-go professionals.
• Adhesive Products - There are 13 adhesive products spanning the Tombow portfolio.
Happy Anniversary!
Congratulations to the following Partners and Corporate staff who are celebrating their
employment anniversaries with Indoff!
Mike Wright
Material Handling
20 Years - March 16
Ken Barnes
Material Handling
15 years- April 15
Debbie Wickliffe
Business Products
15 years - April 5
Kris Youngchild
Business Products
10 years - March 21
Pam Hake
Corporate
15 years - April 3
Dan Barth
Business Products
15 years - March 20
Carol Jacobson
Corporate
15 years - March 6
Not Pictured:
Not Pictured:
Tamora Stevens
CSR
15 years - March 13
Carolyn Glace
CSR
10 years - April 21
Stephanie Turner
Corporate
15 years - April 17
INSIDE
Techie Talk
by Shawn Faulkingham & Colin Faulkingham
Director of IT Systems
Spring is around the corner! Housecleaning, organizing and trying to resurrect unfulfilled
New Year’s resolutions are all part of the coming months! I am using this time to do a bit
of “housecleaning” in my office and the Data Center. We accumulate things as humans;
it’s natural to want to do that. But I really do feel it causes more stress than people
would like to admit - I know that my piles of stuff around my office and in our
Data Center have been causing stress. When I look at a pile of stuff, I see an issue that
may or may not need my attention, or something I wanted to look into, or information
that I was interested in. So I got rid of my stacks of stuff everywhere and only have what
I am working on in front of me on my desk. When I am done, it will be filed/removed
and on to the next. My level of stress has dropped dramatically and I have become more
productive (although Jim might think otherwise)! So my thought for you this spring is
to remove the stacks of stuff from around you. Only put what you need for the task
that you are currently working on in front of you. When you are done, file/remove that
“stuff” and move on to the next task! If you are anything like me and have a million
things going, it really will help with stress and productivity.
Speaking of productivity, let me give you an update to what the IT Group is up to!
Colin is working on our public web site, www.indoff.com. We are going through a
redesign with the help of an outside consulting group and Colin is implementing their
designs into our systems. It will be easier to navigate, better for mobile technology and
easier for us to maintain content.
Vice President
e-Marketing
“Only put what
you need for the
task that you
are currently
working on in
front of you.”
Jerome is working on EDI integration and the ability to add other vendors to our current
processes. We will be announcing more information on this in the near future.
David and Courtney have been busy with supporting all of you and the folks here at
Corporate! They have also been taking classes to further improve their knowledge of IT
related systems and helping with network security. I am working on software that will
help with keeping our Infrastructure secure and finalizing our Business Continuity plans!
I hope you all are having a great year! Thanks for everything you do!
Shawn, Colin, David, Courtney and Jerome