“Business for us is good right now…a new alliance with the Regency Franchise Group has been very positive for our promotional products and apparel business,” says Corinne Creason of Manning’s Office Solutions. Please click here and go to page four for an article on RFG’s franchisee, Manning’s Office Solutions.
Independent Dealer July 2016
We are thrilled to be mentioned in this month’s Independent Dealer. Please click here to see RFG mentioned on pages 4, 36, 40-41!
Hoyle Office Solutions joins forces with Regency Franchise Group
Regency Franchise Group is excited to announce Hoyle Office Solutions, a multi-million dollar dealership based in Arden, NC has joined its network. Hoyle was founded in 1945 by “Red” Hoyle and this celebrated its 71st year servicing the Western North Carolina market under the leadership of Mr. Hoyle’s daughter Kathy. A Woman Owned business, Hoyle specializes in office supplies, office furniture, furniture layout and design, janitorial products, breakroom supplies as well as custom forms and stamps.
Hoyle has been growing steadily over the past few years through an elite sales and service team, dedicated to offering high touch customer service and competitive pricing to local WNC businesses. Hoyle had a solid base of business but was looking towards the future and watching the purchasing trends in the office supply market today. Kathy is now turning to Regency Franchise Group to grow her business through the expanded product and service offerings, an upgraded technology infrastructure and unique web ordering solution for office products, commercial print, promotional products and apparel. “We are in an expansion mode and knew that we needed to partner with Regency to continue to compete in the realms of technology and product offering. We are very excited for this new opportunity to service our local and regional clientele.”
Kathy plans to tap into Regency Franchise Group’s successful business model to give her a vehicle to sell on an enterprise level, and immediately upgrade her technology and web based offering. So what does Kathy think the new Hoyle Office Solutions will look like? “Hoyle will look like a cutting edge business services company with an expanded product offering and the ability to offer much more than pens and pencils. Hoyle will offer the best customer service that anyone in the area can provide, but can now combine that with more competitive pricing and an industry leading online experience for clientele.” “We are excited to welcome Kathy Hoyle to Regency Franchise Group and help her exceed her goals in this industry,” said Eric Beguelin, Founder of Regency Franchise Group. “Our priority is helping our partners achieve their definition of success. We have built a successful, national dealership from the ground up, so we understand the resources dealers need to continue to grow. We will create a business plan for Kathy and she will work closely with our Growth Team that will continue to put her on track to win major accounts and thrive in her business.”
“Regency Franchise Group’s unique solutions will give me a distinct advantage in competing for enterprise level accounts and compete against the big box competition in our area,” Said Kathy. “By differentiating ourselves in the marketplace, we will take our business to a level previously unobtainable. I am confident that our new partnership with Regency Franchise Group, we will experience significant growth in new vertical markets, and immediately be able to offer an improved web experience for our current and future customers.”
Coastal Office and Promo Products joins forces with Regency Franchise Group
Regency Franchise Group is excited to announce Coastal Office & Promo Products, a multi-million dollar dealership based in Chesapeake, VA has joined its network. Coastal was founded in 1992 and specializes in office supplies, office furniture, promotional products and janitorial products. The business was acquired in 2006 by owner John Willcox, who has guided the company through at least one major evolution and remains in constant pursuit for improvement.
“There was not much wrong with the company,” he recalls. “Coastal had a great team of people who knew the industry and had a terrific work ethic. It had a solid mix of loyal clientele and wasn’t stressed in any way. But it was very much a traditional office supply operation and doing business on a model that was not too different from when the company started back in 1992.” Willcox is now turning to Regency Franchise Group to grow his business through expanded product and service offerings, an upgraded technology infrastructure and unique Web-ordering solutions for office products, commercial print, promotional products and apparel. “Change is never something that you’re finished with,” he points out. “It’s a constantly moving target.”
Willcox plans to tap into Regency Franchise Group’s successful business model to give him a vehicle to sell on an enterprise level. So what does Willcox think the new Coastal look like? “Coastal will look much more like a business services company than a peddler of pencils and pens. Coastal will offer the best customer experience that anyone can provide from first purchase to final invoice.” “We are excited to welcome John Willcox to Regency Franchise Group and help him exceed his goals in this industry,” said Eric Beguelin, Founder of Regency Franchise Group. “Our priority is helping our partners achieve their definition of success. We have built a successful, national dealership from the ground up, so we understand the resources dealers need to continue to grow. We will create a business plan for John he will work closely with our Growth Team that will put him on track to win major accounts and thrive in his business.”
“Regency Franchise Group’s unique solutions will give me a distinct advantage in competing for enterprise level accounts,” said Willcox. “By differentiating ourselves in the marketplace, we will take our business to a level previously unobtainable. I’m confident with Regency Franchise Group I will experience significant growth, and much quicker than I could on my own.”
Get Your Salespeople on Board
Featured in Print Solutions magazine, September 2015
By Pete Redondo, Vice President of Sales, Regency Franchise Group
We started out as Regency Office Products. We always intended to bring other products and services to complement office products, but we didn’t know where that would lead. We ended up getting into print in 2007, with our strategic advantage centered around Web-to-print technology. The a-ha moment was when someone asked if we could sell promotional products. We didn’t even have an ASI number when we did it. We bought them through someone else and still made good money.
We informed our salespeople that they would be selling promotional products. One of the sales reps, who was trained to sell office products, came back and said his clients didn’t buy promotional products. They weren’t interested. Finally, he starts doing one-off promo orders for a national cable company that specializes in rural markets. They’ve got 2,000 dealers. The cycle is, “Here’s my audience. Here’s my budget. Here’s what I need. Give me some ideas.” Usually, whoever comes up with the first viable idea gets the order, but sometimes, the incumbent gets an opportunity to quote your ideas, and it’s a bidding war. You win some and lose some, but the margins aren’t strong, and it drifts into a commoditized, price-driven decision.
So, that’s how he started with this company. That’s how he got his foot in the door. But then he asks, “What are you doing with your dealer network? How do you get branded items approved? You’ve got these branding standards. I’ve got this technology. I can create this marketplace for your corporate-approved items.”
Fast-forward to five to seven years later — I’ll bet 90 percent of his sales are promo, and most of it is apparel. He’s got a five-year contract with them. They’ve got quarterly minimums they have to hit. If they don’t hit them, he sends a bill, and they pay it. He is not their “preferred” provider — he is their single source. Now, he is building a similar platform for their sister company that has 6,000 dealers. It has everything to do with the technology, not just on the front end for the end users, but the integration with their accounting system.
Regency of Chicago Uses Cost Control, Billing Applications and Industry Experts to Land 20K+ Deal
It’s not every day you see a company sign a three-year contract before they place their first order. As impressive as it sounds, it’s not the most impressive aspect of this deal. It was simply the beginning.
The initial meeting with the CFO quickly uncovered flaws and pain-points in the client’s accounting processes as well as in their lack of purchasing control. Each month their accounting department was hand-coding hundreds of individual big-box office supply invoices for 200-plus locations. Ryan’s tailored demo of the Regency platform, along with Monthly CSV billing options, quickly created an “Ah-Ha!” moment with both the CFO and accounting. They started asking about the other services we provide. Things quickly took off from there.
Next Ryan analyzed the traffic and was able to identify numerous flaws in their ordering process. In a 6 month time frame they purchased 23 different types of toilet paper. Coffee expenses were out of control and were another huge pain-point for them. The CFO was completely open to Ryan’s help in creating a controlled purchasing environment. Ryan’s recommendation of implementing Corporately Approved Lists paved the way to integrate him with the accounting team. User permissions, cost centers and GL codes followed suit.
“The CFO agreed and signed a 3-year contract without ever seeing our pricing.” As the momentum gained, so did the opportunities. Things really took off when Ryan brought up the Keurig K-MAP program. Through the program, Keurig installed a free machine in each of the 200 locations at no cost to the customer. A $40K value. Simultaneously, Ryan was given the opportunity to quote a furniture project. Ryan reached out to his furniture specialist who came to Chicago to meet with the customer on-site. The customer was blown away by the level of detail and expertise we brought to the table in the pre-planning stages. The opportunity positioned Ryan as the primary source for all future furniture projects estimated at 200-300K annually.
Ryan also tapped into his resources and brought in Hewlett-Packard for an on-site meeting. He utilized HP resources for Hardware (Printers and PC’s), HP solutions, and met with their Project Manager who opens each new facility via on site visit to understand store footprint.
Ryan’s efforts on facilitating this deal have resulted in two consecutive 20K months and there is still plenty of room for upside. Great job, Ryan and the Chicago team!
Regency Franchise Group “Makes Its Own Luck”
Over 60 Regency Franchise Group (RFG) owners, sales professionals, and staff descended on the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on June 21-24 for the RFG National Sales Conference with the SP Richards ABC Show, which served as a backdrop.
This year’s theme of “Make Your Own Luck” reinforced the focus of the meeting –for sales reps to share best practices and success stories with their peers through the Value2 Cup contest. Six finalists presented their case studies over the course of two days – highlights included: leading with an apparel program and leveraging that success into print and supplies, using an MPS contract to pull in office products that historically had been decentralized, a 1st year rookie landing a $250,000 deal, and re-writing an RFP to knock out the competition.
“I was thoroughly impressed with the quality of the presentations, though not surprised,” said Eric Beguelin, RFG Managing Partner. “We deliver value to our customers that they can’t get anywhere else, and our franchisees have a tremendous opportunity to grow by bringing these solutions to their current customers.” The candidates also had some fun and showed their creative side, which included a live video customer “interview,” an appearance from Perceived High Value Service Offerings Man, an in presentation smart phone survey, and the dance to end all dances.
The Value2 Cup winner was awarded the Cup during awards night, taking home $5,000 in cash – assuming he didn’t lose it at the black jack table later that evening. Other important topics covered at this year’s event were the introduction of the franchise development group, including the Growth Team, which will be led by Jonathan Durham and Chris Hickman. The Growth Team will be deployed within the entire RFG organization with the mission to grow top line revenue significantly over the next 12 months. RFG also introduced the TCPN program, with more information on how to integrate TCPN into the RFG tool kit to follow soon.
Top of Our Class!
Regency has been featured in the Print Solutions, Print+Promo and Counselor magazines every year since 2010! It’s a tribute to our outstanding success as a print and promotional products distributor.
“Our company philosophy has always been to push the envelope. We have no fear when it comes to change. Though that can be a challenging environment, it was necessary for our survival,” said Pete Redondo, Director of Sales. “I can’t predict the future, but I do know that we will keep looking for new ways to reinvent ourselves.”
Few companies offer the same diversity of services. Regency focuses on bringing customers value in every area possible, and while we can’t be all things to all people, we put emphasis on the flexibility for which the distributor model allows.
“Each year, PSDA’s research on our industry’s leaders provides a window to the future. Regency’s presence as one of the fastest-growing distributors is a testament to the strength of their value proposition as well as to the power of the reseller model which is highly valued in today’s marketing suite,” said Matt Sanderson, Executive Vice President, PSDA.
Former Sales Director for SP Richards Joins Regency Franchise Group
Launches Franchise Program for the Independent Office Products Dealer
RALEIGH, N.C.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Regency Franchise Group announces today that Kimberly Fulford has been named Director of Franchise Development. Fulford has 20 years of experience within the office products industry, and previously held positions with Kimberly-Clark, Avery Dennison and, most recently with SP Richards Company as Director of Sales.
“It’s such a unique concept. Using the independent owner’s existing brand, we combine it with the Regency technology and go-to-market approach, giving the dealer a powerful strategic advantage.”
“We are pleased to welcome Kimberly to the Regency team,” says Eric Beguelin, CEO, Regency Franchise Group. “Her diverse background, experience, and knowledge of the office products industry will be a tremendous addition to our team.” Fulford has held a variety of positions at SP Richards including Vice President Sales, Vice President Merchandising, and General Manager of the Charlotte distribution center.
“I am thrilled to be a part of the Regency Franchise Group. This program is the most exciting development in the industry today,” says Fulford. “The independent dealers who take advantage of this opportunity will find themselves in a position to dominate their marketplaces, regardless of the competition.”
“It’s such a unique concept. Using the independent owner’s existing brand, we combine it with the Regency technology and go-to-market approach, giving the dealer a powerful strategic advantage,” explains Fulford.
Leveraging the existing local market knowledge, relationships and staff members, Regency Franchise Group assists the new partner with selling additional products and services to their existing base, and helps open doors to opportunities previously unobtainable.
Existing Regency franchises have successfully implemented new product lines quickly and without a significant investment by taking advantage of the Regency technology, infrastructure and key distribution alliances.
About Regency Franchise Group
Founded in 2002 by veterans of the B2B services world, the founders of Regency looked to change the way office products are brought to market. By combining a unique buying experience with the ability to serve multi-location customers, Regency has redefined what is possible for the Independent dealer, as well as changed the game in their favor. Visit www.RegencyFranchiseGroup.com.
Contacts
Articulon
Cindy Stranad, APR
919-810-7272
Cstranad@A-MCommunications.com