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!