Exertis Supplies: simplicity is the key to brilliance

Andrew Beaumont, MD, Exertis Supplies, on why he believes the businesses model of keeping things simple is the key to their success

Read the full article below or on page 20 in our April magazine

How would you summarise last year for Exertis Supplies in terms of biggest achievement, biggest challenge and biggest lesson learnt? 

We’ve had several really positive years since we entered the office products sector in wholesale. Last year, as every year, the achievement is the ability to spot support more and more of the independent office dealers in the UK; we’re only successful if that independent office channel is successful as we don’t have another route to market. So, the fact that more and more have come to us, and increased their spend with us, shows we’re doing something right. 

The biggest negative by far was the loss of Tim, our Commercial Director. He helped to start the office products part of the business eight years ago and we’re talking today about our part in the Office Products industry because of what he brought to the business. We are a people business, so to lose somebody like Tim – who was so well-liked by every single person he interacted with – really hit us hard. 

I had to give the business the time to grieve, and people do that in different ways. We had to make sure people knew they could laugh, they could cry, and handle it however they needed to handle it, because that was more important right then, than what we were doing as a business. Even today we are still recovering from it but we’re using his memory, and using his vision, to move us forward. I have a picture of him on my wall, and I often smile at him about some of the things that happen at during the day.

Then, in terms of biggest lessons, ours is to keep listening to our customers and the dealers; listen to their hopes and their fears – not just from a business perspective, but how they are doing in their lives more generally too. Every dealer has a named account manager in Exertis. During lockdown we used to ‘phone all our dealers; we weren’t solely phoning to chase business, but they might have wanted to talk because they were stuck at home and were isolated. We would say, ‘Let’s keep that relationship, keep talking, and if you need to just talk, ‘phone us, we’re here if you need us.’

Everything we are today, from the ethos that Tim brought to us, is developed around feedback from dealers. Our whole strategy is built around what we hear from dealers and implementing that to help them. Without a successful independent dealer community, we won’t be successful – every dealer being successful is as important for us as it is for them. 

What are some of the business’s goals and ambitions for the year ahead?

Our goals and ambitions will be led by the dealers and where they want us to go. We’ll keep working with the community and when the challenges arrive, hopefully, we’ll be able to react in ways that can help the dealer through those difficult times. Whatever challenges are thrown at dealers we want to make sure that we’ve got the agility to be able to move, change and help. We are also looking to grow, and our offering is open to everybody, whether they want to spend a little bit with us, or all of their spend with us. Dealers have had a tough time of it the last few years and we want to make sure they we keep helping dealers to grow and be successful.

How would you describe your business model?

We have a very simple model, and one of the things that we tried to do when we entered  the market was to take out complexity. We’re very good at what we do; we’re very good at putting lots of boxes from our vendors in our warehouse and then getting them to our customers, or to their  customers. That’s what we’re good at – it’s quite simple, really!

If we can really be good at that, that’s all our dealers want. It’s not that we don’t move away from that model – and if we can tweak it, and help dealers, we will do – but part of our strength lies in our simplicity, and giving the dealers what they want, rather than what we think they want.

What do you think will be some of the biggest challenges facing the industry, and dealers in particular, this coming year?

Dealers always have the challenge of fighting against the large contract stationers and the way they win that battle, for me, is that people still buy from people, that is the dealer’s USP. They need to play on that; people want to buy from a local business and deal with local people.

A challenge that has never really happened before in the industry came about  in January, when Complete were acquired by EVO. Suddenly, a parent company of a key industry wholesaler now owned a very large dealer.

Dealers are now feeling quite cautious as this acquisition has taken buying from your competitor to a whole new level, and are understandably concerned about the future strategy of the wholesalers.

What role do you think that Exertis Supplies can play in supporting dealers with some of the challenges they may face?

We were known as an ink and toner wholesaler for many years, but our OP range has now more than double the products of that of our ink and toner range, so we can now fully support an independent dealer for all their office product’s needs. That’s been a big change for us over the last three or four years; we have many office product dealers now who major with us because we can now offer the full range required; that’s been important. 

The big thing that we can bring to the market on top of that is our tech range. We are owned by a very large UK tech business, so we can offer an extensive tech range, and that’s something for the office products dealers to grab hold of. We experienced record sales on tech products last year, as more dealers are seeing the opportunities there. They were a little bit wary of the category at first, and we’re working with them to explain how the sell looks and feels, because the products are different however the sell is not that different. I always think now that if the office products dealer sits in their own office, and looks around, there’s nothing in there they shouldn’t be able to provide – including the technology.

Office products is not just traditional stationery but all products an office uses from technology to catering products, at Exertis Supplies we can supply the full range.

On top of that I think the key is selling for the hybrid working environment. Many people still have the same temporary ‘office’ set up they did when they went home in March 2020; there’s lots of equipment that will need upgrading now, and opportunities to make the home office more comfortable and permanent. 

Then there’s a security issue on top of that, such as technical vulnerabilities in relation to cyber–attacks, or issues around GDPR. Some people have a shredder that probably takes one piece of paper, and then it jams – so there are opportunities to sell products that shred waste securely. 

I think there are lots of opportunities to sell still to come from hybrid working. Many people see it as a threat for the industry, however I think it’s a real opportunity, because many people now have two workspaces.

What would you say are some of the key product areas that you should be focusing on, for sales success this year?

For me, the big message underlying everything is sustainability, and how we support that as an industry. We need to make sure that we’re getting the message of sustainability from the vendors through to the dealers and through to the end-user. That’s a real area that we’re working on, and I know lots of dealers are working on it too. There’s a movement of end-users who want to purchase sustainable products, and legislation means that larger companies and public bodies also have be to eco-compliant, which is even more powerful.

We’re almost seeing a bit of a polarised market this year, because you’re going to have the sustainability push that underpins everything but, as costs are increasing, you’re also going to have a market that wants to go for the cheapest options.

What are some forward-thinking strategies that you think dealers should be looking at implementing?

We’ve seen how social media is so powerful now, and it’s something that dealers have got to be aware of and to use to their advantage. That needs support from the vendor and wholesalers to guide dealers on how best to use social media to market their products and services. 

Another strategy – and something that the industry as a whole should be thinking about – is making sure that we’re attracting  a new generation of talent through businesses. For example, I’m a 51 year old man who was brought up differently in a different world to now. Social media isn’t my natural habitat, so if I surround myself with people just like me, nothing is going to progress in a new direction. 

We must be really brave and listen, as an industry, to new voices coming through – there are different ways of doing things and the way it’s currently being done isn’t always the right way. I see pockets of businesses doing this now, however we all need to be thinking about how we attract the next generation into the industry.

After all, they’ll be the ones to take the business supplies industry forward, and they will do things that we haven’t even thought of yet.