“Indoff Provides Solutions to Your Business Challenges.”
March 2019
INSIDE Indoff
11816 Lackland Rd. St. Louis, MO 63146
Prose CONTENT President’s by Jim Malkus, Indoff President & CEO Page 2 Human Resources Report
Welcome to Spring! After a long, cold winter, it is nice to have at least occasional shots of sunshine and warmth; I hope everyone is seeing a few signs of life wherever you may be.
Page 4 Recruiting Report
By the time this publishes, we will nearly have the first quarter behind us. We will have a very good quarter, but it will not approach last year’s record. Business seems to be taking a breather which makes it all the more important for all of us to stay on top of our plans, our quotes and our efforts.
Page 5 Champion’s Circle Page 6 Finance & Accounting Report Page 7 Vendor Relations Report Page 8-9 Partner Spotlight Features Page 10 Operations Report Page 11 Anniversaries Page 12 Social Media & Partners of the Month Page 13 Marketing Report Page 14 New Additions Page 15 Techie Talk
Most of what we do here at the corporate office is in support of our Sales Partners. From Partner Support to the Help Desk to HR and Finance, our mantra is to do our jobs so that our Partners can do theirs. Here are just a few ways we try to help you do your job every day: • Timely payment of vendor bills and down-payments – there is no more irritating event than to get an order from a customer and turn in the vendor purchase order only to be told “you’re on credit hold”. Maurice Belle and his team process hundreds of invoices daily, and Maurice has cultivated relationships with our key vendors so that this doesn’t happen. If you do run into this rarity, please reach out to Maurice and he will resolve the misunderstanding promptly. • Timely collection from customers – no job is complete until the invoice is paid. Cherrie Bledsoe and her team helped us collect all but $49,280 of our $174,283,000 in billings last year – a write-off rate of 0.03%. Credit for this goes to our Partners for knowing their customers, our Credit Department for doing their job well, our billing group for timely billing and Cherrie’s group for firm but friendly collection efforts. • IT Development – do you use Confluence reports to help manage your business? Have you ever run your Partner Analysis to see the ebb and flow of your business? Have you run a Customer Analysis to evaluate their importance to you and any areas of improvement that may be possible? There are 17 reports available to you in Confluence (with countless iterations of those) to assist you – need some help, contact Partner Support. • Marketing – our group works hard to provide you tools and opportunities. Reach out to them if you have a presentation coming up that you may want some help with – it’s what they do. As we go through the year, remember that you’ve got 55 people here in the St. Louis office working to help you succeed. Give us a call or shoot us a note if there is something we can do. Have a great spring season and thank you all for all you do for Indoff!
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INSIDE Indoff
Human Resources
by Robin Migdal, Indoff VP of Human Resources March has arrived and hopefully most of us will see Spring sometime soon! HR is an important department in any organization and is no different here at Indoff. Pam and I wanted to highlight a few functions that can assist you with payroll and benefits. Payroll/Dayforce Dayforce allows you to view your earnings statements, change your withholdings, address, direct deposit and complete Open Enrollment in May. At year-end, we mail your W-2’s and 1095C, but you may also obtain these through Dayforce. The link to access your Dayforce is http://www.dayforcehcm.com .
Robin Migdal Indoff VP of Human Resources
Benefits We offer and assist with our benefits - Dental, Vision, Life, Std/Ltd and our 401(k) retirement savings plan. All information pertaining to these benefits is on our HR home page. We assist with enrollment and can answer any questions you have about these benefits. We communicate regularly on our 401(k) plan and share information important to your retirement. You can also contact us regarding in-service withdrawals, loans or any other type of transaction which needs our assistance. MassMutual offers a web site to manage your own retirement at https://www.massmutual.com/workplace-accounts. If you have trouble with the web site, you can call customer service at 800-743-5274. Credit/Vendor Applications All vendor and credit applications are completed by Pam Hitpas. If you need a vendor or credit application completed, send it to Pam at Pam.hitpas@indoff.com. She will complete and get them back to the vendor or customer within 24 hours. If you have any questions, please contact Pam. Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have regarding payroll or benefits; we are happy to help. Thank you all for all you do for Indoff – we try to help so that you can focus on selling!
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INSIDE Indoff
Recruiting
by Angela Suntrup, Indoff VP of Recruiting New hires are springing up all over Indoff! We are excited to welcome the class of 2019!
Angela Suntrup VP of Recruiting
Christine Davis Guy Cothran Andrew Rodarte Nathan West Judy Sanders Eric Gundlach Ted Bresnahan Leslie Houston Burt Johns Cindy Johnson Craig Smith
CI CI MH MH MH MH ES CI BP BP CI
Partners are a tremendous resource for referrals, so who better to recommend candidates who support our goals than you! If you think you know someone that would be a good fit for Indoff, please let us know! You will receive a $1000 referral bonus once your prospect generates $1000 in gross profit. Look for the following qualifications in candidates: *3 to 5 years outside sales experience in one of our divisions *Transferable customer base *No non-compete *Ability to work independently Maybe you don’t know someone to refer? If this is the case, reach out to your local vendor reps. They may know of someone who is looking to make a change. They might also know who is successful selling their products nearby or in a neighboring city. Having vendors refer prospects who currently sell their products is a win/win situation. Don’t know where to send your prospects for more information? Direct your referrals to our Recruiting landing page! This page has access to all divisions, our recruiting video, information on compensation, vendor access, marketing, technology and FAQ’s. Your referrals can also apply to become a Partner from this page! Check it out!
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INSIDE Indoff
Finance & Accounting by Julie Frank, Executive VP & CFO March is finally here and I can’t be happier winter will be over soon. I’m also happy to note that Jeff Spahn will be returning after an extended absence. I recently posted an e-mail covering the topic of commission reports, deadlines and related documentation. If you have not seen it, please let me know and I’ll be happy to send you a copy. In this article I am highlighting one function from each department to let you know who is available to help you and how to submit requests.
Julie Frank Executive VP & CFO
Request for Order Approvals – our Credit Department processes your requests every business day from 8am – 7pm central time. They approve an average of 40 online application requests/day in addition to approvals they do through e-mails and phone calls. Submitting your requests through Confluence is the fastest way to get a response. Releasing Customer Aging Holds - when your customer has invoices over 90 days, their account goes on Aging Hold. Cherrie Bledsoe, our Collection Manager, pulls a daily report to proactively release holds from accounts that have promises to pay, pending credits, job problems, or special payment arrangements. On any given day there are 75-100 accounts on this list, so we encourage you to run your customer aging reports and let her know of any special circumstances on an account. Customer Sales Tax Exemption Forms – many of our customers are tax exempt. Except for Federal Government, we need a valid exemption form on file to remove tax from their orders. Please send your customer’s form with their initial set up or e-mail it to salestax@indoff.com. If you e-mail it separately, please include a customer or sales order number so we can quickly attach it to the account. If your customer disputes sales tax on an invoice, our Finance and A/R departments work closely together to resolve customer sales tax issues. Vendor Down Payments - A/P processes 15-20 down payment invoices/ day. For prompt processing, down payment invoices should be sent to vendordownpayments@indoff.com. A/P retrieves these invoices daily between 8am-5pm and submits to Maurice Belle for approval. Maurice verifies whether a customer down payment has been received and contacts the Partner if additional information is needed.
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We welcome your suggestions for improvement as we are always looking for ways to be more efficient and make things easier for our all of us.
INSIDE Indoff
Vendor Relations
by Adam Heck, Vendor Relations Manager Hello Partners,
For my newsletter article this month, I wanted to walk through what I do each day and how I try to help make your sales lives a little bit easier. My position was created to give the vendors a single point of contact to direct all their questions about how to work with Indoff. As you all know, we are a pretty unique company, and that uniqueness has a lot of implications for the vendors. Many vendors have a hard time wrapping their brains around the freedom the Partners have to choose vendors, set pricing for customers etc, and that difficulty informs many of the questions they ask me.
Adam Heck Vendor Relations Manager
My goal in helping the vendors- manufacturers and wholesalers- understand how Indoff operates is to be able to get them to share pertinent info with us- pricing, new products, discount info, catalog links, customer facing marketing materials (discussed more below), and to make them feel like we are happy to work with them. If they feel like it’s easy and beneficial to work with us at a Corporate level, we hope that will make it easier for you to work with them as well. We also want you to be aware of the products and services that are at your disposal when connecting with customers- hopefully without deluging you with vendor emails. Vendors ask me for advice on what types of information to share with the Partners and I try to give them a list of items that would be worthwhile, including customer facing marketing pieces. If you see anything from a vendor that you would like to use in reaching out to customers, contact marketing and they can help you customize any vendor piece. Ken Hebert worked with Marketing to customize a sell sheet from Amigo Mobility and ended up getting the sale from it. You can do the same. I also send out monthly emails to my entire vendor database with tips on how to market to us, how to work with the Partners, and how Indoff is structured- to reinforce that I am here to help. If you have any vendor reps you would like to be added to my distribution list or anything else you would like to see from them, please let me know. Thank you!
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Partner Features Guy Cothran
Commercial Interiors What excites you about joining the Indoff team? The opportunity to work with a long established company with a great reputation for support and excellent service. Why did you decide to join Indoff? The strong support for the sales partners, and the opportunity to work with a strong local Indoff team. How long have you been in the Commercial Interiors industry? 35 years. What strengths do you bring to Indoff? Sales and Customer Service driven, deep product and manufacturer knowledge, extensive network locally and throughout the Carolinas. How do you enjoy spending a day off? Hiking, landscape work on our property, reading a good book or watching a movie with one or more of my four sons. If you were to create a slogan for your life, what would it be? A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work.
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Partner Features Leslie Houston
Commercial Interiors What excites you about joining the Indoff team? Being able to run my own business with the support of an large company. Why did you decide to join Indoff? It was time to make a change and I had been speaking to Indoff for a couple of years. I was finally ready to step out on faith. Also, I spoke to Kim Gregory prior to joining and she had AMAZING things to say about Indoff. How long have you been in the Commercial Interiors industry? 13 years in Commercial Interiors working solely for the education market...k-12 and higher ed What strengths do you bring to Indoff? I understand the education market very well with all the changes in Learning Environments and curriculums. How do you enjoy spending a day off? I love spending my days off with my 11 year old son. He is an amazing basketball player and we tend to spend Saturdays at games. If you were to create a slogan for your life, what would it be? I hope to always live a God centered life with faith, hope and love.
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INSIDE Indoff
Operations
by Pam Hake, Indoff VP of Operations Hello to everyone out there in the Indoff World. For most of the country it has been a long Winter, with lots of winter weather . Spring (in St Louis at least) has begun! Things are beginning to bud and bloom, and temperatures are warmer. I think most of us are excited to see Spring arrive. It is time for renewal, cleansing and freshening things up. It would seem to apply to your Indoff Business as well. Here are some suggestions - have you thought about them or others? Have you put them in action?
Pam Hake VP of Operations
• Take a look at your customer list. Who haven’t you heard from or contacted recently? • Is there a new or new to your business company that you pass by all the time, but never contact? Are there new businesses opening locally? • Have you added anything new to your offerings? The possibilities are endless. A few suggestions are JanSan, Breakroom Supplies, Lighting, Safety Supplies • Contact a Partner in another division and consider working together to cross sell to one another’s customers • Do you participate in the e-marketing program? If not, there is no time like the present to start. • Are you a member of any of your local Chambers of Commerce or Lead Groups? Remember we give our Partners the freedom to run your own business in your own market, in your own style. We don’t tell you which vendors you have to use, or what customers you should call on. We leave those decisions to you our, Sales Partners. We do try to give you all the tools that we can to assist you with your Indoff Business. So please take advantage of them. Thanks for all you do, and as I always say, if Our Partners aren’t out there selling, we’ve got no reason to be here administrating. So Please go sell something! Till Next Time……………
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Happy Anniversary! 20 Years
Ken Marks March 1
Shawn Faulkingham March 29
Kevin Flynn April 1
David Crise April 5
15 Years
Frank Turco March 19
Mike Burrows April 1
10 Years
Mark McCullough March 5
Linda Miller March 23
Paul Lucas April 27
Ken Miller April 28
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Follow Us! Stay connected with Indoff by following us on social media! You can find us on several social media platforms via the usernames provided below:
@IndoffInc
Indoff, Inc
@Indoff_Inc
Indoff Sales Partners of the Month Congratulations to our top Partners from each division!
January Material Handling Bob Barroll - $196,603
Material Handling Bill Jacobson - $1,244,050
Commercial Interiors
Commercial Interiors
Emma Plank & Donna Sutton - $249,234
Georgine Golitko - $385,445
Deanna Lies - $91,973
Deanna Lies $71,178
Business Products
Business Products
Promotional Products
Promotional Products
John Hollern - $55,829
John Hollern $69,331
Chris Koeneman - $308,994
Lee Key $163,426
Allied Appliance
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February
Allied Appliance
Energy Solutions
Energy Solutions
Sam Migdal - $26,947
Juanita Tackett $102,030
INSIDE Indoff
Marketing
by Craig Pennington, VP of Marketing As we finally put this long winter to bed, it’s time to ramp up our marketing for the remainder of the year. Just as we do with our homes and yards, it helps to take some time to clean up and refresh our marketing and sales support material. E-marketing Database Lists – Not the most exciting chore, but cleaning up an old contact database is well worth the time spent. And once those lists are cleaned, please remember to send them in so that Marketing can upload the revised lists for email marketing. Collateral Sales Support Materials – Are your current slicks still representative of the brands and products you sell? If not give us a call so that we can help bring them up to date.
Craig Pennington VP of Marketing
Websites – Many of our Partners have websites, and all websites are never “finished”. Review your sites and look for places where you can freshen content or add new products. If you rely on organic search for visitors, one of the key elements a search looks for is new content. Without it your site will fall in the rankings. Nothing is worse than doing a search and finding your site on page 11 of the listings. Special Projects – While the three items listed above are more for mass consumption for your customers, remember that we are here to help you out with Special Targeted Projects as well, if the bandwidth is available. Recently we assisted one Partner with a PowerPoint presentation, website and materials for a pitch to a national account prospect. We assisted another Partner with an RFQ on a large bid opportunity. Since most of these types of projects require original creative and research, the more advanced notice we get the more likely we can help. Just one final note I would like to share with all the Partners. Elizabeth Roe who assisted many of you has left Indoff to join the ALS Foundation. We will miss Elizabeth’s talent and passion for marketing but wish her the best in her next career opportunity. Fortunately, we remain in good hands with Morgan Powers, who has done an exceptional job of stepping in and handling a greater workload without missing a beat. But with that said, I just would like to beg your indulgence as we go through the process of reassigning duties and reviewing what’s next. Here’s to the sunny, warm days ahead.
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Welcome! Meet the New Additions to Indoff
Austin Orozco Recruiting Research Specialist
Key Breitenstein Director of Government Sales
Eric Gundlach MH
Craig Smith CI
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Andrew Rodarte MH
Leslie Houston CI
Burt Johns BP
Ted Bresnahan ES
INSIDE Indoff
Techie Talk
by Shawn Faulkingham, Chief Information Officer Our IT department has many responsibilities – managing the network, maintaining our applications, websites and tools, developing new programs and features. While doing this myriad of activities, one of our most important roles is supporting our Partners.
Shawn Faulkingham Chief Information Officer
Technology is pervasive in our everyday lives. Indoff embraces technology to make us far more productive and mobile in our day to day routines. When I first started at Indoff in 1999, we supported an application called “The Template” for our CI and MH divisions. We had IRIS for BP which was a remote app on Citrix. Today, we have Confluence for all divisions; it is web based which has really helped us simplify support across all divisions. There are still a number of challenges that people run into trying to make all of their devices and applications function daily - from security to application updates to viruses and firewalls, it’s a lot to manage. But no fear! The Indoff IT group is here to help! Let us help you manage your technology. It’s in everyone’s best interest if your tech is functioning at its peak. If something is not working right, give us a call. We have several tools available to us to help you! We can remote control your PC’s and Mac’s. We have experience with all kinds of applications and operating systems. And if it’s something we can’t fix on the phone, you can send it in as we have more tools here at the Corporate office to fix the more serious problems! Need to configure a new IPad or tablet? Give us a call. Remember that between all of us in IT, we have over 70 years experience in dealing with technology and the issues it sometimes causes. Let us worry and fix your technology woes so you can do what you do best! Sell! So don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We will help you in the quickest way we can!
Colin Faulkingham Chief Information Officer
Thanks for everything you do! Shawn, Colin, David and Courtney
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