Indianapolis, IN – March 20, 2013—Independent Stationers, the industry’s most progressive independent dealer group and the leader in providing value-added programs and services to its members, concluded the last of its 2013 regional meetings. The 2-day meetings, with the theme “In It 2 Win It”, were held in Washington, DC, Dallas, Chicago and Atlanta and included representation of over 140 Independent Stationers dealer principals, their sales reps and 28 vendors. The meetings this year focused on two key Independent Stationers’ programs, National Accounts and Federal Sales, and included sessions for those dealers already participating in both programs and also training for dealers that wanted to learn more.
The meetings were very interactive and included a series of sales training and negotiation techniques, dealer best-practices sharing, and sales roundtable discussions. There was an exciting line-up of guest speakers including Danny Emerson from HON that discussed office trends, Scott Zintz from Independent Stationers focused on Selling Green, Vicki Ondich from United Stationers on Positioning Your Dealership to Win and Peter Frost from Proficiency Post on competing against Amazon. The first day concluded with a vendor tabletop expo and reception.
“For the last few years we have held these regional meetings and each year they bring more and more value to our members”, said Charles Forman, Executive Vice President of Independent Stationers. “The inclusion of federal sales, in addition to the national account sessions, dealer interactions and best practice sessions, which elevate everyone’s engagement and strengthen dealerships, were well received and timely due to the many changes in the federal marketplace.”
Dave Sanner, of Sanner Office Supply Company in Erie, PA said, “I walked away from this meeting with a tremendous amount of information and a renewed enthusiasm about National Accounts. The sessions were extremely informative and the networking was, as always, invaluable.”
Melissa Ball, of Ball Office Products, in Richmond, VA said, “Attending the regional Independent Stationers meeting was a perfect way to learn, connect and re-energize, side-by-side with vendors, our buying group staff and other dealers. I highly recommend attending and am keeping it on my to do list from now on.”