Martin Group Receives Fourth Consecutive Elite Dealer Award
November 04, 2013
Martin Group, an office technology dealership based in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, continued their record of success and market leadership by receiving a 2013 Elite Dealer Award from The Week in Imaging, an online information and news publication for independent dealers and resellers of imaging technology, supplies, and services. This award marks the fourth year in a row that Martin Group has won a prestigious Elite Dealer Award from The Week in Imaging. In 2011, Martin Group was selected as the 2011 Elite Dealer of the Year by the same publication.
Scott Cullen, the publisher and editor of The Week in Imaging and a long-time office technology industry journalist helped select this year’s winners, as he has every year since 1988. In his blog kicking off the annual awards announcements, he wrote, “We celebrate these dealers for their innovation, perseverance, company work culture, unique programs, strong leadership, and community involvement. As I say every year, it’s not any one quality that makes an Elite Dealer. It’s a combination of qualities that enable these dealers to stand out.”
Martin Group embodies all of the qualities that Cullen listed as requirements to win the industry’s coveted Elite Dealer award, such as their proprietary OneSource program. Martin Group’s OneSource Managed Print Services division leads Martin’s sales growth, with a phenomenal and steady 800% growth rate since 2009. Cullen stated, “We’ve long lauded the OneSource program, which differentiates Martin Group from its competitors by offering clients flexible choices backed by what they call exceptional service and their own remanufactured cartridges. Clients can select the OneSource program that’s suitable for their specific office needs.”
“We guarantee our clients that OneSource will save them a minimum of 10 percent of their current printing expenditures,” says President John Stensland. “We have three separate levels for OneSource so clients can choose the program that’s right for them.”
Cullen noted that Martin Group was known for their long-term client relationships, some going all the way back to the beginning of the 33-year history of the company. “Our clients tell us that they value the honesty, integrity and professionalism with which we treat them,” adds Stensland. Exceptional service is a given and that remains Martin Group’s top priority daily. “Our effective and efficient service department sets a standard for excellence,” notes Stensland. “All dealers say that they have great service. We follow through with actions that prove we mean what we say.”
Stensland recounted a recent client story that summed up their client service philosophy. A long-standing client with a 20-year history was acquired by a larger company and went with another vendor. When that vendor couldn’t meet the client’s needs, Martin Group eagerly stepped back in with their superior service and program offerings, installing 75 multifunction printers in 2013, with the potential to double that number and set-up a OneSource program for the client in 2014.
Cullen further highlighted Martin Group’s commitment to outstanding service to their clients by noting that their first call effectiveness rate is now at 68%, up from 63% in 2012. At the same time, the initial call response time, a huge factor in customer satisfaction, continues to improve, averaging 1.62 hours, also down from 1.98 hours in 2012. With those numbers, it’s no wonder that Martin Group has such incredible client retention.
When it comes to training, Martin Group is clearly in the Elite Dealer category. A Martin Group service technician recently won his second Konica Minolta Gold Seal training award, a top honor that only 5% of technical training students nationwide achieve each year. Martin Group plans to continue its investment in training in 2014, sending the entire administrative team to a week of software training in Utah, and enrolling two of its new managers in a seminar to further their managerial and leadership skills.
2013 also saw a major restructuring of the Martin Group team, as well as the introduction of a monthly email newsletter to their growing client community. President John Stensland explained, “Martin Group has an amazing team of people who understand that we are in an ever-evolving industry that will require our business and our team members to evolve right along with it.”
General Manager Rebecca Turk commented, “Being chosen as an Elite Dealer four years in a row is an incredible honor, but we are never content to rest on our laurels. We will continue to invest in our people, strive to provide the best products on the market, and continue our outstanding service and support 24/7 to our valued family of clients.”
