CEO Blog | Jarltech.com

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05/12/2017

Marketing reloaded

Starting now our communication will be a little fresher. Perhaps there are even a few ideas here that you could use in your company.

...

Starting now our communication will be a little fresher. Perhaps there are even a few ideas here that you could use in your company.

Have you seen our Zebrilla on zebrilla.jarltech.com? For this campaign we sketched a Zebrilla and had it built. This larger than life figure is a combination of zebra and gorilla, for presenting the new Zebra ET5X Series with Gorilla glass. The stream shows our Zebrilla 24 hours online as it prints raffle tickets on a label printer for all resellers who place their order for the new tablet PCs with us.

On Thursday (7 December) at 10 a.m. I will keep the Zebrilla company and read an excerpt from the new devices' manual. This way, the monkey doesn't feel so lonely, since two monkeys are better than one. I hope you'll tune in! :)

Then there is our new "Premium Distribution Machine". Totally cool. It was a huge hit at the GITEX exhibition in Dubai. You simply insert a euro into the machine and the machine then gives you back a five euro banknote. Of course it is glued onto a flyer explaining in great detail why dealers are able to make more with less with Jarltech's value-add services. You do understand, of course, that we have to somewhat limit access to the machine. :) Soon you will see it for yourself at the bar in our Showroom at the new Jarltech headquarters.

We also took a leap with our Update magazine and turned it into an audio book. This time, I am not the one doing the reading, but rather the voice actor of Marty McFly from the movie "Back to the Future", which was an excellent fit with the cover of our Update magazine.

On Facebook you have probably already seen our monster poster, with which we have facelifted an ugly wall on our new building. The poster measures an impressive 12 x 18 metres and definitely deserves the title "monster". I still am amazed by it when I visit the building.

Even our reception area has been designed by a renowned artist. The drafts alone have already wowed everyone who has seen them. In the middle hangs a large neon installation, which drives the theme of the room's decor. I won't reveal any further details before the grand opening.

We're not finished yet. Moving on, art printed on direct thermal paper will soon be a topic. Once again, having a superb in-house marketing department more than pays for itself. From comics to social media advertising up to product and model photos for our 400-page catalogue, the Update magazine, web offers and even giveaways ? we do it all in-house. That makes us faster and hopefully separates us a little bit more from our beloved market players.

30/10/2017

Golden Rules For Vendor Conferences

This seems to be a recurring theme in my blog. In 2017 we visited quite a number of vendor events, both great and not so great....

This seems to be a recurring theme in my blog. In 2017 we visited quite a number of vendor events, both great and not so great. My dear vendors, we love you dearly and we also think very highly of the opportunity to network. But please make it as easy as possible for us!

1. No exotic locations arrivals! In Europe it is easy to travel to Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna, Stockholm, Milan, Copenhagen, Paris, London and so on. Unfortunately, it is not so easy to get to Mykonos, Cyprus, Malta, Faro, etc. It is usually your event agency who recommends these locations, and always either right before or right after the summer season flight schedule. That is precisely when it is very inexpensive, but hardly any airline still flies there.

2. No exotic locations efficiency! Yes, you are the most important vendor in the world, but your customers also know other people. In reasonable city locations it is possible to even meet in local offices or to visit customers in the vicinity. Remember, you want distributors who think efficiently.

3. The best local hotels! Your event agency books the hotel. That is bad, because these people know exactly where their best profit margin lies. Plus, these hotels are often under renovation or not popular at this time of the year. If nobody else wants to stay there, then we do not either.

The hotel should have at least 5 stars. Yes, that is expensive. But then, in case of doubt, let the guests pay. You want the top decision makers to come. And they need the best Internet, sometimes room service here and there, to have a shirt ironed or perhaps even want to receive a customer. And how often have we stood in the evening in front of a hotel bar which closes at 22:00 hours. Not good for networking!

Oh yes, and if the conference is in such a hotel, each of us has an excuse for why he needs to stay there. If your corporate heads in the US headquarters consider the hotel too expensive for your own people, then book the lower quality place next door for your own people. But why does your customers CEO, whom you want to impress, unfortunately suffer just because the hotel budget is not high enough for your technicians?

4. Conferences and dinners in the same hotel Your customers do not want to ride the bus. We all do not go to school anymore. And we want to go to our room in between, and sometimes even skip one of the conference sessions. This is bad if the hotel room is far away by bus.

5. Ever heard of Late Check-Out? If your conference lasts until 14:00 hours, then you make a deal with the hotel that guests may use their rooms until then. This is possible! It does not make a good impression when your best customers are sitting on their suitcases on the second day of the conference, because the check-out has to be in advance.

6. Stop using PowerPoint We gladly look at your numbers on a few PowerPoint slides. But then please stop it! Instead, give us products for touching, please. And none of the people who come to your conferences are interested in technical data. Then invite product management.

We want to know how we and our resellers will make more profit margins, with you. And also, how we can improve the cooperation with you and where there are new markets. And that's what you have to tell us, nothing else.

We also like to learn more about your strategy. But if you want to engage in secrecy in this direction, then we will also tell nothing about our strategy.

And if you show numbers, then please make it stuff that we do not already know from your website. We are competitive animals. We want to know how we stand in comparison to our competitors, so give us the information!

7. One-on-one discussions One-on-one discussions with decision makers, please. No distributor or dealer of yours discusses his marketing plan or gives you great ideas in a room with his competition. Oh yes, and please bring the decision makers with you. If your conference is so important, then a senior manager from Japan, USA or wherever else can come, too.

8. Fun, fun, fun Yes, it's fun to do a city tour together, go to a whitewater park or climb a mountain. Right. That is: with your own family! But not with you. Each of you is always planning a half-day for something "fun". That only causes us problems with the tax office. Please give a recommendation on what you can do after the conference. Save the money and instead book the better hotel.

9. Awards We are very pleased to receive the award for best growth and best marketing at every vendors' conference. Thank you very much! But these awards do not fit in any luggage. Especially because Jarltech always gets so many. How about handing over the pieces and collecting them again? "We have already arranged for the award to be sent to you afterwards". That's service!

10. Personal interests If your CEO or European boss does not come to to your presentations - or is present, but is just looking at his laptop or his mobile phone instead of listening - then the session is not interesting. Just terminate it. Your corporate people do everything to look good in the eyes of their bosses. Then also plan your lectures like this.

11. Timing You want your resellers and distributors to network at the bar in the evening? Okay, but then maybe the session should not start at 8 o'clock the next morning.

12. Products And once again, because it matters soooo much: Leave us alone with products when there is nothing really disruptive to report. We read data sheets and test products better in our own lab. It gets tough when a technician explains to guests what a 2D barcode really is or in which markets one may use a mobile printer. Hello, what have we been doing for the past 25 years? That's almost rude. And it happens again and again! Please also leave out the slides about which projects you all won in Namibia, Argentina, Taiwan or anywhere else. You can send it by e-mail, then we can even forward it to the sales department.

13. Time frames If there's nothing new to tell, then make the meeting shorter. You do not have to use "gap fillers" just because somebody has come up with the idea that such a meeting always has to last two days.

All of these points come from a mix of experiences: nobody needs to feel addressed personally. Always keep in mind that as a vendor, you save on travel expenses by having us coming to your events, instead of the other way around. You have control of our limited spare time, so please make it as nice as possible!

14/09/2017

Jarltech: mega expansion

I am happy to share with you today that the holding company of Jarltech Europe GmbH has acquired an additional property in Usingen, the former "Usingen Factory" of...

I am happy to share with you today that the holding company of Jarltech Europe GmbH has acquired an additional property in Usingen, the former "Usingen Factory" of Zumtobel Lighting GmbH. That means Jarltech Europe acquires 30,000 square meters more space. On the property there is 12,000 square meters of logistics hall space and roughly 2,000 square meters of office space, meaning a fourfold capacity increase.

Here too we are as fast as always: starting tonight the Jarltech lettering over the property will be lit, and renovation work has also already begun. Before the years end the new premises will be equipped with the most modern telecommunications infrastructure, and a connection to the existing Jarltech premises. The new property has its own gas turbine, which will soon be supplemented by large-scale solar panels.

We are especially proud to broadly expand our refitting services department (staging) and our technical support in the future. Thanks to the new warehouse materials handling technology, package delivery is also accelerating. Let's tackle it!

The entrance area is being largely designed by Städel professor Tobias Rehberger, laureate of the Goetheplakette of the city of Frankfurt, as well as winner of the Golden Lion of the Biennale di Venezia, among other things, with an extensive neon installation.

My sincere thanks to Zumtobel for the uncomplicated and pragmatic negotiations, which have allowed us to take action quickly. Jarltech is delighted about this gigantic expansion, which we are opening with a great celebration at the end of the year with all the employees from Europe.

15/08/2017

Please hide well when you call the company while on holiday!

A help desk for those who carry their mobile phones on holiday, and even occasionally have business talks: 50% of employees find that people who use their mobile...

A help desk for those who carry their mobile phones on holiday, and even occasionally have business talks: 50% of employees find that people who use their mobile phone for business purposes while on holiday are merely pretending to be important and cannot relax.

This sounds harsh for all those who accept calls at the resort simply because they have already relaxed before their holiday :) namely, who did not care about the fact that they are represented correctly 100% during their absence. Or that perhaps it would not be made known that perhaps not all processes are 100% perfectly documented, and a quick call might prevent this from coming to light.

On the other hand, should an employee have a bad conscience if he answers a colleagues question more quickly by telephone, instead of insisting on the "I am on vacation, please take of it yourself attitude? Particularly in companies where there is not a standardised procedure for every process, the people working there are able to live with it.

Meanwhile, there was a breakthrough, from the latest survey which was reported about today. Of the 50% who find it terrible to answer a business call or an email on holiday, 95% of them do not get reimbursed for roaming charges and mobile data usage. This is the real reason for the refusal, but it is just as "uncool", because the employee does not renounce the company while on holiday, but, rather, the employer and the colleagues do him...

You should distinguish between employees who "have" to use to their mobile phones on vacation (whether they are legally permissible or not) and those who want to" or are even happy to be allowed to". In my opinion, a compulsory answer while on holiday is totally inappropriate if it is not paid extra. But just because one personally finds foreign charges to be too expensive, it is probably a little exaggerated to condemn others who would like to know what colleagues and customers are doing. The solution for everyone: relax!

11/08/2017

Eastern Europe's new capital: Sicily!

Me ranting about the locations of vendor events is nothing new....

Me ranting about the locations of vendor events is nothing new. The latest hit: one of our vendors is inviting its Eastern European customers to a partner conference. Correct: the important event where products, markets and sales strategies for the year are meant to be discussed.

But where are they inviting them to? Sicily! A beautiful island, but there is not a single scheduled flight going there from Eastern Europe even during the summer. Each customer therefore has to change at least once. Why Sicily? Every Eastern European capital or major city has direct flights to Vienna, Frankfurt, London and Paris, every day, all year around. It could be so easy ...

Or why not plan a business meeting right where a lot of customers already are, like Budapest, Prague or Warsaw in this case. That would be more efficient, cheaper for most, and many would not even need to travel at all. An especially important point for corporate groups: mind the CO2 footprint!

A trip to a meeting in a metropolis also never is an issue with taxes. A holiday destination topped off with an entertainment programme that is even advertised in the invitation, on the other hand, is a feast for any tax auditor. Strangely enough, it's the American companies who don't understand this, while usually trying to coerce the rest of the world to follow their compliance rules. Especially when this vendor, apart from providing barcode-related products, also provides plenty of parts for American nuclear weapons. Someone posting a funny picture of the beach barbecue on Facebook is hardly avoidable ... and if anybody is laughing at a meeting, the tax office immediately perceives a private background.

At least this time the meeting is taking place before the flight plan changes to winter schedule. Vendors usually like to hold their island meetings after the winter schedule takes effect, because as there are almost no flights then, at least hotel prices drop. What's funny is that there usually is a super cheap flight with Ryanair or Easyjet from the vendor's headquarters to the conference location. Thus their own employees are already cared for. When the customer was king, those were the days :)

10/08/2017

Ultimate annoyance to the paper industry

What would you think of this? You put a pile of used paper into your printer old printouts in black ink on white paper....

What would you think of this? You put a pile of used paper into your printer old printouts in black ink on white paper. You want to print a full-colour diagram on light-blue paper. The printer prints ... but without ... wasting resources. Without using water, the old paper is broken down to its fibres (better than any shredder could do) and put together again in your chosen colour and thickness, and then it's printed.

I would believe that to be a magical development. But I'm late, because this device already exists, as this video shows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp-AZ6psL0c

In this case, the printer is not so much a "device" than it is a "machine", as big as a steam train and as expensive as an upper class limousine. Luckily only as a Japanese upper class limousine because this steam train was made by one of our favourite Japanese vendors: Epson.

In my opinion, it is audacious to take the paper and printing industry on this compares to a fight between Tesla and the oil industry. Did you notice the huge ink cartridges in the YouTube video? Just crazy.

Of course, there is nothing that anyone of us could be selling tomorrow. But it will come, and it will solve a massive environmental, cost and time problem. I just wish I will not have to choose between a Tesla and Epson's "paper mill" because both need require space the size of a garage.

So, Epson, please: make the thing smaller, less expensive, and get that market. We can wait those few years.

23/05/2017

Premium Distribution

A trend is making a comeback:

...

A trend is making a comeback:

Does shipping logistics only have to become cheaper (and automatically poorer, as a result), just because Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Public feel like paying very little for it? That's no longer true.

The more we invest into our premium logistics (24-hour warehouse operation, more employees, new types of quality control, continual technological upgrades), the clearer the results are: much less damage during transportation, packaging mistakes drop to much lower levels and there is an enormous increase in speed. Combined with the best parcel services and shipping carriers, this ultimately leads to a reduced workload for the customers. Hard cash!

And look here: performance is rewarded. We enforce (of course, still economical) flat-rate shipping charges because we, for example, are also able to serve end customers on behalf of our resellers, the idea being "order and forget" - with colour-printed "original" reseller packaging slips right up to individual packaging tape.

For free shipping elsewhere you get pseudo parcel services who heartlessly toss the boxes into the rusty van when loading it, and who then drop the well-shaken box at the customer's feet. What a treat for the electronic device inside.

On a side note, a part of "premium" also means that sales employees not only register articles, but they also know which product is needed. When we test the competition the answer comes back to the tune of "I cannot help you without an exact article number." Pitiful. But things can turn funny if you ask the "right" questions. I can amuse myself for days like this. Such as during a discussion about a particular receipt printer, when asking "Just how big is it?" or "Isn't that the neon yellow device?" The answer came back "Yes." to both questions. :) So, that speaks volumes about the training level of the other person.

And because of this we are finally seeing slightly growing profit margins in the channel. Of course there are still customers, let's call the company "Audacious Computing", who expect that we deliver with a negative margin. Oh, and even better that we take care of his 30% returned goods. But the best of all would be to send (in advance) free-of-charge demo devices directly to the end customers: but right now, please! That would mean that we are not a "Premium Distributor", but rather a dumb distributor.

We prefer to work together with the 99% of reasonable resellers, and grow together. "Audacious Computing" might be causing a competitor of ours losses, but even they would realize that the supply of distributors is not limitless.

Apparently, the competition is of the same opinion as I am: Auto-ID and POS is not a broad line topic, but must at least be part of a separate department, and therefore always incurs higher costs. We cannot become solutions providers; that is our customers' job. We can, however, continue to push towards being a part of our customers' solution, and contribute as much as possible to achieving this.

18/05/2017

A hardware showroom in center city?

Star Micronics invited us to the grand opening of its store located in the heart of Frankfurt....

Star Micronics invited us to the grand opening of its store located in the heart of Frankfurt. It is a small, quaint store with Star POS printers and POS systems in the display window, and that in the best location.

But, why?

Does Jarltech also need a showroom in the center of Paris, London, or even cooler, Frankfurt? And without selling anything there? Good question. Upon closer inspection, the concept from Star is quite interesting. Not only is Star on-site, but also the software solutions of three previous ISVs. Plus, Star really wants to actively acquire customers in the neighborhood of the shop, and to educate walk-in customers about the solutions of its software provider.

This suddenly makes sense. Apart from the very small increase in "brand awareness" as a hardware vendor, one generates inquiries for his loyal software houses. And also creates a central place for his trainings or for evening celebration invitations for the local shopkeepers.

Apart from this, the showroom is within sight of the Jarltech Networking Dinner, which is always held in the "Mantis" in the heart of Frankfurt, just like last Friday. Yes, the transition is so good that it hurts: in any case, you will find photos and the video of our event from last week on Facebook and YouTube under "Jarltech".

23/02/2017

Value Add

After Jarltech has boomed upwards in 2016 and achieved 18% growth, we are already looking towards the future....

After Jarltech has boomed upwards in 2016 and achieved 18% growth, we are already looking towards the future. One task of a distributor is to reduce the balance of the reseller. We give credit limits, and we store for you. But in times of low interest rates, it is becoming more and more important to look at the bottom line.

We want added value to continue to be well paid in our industry. But not by pushing hardware without a trade margin, so that you ultimately need to hope for sales of service contracts or managed services. It also requires commitment on your part: Do I really have to sell the customer what he already knows and always orders - and which will always be cheaper on the Internet? Or should I invest a few minutes in convincing customers of a device that is not found on every corner?

All of our vendors offer innovative hardware solutions for the most varying sectors. However, we have realized that »standard« is frequently purchased. If we still had scanners that I started with over 20 years ago in stock today - I bet there would still be reorders for them.

But change is coming: what was unthinkable ten years ago has our technical workshops today regularly overbooked. We see that as our partners, you want to sell the latest technology to users, and know that your added value is in expertise. And that is exactly where we find the asset - through real added value. So, stay on the ball!

Looking back shortly to the beginning: many thanks for a successful business year 2016 - to you, to our vendors and to our employees.