October already? Really?

Released 02/10/2009

Was it me, or did September fly by?

It's been a busy couple of weeks for me, but not a busy I can complain about. I've been running around like a mad woman recently, but I've been seeing all kinds of industry folk and having interesting conversations left and right.

September started off with a bang, with me practically stumbling off my plane from a holiday in New York and into an industry round table held by Spicers, which consisted of a fulfilling and insightful discussion between the wholesaler, suppliers and dealers. I left the evening really wondering why the industry doesn't do that kind of thing more often. It was a great idea on behalf of Spicers. Highlights from the talk will appear in October's issue of Dealer Support, so keep an eye out.

The other week I was in Barcelona for Canon's press conference, launching its new MFP platform - the imageRunner Advance range. The trip was short but sweet, and chock full of information on the new range, alongside machine demos. I had the chance to speak to Claire Want and Adam Gillbe about the benefits to dealers, as well as the machine supplier's new relationship with HP. An interview with the two of them will feature in November's issue.

Then last week I had the true pleasure of spending a couple days in Italy with the wonderfully spirited and upbeat Advent Data on a supplier trip made up of a group of the IT industry's finest. The distie's head honcho, Raj Advani had many interesting insights to share during the trip, and waxed lyrical about his support for his dealer customers and passion for the industry. He and his team were a very fun bunch indeed.

Yesterday I had a great conversation over lunch (and the requisite coffee) with Shayne Stokes from Nestlé, who mentioned how he feels dealers are missing a trick not selling coffee with their stationery, considering how many cups of coffee are consumed a month by UK plc. Apparently most SMEs are still heading to Tesco to buy in bulk. Hey, it may be the only thing a dealer can sell that is useful and addictive - not that you should be using that as your sales pitch.

As I mentioned in a Forum post, I'm currently working on November's issue, where I'll be focusing on dealer success with social networking sites like Twitter and LinkedIn for one of my articles, so am very interested to hear your stories. As always, I'm always looking for general industry news to feature as well, so if you got a tip-off please drop me a line at editor@dealersupport.co.uk and if you feel like following us on Twitter, we're at www.twitter.com/dealersupport (@dealersupport).

Bye for now...

Return to blog list