What does a Xerox dealer in
Canada look like today with all
the changes the photocopying
business has seen over the last decade?
In a lot of ways, Thunder Bay
Xerographix Inc. (TBXI) is redefining the
model. TBXI started in 2006 with just
two employees and concentrated on sales
of Xerox equipment to the Thunder Bay
business market.
Today, it has grown to 27 employees
and provides sales and services across
northwestern Ontario. Its core business
remains Xerox photocopiers, but even
that has changed with the growing need
for networking and digital documentation
solutions.
“Lots of things have changed since
2006, that’s for sure,” said Dave Grady,
owner and general manager. “You can’t
just be a sales company. Services are
becoming the way of the world. They are
looking for the whole experience. It’s better
for the customer, it’s better for us, and
it’s better for the employees.”
At the heart of this change, of course,
are changes in the technology itself.
Whereas 10 years ago, a photocopier was
a photocopier, today TBXI offers solutions
including networked integration of
hardware and software to provide more
options for their customers.
“Selling a copier today is looking at
how we can help a business with their
workflow,” Grady said. “But to do that,
you need expertise, so that’s why we
decided to branch out and become an IT
company.”
Another major change that TBXI itself
prompted was the services arrangement
for its copiers. Previously, Xerox’s sales
dealerships such as TBXI operated independently,
but its service department
remained under the corporate umbrella.
TBXI became the first independent Xerox
dealer to integrate the area’s services division.
That made sense in Thunder Bay,
Grady said, because customers prefer to
deal with local providers.
“When you go into a smaller market
like Thunder Bay, people really want that
local feel,” he said. Today, Grady is advising
Xerox as it explores creating similar
arrangements in other markets.
TBXI also sells office supplies and
furniture as a way to provide a “one-stop
shop” for its customers.
It’s obvious that TBXI is connecting
with its customers. “With TBXI, we have
been able to reduce our cost-per-page by
roughly have,” wrote Dave Hildebrand
from the Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win
Heath Centre in a letter of support.
Darrell Bray of Boilermakers Local
555/128 in Thunder Bay also praised the
company. “The team at TBXI was very
knowledgeable of the industry, helping
me find a device that met my current and
future needs. They were able to increase
my office efficiency with new technology
while saving me money as well.”
Through the rapid growth, Grady said
that he wanted to ensure the company
kept its intimate feel. That meant adopting
a customer relations management
(CRM) system to keep customer information
organized and accessible.
“If we want to be the best in our
business, we have to start wrapping our
head around the full customer experience,”
Grady said. All customer contact
is recorded so that sales reps, admin, and
anyone else in the office is on the same
page.
Most recently, TBXI has expanded into
the mailing machine business – again
prompted by customer need in the wake
of Pitney Bowes leaving the city. TBXI
became a Neopost dealer to fill that void.
Every step of TBXI’s expansion of services
is a way to augment their core business.
“You can’t just supply a copier and
an IT solution – you need to be a fullservice
provider,” Grady said. “(Moving
into these new services and products) is
something we did to become an end-toend
solution to our customers.”