Team, It’s hard to believe summer is almost over and we are heading into fall already. This transition means much more than the return of football and pumpkin spice lattes (sorry, I have never had one and probably never will), but a time to FOCUS on 2022. As mentioned last month, we are putting the finishing touches on our Strategic Plan (which will drive our Go-To-Market strategies), Sales/Order Budgets, and Operating Budgets.
Regarding our strategies, we will be hosting a virtual Principals Meeting on October 13th where we will provide our Area Contractor Principals and Sales Managers with an overview of our plans and strategies for 2022. Since much of what we will talk about is considered very confidential to The Spacesaver Group, this will not be recorded. I am very excited about our growth opportunities and investments we plan to continue to make in our business. But I will share this much: We, as a Group, should again “Eclipse” $100M in sales in 2022!!
I trust you are noticing much earlier communication in the day regarding orders that are not shipping. As promised, I will also be sharing the plan to provide you with 1 to 3 day notification by the end of this month. However, I am pleased to report we are on track to be back on time with reduced lead times by the middle of October.
Let’s finish the year strong! But more importantly, please stay safe and smart regarding the resurgence of COVID.
Best regards, Mark Haubenschild | President/CEO
Congratulations to our Area Contractor teams that have a Spacesaver Group anniversary in September!
HBI Office Plus (13 years)
Kanstor (13 years)
The Casper Corporation (48 years)
Spacesaver Scorecard
With another month in the books, the Spacesaver Group continues to shine in 2021. STORAGELogic gets a gold star in August, booking over $1.8 million in new orders and increasing their YTD performance percentage to nearly 400% of quota! Through the first eight months, the entire group sits at 108% of incoming order quota, with 19 PARs over 100% and 3 more over 96%. What an unbelievable performance so far!
For shipments, we continue to make progress as we hit 108% monthly quota, with 13 PARs exceeding their monthly shipment quota, led by Southwest Solutions Group ($1.2M), Patterson Pope ($1.1M), and Bradford Systems ($1.06M). This tremendous effort now has us sitting at 93% YTD as a Group, with 13 PARs exceeding 109%.
Thank you for everything you continue to do to grow our businesses together. The true partnership we have makes us all stronger!
The Team has FOCUS
As mentioned in Mark’s opening comments, our team is FOCUSing on finishing out the year and building a plan for a successful 2022. The remainder of 2021 will include continued efforts to promote our new products, Nantucket and GROW Drying System. We will also take our cannabis legalization expansion campaign to the next level, push American Rescue Plan funding, Day Use Lockers, Viking Preservation Cabinet 920 Series, and more. In-person tradeshows return, and our team is putting in some extra efforts to give our brand more exposure at the shows.
In the upcoming weeks, we will also switch gears and FOCUS on building our 2022 go-to-market plans, finalizing our strategic initiatives and 2022 rally cry, and laying out a plan to celebrate our 50th anniversary in 2022! There’s a lot to get done and a lot to set us up for success next year. But, without a doubt, our team has the right FOCUS and drive to make it all happen!
Vertical Market Updates
Military
Our end-of-fiscal-year campaign is winding down as final deadlines approach. Did you miss out this year? Follow up on projects that didn’t get funded and be sure they’re on the priority list for 2022. And most importantly, resolve now to keep in touch with your contacts over the coming months.
Looking for something to share with new or current contacts? You asked for deployable solutions, and we delivered! The Rapid Readiness Box, Mobility Crate, and UWESS were all designed with the military to save time and promote readiness. Now we need you to step up and sell them! View and share the Deployment Brochure and the Deployment Video, along with detailed product information, in the Media Room.
Next Military Call: October 28 at 1:30 CST
As always, contact Pete Rooney to gain insights or build a strategy within the military market.
Streamlining CIF Storage
Hats off to Bud Swartz at MOTUS Space Solutions, who networked with the Quartermaster and the S-4 at the Wyoming Army National Guard to improve storage at the Central Issue Facility (CIF). Personnel at the CIF were faced with common challenges: property loss, inefficiency, and limited space. Bud drew up plans for 4-Post shelving on a High-Density Mobile System and worked with Pete to guide the project through the TLS SOE contract process. The sales cycle was around five months and resulted in $50,000 Spacesaver net.
Library and Education
Billions of dollars in federal funds are available in this market right now, and we want to help you get in on the action! If you missed our American Rescue Plan (ARP) webinar last week, don’t worry—you can catch the recording to get caught up and make sure to use all of the tools and assets that were sent via email earlier this week.
Along with back to school, the college football season is kicking off! Celebrate Spacesaver’s dominance in the athletics market by perusing and sharing our campus athletics collateral and sharing our YouTube playlist of athletics projects!
Next Library and Education Call: October 29 at 1:00 CST
Want to create a plan for reaching out to schools, campuses, and libraries in your area? Contact Zak Hermans to get started.
Major Projects = Major Wins
Kudos to Chris Anklin at Henderson Johnson Company, who worked with our Major Projects Team to land a large and complex expansion of Syracuse University’s archives! Chris started working with his colleague Donna Farnham, along with Joe Leibfried and Major Projects in 2016 to provide the client with preliminary drawings and budgets. The project was put on hold for years, but it recently resurfaced with an aggressive schedule for bidding and construction. It features a mix of creative product applications, including shelving designed to meet air circulation requirements, a mechanical-assist mobile system for a freezer, and high-bay shelving on ActivRAC. Steve Pyne in Major Projects stepped up to help Chris and his team meet tight deadlines, with a sale resulting in $920,427 Spacesaver net.
Museum
Orders for Nantucket Drawers and Trays continue to exceed our expectations, and this product isn’t only for the museum market! It’s great for clients in any setting who want to fully optimize space from floor to ceiling by combining 4-Post shelving accessories with medium-duty drawers or trays. Be sure to share photos, collateral, and case studies via our collection in the Media Room!
Want a low-pressure way to connect with museum clients and show off Spacesaver’s thought leadership? Our design guide for collections storage offers tips and tricks from respected experts in architecture and the museum field. Reach out and share it today!
Next Museum call: September 21 at 10:00 CST
Contact Ben Adamitus for insights into the museum market.
Old West Success
Congrats to Steve Story at Southwest Solutions Group, who parlayed his personal interest in the Old West into an impressive sale! While Steve was in Dodge City, Kansas on business, he stopped in to see the Boot Hill Museum–a local museum that features guns and other artifacts from Wyatt Earp and the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. He struck up a conversation with staff and soon discovered they had inadequate storage for the collection, so he conducted an impromptu space assessment. In November 2019, he shared preliminary design drawings with the museum’s assistant director, who used the drawings to support grant applications. Steve kept in touch and sent updates every year, and she kept applying for funding. She was finally awarded a National Science Foundation grant three months ago, and she placed the order with Steve right away. The sale resulted in $19,000 Spacesaver net.
Agriculture
Our GROW Drying System truly “raises the bar!” Be sure to check out our updated product presentation and share photos and collateral in the Media Room collection. We’re also offering a new Configuration Guide to help determine the size of drying racks and carts your clients will need based on the size and number of plants in their facility.
Our early outreach efforts to recently legalized states are moving into a new phase. We’ll keep contacting potential clients in Phase 1 states while also targeting contacts in even more recently legalized states with localized email campaigns, outbound call blitzes, organic and paid social media posts, and video content.
Reach out to Greg Sayre for insights and advice in this market.
BLOOMing Success
Congratulations to Ty Ohl at Bradford Systems, who recently sold our first cannabis project in Missouri! Following Missouri’s legalization of medical marijuana cultivation in 2018, Ty kept a close eye on regulatory developments and called through the list of approved cultivators as soon as it was released. He connected with the cultivation director for Bloom Medicinals, kept in touch, and eventually sold the client on Spacesaver’s quality versus Pipp, Montel, and Innovative Growers Equipment. The first phase comprises five flower rooms and a veg room, and the client’s license will allow the team to more than quadruple their current canopy area as they scale their business. This project has resulted in $176,992 Spacesaver net so far.
Did you know you can invite a member of the Major Projects Team to hop on a call with an architect or contractor, help with specification writing, assist with Configura review, obtain competitive pricing, and more?
Major Projects is ready to help with all aspects of any project, large or small. “We partner with our Area Contractors to handle large-impact bids, of course,” said Emily Martin, Sales Manager. “But we’re also a resource for any sales rep throughout our distribution network, whether they’re working on a major project or not.”
Here’s an example of a recent win between Major Projects and a sales rep: Matt Jones at Midwest Storage Solutions reached out for competitive pricing on Iowa State University’s new football equipment room. Their team prepared drawings, but they needed pricing assistance. Emily helped him out, Matt submitted the proposal, won the project, and recently installed it! Look for photos of this project in a Trailblazer next month!
Emily has been with Spacesaver for four years (you might remember her as Emily Auby; she got married this past December). Emily lives in Stoughton, Wisconsin and enjoys golfing, cheering for the Milwaukee Brewers, and just generally being outdoors. She’s particularly busy outside this time of year: she and her family plant, harvest, and sell five acres of sweet corn every summer!
Marketing Minute
The summer is coming to an end—which means most vacations have come to a halt and regular Friday schedules resume. With that comes the return of our Marketing Tribe Meetings. Please join us on Friday, September 24 at 2:00 CST to hear from Amanda Wollin and her team on our latest campaigns, what’s planned for the rest of the year, and what we might have in store for 2022.
Did you hear the news? We launched a brand-new AIA and IDCED HSW accredited presentation geared at the healthcare industry. If you missed our launch webinar, you could watch the recording — or join us on Thursday for our live webinar.
Believe it or not, NeoCon and MJBizCon are back and in person! We’re excited to be attending these two big events and using them as an opportunity to showcase some of our new products. NeoCon will Take a New Twist on an Old-Fashioned as we showcase some of tried-and-true products, but also Nantucket Trays and Drawers in 4-Post. At MJBizCon, we will be bringing a fully outfitted GROW System, but also using the show to launch our Drying Racks and Carts.
