DPOE chief leads trade group forum

ELK GROVE VILLAGE - Des Plaines Office Equipment President Chip Miceli led a panel discussion at a national conference of the Select Dealer Group, a trade association of 40 independent office equipment/solutions dealers from across the United States, recently held in Chandler, Arizona.

Miceli, one of the original founding members of the group and its past president, led a discussion group, "Strategies to keep your top people." The leader of the second-generation, three-location, 85-employee business discussed some of the strategies that his company utilizes to retain key people, including incentive trips, bonuses, mentoring programs and more.

Nearly 100 people attended the two-day event which drew attendees from across the United States.

In addition to the panel on retention strategies, other topics presented included best practices for solutions selling, driving profitability through value-adds, acquisition strategies, customer satisfaction/retention strategies, trends in software: updates, and client retention

"These are great events for our industry," said Miceli."There is great advantage to gathering people who are in the same industry from all across the country to share best practices and exchange ideas." He continued, "We always come away from these conferences having learned from each other."